Category: Performances

Pink flamingos, sheep on wheels, and a queen crowned with giant antlers all inhabit the zany world of Opera Theatre of Saint Louisís Una cosa rara, where the artificial 18th century pastoral commingles with cutesy country colors and 1950s yard art.

On the barren stage: a few chairs, a dark-gold hectoplasm projected on the wood panels of the acoustic chamber – nothing more.

For the belated Spanish premiere of Brittenís Death in Venice, 35 years after its creation in Aldeburgh, Barcelona seems a felicitous choice.

For Belliniís ìI Capuleti e i Montecchi,î Paris Opera peopled its revival with plenty of star power.

When the Ringling Brothers folded their tents, opera took over. AÔda with elephants, and Walk¸re with real horses.

It is a bit hard to know what to make of Olivier Messiaenís colossal piece ìSaint FranÁois díAssise,î beautifully mounted by Netherlands Opera.

If you are going to produce Jacques Fromental Halevyís forgotten opera ìClari,î I urge you to first make sure you have a signature on the contact from a superstar with the firepower of Cecilia Bartoli.

It is worth remembering that prior to the premiËre of Straussís opera in 1911, the working title was ëOchs auf Lerchenauí.

Opera producers in quest of headlines, unable to make them from the limited number of Mozart operas available (all of them far too familiar) but equipped with the flood of attractive young singers trained to sing Mozart in conservatories (because singing Mozart does not harm young voices, and
singing Verdi and Wagner before 30 ó better yet, 40 ó often will), sometimes turn to Mozartís contemporary, Cimarosa, and his Il Matrimonio Segreto, to get attention.

Handelís Rodrigo, subtitled ëVincer se stesso Ë la maggior vittoriaí (Self-conquest is the greater victory) is one of the composerís earliest operatic works, and rarely heard.