(Photo: Padraig Grant) To mark the hundredth anniversary of the death of Giacomo Puccini, the Wexford Festival Opera commissioned William Niall Morris to create a short work celebrating the composer’s life and music. The result was a short piece, lasting about an hour, entitled “Puccini: Man of the Theatre,” which essentially amounted to a selection of his greatest hits linked {…}
(Photo by Todd Rosenberg Photography) Lyric Opera of Chicago’s first season without erstwhile General Director Anthony Freud began as his last concluded: with Verdi. Lyric opened 2024-25 and John Mangum’s tenure far more successfully than last season’s dispiriting staging of “Aida,” with Verdi’s indestructible mid-career masterpiece “Rigoletto.” On opening nights, Lyric usually mounts either a new production or one new-to-Chicago, {…}
(Photo: Cory Weaver / San Francisco Opera) We need Beethoven. Especially the 9th Symphony with Schiller’s Ode to Joy. “Freude, schöner Götterfunken/Tochter aus Elysium,/Wir betreten feuertrunken,Himmlische/, dein HeiligtumFreude menschen gotterfunken./Oh friends, no more of these sounds!/Let us sing more cheerful songs, More full of joy!/Joy, bright spark of divinity,/Daughter of Elysium,/Fire-inspired we tread Thy sanctuary!/Thy magic power reunites/All that custom {…}
(Photo: Padraig Grant) Set just off the waterfront in Wexford town centre is The Grain Store, an old, restored warehouse, which last year hosted the festival’s first community opera. It is a project that enables the local population to engage directly with the festival by creating and presenting its own production with the help of workshops that take place throughout {…}
(Photo: Patricio Cassinoni) The Wexford Festival Opera is well-known for its commitment to exploring neglected and unearthing forgotten works written by both well-known and lesser-known composers. Although it has met with considerable success in this endeavor, inevitably there have been one or two failures along the way; after all, many such operas are not performed for very good reasons! Two {…}
“Il Trovatore” is one of Verdi’s most popular operas and it is said that to do it justice, all you need are the four greatest voices in the world. The opera certainly packs a punch for all four soloists as it requires agility, legato, and expressiveness throughout their respective ranges. Its story is also known for being “incomprehensible” and hard {…}
(Photo: Rolando Paolo Guerzoni) Composed by Gioachino Rossini in 1818, “Mosè in Egitto” is an opera that deserves close attention for its historical and musical significance. Created during a transitional phase in his career, Rossini crafted a masterpiece that merges sacred drama with opera seria. Based on the biblical tale of Exodus, Moses in Egypt marks a turning point in {…}
(Credit: Ken Howard / Met Opera) You’ve heard the cliché that Caruso famously said about doing a production of “Il Trovatore…” You know it. I won’t repeat it. The spirit of the idea stands, but the reality is that it takes far more than just sticking four superstars on stage and letting magic happen. It doesn’t always work that way. {…}
(Photo: Brescia e Amisano © Teatro all Scala) Austrian writer Hugo von Hofmannsthal confessed that he drew inspiration for “Der Rosenkavalier’s” libretto from Molière’s comedies, weaving them together with the roles of Italian commedia dell’arte. He wrote, “The characters were there, performing right in front of us: the Buffoon, the Old Man, the Young Man, the Lady, the Cherubino… Each {…}