Mark, missed
Thoughtless direction stifled the epic drama.
Bryan Hymel
25 pieces since 2013 — in 9 roles, at 7 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
25
pieces
9
roles
7
companies
14
years
By role
Role Arnold
Role Don José
Thank you for smoking
Along with Don Giovanni, Carmen is an odd bird on the list of the most beloved and frequently performed works.
Role Énée
This means war
Considering the size and the logistics for staging Les Troyens, every new production of Berlioz’s epic masterpiece is a special event.
Not since Ilium
As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my two favorite operas is Les Troyens,
Fou fighter
It is easy to become overly identified with opera—as a cleverer friend of mine once noted: being a sports fan is an interest, but if you like opera, everyone thinks of it as a crippling obsession.
Role Faust
Keeper of the flame
Elina Garanca’s glorious Marguerite transformed La Damnation de Faust into the Met’s first essential must-see of the year.
Role Henry VIII
Let’s make it regal
Having heard a bit of the opening night broadcast and read some decidedly mixed reviews, I was totally unprepared for the remarkable performance of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena that I attended on December 15 at Chicago Lyric Opera.
Role Raoul de Nangis
Paris was burning
Logistically, a large-scale revival of the operas of Giacomo Meyerbeer is an unreasonable request, much less an expectation.
Role Robert
A Faustian bargain
What we have here is the grandest opera never heard.
Role Rodolfo
Embroidered silk
Maria Agresta‘s delicately-acted, sumptuously-sung seamstress transformed what might have been just an average Wednesday night revival into something finer.
Moon and stars
One of the major complaints about the five year casting system (as well as the shared productions by different companies) is that operatic events are rarely surprises anymore.
Snow business
Every year I say I’m not going to another La Bohème because I’ve seen this too many times.
Role Romeo
Get this Pati started
Politics and romance entangled in a spectacular fashion at San Francisco Operas’s Roméo et Juliette.