I was feeling cowed by Herr Engels. The four of us had retired from the Stravinsky performance to a Billy Wilder-themed bar in Berlin, the least horrible late-night option in the high end mediocrity of Potsdamer Platz.
Author: Gary Hoffman
Mignon and Saul at Buxton Opera Festival
Buxton, like Wexford, makes a point of offering its clientele the opportunity to sample works that are unjustly neglected by the major houses, and for his final festival as director, Andrew Greenwood served up a typical feast of operatic rarities reflecting the increasingly ambitious approach which has characterised his musical stewardship.
Sciarrino: Luci Mie Traditrici
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/21/sciarrino-luci-traditrici-tarandek-review
Inside a Master Class: Breathe, Punctuate, Forget Led Zeppelin
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/theater/master-classes-with-masters-like-raul-esparza.html
Opera in Contract Spat
http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303661904576454450184575890.html?mod=WSJ_ArtsEnt_LifestyleArtEnt_4&mg=reno-secaucus-wsj
Tosca, Royal Opera House/La Rondine, Opera Holland Park
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8645993/Tosca-Royal-Opera-HouseLa-Rondine-Opera-Holland-Park-review.html
Guillaume Tell, BBC Proms
Operatic fashions are fickle and, more to the point, often plain wrong. We all have our grievance lists of works that are ‘scandalously neglected’.
Glimmerglass’s Annie Get Your Gun: Deborah Voigt descends from Valhalla and makes a hit on Broadway
http://blog.cnycafemomus.com/2011/07/17/july-16-glimmerglass-festival-annie-get-your-gun.aspx
First Night of the 2011 BBC Proms
The First Night of the Proms seems to be edging back, if a little hesitantly, from the strange, unsatisfying ‘tasting menu’ approach adopted for a few years.
Aix-en-Provence Festival
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8640504/Aix-en-Provence-Festival-Seven-magazine-review.html