http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/05/la-opera-takes-to-the-radio-airwaves-with-il-postino-and-five-other-productions.html
Author: Gary Hoffman
Orfeo ed Euridice, Metropolitan Opera
Gluck’s Orfeo is, intentionally, free of clutter. If you cut
out the scenes of balletic rejoicing just before the finale (and I can’t
think of any good reason not to do so), it’s less than ninety minutes of
music.
Die Walk¸re, Metropolitan Opera
There’s a lot to be said for lowered expectations. After last
fall’s cramped, over-busy staging of Das Rheingold, I was
prepared for a rough night at Die Walk¸re—and enjoyed the
occasion very much, the staging, the direction, most of the singing, even the
costumes.
Rigoletto, Theatre Royal, Glasgow
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/3f0e015c-7d7d-11e0-b418-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1MpT5AwTw
Houston makes sense — and music — of Ariadne
Ariadne auf Naxos, the next major endeavor of the Richard Strauss/Hugo von Hofmannsthal collaboration after Der Rosenkavalier in 1911, has been a special challenge for American opera companies.
La Damnation de Faust, English National Opera
http://boulezian.blogspot.com/2011/05/la-damnation-de-faust-english-national.html
Anne Sofie von Otter, Wigmore Hall
For the second time in a matter of just a few weeks, the Wigmore Hall
audience were treated to an evening of seventeenth-century song and dance.
Rigoletto, New York
Rigoletto is the perfect opera. Even Verdi, who wrote so many
wonderful scores, never created anything more flawless.
Sumeida’s Song
It has long been my belief that the problems of the planet would be resolved
(or move on to their next stage) if only the folk of every ethnicity (nation,
faith, historic minority, tribe) would devote their energy to creating
opera—and perhaps theater or dance—out of its musical and mythical
traditions.