While studying Un ballo in maschera for my Vienna role debut next January, I came across this beautiful ‘Ecco l’orrido campo’ amazingly performed by Montserrat Caballé.
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).
Klaus Mäkelä unexpectedly joins the foray for The Cleveland Orchestra‘s performances of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem.
Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung at Canadian Opera Company deliver on fine performances even if Robert Lepage‘s production skimps on horror.
“You’re your own boss.”
Nostalgic for bass month, Parterre Box offers excerpts from two young basses to watch: Giorgi Manoshvili and Patrick Guetti.
Hans Hotter masterfully captures the poignancy of this sublime Brahms Lied.
Barbara Hannigan mesmerizes as both a brilliant vocalist and a proficient opera conductor in a double bill of Strauss and La voix humaine with the New York Philharmonic.
While refined, Lisa della Casa sings “Four Last Songs” deeply alert to the text and with effortless vocalization that sounds fresh and spontaneous.
Opera Baltimore concludes its season with a piercing semi-staged production of Pelléas et Mélisande.
Funnily enough, I’m not remotely a Rachmaninov fan, but this performance by Galina Vishnevskaya in her considerable prime always gives me the chills.
Opera San José‘s La Traviata has all the buzz and energy of a world premiere.
With youthful abandon, Ms. Feola interprets an old chestnut.
A strong revival of Falstaff at the Los Angeles Opera proves a fitting farewell vehicle for Music Director James Conlon.
Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton’s rendition of Jake Heggie‘s “Winged Victory: We’re Through,” vividly captures the song’s humor and energy.
Gregory Spears’s Sleepers Awake mystifies and delights at Opera Philadelphia.
Led by a mesmerizing Anthony Roth Costanzo, Satyagraha at the Paris Opera dispenses with historical particularities for something for more elusive.
A strong revival of Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera and a recital by Benjamin Bernheim offered the chance to hear “Kuda, kuda” twice in two days.
This prompt of “favorite art song performance” seems just about as broad — and almost silly — a question as asking a painter what their favorite color is.
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