Tosca. Mimí. Rodolfo and his bohemian friends. Musetta. Suor Angelica. Manon Lescaut. Gianni Schicchi. Turandot. Cio-Cio San. The list goes on and on when it comes to Puccini’s iconic characters. Each and everyone is crucial to the composer’s output and the way that he gives them each unique voices are a part of the reason for his transcendence. In honor {…}
Giacomo Puccini lived during the age of Verismo, but he couldn’t easily be pinned down to said opera genre. In fact, much like Verdi before him, he was far greater because he defies categorization. Puccini’s works strive for the same exoticism that we find in composers that preceded him and like Verdi’s forays into “Ancient Egypt” or Rossini’s into Algiers {…}
Puccini is undeniably one of those names that will forever be linked with opera. Born on Dec. 22, 1858 (his full name was Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini) in Lucca, Italy, he was set to occupy the position of maestro di cappella after his father’s death. However, he was only six-years-old and unable to occupy the position his {…}
Any time an opera production begins with non-textual lines, especially in a language different to the libretto, alarm bells ring louder the tubular Grail chimes in “Parsifal.” Such was the case in Davide Livermore’s new staging of “Manon Lescaut” for the Gran Teatre del Liceu which had already been seen in co-production with the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Instead of {…}
The Gran Teatre del Liceu will showcase a production of “Manon Lescaut” on Saturday, June 16, 2018. The performance will be broadcast on La 2 in Barcelona as well as in Madrid in the Plaza Mayor and on mobile devices via RTVE. The performance will star Liudmyla Monastyrska in the title role with David Bizic as her brother. Gregory Kunde {…}
“Opera Meets Film” is a feature dedicated to exploring the way that opera has been employed in cinema. We will select a section or a film in its entirety, highlighting the impact that utilizing the operatic form or sections from an opera can alter our perception of a film that we are viewing. This week’s installment we will take a {…}
Graham Vick having already produced “Manon Lescaut” in a traditional manner, a production with which he admitted to being less than pleased with, decided to take a fundamentally different approach for this production at the Teatro Filharmonico, Verona. Instead of presenting it as a simple narrative, Vick represented the work as a “morality lesson,” in a modern day setting, but {…}
Three years before he premiered “La Bohème,” Puccini gave the world “Manon Lescaut.” The opera, based on the novel by Abbé Prévost, premiered on Feb. 1, 1893, and put Puccini in the public eye as a serious opera composer. The work differs quite greatly from the “Manon” of Massenet, the Tuscan maestro himself comparing his interest in the subject matter {…}
Daniel Auber, born on Jan. 29, 1782, was one of France’s leading composers in his day. During his time he was a master of the ópera comique and featured prominently throughout his home-country. He had a long-running collaboration with noted librettist Eugène Scribe. In sum, he has over 30 works to his name. And yet, he isn’t part of the {…}
Puccini, born on Dec. 22, 1858, has provided the entire world with some of the greatest operas ever conceived by mankind. With his lush melodies that pull on anyone’s heartstrings and his incredible sense of drama, the composer became the Italian heir to Verdi and essentially the end of the formal line of Italian tradition. After Puccini’s death in the {…}
Karine Babajanyan is well known for her wide-ranging repertoire in the lirico-spinto fach, performing the works of Verdi and Puccini and many of the Verismo composers. She has particularly become well-known for her interpretations of “Madama Butterfly,” “Tosca,” “Aida,” Amelia in “Un Ballo in Maschera” and has travelled to many of the leading theaters including the Berlin Staatsoper, the Hamburg Staatsoper, {…}