(Not) getting reviewed today
Today is Stephen Sondheim’s 90th birthday, and it’s not going as planned.
David Fox
Die Hochzeit des Figaro
It was love at first hearing. The music was glorious, the conducting bouncy and pointed, and the singers sure sounded terrific to me.
Ella Sings Rodgers and Hart and Cole Porter
If you want to be sophisticated, drink a cocktail while listening to this particular record.
Out of the Blue
Bess is clearly Angel Blue’s part—set in the richest and most shimmering upper middle portion of her voice, and optimally suited to her persona.
Look what happened to “Mabel”
Time heals almost everything, as Jerry Herman’s best score is stylishly resurrected.
After the parade
Dolly definitely did not have me at Hello!
Favorite things
Donizetti’s La Favorite remains a relative rarity in the repertoire, especially in the original French version.
Songs of mirth and triumph sing
Pretty is its own reward.
Brimming with life
I’ve heard starrier performances, but none that made a more powerful case for this masterwork.
Diary of the dead
Joyce DiDonato’s take on Winterreise is a conceptual misstep that, song after song, frustratingly dilutes and distracts from an often rewarding musical performance.
Moods for moderns
Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, always with a gift for gab, is ever more loquacious in concerts, often talking directly to the audience.
Maid love
The Berta (mezzo-soprano Emily Damasco) runs away with the show.
Reform follows function
Love in Hate Nation is a little musical that could and can… and I sure as hell hope it does!
The opposite of sex
Since 1934, Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts has been preparing emerging artists for operatic careers.
The Philadelphia stories
As we also saw last year, Festival O19 ended on a sweetly quiet note, movingly connecting Opera Philadelphia with the larger city and our musical future.
And when I die
For the academics who may be reading this: Let Me Die exists in a confounding but intriguing interpretive liminal space.
Total ellipse
Employing the most slimly elegant resources, Festival O’s Denis & Katya is a monumental, dramatically shattering event.
Tales of the citrus
Opera Philadelphia’s Love of Three Oranges is never less than extravagantly entertaining theater.
Trial by Korngold
What is the best metaphor for this year’s Bard Music Festival?
A grandeur night for singing
“Die Zauberflöte is an opera!” “No, it’s the first musical comedy!”
Maid in America
The second summer session of the Russian Opera Workshop concludes this week with concert performances of Tchaikovsky’s Maid of Orleans.
Sweeping down the plains
Within minutes, something wonderful happened. None of my reservations mattered.
From Russia with love
Under any circumstances, the Russian Opera Workshop’s radiant concert performance of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta would have been an event to celebrate.
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
