Some of the experts said it was the best Ring ever, others merely
said it was one of the best (these were lecturers at a Wagner Society
symposium).
Author: Michael Milenski
Der Ring des Nibelungen in San Francisco
Les Noces de Figaro in Paris
This is the one by Giorgio Strehler that opened at Versailles in 1973 and since has endured twenty-three incarnations, first at the Garnier and later at the Bastille.
Akhmatova in Paris
The very name Mantovani strikes musical terror in the hearts of high minded Americans and Brits of a certain age. Now the same surname is evidently terrorizing Parisians.
Ariadne auf Naxos, Bordeaux
Ariadne on Naxos, or you could call it Bacchus · Bordeaux. It was an orgy of art.
Werther in Lyon
Massenet tells us that his Werther is 23 years old, that Charlotte is 20 years old. Albert is 25 and Sophie is but 15. Just now the Lyon Opera assembled just such a cast.
Parsifal in Brussels
Romeo Castellucci is the cat’s whisker of current avant-garde theater directors. Thus it has simply been a matter of time before he would be invited to the Monnaie to stage an opera.
Der Freisch¸tz, Toulon
Carl Marie von Weber’s magical masterpiece has had a hard time of it in France.
The Makropulos Case in San Francisco
Just now in San Francisco Finnish soprano Karita Mattila kicked ass as Jan·?ek’s 337 year old Elina Makropulos.*
Cyrano de Bergerac in San Francisco
Franco Alfano’s Cyrano de Bergerac at the San Francisco Opera has little chance of measuring up to a Cyrano standard once set here in Fog City.