John Adams’ Nixon in China is an amazing, riveting piece of music, and compelling theater to boot.
Author: Michael Milenski
Mazeppa in Monte-Carlo
Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa is not everyday repertory, nonetheless here in the south of France the Monaco production follows fairly closely (a couple of years) on the heels of the Peter Stein Mazeppa in Lyon.
The Charterhouse of Parma in Marseille
Henri Sauguet is not entirely unknown in opera circles — divas Regine Crespin, Felicity Lott, Nathalie Dessay and Leontyne Price have included his arias in their solo albums. Plus there is a recording of his 1954 opera-comique Les Caprices de Marianne.
L’Enfant et les SortilËges and La Navarraise in Monte-Carlo
The magic was in the pit, not that all Monaco was not magical — on January 25 a yellow Lamborghini, a red Ferrari, a vintage Jaguar among other magnificent machines stood before the entrance to Monte-Carlo’s resplendent Casino cum transplendent 500-seat opera house.
La BohËme in Toulon, Marseille and Genoa
Three La BohËmes in ten days, a critic’s nightmare that was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Otello in Z¸rich
War and destruction is everywhere these days, not least in Pesaro where Graham Vick staged a lethal MosÈ in Egitto last August, nor less so in San Francisco where baritone Thomas Hampson perished as Rick Rescorla in Heart of a Soldier last September.
Xerxes in San Francisco
No cuts, not a single one, nearly four hours of non-stop arias, and its only hit tune happens within the first five minutes.
Turandot in San Francisco
The magnificent David Hockney Turandot production burst again onto the War Memorial stage with a new cast and conductor that recaptured its potential to make this fairytale into great opera.
Carmen in San Francisco
DÈja vu. Well, sort of. Last time around (2006) there was a Carmen and then another who canceled leaving San Francisco Opera in the lurch.