(Photo credit: Seattle Opera © Philip Newton) Why build an elaborate faux-underwater set for the Rhine scenes in Wagner’s “Ring” when you have an orchestra pit that can make a perfectly plausible stage river? It’s an idea so obvious, you think surely, it must have been tried already. This is the solution found by Brian Staufenbiel, tasked with staging “Das {…}
The Seattle Symphony has announced its 2023-24 season featuring a number of vocal performances. Here is a look at the vocal performances. Ludovic-Morlot conducts Alexandra LoBianco in the opening night concert featuring music by Jules Massenet, Arthur Honegger, Franz Schubert, and Richard Wagner. Performance Dates: Sept. 21 & 23, 2023 Sunny Xia conducts Harold Blake’s The “Snowman” with the Northwest {…}
During my 40 years of being obsessed with opera, and five years singing in major choral works, I realize it’s a bit odd that Verdi’s Requiem never entered my sphere. I have never experienced it live, nor even owned a recording. Please do not shame me. I am somewhat familiar with a couple of the most famous sections: the driving {…}
New and old come together in this weekend’s major picks. There will be a unique world premiere as well as a revival of two recent premieres. You also have a mix of some repertory staples taking the nation’s capital by storm. Anna Bolena – Baltimore Concert Opera, Maryland The Baltimore Concert Opera continues its season with a presentation of the {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2020-21 season featuring a number of established as well as rising stars. Here is a detailed look at the upcoming productions: The season opens with Bizet’s “Carmen” with a cast that includes Isabel Leonard and Carolyn Sproule alternating in the role of Carmen, Andrea Caré and Frederick Ballentine alternating as Don José, Anita {…}
With an excellent cast and fine playing from the orchestra under Conductor Dean Williamson, Arizona Opera presented Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” at Phoenix Symphony Hall on April 5, 2019. Moral High Ground Stage Director Tara Faircloth chose to expand upon the amusing situations in Lorenzo da Ponte’s libretto, so that cast members were often running around the {…}