Year: 2015
LA Opera Revives The Ghosts of Versailles
In 1980, the Metropolitan Opera commissioned composer John Corigliano to write an opera celebrating the company’s one-hundredth anniversary. It was to be ready in 1983.
La Traviata, ENO
English National Opera’s revival of Peter Konwitschny’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata had many elements in common with the
production’s original outing in 2013 (The production was a co-production with Opera Graz, where it had debuted in 2011).
Idomeneo in Lyon
You might believe you could go to an opera and take in what you see at face value. But if you did that just now in Lyon you would have had no idea what was going on.
Der fliegende Holl‰nder, Royal Opera
I wonder whether we need a new way of thinking — and talking — about operatic ‘revivals’. Perhaps the term is more meaningful when it comes to works that have been dead and buried for years, before being rediscovered by subsequent generations.
IphigÈnie en Tauride in Geneva
Hopefully this brilliant new production of IphigÈnie en Tauride from the Grand ThÈ‚tre de GenËve will find its way to the new world now that Gluck’s masterpiece has been introduced to American audiences.
Tristan et Isolde in Toulouse
Tristan first appeared on the stage of the ThȂtre du Capitole in 1928, sung in French, the same language that served its 1942 production even with Wehrmacht tanks parked in front of the opera house.
Arizona Opera presents Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
Arizona Opera presented Eugene Onegin during and 1999-2000 season
and again on February 1 of this year as part of the 2014-2015 season. In this
country Onegin is not a crowd pleaser like La BohËme or
Carmen, but its story is believable and its music melodic and
memorable. Just hum the beginning of the “Polonaise” and your friends will
know the music, if not where it comes from.
A Chat with Anita Rachvelishvili
Anita Rachvelishvili recently performed the title role in Carmen broadcast by The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD. Here she drops by for a little chat with our Maria Nockin.