A Falstaff that raised-the-bar ever higher, this was a posthumous resurrection of Luca Ronconi’s masterful staging of Verdi’s last opera, the third from last of the 83 operas Ronconi staged during his lifetime (1933-2015). And his third staging of Falstaff following Salzburg in 1993 and Florence in 2006.
Month: January 2017
Traviata in Seattle
One of Aidan Lang’s first initiatives as artistic director of Seattle
Opera was to encourage his board to formulate a “mission statement”
for the fifty-year old company. The document produced was clear, simple, and
anodyne. Seattle Opera would aim above all to create work appealing both to the
emotions and reason of the audience.
Wagner at the Deutsche Oper Berlin Part II: Kasper Holten’s angelic Lohengrin
Contrary to Stolzi’s multidimensional Parsifal,
Holten’s simple setting of Lohengrin felt timeless with its
focus on the drama between characters. Premiering in 2012, nothing too flashy
and with a clever twist,
Wagner at the Deutsche Oper Berlin Part I: Stölzl’s Psychedelic Parsifal
Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB) consistently serves up superlatively sung Wagner
productions. This Fall, its productions of Philipp Stölzl’s Parsifal and
Kasper Holten’s Lohengrin offered intoxicating musical affairs. Annette Dasch, Klaus Florian Vogt, and Peter Seiffert reached for the stars. Even when it
comes down to last minute replacements, the casting is topnotch.
Donna abbandonata: Temple Song Series
Donna abbandonata would have been a good title for the first concert of Temple Music’s 2017 Song Series. Indeed, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice seems to be making a habit of playing abandoned women.
Fortepiano Schubert : Wigmore Hall
The Wigmore Hall complete Schubert song series continued with a recital by Georg Nigl and Andreas Staier. Staier’s a pioneer, promoting the use of fortepiano in Schubert song. In Schubert’s time, modern concert pianos didn’t exist. Schubert and his contemporaries would have been familiar with a lighter, brighter sound. Over the last 30 years, we’ve come to better understand Schubert and his world through the insights Staier has given us. His many performances, frequently with Christoph PrÈgardien at the Wigmore Hall, have always been highlights.
Baroque at the Edge: London Festival of Baroque Music, 12-20 May 2017
On 9 January 2017 the London Festival of Baroque Music (formerly the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music) announced its programme for 2017. The Festival theme for 2017 is Baroque at the Edge. Inspired by the anniversaries of Monteverdi (450th of birth) and Telemann (250th of death) the Festival explores the ways that composers and performers have pushed at the chronological, stylistic, geographical and expressive boundaries of the Baroque era.
OPERA RARA AUCTION: online auction for opera lovers worldwide
On Thursday 19th January, opera lovers around the world started bidding online for rare and prized items made available for the first time from Opera Rara’s collection. In addition to the 26 lots auctioned online, 6 more items will be made available on 7 February – when online bidding closes – at Opera Rara’s gala dinner marking the final night of the auction. The gala will be held at London’s Caledonian Club and will feature guest appearances from Michael Spyres and Joyce El-Khoury.
MOZART 250: the year 1767
Classical Opera’s MOZART 250 project has reached the year 1767. Two years ago, the company embarked upon an epic, 27-year exploration of the music written by Mozart and his contemporaries exactly 250 years previously. The series will incorporate 250th anniversary performances of all Mozart’s important compositions and artistic director Ian Page tells us that as 1767 ‘was the year in which Mozart started to write more substantial works – opera, oratorio, concertos … this will be the first year of MOZART 250 in which Mozart’s own music dominates the programme’.
When Performance Gets Political: A Brooklyn Concert Benefiting the ACLU
What’s an artist’s place in politics? That’s the question
many were asking after actress Meryl Streep made a pointed speech criticizing
President Trump at the Golden Globes. Trump responded directly to Streep, using
his preferred communication medium of Twitter to call Streep
“overrated.”