Down for the Count
An uneven new cast can’t dim the glow of Richard Eyre‘s incisive Le nozze di Figaro at the Met
Paule Constable
12 pieces since 2012 — at 5 companies, most often at Metropolitan Opera.
12
pieces
5
companies
15
years
Slow simmer
This was by far my most satisfying experience with Pelléas et Mélisande for a multitude of reasons and I encourage anyone who’s even mildly curious to find their way to the Music Center for a very rich experience.
How do you solve a problem like ‘Medea’?
Sondra Radvanovsky has an unconventional voice that is suited to unconventional characters and is best used in rangy, difficult music. The lack of lush beauty was no deficit in depicting Medea’s jealousy and vengeful rage.
Miss me blond
From the technical standpoint San Francisco Opera’s Billy Budd was pretty much flawless.
Truth, force
I hardly know where to heap my praise first.
Better call Gaul
Bellini’s Norma Monday evening didn’t at all improve on the production it was replacing.
Wahn for a day
Die Meistersinger is a bold stroke of programming, in a not particularly exciting way.
Where have all the bubbles gone?
As a whole, the evening seemed forced and a bit dispiriting.
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.
Pyramid scheme
Giulio Cesare at the Met proved an evening that added up to much more than the sum of its uneven parts.
Sachs appeal
Opera’s Scottish enfant terrible David McVicar has applied his considerable skills in this 2011 Glyndebourne production of Die Meistersinger, the result being a refreshing new take on a familiar warhorse.
There will have been blood
There’s nothing like a good performance of Verdi’s Macbeth and here is proof positive because this dvd is (almost) nothing like a good performance.