Dutch National Opera’s Khovanshchina’s finest asset was
Anita Rachvelishvili’s vocally ravishing Marfa. The darkly opalescent
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra came in a close second.
Month: February 2016
Khovanshchina at Dutch National Opera convinces musically, less so theatrically
Sophie Bevan, Wigmore Hall
The meaning of the term cantata (literally, ‘sung’
from the Italian verb, cantare) may have changed over time, but
whether sacred or secular, the form — with its combination of
declamatory narration and emotive arias — is undoubtedly a dramatic
one, as this performance by Dunedin at the Wigmore Hall of cantatas by J.S.
Bach and Handel confirmed.
Extraordinary PellÈas et MÈlisande
With its City of Light presentations, honoring Paris and French inspired music, the Los Angeles Philharmonic offered its public an extraordinary concert performance of a unique opera — PellÈas et MÈlisande by Claude Debussy.
Fascinating Magic Flute in Los Angeles
Barrie Kosky, intendant of the Komische Oper in Berlin, initially thought of combining live performance with animation when he saw British theater company 1927’s production of Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. For that presentation, Suzanne Andrade and Paul Barritt mixed the worlds of silent film and music hall theater, a combination that Kosky wanted for his production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Theatre of the Ayre, Wigmore Hall
In the 17th century, sacred vocal music was not just for public worship in
church but also for private devotion within a secular setting, and this concert
at the Wigmore Hall by Theatre of the Ayre under its director
Elizabeth Kenny transported us from Chapel Royal to domestic chamber.
HOT Dream in Honolulu
In a world opera schedule packed with safe bread-and-butter warhorses, Hawaii Opera Theatre gambled on a Britten rarity and came up smelling as sweet as a tuberose lei.
Arizona Opera Presents an Interesting Carmen
Henri Meilhac and Ludovic HalÈvy, based their libretto for Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen on a novella of the same title by Prosper MÈrimÈe. On March 3, 1875, Carmen was premiered at the OpÈra-Comique in Paris.
L’Aiglon in Marseille
Napoleon I (Bonaparte) was known as the Aigle (eagle), his son by Marie Louise (of the Hapsburgs) later became called the Aiglon (eaglet). At birth he was dubbed the King of Rome by his father. Unofficially and very briefly he was Napoleon II. Exiled in Austria he was officially titled the Duke of Reichstadt and the Prince of Parma.
Norma , ENO
Notable first performance of Bellini’s opera by ENO, with a striking assumption of the title role from the young American soprano
Schubert: The Complete Songs
The Wigmore Hall’s chronological journey through the complete
lieder of Franz Schubert continued with this recital by tenor Ian Bostridge
and pianist Graham Johnson. The duo gave a thought-provoking performance
which was notable for the searching dialectic between simplicity and
complexity which it illuminated.