http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b6012056-db97-11df-a1df-00144feabdc0.html
Author: Gary Hoffman
Haendel: Water Music; Music for The Royal Fireworks
The “popular” Handel is firmly entrenched in the collective
culture with a handful of pieces: the Christmas portion of Messiah,
the “Largo” from Serse (in fact, “Larghetto,”
but collective culture is hard to convince), and instrumental suites of the
Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks come
immediately to mind.
Jephtha, New York
Jephtha was Handel’s last work — he went blind while
composing it, noting this on the manuscript, and though he lived another seven
years, did not deign to dictate new music.
Rigoletto at Covent Garden
Dame Joan Sutherland, ‘La Stupenda’, sang her first Gilda at Covent
Garden in 1957 under the baton of Sir Edward Downes, and sang the role many times and to great acclaim on the ROH stage.
Verdi’s Macbeth in a New Production at Lyric Opera of Chicago
A successful production of Verdi’s Macbeth relies not only on
incisive vocal characterization as projected by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth but
also on the interaction of these lead figures in order to vivify their descent
into a world of destruction.
Salome at the Washington National Opera
With its playbill half-empty, its general director Placido Domingo
resigning, and the talk of a takeover by the Kennedy Center, Washington
National Opera is in a dire need of good news this season.
Promised End — English Touring Opera
In the final scene of Shakespeare’s King Lear, faced with the dreadful sight of the distraught Lear cradling in his arms the body of his dead daughter Cordelia, the Earl of Kent asks: “Is this the promised end?”
The Other ‘Marriage of Figaro’
The opening night of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, in Rome
in 1816, was violently disrupted by vociferous protests from supporters loyal
to Paisiello, whose own comic interpretation of Beaumarchais’
politically-charged play had appeared in 1782.
Dame Joan Sutherland, Diva Who Sang Mad Lucia, Dies in Switzerland at 83
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-11/dame-joan-sutherland-diva-who-sang-mad-lucia-dies-in-switzerland-at-83.html
Joan Sutherland: My Starter Diva
I was sixteen and knew nothing about opera, had just seen my first
Traviata at the City Opera (Patricia Brooks, Placido Domingo), was
entranced by the melodies — especially the Brindisi and
“Sempre libera” — and wanted more.