Category: Performances

METROPOLITAN OPERA: “Commissioned for St Petersburg (the premiere was in 1862), La Forza del Destino was based on a play by the Duke of Rivas, and was at first only a moderate success. Although Verdi revised it for Milan in 1869, it took a long time for audiences to come to appreciate the sprawling drama; several years take place between the first and last scenes, and the number of coincidences in the plot stretches credulity to the limit. But the overture, the arias for Leonora (including ìPace!î), and the duets for tenor and baritone have ensured that the opera remains popular whenever it is revived.” Here are four reviews.

WELSH NATIONAL OPERA: “Welsh National Opera’s The Flying Dutchman promises to be a focused, powerful and intense experience. This early Wagnerian masterpiece signalled the composer’s fascination with combining epic myths and dramatic music.” Here are three reviews.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music is presenting Handel’s Hercules with Les Arts Florissants, conducted by William Christie and directed by Luc Bondy. Here are two reviews:

Monteverdiís great work, ìLíIncoronazione di Poppeaî in a ìsemi-stagedî format, has been chosen to showcase the talents of some exciting young singers and musicians in London recently as the first part of an ambitious project aimed at a more holistic approach to singing opera.

ROYAL OPERA HOUSE: “To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, The Royal Opera mounts a new production of his setting of the second of Beaumarchais’ domestic but politically charged ‘Figaro’ comedies, as adapted by librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. ”

On 30 January, the Collegiate Chorale presented Puccini: A Composer’s Journey. Here are two reviews.

Bellini’s Norma is the story of a love triangle involving Norma, the Druid high priestess, Pollione, the Roman proconsul and father of Norma’s two children, and Adalgisa, a Druid acolyte and Pollione’s new conquest whom he intends to take to Rome. The role of Norma is generally considered one of the most difficult in opera literature. Few have succeeded in mastering it. Now Edita Gruberova, has taken on the role at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Here are two reviews.

Earlier this week, Sir John Eliot Gardiner led the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir in two immortal Mozart works: the C-minor Mass and the Requiem, followed by an evening of Mozart’s orchestral works. Here are three reviews.

This season the Royal Opera House has recreated “Richard Eyre’s popular production of Verdi’s La Traviata, which draws on striking period designs by Bob Crowley to amplify the tensions and confrontations that make Violetta’s predicament so tragic and her portrayal so real.” Here are three reviews:

The French city of Nice has this past week been enjoying some wonderful weather and the aptly-named Cote díAzur has truly lived up to its name.