It is hard to know where to start to adequately laud Netherlands Opera’s witty new La Fanciulla del West.
Category: Performances
PÈnÈlope in Manhattan
The one thing certain about the judgment of history is that history will change its mind.
Z¸rich’s Riveting ‘Corsaro’
Il Corsaro, the Verdi rarity currently on display at Z¸rich Opera, is the best of both possible worlds.
Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the MET
The Tales of Hoffmann is a cruel piece, for all the wit of the macabre tales on which it is based and the sparkle the dying Offenbach put into his last and grandest score.
A Streetcar Named Desire at Opera Australia
Musically, Australia looks to Britain and Europe, especially for its operatic diet and America’s considerable operatic output has been overlooked.
Der Rosenkavalier – Royal Opera House, London
In dark, damp December we need good cheer, and Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera House, delivers colour and spectacle. in abundance. It’s a revival of the John Schlesinger production from 1884, and somewhat antiquated, but that’s no disadvantage, for the passage of time haunts Der Rosenkavalier.
Tchaikovsky’s Sure-Footed ‘Slippers’
Spearheaded by a stunning design concept for The Tsarina’s Slippers, London’s Covent Garden served up as delectable a production as could be desired, and introduced its lucky patrons to a jewel of an under-performed comic opera in the bargain.
A Faust of Distinction at Lyric Opera of Chicago
For its second production of the 2009-10 season Lyric Opera of Chicago staged a revival of Charles Gounod’s Faust, last seen here in 2003-04.
Le Nozze di Figaro at the MET
The best news about the Met’s eleven-year-old Jonathan Miller
production of Le Nozze di Figaro is that it has been restaged by
Gregory Keller, more tautly spun, many elegant jokes or character moments
inserted, several idiocies discarded and with plenty of room remaining for
singers with a flair for it (such as Luca Pisaroni and Isabel Leonard) to
invent comic business of their own.
Otello in San Francisco
Sir Peter Hall created this production of Otello at Chicago Lyric Opera in 2001.