Category: Performances

There are two reasons the rising Russian superstar Evgeny Nikitin should not sing Don Giovanni. One is his obfuscated, typically Slav diction in Italian, the other the difficulty his impressive voice has in spinning exposed Mozartian line. Both defects would disqualify him on a recording but, in the magical world of live opera, Nikitin’s animal magnetism helps us understand what the fuss is all about.

Blouson vert pomme, jeans bleus, corsage fuchsia, cheveux courts et roux couronnant une taille imposante, Susan Graham joue sans affectation l’Américaine à Paris dans les couloirs austères et académiques de l’Opéra Garnier. Dans quelques jours, elle interprétera le rôle de Sesto (Sextus) de La Clémence de Titus dans une mise en scène déjà représentée à Salzbourg en 1994 où elle était alors Annio (Annius). «J’ai eu la chance d’avoir de grands professeurs pour cet opéra, explique-t-elle, puisque j’ai tenu trois fois le rôle d’Annio alors que Sesto était chanté par Tatiana Troyanos, Ann Murray et Frederica von Stade. J’ai toujours dans l’oreille les inflexions et l’intensité de Tatiana. C’était ma première apparition professionnelle à Chicago, en 1989…»

Paul McCreesh’s approach to Bach’s last major choral work is about as far removed as possible from traditional heavyweight performances of the B minor Mass, and distinctly different from the approach of many of his period-instrument peers as well. For this superbly energised account, the Gabrieli Consort consisted of just 10 singers, divided equally into a ripieno, which provided the soloists, and a consort, which joined in for the large-scale numbers. The orchestra was just over twice that size. This minimalist approach produced gains in equality between voices and orchestras, and marvellous clarity in the contrapuntal writing. It also enabled McCreesh to adopt tempi that would have had a larger choir tied in knots.

Hot on the heels of their marathon appearance at the Moscow Easter Festival, the artistic forces of St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater are preparing for a return visit to Moscow. Starting Monday, they take to the main stage of the Bolshoi Theater with three evenings of ballet and a complete performance of Richard Wagner’s four-part operatic cycle “The Ring of the Nibelung.”

At first glance, Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream’’ is a frothy tale, a story of youthful romance going charmingly awry.
True, Tatania, the fairy queen, feuds fiercely with her husband, Fairy King Oberon, over custody of a boy prince the Queen of India has given her. But the course of true love ne’er did run smooth, and Shakespeare’s beleaguered lovers triumph in the end.

On Monday night at Weill Recital Hall—the lovely space upstairs at Carnegie—Sarah Connolly gave us one of the most satisfying events of the season. The English mezzo-soprano sang a diverse recital, offering Haydn, Brahms, Hahn, Korngold, and Weill (Weill at Weill!). This followed her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, as Annio in Mozart’s “Clemenza di Tito.” All in all, Ms. Connolly put in a very good month’s work in New York.

Nelle sue ultime dichiarazioni il nuovo sovrintendente della Scala Lissner ha spesso accennato, senza fare nomi, a cinque direttori d’orchestra, da lui ritenuti i migliori del mondo. Non siamo in grado di dire se Harnoncourt faccia parte di questa rosa, ma non esiteremmo ad affermare che nell’ambito dell’opera mozartiana il direttore austriaco abbia introdotto nuovi canoni interpretativi. Tra palco e buca, infatti, l’intesa è simbiosi. Il Concentus Musicus ha dimostrato di essere non solo ottimo complesso strumentale, ma anche eccelso apparato operistico. Harnoncourt dirige l’orchestra ascoltando le voci, senza mai coprirle, anzi assecondandone le virtù e sfocandone le debolezze, in un alternare continuo di livelli dinamici e sfumature timbriche. Tre ore e mezza di musica che non conoscono cali di tensione.

Für Jean-Pierre Haeck war es eine gelungene Premiere. Für das Publikum war der Abend die Begegnung mit einem Höhepunkt des verdischen Belcanto, einer Oper, die zu unrecht ein wenig in Vergessenheit geraten ist.

El Liceu estrena esta noche Jenufa, una gran ópera del compositor checo Leos Janacek, con libreto de Gabriella Preissova, en una producción de la ópera de Hamburgo que se ha visto en el Covent Garden y el Metropolitan.

NEW YORK—There’s a line in Act 2 of Franco Alfano’s rarely heard opera “Cyrano de Bergerac” that marks a critical turning point in the sad story of a poet’s unrequited love: “The Tiger’s awakening.” It’s said to Cyrano, the artist with a short temper, a fast sword and an excruciatingly big nose. But it might well stand for the effect tenor Placido Domingo had on audiences Friday night at the Metropolitan Opera when he sang the title role, a new role and the 121st of his exceptionally long and productive career.