‘Mack does bad things.’ The tabloid headline that convinces Rory Kinnear’s surly, sharp-suited Macheath that it might be time to take a short holiday epitomizes the cold, understated menace of…
Month: May 2016
La bohËme, LA Opera
On May 25, 2016, Los Angeles Opera presented a revival of the Herbert Ross production of Giacomo Puccini’s opera, La bohËme. Stage director, Peter Kazaras, made use of the Dorothy…
Amazons Enchant San Francisco
On May 21, 2016, Ars Minerva presented The Amazons in the Fortunate Isles (Le Amazzoni nelle Isole Fortunate), an opera consisting of a prologue and three acts by seventeenth century…
Mathis der Maler, Dresden
While Pegida anti-refugee demonstrations have been taking place for a while now in Dresden, there was something noble about the Semperoper with its banners declaring all are welcome, listing Othello,…
The Makropulos Case, Munich
Opera houses’ neglect of Leoš Janáček remains one of the most baffling of the many baffling aspects of the ‘repertoire’. At least three of the composer’s operas would be perfect…
Orphée et Euridice, Seattle
It’s not easy for critics to hit the right note when they write about musical collaborations between students and professionals. We have to allow for inevitable lack of polish and…
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Munich
Die Meistersinger at the theatre in which it was premiered, on Wagner’s birthday: an inviting prospect by any standards, still more so given the director, conductor, and cast, still more…
Oedipe at Covent Garden
George Enescu’s Oedipe was premiered in Paris 1936 but it has taken 80 years for the opera to reach the stage of Covent Garden. This production by ¿lex OllÈ (a…
Gounod’s RomÈo et Juliette at Lyric Opera, Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago staged Charles Gounod’s RomÈo et Juliette as the last opera in its current subscription season.