Up an Octavia Up an Octavia

The operatic offerings of Boston Early Music FestivalKeiser‘s Octavia and Telemann‘s Pimpinone and Ino — are delectable discoveries

Grand, hotel Grand, hotel

Sneaking in under the wire during the final week of May were two highpoints of New York’s opera season: the Cleveland Orchestra’s Salome with a stunning Nina Stemme and operamission’s revelatory US stage premiere of a complete edition of Handel’s first opera Almira.

Blow’s job

Despite baby-steps over the years, America’s musical scene, especially opera, remains decidedly un-HIP. (HIP: “historically-informed performance,” also called “period performance.”)  While European opera houses turn increasingly to “original instrument” orchestras and specialist singers for seventeenth and eighteenth century works, this rarely occurs in the US.