Sung and spoken tragedy
The return of Cherubini‘s Medée to the Opéra Comique may be a homecoming, but Nigel Wilkinson almost went home at intermission.
Recent Stories
The Met should revive its “Parade” triple bill
John Dexter and David Hockney‘s French triple bill of Poulenc‘s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Satie‘s Parade, and Ravel‘s L’enfant et les sortilèges, last seen in 2002. This clip is from Barcelona but you can enjoy Gabriel Bermúdez nonetheless.
By Fletcher
90 comments
Back to the island
Annapolis Opera presented a celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s reflections on love, relationships, and marriage, pairing a fully staged production of Trouble in Tahiti with a collection of songs from other Bernstein compositions.
The Met should revive Saint-François d’Assise
The Met was built for Saint-François d’Assise. It is a huge work, and it needs a huge space. And Ingo Metzmacher.
By Remko Jas
118 comments
The twilight saga
Chris’s Cache offers ten more sopranos singing Strauss‘s Vier letzte Lieder: Sena Jurinac, Gundula Janowitz, Jessye Norman, Roberta Alexander, Edith Mathis, Helen Donath, Malin Byström, Christiane Karg, Jacquelyn Wagner, and Corinne Winters.
The Met should revive María de Buenos Aires
Because we have no shortage of mezzos that would be great in this rep
By Kevin Ng
108 comments
Kiss me beneath the milky twilight
Only disordered and volcanic intellects need apply for this beautifully deranged production of Salome from Heartbeat Opera
La voix humaine
Danielle de Niese can’t get off the phone in a performance recorded in Wales last month
Look to the western sky
Not even howling winds and thunderous rain could dampen the excitement of Bay Area audiences to experience Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen for the first time in the Bay Area at Zellerbach Hall Berkeley last Tuesday, 4 February.
The Met should revive Ermione
Michael Spyres as Pirro; Juan Diego Flórez, Javier Camerena, or Lawrence Brownlee as Oreste; Aigul Akhmetshina as Andromaca; Anastasia Bartoli as Ermione
By Belle Raggio
122 comments
Maria Stuarda
Lisette Oropesa and Aigul Akhmetshina come to blows in a performance recorded last fall in Madrid.
Der fliegende Holländer
George London and Leonie Rysanek lead a performance from 1960
The Met should revive Mignon
Mignon of Ambroise Thomas was performed at the Met many times but has not been for decades.
By grimoaldo2
174 comments
Goddess in three persons
Patrick Mack looks back on “a great, nay, historic evening,” Renata Scotto‘s 1981 performance of Il trittico, now newly available on Met Opera on Demand.
Morgiane, ou le Sultan d’Ispahan
Opera Lafayette and OperaCréole present Edmond Dédé‘s rediscovered opera in a live stream from the Dekelboum Concert Hall at the University of Maryland
Die Liebe der Danae
A live opening night broadcast from Munich
The Met should revive Esclarmonde
Esclarmonde is the only answer to the question of what the Met should revive.
By Joe Spinelli
160 comments
Unbrided enthusiasm
Fourteen years ago this month, James Levine conducted a tryout at Juilliard of a quite pleasant production by Stephen Wadsworth of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride (in English) intended for the Met. Unfortunately, that transfer never happened and New York has been the poorer for it.
The Met should revive Il trittico
It is time for the Met to revive Puccini‘s masterpiece and his best work IMHO, Il trittico.
By Matthew Byrd
183 comments
Not a Marietta
We are a nostalgic sort, we opera lovers. Fortunately, Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, which arrived in concert form to Boston’s Symphony Hall last weekend, is all about nostalgia.
And her mother too
After a flurry of coverage over the past weeks, Opera Lafayette, in partnership with New Orleans’s OperaCréole, finally premiered Edmond Dédé’s Morgiane, ou Le Sultan d’Ispahan in DC last night.
The Met should revive Die tote Stadt
It’s fascinating, and gorgeous, and over the top, and it requires a director to make actual decisions in a way that causes clutching of pearls when it happens in a production of a better known opera.
By Armerjacquino
64 comments