This review is for the performance on March 28, 2023. Roland Barthes once wrote an essay about “the Death of the Author;” David Livermore’s staging of Jacques Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” takes that seriously. Hoffmann is shot dead in the first scene. The author dead, does the opera survive? One of the biggest challenges for a staging “Hoffmann” is how {…}
The Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2023-24 season, which will feature a world premiere. Jamie Barton, Janai Brugger, J‘Nai Bridges, Caitlin Lynch, Nicholas Newton, Michael Mayes, and Joshua Blue star in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s “Intelligence.” Kwamé Ryan conducts the production by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Performance Dates: Oct. 20-Nov. 3, 2024 Reginald Smith, Jr. sings the title role of Vedi’s “Falstaff” with Nicole Heaston, Blake {…}
Opéra de Paris has announced a cast change for its production of “Ariodante.” The company said that Luca Pisaroni will no longer sing the role of il re di Scozia and will be replaced by Matthew Brook, who is making his Paris debut. Brook has performed all over Europe, Australia, North and South America, Far East, and has worked with conductors {…}
LA Opera has announced its 2023-24 season. Lucas Meachem, Guanqun Yu, Isabel Leonard, Anthony León, Craig Colclough, Meigui Zhang, Alan Williams, and Peixin Chen star in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni.” James Conlon conducts Kasper Holten. Performance Dates: Sept. 23–Oct. 15, 2023 Rossini’s “Il Barbiere di Siviglia” will star Emmett O’Hanlon, Isabel Leonard, Edgardo Rocha, Paolo Bordogna, and Luca Pisaroni. Louis Lohraseb conducts {…}
The Canadian Opera Company is set to present “The Marriage of Figaro.” The Mozart masterpiece will be performed eight times at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts between Jan. 27 and Feb. 18, 2023. The acclaimed Claus Guth production will be revived by Marcelo Buscaino of Brazil; the production had a previous run in 2016 and has also {…}
(Credit: Charles Duprat / Opéra national de Paris) (This review is for performances on November 25 and 27) Netia Jones’ staging proves how much an ill-conceived mis-en-scene can affect the music, even when it is Mozart. In Portuguese, we say that Mozart’s music must be as a perfect and smooth as a rare pearl. There is even an adjective “perolado” {…}
Seattle summers are glorious, and Seattle Opera’s sunny production of Donizetti’s “L’elisir d’amore” made this summer even more so. This tuneful comic diversion, originally mounted at the Santa Fe Opera, had just the right amount of sentimentality to put a smile on your face, and Donizetti’s hummable score goes down as easy as a bowl of pistachio gelato. Leaning into {…}
The Canadian Opera Company’s Free Concert Series in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre is set to return for the first time in three seasons on Sept. 20, 2022. The company’s 15th season as Toronto’s go-to venue for diverse cultural programming will feature 70 concerts, from September to June, that showcase global and local artists across a variety of genres and disciplines. {…}
This week a conductor releases the complete Beethoven symphonies and there is a rerelease of a Don Giovanni production. Here is a look at this week’s new releases. Beethoven: The Symphonies Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe present Beethoven’s nine symphonies in what is the very first recorded cycle to be based on the recently concluded New Complete Edition of the composer’s works. {…}
San Francisco Opera’s summer production of Mozart’s dark comedy “Don Giovanni” gives us so much more than we could ever ask for from this operatic gem. From the opening downbeat, conductor Bertrand de Billy led us through the variant plot twists and turns with the only questions being – Will we cheer for the great libertine’s demise? Or will we {…}
San Francisco Opera has announced that it will live stream three of its summer season performances. The company will stream “Don Giovanni” on June 12. The production will star Étienne Dupuis, Luca Pisaroni, Adela Zaharia, Nicole Car, Christina Gansch, and Amitai Pati. Bertrand de Billy conducts. That will be followed up by a stream of “Dream of The Red Chamber” {…}