(Photo: ©Teatro Grande di Brescia – Umberto Favretto) Homosexuality, unfortunately, remains a taboo subject. It is less noticeable in large cities, but in small towns it is still very much in evidence. The love affair between composer Benjamin Britten and tenor Peter Pears, on the other hand, was no secret. They treated their relationship with such naturalness that Britten practically {…}
(Photo: Birgit Gufler) Baroque opera is no stranger to theatrical excess. With its lavish sets, fabulous costumes, spectacular stage effects, and array of mythical heroes, gods and monsters, it could never be accused of understatement. Yet, Antonio Cesti’s 1668 opera, “Il pomo d’oro,” took it all to a new level. This was an opera on a whole new scale, one {…}
(Photo: Zani-Casadio) In his program notes, the director, Pier Luigi Pizzi, writing about “Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria,” stated that “the opera speaks for itself,” adding, “we must not induce or force its interpretation… It is up to the audience to confront it, to think about it, and to decide for themselves whether or not it is worthwhile.” Even {…}
(Photo credit: Nikolai Schukoff) The Festival Barocco Alessandro Stradella has announced its line up for the 2024 season. This article only features vocal works. Opening the festival, artistic director Andrea De Carlo leads the Ensemble Mare Nostrum in Stradella’s oratorio “San Giovanni Battista.” Soloist are sopranos Silvia Frigato and Dorota Szczepańska, countertenor Danilo Pastore, tenor Roberto Manuel Zangari, and bass {…}
(Photo: Studio B12 di Gianpaolo Guarneri) The duet “Pur ti miro, pur ti godo,” which brought Teatro Aligheri’s presentation of “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” to its conclusion, was rightly met with enthusiastic applause from the audience. The sensitivity, emotional depth and detail that countertenor Federico Fiorio and soprano Roberta Mameli were able to bring to their singing was breathtaking. Their voices {…}
(Photo: Michele Crosera) On May 13th 1767, the students of the Salzburg University Gymnasium premiered the three-act intermezzo “Apollo et Hyacinthus.” The significance of the event was that it was the first performance of an opera composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was 11 years old at the time. Although its music certainly has much to commend it, dramatically it {…}
(Photo: Stradella Y-Project) Situated about a two minute walk from Rome’s Piazza Navona is the Palazzo Altemps, a building originally designed by Melozzo da Forlì for Girolamo Riario, Lord of Imola in the fifteenth century. Over the years it was enlarged and developed into what is now a magnificent Renaissance residence. The Riario family’s tenure of the building was a {…}