MARTIN: Der Sturm

Der Sturm: Opera in three acts

Donizetti revealed: Lucia di Lammermoor, ENO, London

Donizetti’s original concept of Lucia di Lammermoor is revealed in its true glory in this ground breaking production by the English National Opera, first heard in 2008. The opera is loved in its familiar form, but the new critical edition reveals the depth of Donizetti’s musical creation.

Manon Lescaut in Lyon

If you want Italian opera go to Italy and hope for the best — like conductor Daniel Oren’s Manon Lescaut two years ago in Genoa.

Heidelberg’s Stumbling Spartaco at Schwetzingen Castle

For those who might be seeking a representational tale of the legendary Roman slave Spartacus, well, Gladiator this ain’t.

Opera music part of junk hauler’s treasure trove

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203662.html

Wozzeck, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theatre, San Francisco

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/a8f3bf10-101b-11df-841f-00144feab49a.html

CosÏ fan tutte, Covent Garden

First seen in 1995, and here receiving its seventh revival, Jonathan Miller’s CosÏ fan tutte has lost none of its power to unsettle and discomfort.

Parsifal on the Cote d’Azur

Parsifal had its first performances in Bayreuth in 1882 where it was soon seen by Wagner’s soul mate Friedrich Nietzsche. And there the friendship ended.

Shohat’s The Child Dreams — A mature work

Gil Shohat, now 35 and Israeli’s top classical composer, was 15 when
in the ‘80s he saw Hanoch Levin’s The Child Dream on stage in his native Tel Aviv. Shohat, of course, knew Levin’s work well, for throughout early decades in the history of Israel he — its outstanding dramatist — had served somewhat as the conscience of a nation tormented defining itself within its pain-wrought beginnings.

Joyce DiDonato, Wigmore Hall

The Wigmore Hall was bursting its seams in excited anticipation of this recital by the American mezzo-soprano, Joyce DiDonato.