If it is supposed to bring bad luck to even whisper the name of the “Scottish Play” out loud, someone must have screamed Macbeth deafeningly before the performance at Saarbr¸cken’s State Opera House.
Year: 2014
Birtwistle at 80 — Gawain
This was a truly outstanding performance, thoroughly worthy of its standing ovation. The only problem now will be of upholding such standards throughout the Barbican’s Birtwistle at 80 series.
Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier, Glyndebourne 2014
Der Rosenkavalier opened Glyndebourne’s 80th anniversary season, dedicated to the memory of George Christie, who created country house opera as we know it today.
La clemenza di Tito at Lyric Opera of Chicago
For its final production of the 2013-14 season Lyric Opera of Chicago featured Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito in a staging originating at the
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, in co-production with the Théatre du Capitole de Toulouse and l’Opéra de Marseille.
Baden-Baden: Proficient Puccini as Easter Treat
Baden’s Easter Festival centerpiece was a solid production of Manon Lescaut that was well-intended, well-designed, and well-performed.
The Marriage of Figaro, Royal Opera
“Oh! Woman! Woman! Woman!” So, cries Beaumarchais’s Figaro, in his
angry, self-chastising, at times self-pitying diatribe against the injustices
of ‘life’. “Oh, servants, servants, servants!” might be the Count’s
complaint in David McVicar’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro,
revived here for the sixth time.
StÈphane Degout, Wigmore Hall, London
Excellent Wigmore Hall recital with StÈphane Degout and Simon Lepper. Degout is one of the great names in French repertoire and in French baroque in particular.
Thebans: World Premiere at ENO
Julian Anderson’s Thebans at the Coliseum, London, absolutely justifies the ENO’s mission: opera, in English, and of national significance. Anderson is one of the most influential figures in modern British music.
Barbiere Comes to Sin City
Professional opera returns to the Las Vegas Valley June 6th and 8th with performances of one of the best-known comic operas of all time, Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.