(Credit: Lorenzo Gaudenzi) “Powder Her Face” by Thomas Adès premiered at the Cheltenham Music Festival on July 1st, 1995. While the opera was well-received by music critics, “Powder Her Face” became notorious for its sexually explicit content. With a libretto by Philip Hensher, the opera tells the story of Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, a famous British socialite of the twentieth {…}
The shortlist for the Gramophone Awards 2019 has been announced. For the purposes of this article, we will focus solely on opera or vocal related awards. In the opera category, John Adams’ “Doctor Atomic” with the compose conducting was the first of three selections. Halevy’s “La Reine de Chypre” was the second nomination; this production featured the Orchestre de chambre {…}
Faber Music is set to release a new edition of Thomas Adès’ “The Tempest.” The score will be made available for the first time as a beautifully produced, limited-edition publication. Per a press release by Faber Music, the unique cased score, featuring color plates of the composer’s original manuscript and sketches, will be published on August 8, 2018. The 250 copies {…}
Baritone Simon Keenlyside was knighted in the Queen’s birthday honors list. The baritone, who is best known for his interpretations of Mozart, was among the list of classical music figures who were honored by the queen. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was made a Companion of Honour, joining the likes of conductor Sir Mark Elder and percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie in the prestigious order. Composer Thomas {…}
“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 features the classic “The {…}
Luis Buñuel’s “The Exterminating Angel” is one of the iconic surrealist masterpieces of all cinema. Set at an upper-class dinner, the film analyzes how people revert to their basest of instincts when they get stuck in a room that they inexplicably cannot escape. The film succeeds in its ability to blend the normal with the unreal in rather claustrophobic fashion, {…}
Over the past few years, Frédéric Antoun has made a mark on many of the leading theaters in the world, singing a variety of repertoire with vocal purity and nuance. This week, Metropolitan Opera audiences will finally get a chance to hear this French-Canadian singer as he makes his debut in the role of Raul in Thomas Adès’ “The Exterminating {…}
On Oct. 26, 2017, the Metropolitan Opera will present the American Premiere of Thomas Adès’ “The Exterminating Angel.” The opera is an adaptation of Luis Buñuel’s famed film that showcases a group of people unable to get out of a room. As the days pass, the tension builds but the people find no answers to their odd situation. The opera {…}
It can be hard to get a chance to hear some of the greatest opera singers in the world in the theater. But many great artists have seen their efforts preserved on some form of recording, whether it be in studio recordings or video. OperaWire’s Artist of the Week Isabel Leonard has a unique recorded library which features numerous classics {…}