La Traviata has hit the stage at San Francisco Opera every three to five years (even annually in some periods) since 1924. Surprises have been rare.
Tag: Milenski
Les Mamelles de TirÈsias in San Francisco
Poulenc’s racy little 1947 confection took stage within Kurt Weill’s peculiar little 1927 singspiel Mahagonny all framed within the current California drought and doomsday predictions of impending global aridity.
Elisir d’amore in Monte-Carlo
Will wonders never cease? Wheat stalks 6 meters high? Rats 2 meters tall. Setting Donizetti’s little comedy amidst biological mutations engendered by Chernobyl does seem a bit farfetched.
Carmen in Bilbao
Bilbao is always news, Calixto Bieito is always news, Carmen with a good cast is always news. So here is the news.
La Favorite in Toulouse
French mistresses are much in the news these days, and now the ThÈ‚tre du Capitole’s new production of Donizetti’s La Favorite has added considerable fuel to the fire.
Lucia di Lammermoor in Marseille
A handsome new production, beautifully staged in Marseille’s fine old opera house cried out for a cast to make the opera bel canto.
The Tender Land in Lyon
It is not often that a Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land comes along with resources like those of the OpÈra de Lyon, one of Europe’s finest. So carpe diem!
Coeur de Chien aka A Dog’s Life in Lyon
If satire is your thing you will not want to miss this opera about human testicles grafted onto a dog.
Rusalka in Monaco
Every-once-in-a-while a Rusalka comes along, and this week there are even two here on the French Riviera — just now in Monaco and upcoming Saturday on movie screens all along the coast.
Jean-Paul Scarpitta in Montpellier
I met with the embattled artistic director of the OpÈra et Orchestre National de Montepellier not to talk about his battles. I simply wanted to know the man who had cast and staged a truly extraordinary Mozart/DaPonte trilogy.