WAGNER: Die Walk¸re; Gˆtterd‰mmerung

Two weeks before viewing these DVDís, I attended a performance of the same opera at De Vlaamse Opera in a new production by Ivo van Hove; Flemish boss of the most important Amsterdam theatre company.

Which Is the Peopleís Opera? Let the Fireworks Begin

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/arts/music/11tomm.html?ref=music

This Time, Tragic Butterfly Lives in a Low-Frills Zone

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/12/arts/music/12butt.html?ref=music

PUCCINI: La Bohème

With the distance of time, is it allowable to feel affection for Herbert von Karajan, beyond any respect — grudging or otherwise — for his long, starry career?

WAGNER: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Recorded between 18 and 29 June 1984 at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus, this production of Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nűrnberg makes a classic presentation of the opera available in a two-DVD set issued in 2006 by Deutsche Grammophon.

Verdi Gala from Berlin

This concert was given on New Year’s eve in the year 2000, and the frail Claudio Abbado who
comes out to conduct makes for an alarming sight.

Berlin “Ring” remains a sterling achievement

It was in the “Orwell year” 1984 that Götz Friedrich, general manager — Intendant — of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB) from 1983 until his death in 2000, staged the first half of Wagner’s “Ring des Nibelungen” in the 1900-seat house on Berlin’s Bismarckstrasse.

Conlon makes his mark at LA Opera

To his work as music director of the Los Angeles Opera James Conlon brings two commitments that some in music would find incompatible.

OONY Performs Cilèa’s L’Arlesiana

It is well known that the Opera Orchestra of New York’s performances are required events for
opera aficionados to hear the the most exciting performances of the season.

Adams/Sellars “Tree” blossoms sublimely at SFS

Compared with Pamina and Tamino, Kumudha and her Prince, the central figures in “A Flowering Tree,” the John Adams and Peter Sellars collaboration given its American premiere on March 1 by the San Francisco Symphony, walk a rock-strewn road.