‘So, we grew together,Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,But yet an union in partition,Two lovely berries moulded on one stem.’ I don’t know if Mascagni knew his Shakespeare, but…
Category: Staged Operas
The Golden Cockerel at the Aix Festival
It was Rimsky Korsakov’s last opera, his 1907 masterpiece Le Coq d’Or in one fell swoop (no intermission). In Aix Pushkin’s poetic Tzar Dodon met his fate, his head smashed,…
Le Comte Ory: a riotous romp concludes Garsington’s 2021 season
Announcing that there was a full house assembled for the final performance of Garsington’s Le Comte Ory, the Festival’s artistic director Douglas Boyd was greeted by a spontaneous burst of…
Stirring Fellow Travelers Journeys to Des Moines
In addition to the “Big Three” Main Stage offerings in the Des Moines Metro Opera summer season, we were also indeed fortunate to experience their deeply affecting Second Stage production…
Rameau’s Platée in Indianola
A champagne cork pops at the onstage bar under a spate of piss-elegant chandeliers, the music strikes up, and Des Moines Metro Opera’s fizzy, heady Platée is off to the…
The Queen of Spades, a Winning Hand
After the long months when card playing gamblers were relegated to video poker in isolation, Des Moines Metro Opera has triumphantly bolted back to the gaming table with a riveting…
Sweeney A Palpable Hit, So Help Me Todd
The estimable American festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, ventured confidently into Stephen Sondheim territory with an enthralling new production of Sweeney Todd. The first great asset in its favor is…
Apocalypse and Combat in Aix
Pierre Audi’s 2021 Aix Festival included two small pieces that continue the Festival’s operatic exploration of the larger Mediterranean world, meanwhile connecting the Festival’s general director to his Lebanese roots.…
Le nozze di Figaro at the Aix Festival
Mozart meets hysteria in this new staging of his masterpiece by Dutch metteur en scène Lotte de Beer, to the quick and just baton of conductor Thomas Hengelbrock and his Balthaser…
The Cunning Little Vixen at Opera Holland Park
Our present condition lends us, perhaps more than ever, to think of what has led us here, how things really are now, and where the world will take us next.…