The Met has not staged La Damnation de Faust in a hundred years, since 1906, when it clocked a mere five performances.
Category: Reviews
La Traviata at the MET
When La Traviata had its first performance, in Venice in 1853, it was a scandal.
Lucrezia Borgia at the Washington National Opera
After a somewhat shaky start to the season, as my recently posted review of La traviata attests, Washington National Opera has added considerable luster to its roster this November with the infusion of spectacle and star power in two new productions.
Wozzeck, Munich
Wozzeck stands ankle deep in water on the flooded stage of the Bavarian State Opera, above him hovers a huge, movable box – the dingy apartment he shares with Marie and their adolescent bastard – and he is surrounded by a freak-show worthy of a George Groszian nightmare and worse.
Great Operatic Arias with Sir Thomas Allen 2
The “2” in this disc’s title indicates that this is the second Chandos recital for Sir Thomas Allen.
Jean Baptiste Lully’s PersÈe
At a time when it is the fashion for stage direction, sets, and costumes to have little, if anything to do with the ouvre presented on stage, this production of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s PersÈe (1682) is candy for the eyes and ears, with adherence to what is known of the French Baroque operatic standards.1
A powerful, poignant Elektra at the Royal Opera House, London
“This won’t be a total Schlacht of sound” said the director, Charles Edwards, of this production. Instead, it’s a strikingly intelligent interpretation, focusing on the deeper aspects of the drama.
AÔda – English National Opera, London Coliseum
It is incredibly unfashionable nowadays to stage opera straightforwardly. Welsh National Opera’s recent lavish staging of Otello prompted a dismissive reception from the critics.
L’elisir d’amore in San Francisco
There are remnants of snobbery in San Francisco that are happiest when San Francisco Opera
associates itself with the likes of Vienna State Opera and Covent Garden, and left positively
frightened at the idea of a production from Opera Colorado/Fort Worth Opera/et al. on the War
Memorial Opera House stage.
Opera in Germany
Following a recent visit to Germany, Wes Blomster surveys the vibrant opera scene in Berlin and Magdeburg.