It seems somewhat incongruous that a state of euphoria could be reached after the emotionally wrenching journey Leos Janácek’s astonishing song-cycle Zápisník zmizelého (The Diary of One Who Disappeared) takes the listener on, but tenor Matthew Polenzani and pianist Julius Drake’s performance left this listener in just such a state. Read more »
Kevin Fullerton
There are, on rare occasions, moments in a live performance where some intangible symbiotic relationship between audience and performer creates an instant that borders on the sublime; where collectively they breathe as one and inhabit a singular emotional space. Such a moment was achieved near the end of the first half of Aprile Millo’s Zankel Hall recital on Wednesday evening. Read more »
Director Ivo van Hove, in collaboration with Flemish opera company Muziektheater Transparant, brings his trademark physicality and stripped-down aesthetic to bear on Leoš Janáček‘s “pathbreaking, emotionally raw song cycle” (The New York Times) Diary of One Who Disappeared. Featuring bravura performances by tenor Andrew Dickinson and mezzo-soprano Marie Hamard and additional music by composer Annelies Van Parys, BAM presents the US Premiere of this contemporary update April 4—6 at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House.
In 1917, Czech composer Janáček became obsessed with a married woman 40 years his junior. In the throes of despair, he penned more than 700 love letters and a haunting 22-part song cycle, about a village boy who falls in love with a Romany girl. Van Hove’s contemporary reimagining of Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared paints a deeply affecting portrait of identity, infatuation, and ultimately, alienation. Read more »
Fans of Juan Diego Flórez who have endured an inexplicable three-and-a-half year absence from New York’s operatic and concert scene found much to cheer at Sunday’s sold out Carnegie Hall recital. In the end it became a veritable love-fest between the Peruvian tenor and those assembled in the Hall. Read more »
I attended the Sunday, May 13, performance with bittersweet anticipation.
Last evening’s scorching performance of Fallujah by the New York City Opera demonstrated that sometimes impact is not limited by physical proximity.
Cher Public