It’s the Ring — not just an ordinary evening (or four evenings) of opera — indeed, if you accept its creator’s words on the matter, it’s a music-drama, not an opera at all.
Month: May 2009
Canadian Opera on the rise
How often does one experience an opera in which everything works — in which there is not one flaw either in the staging or in its musical dimensions?
Subtle Previn world premiere in Houston
As far as world premieres go, Houston Grand Opera is in elite company in the United States, having performed thirty-eight new works prior to opening night of AndrÈ Previn’s new opera Brief Encounter.
Verdi and Boito at the Rome Academy of Santa Cecilia — Angels and Demons in an Unusual Setting
By sheer coincidence, the Academy of Santa Cecilia — one of the most authoritative symphonic orchestras in Europe — planned a rather unusual concert in the same days (May 3-7) when just in the very same auditorium there was the world premiËre of a movie expected to be a Hollywood blockbuster — the thriller titled “Angels & Demons”.
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk — Opera Australia
For two years following its premiere Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsesnk was one of the most often performed contemporary operas.
Kate Royal at Wigmore Hall
Soprano Kate Royal is reported to have said that singing at the Wigmore Hall is “like a religious experience”.
Jan·?ek: Jen?fa and K·tya Kabanov·
Recorded four years apart, these two classic recordings of Leos Jan·?ek’s dramatic masterpieces now reappear in Decca’s The Originals series, thankfully still with full librettos and excellent booklet essays.
The Tuscan Convent Where Wagnerian Singers Are Trained
In a convent in the lovely Tuscan country side, near Lucca (Giacomo Puccini’s birthplace) there is the Mount Graal.