Merkur Interviews Edita Gruberova and Friedrich Haider on the Dissolution of the Rundfunkorchester

Von Gefühl und Geist keine Ahnung Edita Gruberova und Friedrich Haider zur Auflösung des Rundfunkorchesters bq. Für den Bayerischen Rundfunk mit Intendant Thomas Gruber an der Spitze mag das Münchner…

Le Monde Reviews La Traviata at La Fenice: High Praise for Cast — Carsen’s Production a Cliché

La Fenice refaite à neuf lance sa saison avec une “Traviata” façon années 1970 LE MONDE | 17.11.04 | 18h19 Le théâtre vénitien, rénové après l’incendie de 1996, présente l’œuvre…

On Lulu’s Portrait

Ascription of Identity: The Bild Motif and the Character of Lulu Silvio José Dos Santos The most controversial aspect of Alban Berg’s opera Lulu — and one that has generated…

The Biting Kiss

“Pardon me, but your teeth are in my neck”: Giambattista Marino, Claudio Monteverdi, and the bacio mordace Massimo Ossi Claudio Monteverdi’s “Eccomi pronta ai baci” presents an odd pairing of…

Wiener Staatsoper Announces Program Remembering 50th Anniversary of Rebuilding of Opera House

On 5 November 2005, the Wiener Staatsoper will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the rebuilding of the opera house, which had been destroyed near the end of World War II.…

More on the Reopening of La Fenice and La Scala

Opera house rises from the ashes — again After fire and years of controversial renovations, Venice’s La Fenice and Milan’s La Scala raise the curtains By PAUL FRENCH Special to…

Pro Ópera on Daniel Catán’s Salsipuedes at HGO

Salsipuedes ha llegado a buen puerto Modelo que muestra a Ulises y Chucho a bordo de “El invencible” Dentro de la presente temporada de la Gran ópera de Houston, se…

WSJ Reviews Le Grande Macabre and The Flying Dutchman at the SFO

Waiting for the End of the World
By HEIDI WALESON [WSJ]
November 17, 2004
San Francisco
Many listeners know Gyorgy Ligeti from the creepily futuristic orchestral music in the soundtrack of the 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.” His opera “Le Grand Macabre” (1978, revised in 1996), given its American premiere this month by the San Francisco Opera, is a thoroughly different creature, yet it is just as much an artifact of its time. Though carefully crafted and full of compositional references, the score is mostly an elbow-in-the-ribs accompaniment to a nihilistic black comedy. Beginning with an opening fanfare for car horns that sounds like Harpo Marx multiplied and continuing with a parody of the “Dies Irae,” the prophecy of the Day of Judgment, the opera is a soulless and often scatological joke.

Manhattan School of Music to Present Hoiby’s A Month in the Country

LEE HOIBY: A Month in the Country Libretto by William Ball after the play by Ivan Turgenev The Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater presents Lee Hoiby’s A Month in…

I Puritani at Baltimore Opera

More than meeting Bellini’s demands Baltimore company sings ‘I Puritani’ with polish, precision and control By Tim Smith Sun Music Critic November 15, 2004 Bel canto – “beautiful singing.” It’s…