(Photo credit: Keith Saunders) Puccini famously left the score of “Turandot” incomplete at his death in 1924, and its last minutes have been completed by other composers such as Franco Alfano (1926) and most recently Luciano Berio (2002). Arturo Toscanini conducting the premiere a century ago simply put down his baton at the point where Puccini had stopped composing and {…}
(Credit: Javier del Real / Teatro Real) Twenty years after its triumphant—and undeniably provocative—debut at the Salzburg Festival, Willy Decker’s “La Traviata” stormed the stage of Madrid’s Teatro Real. It is striking how a production that once shocked audiences has become a recognized classic, revealing its timeless, almost metaphysical essence. Premiered in 1853 at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, “La Traviata” {…}
(Photo: Tristram Kenton) “Eugene Onegin,” Tchaikovsky’s reworking of Pushkin’s verse novel into seven ‘lyric scenes,’ has not been seen on the Covent Garden stage for nearly a decade. Ted Huffman’s new staging would have been an event for that reason alone, but its significance was underlined by the fact that it sees one of the most striking young directors making {…}
(Photo: © ROH 2024. Photo by Tristram Kenton) It’s 35 years since Bryn Terfel delivered a barnstorming, roof-raising rendition of “Die Frist ist um” from “Der fliegende Holländer” at Cardiff Singer of the World. His battle then with the late Dmitri Hvorostovsky was as titanic as the great oceanic, cosmic forces that suffuse Wagner’s 1843 opera. Much has changed vocally, {…}
Verdi’s “I Vespri Siciliani” was last on the stage in Naples back in 2011, featuring the original French version created by the composer for the Opera de Paris in 1855. This year, however, Teatro San Carlo is showcasing the Italian rendition, which is more commonly performed in Italy, without the ballet sequences. The narrative, crafted by Eugene Scribe’s libretto, revolves {…}
This review was written by David & Francisco Salazar for the performance on Jan. 24, 2019. With the double bill of “Iolanta” and “Bluebeard’s Castle,” director Mariusz Trelinski sought to explore how the search for vision could lead to growth but inversely lead to darker truths and self-destruction. When his production returned to the Met Opera on Thursday, Jan. 24, {…}
Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta” and Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” will return to the Metropolitan Opera as a double after a successful run a few seasons ago. On first look, it seems like a strange combination with the composers’ styles rather different overall. It takes a truly strong maestro to move from Tchaikovsky’s lush lyrical qualities to Bartók’s challenging harmonic structures. Hungarian maestro Henrik {…}