The conclusion of our Fanciulla del West video overview in three parts looks at a trio of performances from the 2010s. Read more »
The Fanciulla del West video overview begun yesterday resumes, as Puccini’s Girl closes out the 20th century and gallops into the 21st. But first, a few words on the opera’s place in the repertory. Read more »
This riotous opera transports the Oedipus tale to an apocalyptic 1980s London, plagued by police violence, racism, and socioeconomic decay. Intrepid composer Mark-Anthony Turnage’s (Anna Nicole) 1988 breakthrough brilliantly combines cockney-accented profanity and irreverent drama with an audacious score and outstanding four-person cast. Eddy (tenor Alex Otterburn), our modern-day Oedipus, dreams of a better life. After hearing a fortune teller’s disturbing prediction, he resolves at all costs to avoid shagging his own mum (soprano Susan Bullock) and inadvertently killing his father (tenor Andrew Shore). But he is unable to outrun fate, landing in the prophetically maternal arms of an East End café manager (mezzo soprano Allison Cook). Thirty years later, Greek still resonates, offering an incisive, brash contemporary statement on accountability and family. Read more »
On Thursday, Puccini’s seventh opera, the California Gold Rush romance La fanciulla del West, returns to its birthplace for its first Met performances since 2011. Eva-MariaWestbroek will be back to sing Minnie three Octobers following her Met appearances as a very different virginal heroine, Wagner’s Elisabeth. Read more »
Well here we are, beloveds, still swathed in the warm glow of the Leonard Bernstein centennial. Box sets abound like bunnies in a hutch.
Der Rosenkavalier (on Blu-ray and DVD) is from the Met HD broadcast which also happened to be the final performance of the run, becoming a true souvenir of the farewells of its two leading ladies.
Even those of us who consider Guillaume Tell Rossini’s greatest opera understand why it has not been his most frequently staged.
Psychology is encoded in the composer’s vocal lines more than his librettist’s words.
C-major has made available the first DVD/Blu-ray of Franco Faccio’s Amleto.
Cher Public