Seen for the first time at Glyndebourne, this Merry Widow is a stylish romp that, in the hands of director Cal McCrystal, recalls the best of Broadway. Glamorous sets and…
Erwartung in San Francisco
In recent years the San Francisco Symphony has indulged itself with a staged event in June. This year, with a tightened budget, it was a brief evening made of Schönberg’s…
Michieletto’s “Camping Così” returns to the New National Theatre Tokyo
Damiano Michieletto’s 2011 production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, making a welcome return to the New National Theatre, Tokyo, was seen on June 1. Set in a contemporary campground, vividly…
Innocence in San Francisco
Rarely has an opera performance enthralled audiences as has Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence just now at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House. We were entranced for its 105 minute duration, suffering the enduring…
Die Zauberflöte in San Francisco
It was a hot ticket in Berlin back in 2012, it has since played in L.A. (2013), Chicago (2021), Des Moines (2022), and around the world in many editions throughout…
A Figaro for any time
In some senses this Figaro is a throwback. John Cox’s staging was first seen in 2005, when Garsington Opera still made its home in the gardens of Garsington Manor in…
Opera Holland Park’s new staging of The Barber of Seville provides food for thought
Ingénues might be forgiven for wondering why Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville isn’t named after the romantic hero who fights tooth and nail to win the object of his…
A fine cast of young singers persist within a distracting interpretation of Handel’s magical opera
Even by the standards of Baroque opera, Alcina – Handel’s third, and perhaps greatest and most ingenious operatic adaptation from Ariosto’s epic Orlando furioso – comprises quite an array of…
A Sign of the Times: the LAPO’s remarkable Fidelio
After a traditionally-framed concert the night before – a John Williams ‘Overture’ (Olympic Fanfare), a ‘Concerto’ (Gabriela Ortiz’s Altar de cuerda) and Dvořäk’s symphony, ’From the New World’ – tradition…
Andrea Chénier: A final flourish for Pappano at the Royal Opera
Andrea Chénier is perhaps not an opera for purists, but there is no denying that it ends in a blaze of glory. Chénier and his beloved Maddalena exultantly greet the…