Grange Park Opera, the brainchild of go-getting impresario Wasfi Kani, has taken an energetic approach to the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year, seeing opportunity in challenge. They commissioned and performed a brand new work last summer on the hoof, “A Feast in a time of Plague;” they have offered filmed versions of Britten’s “Owen Wingrave” and Ravel’s “L’heure Espagnole.” {…}
(Credits: LA Opera official website / Kristen Hoebermann / Dario Acosta / Opéra National de Paris official website) Opéra de Lille has announced its 2021-22 season. Here is a look. Operas André Campra’s “Idoménée” spotlights Tassis Christoyannis, Samuel Boden, Chiara Skerath, Hélène Carpentier, Eva Zaïcik, Yoann Dubruque, Victor Sicard, Enguerrand de Hys, and Frédéric Caton. Emmanuelle Haïm conducts the production {…}
Lockdown has meant more people than ever consuming opera through streams, broadcasts, and archive videos, often from leading houses. It has proved a mixed experience for many. The spectacle of opera, and its broad-brush gestures, can feel boxy on the small screen; so too can its emotional climaxes feel oddly overblown out of a theatrical context. There have been innovative {…}