Cold case
The operas of Leos Janácek have been slowly gaining ground in the world’s theatres over the past fifty years.
Angela Denoke
16 pieces since 2011 — in 7 roles, at 7 companies, most often at Wiener Staatsoper.
16
pieces
7
roles
7
companies
16
years
Role Emilia Marty
Role Judith
Skeleton key
Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle both use themes of vision and revelation to ask compelling questions about knowledge, responsibility, and gender.
Role Katerina Ismailova
Fungus home
I can’t think of another 20th century opera which has grown so fast in popularity so long after its composition than Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Role Kundry
Grail mix
Contemporary stagings of Parsifal tend to be spare, abstract affairs scrubbed of religious associations, knights in armor and, sometimes, a grail.
Critical care
The experience of watching Wagner’s final opera Parsifal is frequently elevated to a spiritual occurrence, and productions have historically emphasized the religious dimension of the opera’s core themes of redemption and the dangers of temptation.
Role Marie
Hell on wheels
Absent from Chicago Lyric Opera’s repertory for 21 years, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck came roaring into town on Sunday afternoon in a stunning new production by Sir David McVicar.
Role Naina
When Pushkin comes to shove
An incoherent production of Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Hamburg State Opera may dispense with the fantastical, but Glinka‘s magic remains.
Role Stheno
Gorgon wild
Iain Bell and Lydia Steier‘s Medusa stuns in Brussels.
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).