review / performance
Show business fables often involve an ambitious, if naïve, ingenue (male or female) desperate for fame. This young wannabe finds fame and fortune: but it comes at a cost.
By Eli Jacobson
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Soprano Lydia Grindatto confirmed the fine impression she had made at Giargiari vocal competition with a charismatic, thoroughly inhabited performance that showed careful preparation in every aspect.
By David Fox
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The film of The Hours failed to effectively weave together the novel’s trio of threads of interiority about suicide and secondarily literary creation. I wondered if an opera would stand a better chance at achieving that? Based on Tuesday’s diva-encrusted stage premiere of Kevin Puts and Greg Pierce’s The Hours, its creators didn’t pull it off either.
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Don Carlos was a real feast of good singing and orchestral grandeur.
By Henson Keys
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“Utter genius” (Broadway World) Dorothy Bishop returns to the Triad Theater for her annual Dozen Divas Holiday Spectacular. Dorothy presents fully costumed, vocally brilliant send-ups of the world’s greatest singing icons from Barbra to Cher to Adele. More information and tickets.
I have a horrible confession. I’ve always judged the quality of an opera largely on the number of dead characters at the finale.
By Patrick Mack
All things were, indeed, made new again, when Boston’s venerable Handel & Haydn Society brought Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro to the stage, their first time doing so in its entirety, as their 2,576th concert on Thursday.
By Harry Rose
There are no words superlative enough to describe this celebration of Orpheus’ grief, and I truly applaud San Francisco Opera for presenting such food for thought that will definitely resonate long after with me.
Sondra Radvanovsky eschewed the customary stuffiness of the recital format, often speaking directly to the audience and putting her selections in a highly personal context.
San Francisco Opera has unveiled a brand-new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s warhorse classic La traviata, the first “to be built in San Francisco Opera’s scene and costume shops in 35 years.”
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Le Comte Ory was a lovely cake with waaaay too much frosting.
By Henson Keys
After putting a hiatus on their awards in 2020 and 2021 (for reasons that are all too well-known to all of us), the Richard Tucker Foundation Gala returned on Sunday evening November 13 honoring soprano Angel Blue the 2022 Award winner.
By Eli Jacobson
The main reason to see this revival is Benjamin Bernheim’s Duca.
By Kevin Ng
Trouble was afoot from the first selection onward.
Davóne Tines has sung with Early Music groups and avant-garde ones, and he has a taste for projects that cross artistic boundaries, which suits an innate showmanship.
By John Yohalem
