A massive antique Roman theater where stadium opera is always grand opera and often good opera as well.
Author: Michael Milenski
The Aix Festival 2013
Don Giovanni — the coup de coeur. Elektra — a masterpiece. Rigoletto — a hit and a miss.
Elena and The House Taken Over
That’s Helen (of Troy) by Cavalli, so maybe you are interested after all, though the more engaging experience was The House Taken Over by Vasco MendonÁa.
ClÈop‚tre and Les Troyens in Marseille
There are forces to be reckoned with at l’OpÈra de Marseille — a first class orchestra, a first class chorus, first class casts (with notable exception, see below) who inhabit an extraordinarily fine old opera house.
CosÏ fan tutte in San Francisco
Tucked away somewhere in the San Francisco Opera warehouse was an old John Cox production of CosÏ fan tutte from Monte Carlo. Well, not that old by current standards at San Francisco Opera.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann in San Francisco
Just when you thought the protagonist was Hoffmann! Who, rather what stole the show?
Brahms Third in San Francisco
Nicola Luisotti and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra climbed out of the War Memorial pit, braved the wind whipped bay and held spellbound an audience at Cal Performances’ Zellerbach Auditorium at UC Berkeley.
Bonjour M. Gauguin in Berkeley
Once Berkeley Opera, renamed West Edge Opera, this enterprising company offers the Bay Area’s only serious alternative to corporate opera, to wit Bonjour M. Gauguin.
The Verdi Requiem in Naples
San Francisco and Naples have much in common these days — streets with potholes, ever more gourmet pizzerias, homeless, etc., and, yes, Nicola Luisotti.
Marseille, Capital of European Culture
Marseille woke up this past January 11 stunned to find itself number two on the New York Times list of 46 places you should visit in 2013 (Rio was number one, Paris just made the list at number 46).