A handsome black steed bows its head, eyes open, peering into the darkness around it.
Author: James Sohre
Lehnhoff takes on Fanciulla for Netherlands Opera
It can be fascinating, although not necessarily pleasant, to see oneself through the eyes of others.
Wagner’s Rienzi in Berlin
The Voltaire maxim usually given in English as “The perfect is the enemy of the good” illuminates the artistic conflicts surrounding many a Wagner production.
The Metropolitan Opera HD Live on DVD
Since 2006, movie cineplexes across the USA have attracted a somewhat unlikely crowd for Saturday matinees, from fall to spring.
Elizabeth Schwarzkopf in Der Rosenkavalier
Classic films often receive the honor of a full “restoration,” especially when a new viewing format appears.
John Adams: Nixon in China
A quarter century having passed since its premiere, Nixon in China appears to have secured a niche in the opera repertoire, at least of American opera houses.
The Turn of the Screw at LA Opera
An operatic work by an esteemed composer, with a libretto adapted from a great author’s story, staged in an intelligent and well-designed production, featuring singers of the top caliber and a conductor with a deep commitment to the composer’s music, leading a chamber-sized group of his orchestra’s best players — magic in the opera house, right?
Philip Glass’s OrphÈe
With voices of doom predicting the end of the CD format — supposedly to be replaced by downloading — the ancillary art of CD packaging also faces a grim future.
Bellini’s I Puritani in Bologna
Vincenzo Bellini’s operas are pure bel canto, with beautiful singing placed above all other considerations.
Gheorghiu and Domingo in Giordano’s Fedora
A major label release of a new studio recording of a full opera — with the traditional booklet/libretto — wanders onto the scene almost like a lost and lonely unicorn.