Credit: Chris Singer Celebrated American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will start 2021 with a trio of concerts in Spain. First in the line will be a concert at the Auditorio Príncipe Felipe de Oviedo on Jan. 8, followed by a concert at the Palau de la Música de Barcelona on Jan. 10. The final performance will be held at the Teatro {…}
(Credit: Jason Daniel Shaw) The Teatro Massimo di Palermo has announced that the recital of Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci scheduled for Nov. 15, 2020 has been redesigned due to the ongoing concerns over COVID-19. The new program will include Tosti’s “Quattro canzoni d’Amaranta,” Ottorino Respighi’s “Liriche,” “Venezia” by Reynaldo Hahn, and Francis Poulenc’s “La voix humaine.” Donald Sulzen will {…}
(Credit: Chris Singer) Only seven days before the COVID-19 pandemic fell on our heads, American mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato was in New York portraying the role of Agrippina at the Metropolitan Opera House. Taking on the role of the cunning queen, DiDonato already had been in the eye of the storm. At that moment very few people really understood well what {…}
(Photo Credit: Dario Acosta) February 4, 2020, saw the latest installment of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, with the evening’s recital featuring renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau. The program, titled “Fauenliebe und –leben: Variations,” took Schumann’s song cycle and fleshed out a fuller narrative, using a breadth of musical works from other composers which spanned eight languages. {…}
***This review has been edited from its original form. A previous version stated that the presentation of the concert version was the result of a “break down of the machine” by Robert LePage, which was incorrect and irresponsibly misinterpreted information on the part of the writer. Last June, the Metropolitan Opera announced that its upcoming production of “La Damnation de {…}
(Credit: Julien Benhamou) Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust” returns to the Metropolitan Opera for the first time since 2009. While recognized as one of the great works by its composer, it has not been a fixture at the Met by any stretch of the imagination. While it had its company premiere all the way back in 1896, it has only {…}
Conceiving an artistically defining experience that tells the story of Faust as an opera might seem overwhelming and too intense of an idea. Especially when one considers how this story was composed and experienced by Berlioz in concert form and that portraying Faust’s journey to hell, could be hell itself. In “La damnation de Faust,” Berlioz emphasizes the lord of {…}
Mezzo soprano Elīna Garanča will not be participating in the Opéra de Paris’ upcoming production of “Les Troyens.” The company made the announcement via Twitter noting that the Latvian artist had withdrawn due to health reasons. In her stead, the role of Didon will be performed by Russian mezzo Ekaterina Semenchuk, who was previously scheduled to appear in “Rusalka.” Per {…}
Hector Berlioz is one of the most influential French composers of all time. Born on Dec. 11, 1803, Berlioz was supposed to become a doctor like his father. But he opted for a career in music and soon found himself at odds with the musical establishment in Paris. However, he would win the Prix de Rome in 1830. His first {…}
Warner Classics is set to honor the 150th anniversary of Hector Berlioz’s death with the release of the first-ever complete recorded edition of the composer’s works. The new box set, entitled “Berlioz: The Complete Works,” will feature 27 discs with milestone recordings spanning over 60 years of the Warner Classics, Erato, and Universal. The collection will include a recording of “Les {…}
Berlioz’s “Les Troyens” is not only his greatest opera but arguably one of the greatest not only in the French repertoire but the entire canon at large. The work had its world premiere in three acts on Nov. 4, 1863, before surprisingly disappearing from the repertoire for decades. In fact, the first staged performance of the work didn’t even take {…}