Author: James Sohre

Of these three productions staged for the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the beautifully dressed Entf¸hrung and refined Tancredi present the company as a theater for tasteful, stylish productions, just a tad on the dull side.

The 100th anniversary of his birth inevitably produces a flood of releases from the catalog of conductor Herbert von Karajan.

Dynamic now offers most of its product in CD and DVD formats, the latter in High Definition, no less.

With these three CDs of highlights from three Verdi operas – Nabucco, Il Trovatore, and Aida ó Classics for Pleasure gives a snapshot of the arc of his career.

The opera world, always ravenous for talented, charismatic tenors, felt desperate hunger pains last summer, when Rolando VillazÛn canceled dates with an explanation that a health crisis necessitated a sabbatical from singing.

With a composer as widely beloved as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for an opera to be all but forgotten suggests the work has problems beyond redemption.

For the opera of average length, a decent highlights disc can feature as much as half the score.

At the Rossini Festival held in Pesaro, Italy, Dynamic recorded two Rossini rarities in August 2006.

The best thing about this set, a Norma recorded live at the Teatro delle Muse di Ancona in late 2004, is the booklet essay by Marco Beghelli, offered in both English and Italian (no credit to any translator).