It is blatantly evident that there is a connection between the advent of cinema and the decline of Opera. Once the main form of entertainment, the operatic stage lost its prominence to the silver screen. There is something that opera used to give that cinema somehow gave, too—the question is what? Last year, the Salzburg Festival attempted to bridge the {…}
(Credit: Emilie Brouchon) Offenbach’s “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” might be the most passionate love letter ever written to opera. After a career creating operettas and comic works, the composer set his sights on creating an opera, a work that would align with his style and sensibilities, but also one that would transcend them. And from it came a work that is {…}
Opera Rara is set to release a new recording of Offenbach’s “La Princesse de Trébizonde” on Sept. 22, 2023. This recording represents the premiere studio recording of musicologist Jean-Christophe Keck’s critical edition of the three-act version from December 1969. Additionally, per an official press statement issued by the company, audiences will get a chance to hear previously unpublished excerpts from {…}
The Greek National Opera has teamed up with the Opéra Comique de Paris for a special presentation of Jacques Offenbach’s “Le Voyage dans la Lune.” The production is set to open on July 12 and 13, 2023, at Stavros Niarchos Hall (SNFCC). Conducted by Elias Voudouris, with costume and direction by Laurent Pelly, “Le Voyage dans la Lune” stars Agathe {…}
Opera Ithaca is set to present Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld” starting on April 28, 2023. The work will star Charles Carlotta as Orpheus, Francesca Federico as Eurydice, Gabriel Hernandez as Pluto, and Bryan Murray as Jupiter. The production will get an additional performance on April 29, 2023. Both showcases will be presented at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, NY. {…}
Spotlight Artists Management is set to present “Christmas in the Village” on Dec. 9, 2022 at St. John’s in the Village in New York City. The showcase will feature music by Korngold, Strauss, Bach, Catalani, Schubert, Ravel, Guastavino, de Falla, Offenbach, Piazzola, and Nataliya Medvedovskaya. Performers include Eugenia Forteza, Zoya Gramagin, Lucas Levy, Sara Beth Pearson, and Daniel Scofield. Alexander {…}
(This review is for performances of Nov. 13 and 14. Performed was the 1874 three–act version of the opera.) On paper, few performances of Offenbach’s “La Périchole” could be more exciting than this new production at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées: Laurent Pelly is arguably the director most knowledgeable about Offenbach’s affairs working right now; Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musicians du {…}
Opera Rara is set to present Offenbach’s “La Princesse de Trébizonde” on Sept. 16, 2022 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. The opera, which will feature Paul Daniel conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra, will star Anne-Catherine Gillet, Virginie Verrez, Christophe Gay, Josh Lovell, Katia Ledoux, Antoinette Dennefeld, Loïc Félix, and Christophe Mortagne. This marks the UK premiere of the {…}
Perhaps no other work within the conventional canon of comic opera, of which Rossini, Donizetti, Mozart, Webern, and Lehar find their respective places, has achieved so much lasting success as Jacques Offenbach’s two (then four) act opéra bouffon “Orphée aux enfers.” It was composed between 1855 and 1858 as a humorous reaction to the stuffy court opera aesthetic and hyper-focus {…}
(Credit; Vincent Pontet / Théâtres Champs Elysées) Late in Offenbach’s operetta “La Vie Parisienne” the ensemble comes together to celebrate how Parisian life is all fun and games. And the work certainly sets out to explore how a cornucopia of people, Parisians and otherwise, come together to engage in role-playing, identity switches, sexual rendez-vous’, Mozart jokes, etc. On the surface {…}
(Credit: Opernhaus Zürich official website) The Opernhaus Zürich has announced that it will cancel all the regular performances until at least May 1, 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic concerns and anticipated restrictions in the cultural sector. Among the canceled productions are Richard Strauss‘ operatic masterwork “Capriccio,” concert performances of Rossini’s opera “La donna del Lago,” as well as {…}