Fifty percent illusion
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis does its best to give magic in its summer productions of Roméo et Juliette and A Streetcar Named Desired.
André Previn
11 pieces since 2011.
11
pieces
16
years
Avant de quitter la scène
As of late, the Bay Area has been blessed with a few high-wattage, high-profile recitals as if to compensate for the chilly temperatures and gloomy weather. Roughly a month after Lise Davidsen made an ebullient debut at Cal Performances, the Bay Area welcomed French soprano Natalie Dessay last Saturday.
Flores para los muertos
Despite this being the first full-length opera for Gabriela Lena Frank, there’s no lack of experience across the creative team which, along with favorable reviews for the production, contributed to high levels of anticipation.
Utterly bewitching
Who could doubt that Leontyne Price contains multitudes?
The fire of artifice
My mother leaned in and quietly whispered,”Is that Leontyne Price?” to which I replied,”Shhhh!”
The kindness of Previn
Renée Fleming is one of the most polarizing figures to be discussed here on an ongoing basis.
Le jazz tiède
The crossover album: a hint that that an artist has either exhausted all the repertory at her command and owes her record label a new release or that her waning vocal resources really shouldn’t be taxed much further than an octave.
The world on a string: talking to Jamie Barton
American mezzo Jamie Barton, who has steadily been winning fans in the US over the past few years for her rich and nuanced singing, took the international opera world by storm last weekend by winning both the Song Prize as well as the overall prize in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
Deliberate cruelty is unforgivable
André Previn‘s A Streetcar Named Desire, with the “People’s Diva” herself in the iconic role of the unstable Blanche DuBois.
All things Brit and beautiful
“Time and tide wait for no one” pontificates Myrtle the barmaid, setting the tone for André Previn’s opera about fleeting romance but enduring love: Brief Encounter. Loosely based on the play Still Life by Noël Coward and the screenplay for the film Brief Encounter by Coward and David Lean, this opera (now on CD) tells […]