Sealing the deal
The Bayerische Staatsoper’s summer festival wound down with Lotte de Beer’s darkly effective production of Gounod ’sFaust.
Charles Gounod
37 pieces since 2006.
37
pieces
21
years
Ma queer immortelle
San Francisco Opera hosts an exuberant tribute to queerness past and present.
French revolution
Benjamin Bernheim opens up to Emma Hoffman about what really makes a French tenor ahead of his New York recital debut.
Once I was a schlepper, now I’m Miss Mazeppa
John Danaher on the world-premiere recording of Clémence de Grandval‘s wild and worthy Mazeppa, the latest release from the operatic archaeologists at Palazzetto Bru Zane.
The Italian connection
American Bach brings out the operatic side of Bach in a program featuring sparkling vocal talents.
The crowd-pleaser comes around
Juan Diego Flórez‘s charm and artistic sensibility remain as vibrant as ever, as seen at a recent Carnegie Hall recital.
Life in the Faust lane
Théâtre de l’Athénée Louis-Jouvet mounts a raucous production of Hervé’s Le petit Faust.
Georges has Georges
A double bill of rare Bizet works in Paris is not something any of us needs to do more than once
Mixte blessings
I was just moderately excited when LA Opera announced that French tenor Benjamin Bernheim would be coming to concertize at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, 90210.
My Verona
It surprises even me how some operas have eluded me in live performance even after lo, these many years. One of them is Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
A fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes
It’s not hard not to feel jaded about Romeo and Juliet.
That which we call a Rosa
Rosa Feola, hailed last year for her Gilda at the Met, brought a level of vocal refinement and elegance to Juliet that substantially elevated the night’s proceedings.
A very, very, very fine house
On this day in 1883 the Metropolitan Opera House opened with Gounod‘s Faust.
“A well-worn work”
On this day in 1900 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a revival of Roméo et Juliette.
The beautiful and damned
On this day in 1965 Montserrat Caballé and Sherrill Milnes made their Metropolitan Opera debuts in Faust.
Devil in disguise
On this day in 1953 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a new production of Gounod’s Faust.
The mélodie lingers on
Everything’s coming up mélodie! As the pandemic rages on and new lockdowns have thrown large-scale performances into disarray, record labels have been releasing new albums of French art song by the bucketload.
Get this Pati started
Politics and romance entangled in a spectacular fashion at San Francisco Operas’s Roméo et Juliette.
Pearl of wisdom
Odyssey Opera’s Ägyptische Helena was a beautifully executed production of a flawed opera.
Gladiator tidings
The finals on Sunday seemed a bit like the modern-day operatic equivalent of the Roman colosseum.
Grazie Millo
There are, on rare occasions, moments in a live performance where some intangible symbiotic relationship between audience and performer creates an instant that borders on the sublime.
Poetess without portfolio
Washington Concert Opera on the occasion of Gounod’s 200th birthday presented the American premiere of his first opera, Sapho.
Djinn and tonic
Odyssey Opera in Boston, which loves to open its season with a concert performance of some forgotten work, gave La Reine de Saba in Jordan Hall Saturday night.
The finale countdown
Our Own JJ catches up with the tail end of the Met season.