Even though the holiday season is at an end, there are some rather exciting recordings heading to the market. Interestingly, both works are by composers of decidedly different eras which makes them a fascinating exercise in stylistic counterpoint for those who might want to pick them both up. Orphée et Euridice Gluck’s famed opera will be released in French with {…}
Yes, it’s that time of the year where we wax poetic about transformative experiences we have had over the course of the last 300 or so days. Sometimes we curate these experiences as rankings to fuel some individual emotions, and at other moments we simply do what we are doing with this piece – let a few different people chip {…}
We had the unexpected pleasure of attending the last Cycle of the Keith Warner production of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (September 26 through November 2, 2018). Warner’s production, like most modern productions, had several insightful touches and many silly ones. The performance begins and ends with the Rhine Maidens in a “natural state” {…}
Suspension of disbelief is crucial in the opera-going world – its characters being frequently endowed with childlike minds that have no sense of time or fear of consequence. With its apparently ageless characters and scarcely tenable premise, Verdi’s tale of “Simon Boccanegra” – the 14th century’s first Doge of Genoa – has few laurels on which it can rest. Encompassing {…}
Naxos has announced its acquisition of the Opus Arte label from the Royal Opera House. The company announced that the acquisition marks a step in the company’s expansion of its audiovisual activities, as video continues to gain importance in the classical music industry. Klaus Heymann, the Founder and Chairman of the Naxos Music Group, said in a press release, “Our group has {…}
The Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires is the most important opera house on the planet. At least that is what tourism website Travel 365 has asserted. Per the website, the theatre, which is at the heart of the Argentine City, is “a true monument of theatrical, lyrical and acoustic art, undoubtedly the best of all time.” Teatro Colón director María {…}
This Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018, audiences will get to experience the second installment in Wagner’s “Der Ring des Nibelungen” in cinemas. “Die Walküre,” often seen as the most popular of the four operas included in the famed tetralogy, will head to the silver screen with a cast that includes Stuart Skelton as Siegmund and Emily Magee as his twin sister {…}
Dangerously close to the genre of farce, Verdi’s “Falstaff” almost lifts the burden of tough singing from its players. Centered on a large ensemble cast to which – with the exception of the titular protagonist – the vocal challenges are doled out almost equally, its arias are largely scant. Transferring the setting from 15th-century London to a fanciful, blown-up and {…}
So much is Don Juan’s tale the stuff of legend that it lends itself as easily to various interpretations as Greek myths. For every legendary story that encounters many incarnations – be it Tristan and Isolde’s love, Medea’s filicide or Romeo and Juliet – there comes a time when it is not only acceptable, but fascinating to encounter the familiar {…}
The word “Bohemian” – much like the popular terms “retro,” “Goth,” or “vintage” – is yet another label that has offered countless inferences over a plethora of different times. The “Bohème” clique of Puccini, undercut by the whimsy and exuberance of Italian verismo, would contrast with a play rendition of its source, Henri Murger’s “Scènes de la Vie de Bohème.” {…}
Its preludes are themselves landmarks of beauty – but Wagner’s 1850 opera “Lohengrin” is a prelude to his future epics. Rooted in Arthurian legend, taking the son of King Parsifal as its hero, and featuring prayers to the pagan gods Wotan and Freia, it is another battle between the divine and the mortal. In mythical medieval Brabant, Count Friedrich von {…}