Mai Libera – How The Greatest Musical Passage in Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ Explores Violetta’s Endless Suffering

https://operawire.com/mai-libera-how-the-greatest-musical-passage-in-verdis-la-traviata-explores-violettas-endless-suffering/

Verdi’s “La Traviata” is one of the most iconic in music history. Why? It’s heroine Violetta is one of the most powerful and admirable characters in the art form. With her Verdi questioned the social boundaries of the time, taking a contemporary subject and placing it in the opera house during a time when opera was only intended to look {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Teatro la Fenice 2017-18 Review – Zenobia: Embracing the Past & Future To Create Compelling Performance in the Present

https://operawire.com/teatro-la-fenice-2017-18-review-zenobia-embracing-the-past-future-to-create-compelling-performance-in-the-present/

More than 300 years ago, in 1694, the small Venetian theatre of Teatro Grimani di SS Giovanni e Paolo presented Albinoni’s first opera, “Zenobia, Regina de’ Palmireni,” as part of the carnival season. It has now returned to Venice, this time at the Teatro Malibran, for only its second production in the modern era (The first being in Damascus in {…}

Interviews, Stage Spotlight

Q & A: Countertenor John Holiday on Bernstein, Breakthroughs, & A Blessed Career

https://operawire.com/q-a-countertenor-john-holiday-on-bernstein-breakthroughs-a-blessed-career/

In 2017, countertenor John Holiday took home the distinguished Marian Anderson Vocal Award, which not only recognizes him as an artist with a bright future lying ahead but also allows him to share that zeal in a spirited recital on Thursday, February 15 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Operawire had the chance to speak with John Holiday to {…}

Behind the Scenes, Interviews

Q & A: Composer Daniel Thomas Davis on Creating ‘Family Secrets: Kith and Kin’ With 7 Librettists

https://operawire.com/q-a-composer-daniel-thomas-davis-on-creating-family-secrets-kith-and-kin-with-7-librettists/

The year 2018 is shaping up to be a major one for composer Daniel Thomas Davis. On Feb. 15 and 16, he will witness the staged premiere of his 2015 opera “Family Secrets: Kith and Kin” and then, this weekend, his opera “Six. Twenty. Outrageous,” will also get its world premiere. The composer hails from North Carolina and has had {…}

News

Elina Garanča, Marlis Petersen & René Pape To Be Featured In Wigmore Hall 2018-19 Season

https://operawire.com/elina-garanca-marlis-petersen-rene-pape-to-be-featured-in-wigmore-hall-2018-19-season/

The Wigmore Hall’s 2018-19 Season has been announced with a number of recitals from some of the world’s greatest singers. The season will include a plethora of performances, including chamber music, song, piano, early music, contemporary music, and jazz. For this article, we will concentrate only on the singers. Mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly and Soprano Marlis Petersen will be featured as residents {…}

News

Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko & Renée Fleming Headline Star-Studded Carnegie Hall 2018-19 Season

https://operawire.com/jonas-kaufmann-anna-netrebko-renee-fleming-headline-star-studded-carnegie-hall-2018-19-season/

Carnegie Hall announced its 2018-19 season featuring some of the world’s greatest singers and musicians. To stick with opera, we will only be highlighting the singers who will be featured in the season. Orchestras Mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot will be featured with the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique under the direction of Sir John Eliot Gardiner in an all-Berlioz program. The program will feature {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Deutsche Oper Berlin 2017-18 Review – Carmen: Clémentine Margaine & Charles Castronovo Gutted By Director Obsessed With Human Organs & Vivisections

https://operawire.com/deutsche-oper-berlin-2017-18-review-carmen-clementine-margaine-charles-castronovo-gutted-by-director-obsessed-with-human-organs-vivisections/

Many opera directors today fall onto a particular idée fixe and refuse to let it go, no matter what dramaturgical or textual incongruities ensue. Vera Nemirova’s fazzoletto-laden “Otello” in Bucharest, Hans Neuenfels’ laboratory rats “Lohengrin” in Bayreuth or Krzysztof Warlikowski’s “Brokeback Mountain” “Eugene Onegin” in Munich immediately spring to mind. Joining the ignominious list is Norwegian theatre director, Ole Anders Tandberg’s {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

Prague National Theatre 2017-18 Review – Billy Budd: Britten Masterwork Capsizes In a Sea of Questionable Direction

https://operawire.com/prague-national-theatre-2017-18-review-billy-budd-britten-masterwork-capsizes-in-a-sea-of-questionable-direction/

Herman Melville, E.M. Forster, Eric Crozier and Benjamin Britten all believed that “Billy Budd” was set at sea. Czech theatre director Daniel Špinar thinks otherwise. His new four-act production of Britten’s psychologically fascinating, demonstrably homoerotic and deeply disturbing drama for the National Theatre in Prague had as much to do with HMS Indomitable as “Madama Butterfly” moved to Mozambique. In the {…}

Reviews, Stage Reviews

The Broad Stage Review 2018: Jonas Kaufmann’s Musical Genius Comes to Fore in Schubert’s ‘Die Schöne Mullerin’

https://operawire.com/the-broad-stage-review-2018-jonas-kaufmann/

Here is the story of a man and his brook… the poet and the maiden, the tenor and his Schubert. In other words – Jonas Kaufmann in Santa Monica, MLK day, 2018. Thirty somethings, 80 somethings, 39s, 48s, 24s… be-earringed, high-heeled, suited, sweat-shirted, flaming red and ocean blue hair, finely-knit sweaters, plain black jackets – all pressed through the doors {…}

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Mai Libera – How The Greatest Musical Passage in Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ Explores Violetta’s Endless Suffering

Teatro la Fenice 2017-18 Review – Zenobia: Embracing the Past & Future To Create Compelling Performance in the Present

Q & A: Countertenor John Holiday on Bernstein, Breakthroughs, & A Blessed Career

Q & A: Composer Daniel Thomas Davis on Creating ‘Family Secrets: Kith and Kin’ With 7 Librettists

Elina Garanča, Marlis Petersen & René Pape To Be Featured In Wigmore Hall 2018-19 Season

Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko & Renée Fleming Headline Star-Studded Carnegie Hall 2018-19 Season

Deutsche Oper Berlin 2017-18 Review – Carmen: Clémentine Margaine & Charles Castronovo Gutted By Director Obsessed With Human Organs & Vivisections

Prague National Theatre 2017-18 Review – Billy Budd: Britten Masterwork Capsizes In a Sea of Questionable Direction

The Broad Stage Review 2018: Jonas Kaufmann’s Musical Genius Comes to Fore in Schubert’s ‘Die Schöne Mullerin’