Opera Orchestra of New York Opens 2004-2005 Season

On Monday, 22 November, Opera Orchestra of New York opened its 2004-2005 season with La Fanciulla del West. According to its website: bq. The OONY season kicks off with Puccini’s…

L’Opéra-Comique Named as National Theater

Le Figaro is reporting that L’Opéra-Comique has been decreed an “établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial” under French law. Its charter is to provide a broad diversity of “expressions”…

Performance Note: Helikon Opera of Moscow Performs Nabucco at Dijon

The Helikon Opera of Moscow is in residence for three weeks at Dijon. Its first production was Verdi’s Nabucco. In ResMusica.com, Edouard Bailly reviews this production with lavish praise for…

La Scala Readies for Opening Night on December 7

‘Beautiful lady’ regains her looks and rediscovers her voice John Hooper in Milan Saturday November 20, 2004 The Guardian Mauro Meli, the artistic director of the world’s most famous opera…

Verdi’s Macbeth at Madrid

Macbeth and the darkness Madrid Teatro Real 11/10/2004 – Giuseppe Verdi: Macbeth Carlos álvarez (Macbeth), Paoletta Marrocu (Lady Macbeth), Aquiles Machado (Macduff), Guillermo Orozco (Malcolm), Carlo Colombara (Banquo). Orchestra and…

On Robert Carsen

He’s a smooth operator John Allison [Times Online] Robert Carsen may be a showman but his intent is serious FOR more than a decade Robert Carsen has been one of…

Handel’s Semele at the ENO

Semele Robert Thicknesse at the Coliseum [Times Online, 20 November 2004] IT HAS to be the Prince of Wales’s favourite opera. “Nature to each allots his proper sphere,” avers Congreve’s…

Tosca at Graz

bq. Boris Trajanov, Evan Bowers and Marquita Lister Opernhaus Graz’s new production of Tosca is a hit. According to Larry Lash of the Financial Times, bq. A stage direction in…

Thomas Quasthoff Releases Autobiography

Quasthoff, der Grosse Der Bariton hat in einer aufwühlenden Biographie aufgeschrieben, wie er trotz seiner Behinderung zum Weltstar wurde “Rechts, links, rechts, links, rechts, links metronomt mein Kopf auf dem…

Lady Macbeth at the Bolshoi

Dangerous Music When Stalin pulled Shostakovich’s opera “Lady Macbeth” from the Soviet stage, the composer had good reason to fear for his life. By Raymond Stults Published: November 19, 2004…