I’ll have to say I love you in a song
Starting March 19, Vocal Arts DC’s latest virtual concert lavishes listeners with a sumptuous recital of art songs from the Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen.
Performance Reviews
Reviews of operatic, vocal, and classical performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie Hall, all across America, and around the world.
Don’t you forget about me
HERE’s new radio opera marks itself out by leaning into the dramatic affordances of the audio-only format in No One is Forgotten, an adaptation of a play by Winter Miller with new music by Paola Prestini and Sxip Shirey.
Fascinating but frustrating
Now, through the auspices of the Metropolitan Opera, we have Sonya Yoncheva—and if anything, the diva-dom has been kicked up a notch!
Forging forward, instruments in hand
Whatever you think of Angela Gheorghiu, she epitomizes a star sound, the kind of voice that’s recognizable within three seconds, and she definitely knows her way around a performance.
The expansive and the ostentatious
Proudly and vividly on display was Anna Netrebko’s unique and glamorous ability to wear the music like a parade of couture gowns—some more sparkly than others, some a more flattering fit, but all thoughtfully chosen and laced into with care.
Unashamedly dark
It was a meaty program. But both singers had the chops for it.
One little soldier
Take it as a high compliment to the harrowing, riveting Soldier Songs that I was grateful it lasted only one hour. My nerves couldn’t have handled more.
Terracotta puppets of the gods
Dancing sheep! Flying sheep! Flying sheep who dance!
Learning to fly
Conceived by Adam Guettel as a song cycle that explores human relationships to the gods across the span of history into today, Myths and Hymns has been seen and heard in concert and staged settings, and some of the individual songs are often performed in cabaret.
All about my moth
The performance of an opera, indeed, seems almost a third narrative, atop the dreamer under the scientific microscope and the larva turning into a butterfly, and the mingling is not always clear—but then, clarity never seems to be the intention.
The ties that bind
Like everyone reading this, I imagine, I’ve missed going to see and hear something in person more than I thought possible.
On the beach
The immediate and personal catastrophe interleaves with the general and universal and ancient.
Crossing over
Without furnishings to distract them, the cast prowled the stage with sinister energy, exchanging significant looks and deadly secrets as though fearing Nihilists behind every drapery.
Times after times
Despite the ongoing pandemic and the political upheaval, the Prototype Festival is back, and it is bigger and more accessible than ever before.
You aren’t any good to me dead
The Murder of Halit Yozgat by Ben Frost and Petter Ekmann is flavorsome in its use of sound, vocal and otherwise, to explore the elements of the story, to keep you tied in, and guessing.
Jamie & Julia
As Julia Child, Jamie Barton is clearly having the time of her life.
Champagne o’clock
Happy New Year, dear readers, from me, Callum, and Christine Goerke’s headband-tiara!
The gang’s all queer
If the original version of The Prom had zazz—to borrow from one of the show’s signature numbers— Ryan Murphy’s adaptation barely achieves fizz.
No Grinches allowed
Grab a fuzzy robe, a hot toddy, and a Wales guidebook, then sink blissfully into your couch for Bryn Terfel’s Christmas concert for the Met’s Live in Concert Series.
Halfway to heaven
All in all, Mahler’s ethereal evocation of the natural world, and the world beyond our own, is becoming old hat.
Philadelphia stories
Has anything positive happened to the performing arts since the plague engulfed us nearly ten months ago?
Recasting the mold
Kennedy Center could not have predicted just how aptly Saturday evening’s rescheduled recital of 2020 Marian Anderson Award winner, baritone Will Liverman, would respond to the moment.
Bel canto, from a distance
I’ll just note that Cameron and I listened separately; we didn’t compare notes; and on our own, came up with the same list of top three singers… none of whom were among the actual winners.
Atlantis in Atlanta
“Once upon a time / Lived a foolish king. / Mocking Death, his crime, / Pure chaos he bring.”
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).