A husky baritone in Speedos on a motor scooter and a buxom, purple-wigged Dame Edna drag clone ó the Aspen Opera Theater Companyís staging of Francesco Cavalliís 1667 ìEliogabaloî was off to a start that promised to equal the programís over-the-top staging of the composerís 1649 ìGiasoneî two summers ago. (AOTC director Edward Berkeley raised the curtain on that Baroque potboiler to a biker Amor on a Harley.)
Category: Reviews
STRAUSS: Elektra
Among the available videos of Richard Straussís Elektra, the recently released DVD of the live broadcast from 16 February 1980 stands out for capturing the exciting of an all-star international cast that included the famous Birgit Nilsson in the title role.
Netherlands Opera ó New Wine in Old Bottles
The unmistakable fanfare that opens Monteverdiís seminal LíOrfeo rang out from the top of the crowded foyer of the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam last Friday night to signal not only the start of the opera, but also the opening night of their celebratory 2007 Monteverdi Cycle.
DONIZETTI: Anna Bolena
A career-making smash for Donizetti at its 1830 premiere, Anna Bolena eventually faded from the standard repertory.
BRUCKNER: Symphony no. 5
Recorded live at the Stiftsbasilika, St. Florian (Austrian) on 12 and 13 September 2006, this DVD offers a special performance of the famous Cleveland Orchestra outside its home at Severance Hall.
BERG: Wozzeck
Among the available DVDs of Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, the recent release of the production Rolf Liebermann made into a film i the late 1960s stands out for various reasons.
The Dream of Gerontius Opens Elora Summer Festival
Written in 1900, Elgarís Gerontius expresses the universal and existentialist struggle of death and rebirth. The allegorical significance of the piece touches on a need for faith, self-discovery, and acceptance of the world around us.
Faustina Bordoni: Faces of a prima donna
Opera singers today have become almost as famous and publicly worshipped as movie-stars; yet this has always been the case in operatic history.
Menottiís ìSaintî wears a dim halo
CENTRAL CITY, Colo. ó A year ago, when the Central City Opera announced plans to conclude its 2007 75th anniversary season with Gian Carlo Menottiís ìSaint of Bleecker Street,î the composer was aged but alive.
The Pleasures of Presence ó The Small Loudspeakers of Richard Sequerra
In the long ago, when the best source of music reproduction in the home was a handsome piece of furniture, fitted with hidden audio components, and usually called radio-phonographs, my family had one ó from Avery Fisher I believe ó that had among its controls a switch labeled ëpresence.í