(Credit: Brescia – Amisano © Teatro alla Scala) Legend has it that “La forza del destino” is a cursed opera, associated with tragedies that seem to haunt every new production. From companies falling into bankruptcy after staging it, to severe technical and production errors arising after the famous overture, and even the deaths of artists linked to the work—this reputation {…}
Cape Town Opera’s “Porgy and Bess” created an extraordinary cultural confluence in its Chinese premiere at the Poly Theatre. Closing the 27th Beijing Music Festival on 12 October 2024, this production brings together 39 singers and 75 musicians as Gershwin’s South Carolina masterpiece, reimagined through South African artistry, finds new resonance on the Beijing stage. It arrives at a {…}
(Credit: Paul Marc Mitchell) The holiday spirit resonated powerfully at the Elbphilharmonie’s recent Christmas-themed concert, a year-end highlight crafted by the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists. Christophe Rousset’s much-anticipated debut as guest conductor, stepping in after Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s departure as artistic director, brought a fresh sense of artistic renewal and festive splendor. Drawing from the rich {…}
(Photo: Národní divadlo Brno) Fairytales often speak directly to our unconscious, revealing drives and truths that are not always apparent to our conscious selves. It is therefore not surprising that many tales are replicated across countries and cultures, even if the characters and details vary. The Slavic fable of Rusalka, for example, has counterparts with the French Melusine, Germanic Nixie {…}
(Photo: Jakob Jira) Alongside the headline operas, the Janáček Brno Festival stages a number of student and alternative projects. One of the works on offer this year was a piece entitled “The Other City,” performed by Ensemble Opera Diversa, written by Czech composer and librettist, Ondřej Kyas, based on a 1993 novel of the same name by Michal Ajvaz. A {…}
The score of Gordon Getty’s “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” breathes all the unpretentiously sweet melancholy of its many predecessors – from James Hilton’s 1933 novella of the same title to subsequent adaptations as, among others, radio plays and lavishly cast movie musicals. Yet it is not exactly the feel-good opera advertised in Pentatone’s press release; rather, the eponymous Mr. Chips – {…}
(Photo: Mark Allen) Puccini called his work “La Rondine” a “commedia lirica,” effectively COMIC opera, but I consider it a TRAGEDY that this work isn’t performed more in the opera house. “La Rondine” comprises some of the most exquisite, emotive music the maestro ever penned. Alas, devoid of the dramatic impact and impetus of his more famous, regularly performed works, {…}
(Photo: “The Barber of Seville” debuted just over 200 years ago in Rome. The opera played to a jeering audience, a staged event where adherents of the composer Giovanni Paisiello – whose own version of the opera, “Il barbiere di Siviglia, ovvero La precauzione inutile” had pleased operagoers 20 years earlier – packed the house and catcalled throughout the premiere {…}
This season the Paris Opera is reviving “Rigoletto” in Claus Guth’s 2016 stark production. Verdi’s work is known for its memorable arias and melodies and is perhaps one of the most difficult works for baritone. It is also a gritty plot that has been reinterpreted in many different ways, sometimes revealing its darker layers. But in other instances, reinterpretations have {…}