Obituary: Librettist, Translator & Pianist Amanda Holden Dies at 73

https://operawire.com/obituary-librettist-translator-pianist-amanda-holden-dies-at-73/

On Sept. 7, 2021 librettist, translator, and pianist Amanda Holden died at the age of 73. Born in London, on Jan. 19, 1948, Holden’s father, Sir Brian Warren, was a highly civilized man with a great love for music and flowers. Her mother, Josephine Barnes, was a distinguished gynecologist and outspoken campaigner for women’s health who was later made a {…}

Editorials, Opera Meets Film

Opera Meets Film: How ‘The Pearl Fishers’ Love Duet in ‘Little Women (1994)’ Highlights Hollywood’s Questionable Embellishment Habits

https://operawire.com/opera-meets-film-how-the-pearl-fishers-love-duet-in-the-1994-little-women-highlights-hollywoods-questionable-embellishment-habits/

Throughout its history, the $244.4 billion film industry, has relied heavily on historical embellishment for its “narrative spice,” these choices often creating ethical challenges. For example, despite being crowned Best Picture at the 2013 Oscar Awards, the harrowing film “Argo,” a tale about the ersatz American film crew tasked with saving six captive Americans from Iran, is chock-full of historical {…}

Reviews, Video Productions

Haymarket Opera Company 2020 Review: Acis and Galatea

https://operawire.com/haymarket-opera-company-2020-review-acis-and-galatea/

(Credit: Anna Cillan) They say people tend to see what they want, but the tremendous professionalism of the team at Haymarket Opera convinces me that what I see is real. No matter how anxious we all are feeling these days, and how often the authorities and our own industry disappoint us, when I see people doing their job so brilliantly, {…}

Opera Meets Film

Opera Meets Film: The Transcendent Fusion of Yuki Mishima’s ‘Patriotism’ & Wagner’s ‘Tristan und Isolde’

https://operawire.com/opera-meets-film-the-transcendent-fusion-of-yuki-mishimas-patriotism-wagners-tristan-und-isolde/

“Opera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a film section or a film in its entirety and highlight the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This week’s installment features Yukio {…}

DVD and CD Reviews, Reviews

CD Review: Kate Lindsey’s ‘Arianna’

https://operawire.com/cd-review-kate-lindseys-arianna/

(Photo:Richard Boll) The Greek myth of Arianna (Ariadne in English) is a story rich in strong and contrasting emotions, for she is a woman who experiences love in extremis, and pays the price of loving the wrong man, Theseus, with whom she flees her home and betrays her family, only to be abandoned by him on the island of Naxos. {…}

Interviews, Stage Spotlight

Always Together – A Conversation with Nicole Car & Étienne Dupuis

https://operawire.com/always-together-a-conversation-with-nicole-car-etienne-dupuis/

(Credit: Yan Bleney) Soprano Nicole Car and Étienne Dupuis do not like to be apart. The two stars, who are currently at the Metropolitan Opera individually taking on two thirds of the Da Ponte and Mozart trilogy, not only share a home, a two-year-old boy, and as many productions as they can, but this very interview. When it was proposed {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Wiener Staatsoper 2019-20 Review: Fidelio Urfassung – Leonore

https://operawire.com/wiener-staatsoper-2019-20-review-fidelio-urfassung-leonore/

(Photo Credit: Wiener Staatsoper GmbH/Michael Pöhn) Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera “Fidelio” is usually characterized as an operatic work of extraordinary musical and dramatic values. Well-known for its mammoth Overture to Leonore No. 3, and originally entitled “Leonore, or the Triumph of Marital Love,” it carries a powerful message of a brave woman who risks her own life in order {…}

Interviews, Stage Spotlight

Q & A: Soprano Leah Hawkins On Met Opera ‘Porgy and Bess,’ Maria Callas’ 7 Deaths & the Importance of Trust

https://operawire.com/q-a-leah-hawkins-on-met-opera-porgy-and-bess-maria-callas-7-deaths-the-importance-of-trust/

(Credit: Columbia Artists) On Sept. 23, soprano Leah Hawkins, a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the Metropolitan Opera, took part in the historic opening night performance of Gerswhin’s “Porgy and Bess” with the esteemed New York company. the Metropolitan Opera. While she was not one of the major headliners in a cast that feature Angel Blue, {…}