Lincoln Center Great Performers 2020 Review: Susan Graham & Malcolm Martineau

(Photo Credit: Dario Acosta) February 4, 2020, saw the latest installment of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series, with the evening’s recital featuring renowned mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau. The program, titled “Fauenliebe und –leben: Variations,” took Schumann’s song cycle and fleshed out a fuller narrative, using a breadth of musical works from other composers which spanned eight languages. {…}

Jan 12, 2020

Jennifer Holloway to Highlight Atlanta Opera’s New ‘Salome’

(Credit: Arielle Doneson) The Atlanta Opera is set to premiere Tomer Zvulun’s new production of “Salome” on Jan. 25, 2020. The work will star Jennifer Holloway in her U.S. title role debut with Arthur Fagen conducting. Holloway has turned “Salome” into one of her signature roles, performing it in Dreseden, Mannheim, Leipzig, Bilbao, and England’s Opera North. Nathan Berg will {…}

Dec 26, 2019

Park Avenue Concert Series 2019 Review: Frederick Schlick, Mariana Barbosa, Natalia Strzelecka, & Amelia Burshe

On December 21, 2019, the Eurasia Festival presented the second concert of its Park Avenue Concert Series. Held at the organization’s new location of the Eurasia Cultural Center, this series gives performance opportunities to students of the “Azatt Sessions,” a series of classes taught by director Mark Verzatt and Eurasia Festival President and pianist, Aza Sydykov. A Tenor Opens Opening {…}

Dec 1, 2019

Lincoln Center Great Performers 2019-20 Review: Magdalena Kožená

(Photo Credit: Kevin Yatarola) On November 26, 2019, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall was host to the latest iteration of its Great Performers series. This installment saw Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená joined by a number of distinguished artists, including Simon Rattle, violinists Giovanni Guzzo and Rahel Maria Rilling, violist Amihai Grosz, cellist David Adorjan, flutist Kaspar Zehnder and clarinetist Andrew {…}

Jan 3, 2019

Spoleto Festival USA 2019 To Showcase Richard Strauss Masterwork

The Spoleto Festival USA has announced its 2019 season, which will feature one major opera production, among other performances. The festival will open with a production of Strauss’ “Salome.” The famed opera will be directed by Patrice Caurier and Mosh Leiser, with the intention of setting the work in a present-day city. It will be the duo’s ninth year with {…}

Jul 24, 2018

Bidding Starts on Handwritten Richard Strauss Manuscript

On June 26, 2018, bidders at the Nat D. Sanders Auctions will have the chance to go home with a piece of opera history. The item is question is the manuscript for the finale of Richard Strauss’ 1935 opera “Die schweigsame Frau,” or “The Silent Woman.” The opera itself was the subject of controversy in the 1930s due to Richard {…}

Feb 5, 2018

Houston Grand Opera 2017-18 Review – Elektra: The Great Goerke Is the Finest Elektra Of Our Time

The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey forced the Houston Grand Opera out of its regular space in the Wortham Theater Center and into a temporary one, dubbed HGO Resilience Theater inside the cavernous George Brown Convention Center in downtown. Experiencing a performance in such an unusual setting wasn’t a unique experience for me after seeing a production of “Tannhauser” inside a {…}

Oct 25, 2017

Opera Profile: Strauss’ ‘Ariadne Auf Naxos’

“Ariadne auf Naxos” is among the more popular Strauss works in the canon, its status the result of its glorious and lush melodies that accompany its passionate love duet. But the opera as we know it today was not the way it was originally conceived. The version that premiered on Oct. 25, 1912, was actually little more than a 30-minute {…}

Oct 24, 2017

3 Composers That Defined Cheryl Studer’s Career

Cheryl Studer, one of the most unique sopranos in recent history. Born on Oct. 24, 1955, she put together an enviable career that ranged from singing a tremendous amount of opera roles as dramatic and lyric soprano and then mezzo, to winning a plethora of major awards, to eventually becoming a teacher. She recorded countless albums and her legacy is {…}

Sep 15, 2017

San Francisco Opera 2017-18 Review: Christine Goerke Is Powerful In San Francisco’s ‘Elektra’

San Francisco Opera’s “Elektra” is a powerhouse! From the minute the curtain rises on the “Museum Elektra,” filled with the artifacts of the Greek age and styled with an array of modern visitors, complete with cell phones and baseball caps, one strange dark-haired woman skulking around from this case to that, defying the Guards who monitor the whole scene until {…}

Jun 19, 2017

Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck Review 2017 – Capriccio: A Thought-Provoking & Stirring Interpretation of Strauss’ Late Masterwork

It may be wondered why Strauss decided to write an opera about the relative merits of the words and music in opera: “prima la musica o prima le parole?” Although it is a debate as old as opera itself, it is hardly a subject that is likely to excite potential audiences, and it is no doubt one of the reasons {…}

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