A 1977 opera by Thea Musgrave, not to be confused with Gaetano Donizetti’s 1835 Maria Stuarda. Unlike the bel canto execution of Mary (b. 1542, d. 1567), it is a…
Category: Staged Operas
Montana’s River Is Awash with Superlative Talent
It is cause for nationwide rejoicing that Opera Montana has commissioned and produced a nigh unto flawless World Premiere of a soulful, spirited and soaring operatic treatment of A River Runs…
Simon Boccanegra in San Francisco
The famed German stage director Claus Guth’s 2006 Hamburg State Opera production of Simon Boccanegra is the destruction by cosmic weight of 14th century Genoese doge Simon Boccanegra’s hopeless love…
Beautiful Face Meets Beautiful Soul: Bampton Classical Opera Does Grétry’s Zemira e Azor Proud
You don’t have to be among the cognoscenti of the writings of Carl Gustav Jung to be familiar with two of his most important concepts: the collective unconscious with its layering of…
Hamburg State Opera’s New Production of Verdi’s Macbeth Plays Mind Games
Verdi knew what he was talking about. Writing to his librettist Francesco Piave about Shakespeare’s “Scottish Play”, he declared: “This tragedy is one of the greatest creations of Man. If…
Bernstein and Weill on the Shortcomings of the American Dream
In their different musical styles and forms, these two works offer a critique of the American Dream in its endless pursuit of material affluence, and how that impacts upon personal…
Diva Sings, Lightning Strikes: Tosca at Wolf Trap Opera
Set in 1970s Italy as exposited in the opening recorded monologue, Tonya and Ryan McKinny’s concept for this modern Tosca was a daring choice that, in short, paid off big…
Oakland: American Apollo Gets Sterling West Coast Premiere
Enterprising West Edge Opera recently mounted an engrossing new production of Damian Geter and Lila Palmer’s engaging opus, American Apollo. This is only the second staging since the World Premiere…
The Turn of the Screw: Unsettling Storytelling in Oakland
West Edge Opera Festival revealed a compelling new staging of Britten’s chilling psychological thriller, The Turn of the Screw. Director Mark Streshinsky had the good fortune of revisiting this haunting…
West Edge Rinaldo: Pow! Bam! Wow!
West Edge Opera has mounted a distinctly engaging staging of Handel’s Rinaldo that is not only musically thrilling, but also visually as much fun and as rambunctious as a box…