This disc faces a marketplace already crowded with similar compilations from major companies who can raid their archives to offer competitive interpretations at bargain prices.
Month: December 2009
Emma Matthews in Monte Carlo
Emma Matthews is an English born soprano currently resident in Australia where she has sung with the state based opera companies as well as the national company Opera Australia where she is currently a soloist.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the MET
The Tales of Hoffmann is a cruel piece, for all the wit of the macabre tales on which it is based and the sparkle the dying Offenbach put into his last and grandest score.
A Streetcar Named Desire at Opera Australia
Musically, Australia looks to Britain and Europe, especially for its operatic diet and America’s considerable operatic output has been overlooked.
Andrea ChÈnier, Paris Opera (Bastille), Paris
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc859ede-e5aa-11de-b5d7-00144feab49a.html
Der Rosenkavalier – Royal Opera House, London
In dark, damp December we need good cheer, and Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera House, delivers colour and spectacle. in abundance. It’s a revival of the John Schlesinger production from 1884, and somewhat antiquated, but that’s no disadvantage, for the passage of time haunts Der Rosenkavalier.
Tchaikovsky’s Sure-Footed ‘Slippers’
Spearheaded by a stunning design concept for The Tsarina’s Slippers, London’s Covent Garden served up as delectable a production as could be desired, and introduced its lucky patrons to a jewel of an under-performed comic opera in the bargain.
‘Threepenny Opera’ makes most of grunge factor
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/08/DD4V1AU3FP.DTL
A Faust of Distinction at Lyric Opera of Chicago
For its second production of the 2009-10 season Lyric Opera of Chicago staged a revival of Charles Gounod’s Faust, last seen here in 2003-04.