Preaching to the choir Preaching to the choir

Unfortunately, LOC’s Proximity works only fitfully. 

Ocean, thou mighty monster Ocean, thou mighty monster

Michael Spyres’s nobly moving Idomeneo wasn’t just a bravura triumph: singing strongly throughout, he brought more colors to his portrayal of the tortured king than I had experienced from others in the Ponnelle production.

Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in magic?

Remember that time you went to the opera and the whole evening was like magic? Saturday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion probably ranks among my greatest nights in the theater and I’m finding the superlatives in my thesaurus inadequate to the task.

Putting it together Putting it together

Riccardo Muti’s vision of Aida’s score largely emerged as one of subtlety, musicality, and restraint.

Dancing lady Dancing lady

I entered the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Saturday night for LA Opera’s 30 year old revival of their production of Salome with a combination of enthusiasm and apprehension.

A tale of two Alagnas

In 1890 Cavalleria rusticana had taken the whole world by storm and in the next decade or so, hordes of composers, willing or unwillingly, jumped on the Verismo bandwagon.  La navarraise (1894) is generally considered Jules Massenet’s homage to the genre, and for a long time the two works were often performed together.   Emma Calvé,…