I am going to be rather forward with you. This analysis of Wednesday’s “Don Giovanni” at the Metropolitan Opera will kick off on a positive note before turning a bit sour in tone. But lo and behold, after that, I am going to return to my boyish enthusiasm for what I experienced at the opening of this revival run. The {…}
At the turn of the 20th century, Victor Herbert was widely regarded as a major composer making his mark with dozens and dozens of operettas. But the last century hasn’t always been kind to the Irish-American composer, many of his works getting largely ignored in the opera world. But for the last few years, the Victor Herbert Renaissance Project LIVE! {…}
Making your way to an evening at the opera, you pass through Prague’s medieval, cobblestone streets. In the distance, sets the orange, Bohemian sun behind the black silhouette of Prague Castle. Now descending into a cellar, you’ll find yourself in the theater lobby, packing your hands with Czech beer and awaiting the opening notes of the longest running production of {…}
Friday night at the Metropolitan Opera was the last time that audiences would get a chance to see Willy Decker’s production of Verdi’s “La Traviata.” The powerful vision that first came to see the light of the world in Salzburg over 10 years ago is in and of itself a long goodbye, an intricate look at how a woman says {…}
Where one would expect the operatic double bill of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci,” Teatro Comunale di Bologna instead opened last night’s double bill with Poulenc’s “La Voix Humaine” and Mascagni’s ever-famous verismo opera, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” appropriately placed with the approaching Easter season. La Voix Humaine “Voix Humaine,” set to music from Cocteau’s play of the same name, is described as {…}
Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” opens with a conversation between Madame Larina and Filippyevna remarking on arranged marriages and their overall lack of choice in the matter. A few scenes later, Filippyevna jokingly informs her beloved Tatiana that in her old times, the thought of love was nonsense for a young girl and then narrates her marriage at age 13 or 14 {…}
I preface this by stating that this review is for the performance on March 31, 2017. I would also like to recognize that this is just one, performance of a seven-performance run. In an ideal situation, I would attend every performance and write a detailed review of the overall work. As it stands, I can only go on my perspective of one performance. Despite being such a familiar opera, {…}
I preface this by stating that this review is for the performance on March 24, 2017. I would also like to recognize that this is just one, performance of a seven-performance run. In an ideal situation, I would attend every performance and write a detailed review of the overall work. As it stands, I can only go on my perspective of one performance. 2017 has been the year of {…}
It’s been 11 years since the Metropolitan Opera has performed Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” one of the composer’s late masterpieces and one that requires an ensemble of experienced singers who have the force to take on the composer’s demanding music. As a result, it is rarely performed around the world and for that reason, New York audiences have waited {…}