Back for its fourth revival, David McVicar’s 2003 production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflˆte has much charm, beauty and artistry.
Year: 2013
Brindley Sherratt – Sarastro at the Royal Opera House
Brindley Sherratt sings Sarastro in Mozart Die Zauberflˆte at the Royal Opera House, London. All performances are sold out, though returns are possible. The entire run (which ends 9th May) is dedicated to the memory of Sir Colin Davis who conducted this production, by David McVicar, most recently in 2011.
London: Music under the shadow of Handel
http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/london-music-under-the-shadow-of-handel
Superb BBC Proms 2013 season
The 2013 BBC Proms season ahs just been announced. It’s spectacular – almost all of Wagner’s major operas feature either in full performance or as excerpts. Verdi, Britten, Tippett and Birtwistle also feature. And Joyce DiDonato headlines a glorious Last Night of the Proms.
Pl·cido Domingo sings Nabucco – Royal Opera House
Pl·cido Domingo’s London debut as Nabucco at the Royal Opera House was received with rapture. Domingo’s position in opera is immense. His very presence comes over so well that any performance feels like a historic event. He is a marvel. If Domingo was singing Pl·cido Domingo rather than Nabucco, it hardly mattered. He delivered the big areas well, and was particularly impressive in the typically Verdian dialogues between father and daughter. Domingo isn’t a singer who needs Personenregie. He is simply himself and that’s enough.
Kaufmann Wagner
The economics of the recording companies dictate much that is not ideal.
Wagner’s operas were not composed as they were in order to permit the
extraction of bleeding chunks, even on those occasions when strophic song forms
do occur.
The Marriage of Figaro Ends Season at Arizona Opera
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro has a libretto by Lorenzo daPonte based on the French play La folle journÈe, ou le Mariage de Figaro (The Crazy Day or the Marriage of Figaro) by Pierre Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799).
A Chat with Aida Designer Zandra Rhodes
When I spoke with Zandra Rhodes, she was in her large San Diego workspace, which she described as having walls decorated with her own huge black and white drawings.