The Washington National Opera has concluded its 2010-11 season with
Gluck’s 1779 masterpiece IphigÈnie en Tauride, arguably the
great Viennese composer’s greatest achievement and his swan song (if one
does not count that unfortunate flop of 1780, Echo et Narcisse —
and luckily, one hardly ever does).
Category: Performances
IphigÈnie en Tauride at the Washington National Opera
James MacMillan’s Clemency, Royal Opera
James MacMillan has reunited with his librettist, the poet Michael Symmons Roberts, to produce his new opera Clemency.
Don Giovanni, Florida Grand Opera
By Leporello’s count (in the “Catalogue aria”), Don
Giovanni tallies over 2,000 sexual exploits.
Orfeo ed Euridice, Metropolitan Opera
Gluck’s Orfeo is, intentionally, free of clutter. If you cut
out the scenes of balletic rejoicing just before the finale (and I can’t
think of any good reason not to do so), it’s less than ninety minutes of
music.
Die Walk¸re, Metropolitan Opera
There’s a lot to be said for lowered expectations. After last
fall’s cramped, over-busy staging of Das Rheingold, I was
prepared for a rough night at Die Walk¸re—and enjoyed the
occasion very much, the staging, the direction, most of the singing, even the
costumes.
Houston makes sense — and music — of Ariadne
Ariadne auf Naxos, the next major endeavor of the Richard Strauss/Hugo von Hofmannsthal collaboration after Der Rosenkavalier in 1911, has been a special challenge for American opera companies.
The Damnation of Faust, ENO
Terry Gilliam was one of the forces behind Monty Python, the popular British TV comedy of the 1970’s. His fans will flock in droves to his version of Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust at the ENO, London.
Anne Sofie von Otter, Wigmore Hall
For the second time in a matter of just a few weeks, the Wigmore Hall
audience were treated to an evening of seventeenth-century song and dance.
Rigoletto, New York
Rigoletto is the perfect opera. Even Verdi, who wrote so many
wonderful scores, never created anything more flawless.