Last week I enjoyed the opportunity to see Bampton Classical Opera’s
light-hearted, witty production of Mozart’s earliest opera — La finta
semplice — a work which, despite lacking the melodic variety and texture
dynamism of the later operas, is still a remarkably accomplished achievement
for a boy of merely twelve years of age.
Category: Redbox
Die Schuldigkeit Des Ersten Gebots
Dolores Claiborne in San Francisco
Dolores Claiborne, the heroine of the book Dolores Claiborne (1992), is a figment of the imagination of prolific pulp horror novelist Stephen King.
Gergiev’s Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold launches what is perhaps the single most ambitious project in opera, Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen.†
Magdalena Koûen·: Love and Longing
Recorded at a live performance in 2012, this CD brings together an eclectic
selection of turn-of-the-century orchestral songs and affirms the extraordinary
versatility, musicianship and technical accomplishment of mezzo-soprano
Magdalena Koûen·.
Grand Duchess of Gerolstein at Santa Fe
On Wednesday August 7, Santa Fe Opera presented an energetic, fun-loving production of Jacques Offenbach, Henri Meilhac and Ludovic HalÈvy’s The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein.
Un ballo in maschera at Orange
A massive antique Roman theater where stadium opera is always grand opera and often good opera as well.
A Very Real Traviata
Conductor Leo Hussein, like many of the artists in the production, was making his debut. His take on the story was immediately ascertainable when he played parts of the overture with an earthy tone. This was Violetta’s world, where otherwise refined men wined, dined, and cavorted with the most expensive Parisian courtesans.
Verdi at the Old MET
With celebrations of the Verdi Bicentennial in full swing, there have been
many grumblings about the precarious state of Verdi singing in the world’s
major opera houses today.
The Aix Festival 2013
Don Giovanni — the coup de coeur. Elektra — a masterpiece. Rigoletto — a hit and a miss.
Patricia Racette on Dolores Claiborne
On a personal level, I feel that Dolores is almost like Emmeline grown up. Their circumstances are not exactly parallel, but they are both women at very different points in their lives whose stories involve dilemmas with life-changing outcomes.