English Touring Opera continued its 30th anniversary celebrations with six concert performances of Norma, sung — unusually for ETO — in Italian, in a touring footprint which has some common ground with the ongoing staged tour of Katya Kabanova and The Magic Flute, but which is effectively an entirely separate tour.
Category: Reviews
Don Carlos — Opera North, Leeds
Tim Albery’s production was first seen at Opera North in 1993 and has not been revived since 1998, when it was the first production of this opera I ever saw — an English-sung version of the four-act Italian version.
Lieder and Opera meet in Hugo Wolf
Lieder and opera are different worlds. But understanding the differences helps us appreciate what makes each form distinct. Hugo Wolf’s songs come close to bridging the genres. They’ve been described as “miniature operas” where dramas are distilled into compact form.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Lieder, Salzburg 1958-1984.
In its recent collection Mozart Lieder, Salzburg 1958-1984 in its series entitled “Festspiel Dokumente,” Orfeo pays homage to the tradition of Liederabend at the Salzburg Festival with selections from a quarter century of performances.
Turandot — Washington National Opera
Bringing Andrei Şerban’s Turandot to the Washington National Opera as a season finale really means finishing the year with a bang.
Athalia — Lincoln Center Great Performers Series
You won’t get much argument nowadays — you won’t get any from me — if you call Handel’s dramatic oratorios operas in all but name.
Weber’s Der Freisch¸tz at Zurich Opera House
On any list of great but seldom-performed operas, Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freisch¸tz must rank high.
L’elisir d’amore at Covent Garden
L’elisir d’amore is perhaps Donizetti’s silliest opera — but also one of his most charming.
Gustav Mahler: Symphony no. 3
Recorded live in concert on 19 August 2007, this performance of Gustav Mahler’s Third Symphony by Claudio Abbado is part of the conductor’s cycle involving the Lucerne Festival.
Peter Grimes — English National Opera, London Coliseum
In David Alden’s extraordinary new staging of Britten’s
masterpiece, with sets by Paul Steinberg, the Borough is populated by stylised
grotesques, a clever twist on the opera’s existing ‘Little
England’ character stereotypes.