Originally directed by Brooks Riley for German television, this updated staging of Engelbert Humperdinck’s familiar opera H‰nsel und Gretel is based on a production created by Johannes Felsenstein, the son of the well-known director of the Komische Oper Berlin, Walter Felsenstein.
Month: April 2009
Cavalleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci at the MET
The current revival of Cav and Pag at the Met went off like clockwork, with all the comfort and reliability that implies for a repertory house and all the success these tried and true verismo stalwarts merit.
Benjamin Britten: Owen Wingrave
In the parlance of a Hollywood film pitch, Britten’s penultimate opera might be described as “War Requiem” meets “Turn of the Screw.”
Nadja Michael as Salome and Tosca
Like Violetta Urmana, Nadja Michael had a substantial career as a mezzo before deciding to venture into soprano territory.
Return of Ulysses in San Francisco
William Kentridge is a South African artist who works in charcoal and eraser (smudges) on paper, in small animated film and video segments (black and white), in theater, and now in opera. Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses was his first operatic project that took place in 1998 in collaboration with South Africa’s Handspring Puppet Theater.
Rigoletto at San Diego Opera
In the current weak economy many an opera company has retrenched its programming to present primarily the most popular operas.
Handel & Purcell on Special Offer at Covent Garden
If combining the anniversaries of both Purcell and Handel in one production at the Royal Opera was something of a master-stroke, then getting the Royal Ballet in on the act must have seemed to be verging on the brilliant from a commercial point of view.
Reasons to be Cheerful
London: Sue Loder reviews Alessandro and the Handel Singing Final