The greatest dramatic tenor and soprano roles have proven irresistible to Marcelo Alvarez, who started primarily as a lyric tenor, and Violeta Urmana, whose first career success came as a mezzo.
Author: James Sohre
Marco Polo at Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam
Does this Tan Dun opera prove or disprove that for East and West, the twain shall never meet?
The Adventures of Pinocchio
The operas of British composer Jonathan Dove enjoy a fairly high level of both critical and popular support in the U.K., where his best known work, Flight, premiered at the prestigious Glyndebourne Festival.
Massenet’s ThaÔs at Teatro Regio Torino
What sort of production would be optimal for an opera that with more style than content?
Verdi’s Falstaff at The Metropolitan Opera, 1992
A Franco Zeffirelli production for The Metropolitan Opera typically prompts the use of adjectives such as “grandiose,” or “gorgeous” on the positive end or “gaudy” and “gratuitous” on the negative.
Bellini’s Norma at Gran Teatre del Liceu
Some fortunate operas have any number of fine live versions available on DVD.
Wagner’s Gˆtterd‰mmerung and Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten
Chaos and disorder rule at Los Angeles Opera of late, and not just in the fervid imagination of director Achim Freyer, the artistic force behind the controversial staging of Richard Wagner’s four-evening glorification of chaos and disorder.
Aaron Copland’s score for The City
This disc neatly captures a central dichotomy of the career of composer Aaron Copland.
Tosca at Torre del Lago, 2007
Opera festival DVDs often seem to be produced as tempting advertisements meant to induce viewers to consider a trip to that festival for the next season.
Central City: the little opera company that can
You don’t have to be Asian to sing Madama Butterfly, but if you’ve got a top soprano from that part of the world, it adds another dimension of reality to Puccini’s tear-drenched verismo.