(Credit: © Tessa Traeger) On Sept. 26, Carlo Rizzi opened the Metropolitan Opera for the third time in his career. However, that experience was unique because he was conducting “Medea” for the time ever. And it’s just the first of three works at the Met this season. A few days after the opening, the conductor returned to the podium to {…}
(Credit: KarenAlmond/Metropolitan Opera) A “shabby little shocker.” That’s how musicologist Joseph Kerman described Puccini’s “Tosca.” Shabby? No. A little shocker? No. It’s a big shocker. Perhaps we’ve become inured to how dark and violent “Tosca” is with scenes of rape, murder, torture, and suicide. There was no mistaking the grittiness of Puccini’s fast-paced thriller at the Metropolitan Opera. The October {…}
(Photos by Marty Sohl / Met Opera) Works & Process at the Guggenheim is set to present a preview of the Met Opera’s upcoming production of “Medea” on Sept. 19, 2022. The event will feature soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, director David McVicar, conductor Carlo Rizzi, tenor Matthew Polenzani, soprano Janai Brugger, and pianist Howard Watkins in a panel discussion that will {…}
(Photo: ROF/Amati Bacciardi) There are many operas that rarely see the light of day. Even some works by the great composers are lucky to receive more than an occasional staging; one need only think of Wagner’s or Verdi’s early works. Often, this neglect is unjustified, but sometimes, it’s simply because the opera is not very good. Second Rate Rossini Unfortunately, {…}
Jan. 13, 2022, saw the second performance in the Metropolitan Opera’s run of Puccini’s “La Boheme.” As the perennially-beautiful Zeffirelli production continues to delight, the evening’s cast, led by Maestro Carlo Rizzi, succeeded in bringing their passion and vitality to bear before the audience. Outstanding Leads Fresh from his work with the Berlin Staatsoper, Charles Castronovo was in fine form {…}
Opera Rara has announced it will be recording Leoncavallo’s “Zingari.” The record company announced that it will record the rarely performed work and perform it at Cadogan Hall on Dec. 3 with a cast that includes Krassimira Stoyanova, Carlos Álvarez, Łukasz Goliński, and Arsen Soghomonyan. Carlo Rizzi, the company’s new Music Director will lead the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The new {…}
(Credit: Johan Person) “Les vêpres siciliennes” is one of Verdi’s few substantive forays into the bloated dimensions of Meyerbeerian grand opera, and less frequently performed than its iconic companions “Aida” and “Don Carlo.” David Pountney’s new production of Verdi’s 1855 story of revolution, love and duty, created in collaboration with the Theater Bonn, was hotly anticipated as it marked the {…}
(Credit: Tessa Traeger) Operavision will kick off its 2019-20 series of live streams with Puccini’s “La Bohème” from the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai on September 6, 2019. The famed opera will feature Giordano Lucà as Rodolfo with Olena Tokar as Mimì. Other cast members include Maria Mudryak, Andrea Bonsignore, Andrea Concetti, Daniele Terenzi, and Matteo Peirone. {…}
Opera Rara has announced that Carlo Rizzi will be Opera Rara’s Artistic Director succeeding Sir Mark Elder, who will step down in September 2019. Rizzi first collaborated with Opera Rara in 2017 on two discs of bel canto arias with Joyce El-Khoury and Michael Spyres titled Écho and Espoir and set to conduct numerous future projects with the company. Elder finishes his tenure conducting Puccini’s first {…}
Arrigo Boito’s “Mefistofele” is a work of glorious moments that has yet to find a stable place in the standard repertoire. Despite being derived from Goethe’s famed “Faust,” great arias for the major leads, and an amazing part for any opera house’s chorus, it has never been as popular as other adaptations of the same source material(ie: Gounod’s “Faust”). In {…}
Puccini’s “Tosca” received its 966th performance at the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday, Oct. 25. The work featured the second revival of David McVicar’s production from last season, with some unique distinctions. As noted in last year’s review of this production, this version of the work’s success will live or die based on whether the performers bring a strong perspective to {…}