http://www.operatoday.com/documents/Nine Finalists Named for Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.pdf
Author: Gary Hoffman
A Physical Barber by ETO
For an operatic masterpiece The Barber of Seville is surprisingly tricky to do well, it is not one of those pieces which plays itself.
Byrd: The Englishman
In this stimulating and uplifting performance, The Cardinall’s Musick, led by director Andrew Carwood, continued their comprehensive project to examine the works of one of England’s greatest composers — William Byrd (c.1540—1623).
Elijah, Barbican Hall, London
The Barbican’s six-month series celebrating the English oratorio, has now reached Mendelssohn’s Elijah — or perhaps we should
follow the Victorians and refer to it as ‘the Elijah’, given that it was performed in English, in William Bartholomew’s translation.
Abduction from the Seraglio, Philadelphia
Abduction from the Seraglio contains not a single ironic or cynical moment. Enlightened mercy and sincere love triumph totally over revenge, slavery and tyranny.
Paris: Tenors Trump Befuddled Productions
Two recent outings at the Paris OpÈra might have been subtitled: “Max Bialystock is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.”
Simon Boccanegra, LA
Sometime everything seems to go right. Just as the Los Angeles Opera Company
did last fall, it opened its spring season with a baritonal eponymous opera; this time, Giuseppe Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra.
Gran Teatre del Liceu Reverses Course
Barcelona’s opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu, has reversed course and restored cuts in the current season made earlier this month.
The Los Angeles Opera — A Cultural Icon in Downtown LA
Los Angeles is often identified as “tinsel town,” a cultural wasteland. The city has long been considered as artistically irrelevant. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially with the arrival of the Los Angeles Opera in 1984.