(Credit: Javier del Real) There are operas that survive by turning into monuments–and others by remaining dangerously alive. “Carmen” belongs to the second category. It refuses preservation. It resists comfort. And every so often, a production appears that reminds one why this work still unsettles rather than reassures. Production Details Damiano Michieletto’s “Carmen” at Teatro Real is one of those {…}
(Ph. Brescia – Amisano © Teatro alla Scala) In a suitcase–acquired expressly to transport it due to its weight and size–travels, rehearsal after rehearsal and performance after performance, the score of “Il nome della rosa,” weighing an impressive 15 kilograms. Yet the heft of this voluminous tome is not merely physical but also semiotic: it is the fruit of the {…}
(Photo ©2024 Camilla Greenwell) In a recent interview with director Damiano Michieletto at the Venice production of “The Tales of Hoffmann,” he said: “At its heart it is a journey into fantasy. It is opera fantastique, after all!” One definition of the French word fantastique is: a term for a literary and cinematic genre and mode that is characterized by {…}