At the end of November Los Angeles Opera brought two productions to the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Category: Reviews
PellÈas et MÈlisande, New York
PellÈas et MÈlisande, Debussy’s impressionist drama closely
based on Maeterlinck’s eerie, symbolist play, is not a terribly vocal opera; it calls more for the subtlety of art song style than the belting of great divas and divos.
Mozart at Salzburg Festival: Don Giovanni and CosÏ fan tutte
Once a preserve of opulent traditional productions, the summer Salzburg Festival has become a destination for viewing more cutting edge stagings.
100 Best Verdi from EMI Classics
New recordings of classical music don’t appear from the “big labels” very often these days, but those companies have enormous libraries from which to extract selections for compilation discs.
Susan Bullock, Wigmore Hall
It may have been five years since Susan Bullock last performed at the Wigmore Hall, as her prominence on the world operatic stage has taken her away from the recital hall, but she wasted no time getting into her stride in this charming and musically varied concert.
La Fanciulla del West, New York
La Fanciulla del West is Puccini’s love letter to an America that had acclaimed him joyously on his triumphant visit of 1907 to attend the Met premieres of Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly.
Karlsruhe Tosca: Guns ‘n’ Jesus
Badisches Staastheater’s production of Tosca starts off with a bang.
Paris: ‘Maler’ or ‘Malheur’?
No one could accuse the Paris Opera of pinching pennies (or Euro cents) in their lavishly expansive (and expensive) staging of Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler.
Wagner Tannh‰user: Royal Opera House, London
The Royal Opera House itself is the star of this new production of Richard Wagner Tannh‰user. An intriguing twist on an opera that pits orgiastic excess against purity, pleasure against morality.
Johann Adolph Hasse: Antonio e Cleopatra
Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) was arguably the most successful opera composer of the 18th century. Together with his favourite librettist, Pietro Metastasio, Hasse defined the genre of opera seria for an entire generation.