I will remember you
Whether full-bodied and rich or comic and actorly, the baritone voice contains multitudes.
Review
Senza nube e senza vel
I attended the Sunday, May 13, performance with bittersweet anticipation.
Give ’em Hellman
I mean, how often does one get to hear Bernstein’s gorgeous, rollicking, and varied score nursed by a full orchestra and the artistic resources of an opera company?
“Tosca,” starring the Philadelphia Orchestra
Though orchestrally lavish, this “semi-staging” delivers less theater than no staging at all.
Lovely and never violent
There was a lot expectation about the new opera by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp. Their previous collaboration, Written on Skin, was an enormous critical and public success, earning the work a place in the exclusive club of 21th century classics with selected works by Saariaho, Heggie and Birtwistle.
Meeting Rigoletto
I have a confession to make. I have been taking Rigoletto for granted.
When in Rome
Mozart was barely sixteen when he wrote Lucio Silla to open the Carnival in Milan in 1772.
Love to love you baby
Asking the musical question, “They say we know why the poor sleep three in a bed, but why do the rich?
Too much, too soon
Heartbeat is, after all, a company that loves to tinker.
Pretty little lyres
While one sympathized with Matthew Aucoin’s urge to add his voice to the Orpheus canon it was difficult to figure out how his work complemented Gluck’s.
Sondra castle
By the end of the first act, it was clear to me that I was experiencing an artist performing at her absolute peak.
Twist of fate
The Verdi Chorus celebrated their 35th anniversary with their spring concert weekend entitled The Force of Destiny last Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
Unfair ‘Lady’
A revival of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center makes a muddle of the show’s thoughtful elements and isn’t particularly funny either.
Jesus hopped the L train
Just a few years back it would have been seen as ridiculous to put “Lyric Opera of Chicago” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” in the same sentence.
Thank you for smoking
How do you like your Carmen? Mezzo or soprano? Flirtatious? Confrontational? Smolderingly sexy?
Madness on the moors!
The new cast at the Met suggested an alliterative retitling of Lucia di Lammermoor was needed—perhaps Lost Loonies in Love or its Italian equivalent?
Songs of disappointment
b>Lawrence Brownlee, star tenor of stage and NFL games is a real “pillar of the community.”
Speaking ill of the dead
Plácido Domingo’s conducting reduced the score’s urgency to the lethargy of a jellyfish.
Quantum leap
Like Julius Caesar before her, Anna Netrebko can rightly proclaim “Veni vidi vici” about her decisive Roman victory at the Metropolitan Opera where she took on her first-ever Tosca.
It takes a woman
Julia Bullock revisited a few well-trodden song cycles and lieder but pointed up their hidden politics.
Panglossed over
Celebrating Lenny’s 100th this year has made Candide ubiquitous at opera houses worldwide.
Tragically Hippolyte
I had my head in my hands groaning in disbelief instead of joining in the general applause around me.
Giglio d’april
April brought I Puritani to Palermo’s centerpiece Teatro Massimo.
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
