Winsome, tony, and studded with overbooked bistros, Tanglewood is not exactly crawling with bohemians these days. But on Saturday, the nonconformist spirit was out in full force, with a concert staging of La Bohème that brought scandal, rain, and silly summer glamour to the Koussevitzky shed. 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. Read more »
Anton Rubinstein’s operatic masterpiece Demon first premiered to great acclaim in 1871. Although performed frequently in Russia, the work remains something of a rarity in the West today. The 2018 Summerscape production (July 27 – August 5) will be conducted by Leon Botstein and directed by the renowned American director Thaddeus Strassberger. The all-Russian cast will be led by the sparkling-voiced soprano Olga Tolkmit (last seen at Bard in Dimitrij) alongside baritone Efim Zavalny in his American debut in the title role. Read more »
The dream cast put together for this second revival of Kasper Holten’s Don Giovanni production shines at the Royal Opera House, even if Marc Minkowski‘s musical direction didn’t match the otherwise high standards of the night. Read more »
As Brünnhilde invokes the gods of an empty Valhalla for one last time and strides confidently into a wall of flame, we pause for a moment, unsure of what will follow.
In less than 10 days two outstanding countertenors, Franco Fagioli and Jakub Józef Orlinski, visited London.
Casting the Ring as a parable for the state of the current world, seen through the eyes of a progressive urban opera lover (and not an early German nationalist), offers us soothing self-justification.
Composer/librettist David Hertzberg’s The Rose Elf, which gave its world premiere in the Green-Wood Cemetery Catacombs last weekend, is indeed a marvel of elfin proportions.
Cher Public