Wexford Festival Opera made a boldly calculated choice sixty years ago when it eschewed bread-and-butter titles, and instead raided the dusty closet where forgotten pieces by some famous (and mostly non-) composers were (at best) consigned to history.
Year: 2011
Heart of Darkness, Royal Opera
There are some literary texts which, by dint of their intense compression of
incident, their creators’ firm control of structure, and the precision of
linguistic nuance, do not naturally seem to lend themselves to operatic
treatment.
Anna Bolena, Metropolitan Opera
It’s very unusual for the Met these days—or any major opera house, in any era—to present a glossy new production with two different stars in the leading role.
Castor & Pollux, ENO
Daring dramas which probe dark psychological depths; music that embodies
visceral emotional conflicts, and stirs heated, often contradictory, passions;
the text and score shaped into radical musico-dramatic structures, employing
shockingly inventive harmonic language and orchestral timbres.
German tenor thrills Met audience in solo recital
http://articles.boston.com/2011-10-31/ae/30342753_1_mein-ganzes-german-tenor-recital
RenÈe Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky: A Musical Odyssey in St. Petersburg
Exactly what makes this entertaining, handsome video of Dmitri Hvorostovsky and RenÈe Fleming in concert an “odyssey”?
Pavarotti at the Metropolitan Opera
Luciano Pavarotti died in September 2007, just short of his 72nd birthday and only a few years after his last performance at the Metropolitan Opera, in Tosca.
Carmen returns to the OpÈra Comique
“Historically Informed Performance” sure has a nice ring — not only does the acronym capture the trendiness of the movement (“HIP”), but one has to admire the subtle put-down the term encapsulates.
Don Giovanni, Metropolitan Opera
According to legend, when composing Don Giovanni, Mozart completed
the overture last. It was written the night before the opera’s premiere, while his wife Constanze, a fervent taskmaster, plied him with food and drink to make sure he stayed awake.