The hero Siegfried in utero, Siegmund dead, Wotan humiliated, Br¸nnhilde asleep, San Francisco’s Ring ripped relentlessly into the shredded emotional lives of its gods and mortals. Conductor Donald Runnicles laid bare Richard Wagner’s score in its most heroic and in its most personal revelations, in their intimacy and in their exploding release.
Author: Michael Milenski
Das Rheingold in San Francisco
Alberich’s ring forged, the gods moved into Valhalla, Loge’s Bic flicked, Wagner’s cumbersome nineteenth century mythology began unfolding last night here in Bayreuth-by-the-Bay.
Don Carlos in Lyon
Metteur en scËne Christophe HonorÈ placed his 2016 Aix Festival Cosi fan tutte in Ethiopia. Unfortunately his current Lyon Don Carlos enjoys no such equivalent poetic intuition.
Macbeth in Lyon
A revival of the OpÈra de Lyon’s 2012 Occupy Wall St. production of Verdi’s 1865 Macbeth, transforming naive commentary into strange irony, some high art included.
‘B & B’ in a new key
Seattle Opera’s new production of BÈatrice et BÈnÈdict is best regarded as a noble experiment, performed expressly to see if Berlioz’ delectable 1862 opÈra comique can successfully be brought into the living repertory outside its native France. As such, it is quite a success.
TenebrÊ Responsories
recording by Stile Antico
Tomas Luis de Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories are designed to occupy the final three days of Holy Week, and contemplate the themes of loss, betrayal and death that dominate the Easter week. As such, the Responsories demand a sense of darkness, reflection and depth that this new recording by Stile Antico – at least partially – captures.
La Walkyrie in Toulouse
The Nicolas Joel 1999 production of Die Walk¸re seen just now in Toulouse well upholds the Airbus city’s fame as Bayreuth-su-Garonne (the river that passes through this quite beautiful, rich city).
William Tell in Palermo
This was the infamous production that was booed to extinction at Covent Garden. Palermo’s Teatro Massimo now owns the production.
The Bandits in Rome
AKA I masnadieri, rare early Verdi, though not as rare as Alzira. In 1847 London’s Her Majesty’s Theatre† commissioned the newly famous Verdi to write this opera for the London debut of Swedish soprano Jenny Lind.