Richard Sasanow
Latest Articles
Review: Klaus Nomi - Still Hovering Somewhere Between the Opera House and Outer Space
Klaus Nomi—born Klaus Sperber in Germany in 1944—was an otherworldly countertenor who materialized on New York’s downtown scene in the late 1970s.
Review: Lise Davidsen’s Strauss LAST SONGS is First in Anyone’s Book, with Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
While it was only one part of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra’s concert, under Keri-Lyn Wilson, at Geffen Hall the other night, there’s no denying that the centerpiece was Richard Strauss’s FOUR LAST SONGS with the brilliant soprano Lise Davidsen—one of the Met’s star attractions these day
REVIEW: Impressive Singing in Strauss’s EGYPTIAN HELEN, but the Story’s a Mystery at SummerScape
If you ever wondered about the private life of the legendary Helen of Troy—aside from being a fabulous beauty whose face reputedly launched a thousand ships—you might look for answers in Richard Strauss’s opera DIE AEGIPTISCHE HELENA (THE EGYPTIAN HELEN).
Review: DON GIOVANNI a Bel Canto Opera? Crutchfield’s Teatro Nuovo Proves It
To “IL” or not to “IL”—that is the question.
Review: Teatro Nuovo Does It Again with Smashing TURCO IN ITALIA
While the US celebrates its 250th anniversary (with not much to cheer about), those bel canto specialists under Will Crutchfield at Teatro Nuovo are reveling in the 200th year since Italian opera (or at least opera in Italian) came to this country.
Review: TURANDOT Returns for Another Go-Around at the Met in Classic Zeffirelli Production
I’d say that “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is not a maxim that has ever been used for Puccini’s Chinese-inspired fairytale, TURANDOT, which returned for another go-around at the Met the other day with two alternating casts.
Interview: Atlanta Opera’s Tomer Zvulun on Wagner’s TWILIGHT OF THE GODS, the Finale of His RING Cycle
“Stories are stories are stories, whether it’s Wagner’s Wotan and Fricka (in the Ring), Handel’s Jupiter and Juno (in Handel’s SEMELE) or Broadway’s Tevye and Golde (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF) and they repeat in different cultures and traditions,” General Manager and Artistic Director of the
Review: Barber’s VANESSA – or Is It ERIKA? – Returns with Heartbeat Opera
I caught up with Heartbeat Opera’s reinvention of Samuel Barber’s 1958 opera, VANESSA, to Giancarlo Menotti’s libretto, a few days after its debut at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York, after premiering last summer at the Williamstown (MA) Theatre Festival.
Review: FRIDA Y DIEGO is the Ultimate Dream in Its Met Premiere
The story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera—two great Mexican artists who also happened to be in a tempestuous marriage—seems tailor-made for the opera stage.
Review: TRAVIATA May Not Be in Opera’s ABCs But Jaho Gives Lesson in Making It Her Own
Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho wasn’t the first Violetta of this season’s LA TRAVIATA by Verdi at the Met.
Review: FALSTAFF Shows that We Can Count on Juilliard for the Next Generation of Singers
In case we had to be reminded—after the Met’s recent Laffont Competition lineup, where three Juilliard singers were among the finalists—the Juilliard School is among the top sources of the next generation of opera singers (among many other categories, of course).
Review: Hannigan is a ‘Double Threat’ - Singing/Conducting LA VOIX HUMAINE at the NY Philharmonic
There was a time early in this century when conductor Lorin Maazel led Massenet’s opera THAIS, surprising audiences by picking up a violin during Act II to play the work’s famous “Meditation” himself—usually the realm of the concertmaster.
Review: Despite Stellar Cast, Met's ONEGIN Revival Refuses to Fly in Warner’s Misbegotten Production
In the Met’s much-anticipated revival of Tchaikovsky’s EUGENE ONEGIN, almost anything that could go wrong, in fact, did, at Monday night’s premiere.
Review: Kaija Saariaho’s INNOCENCE – An Opera About a Killing Spree – Doesn’t Let Up in Met Premiere
I noticed that the Simon Stone production of Kaija Saariaho’s INNOCENCE, which had its local premiere last night at the Met, was a co-commission and -production of five other opera companies.
Review: World Premiere of Lang’s NATIONS Brings Wealth of Music to NY Philharmonic under Dudamel
Composer David Lang’s THE WEALTH OF NATIONS had a splendid world premiere this week at the New York Philharmonic under Artistic Director Designate Gustavo Dudamel, with mezzo Fleur Barron, bass-baritone Davone Tines and the Philharmonic’s chorus (under Malcolm Merriweather).
Review: Handel’s Unfamiliar but Fine HERCULES with The English Concert and Bicket, at Carnegie Hall
If you’re thinking of the muscle-bound hero of action films—or even Disney animation—boy, have you got the wrong HERCULES.
Review: Davidsen, an ISOLDE for the Ages, Alongside Spyres' Splendid TRISTAN in Wagner at the Met
Voice! Voice! And more voice! That’s what we got from the Met’s new production of Wagner’s TRISTAN UND ISOLDE last night, especially from the glorious soprano of Lise Davidsen as the Irish princess Isolde, with no small help from her Tristan, baritenor Michael Spyres.
Review: DiDonato Brings Dickinson Poems to Life through Brilliant Song Cycle by Puts at Carnegie
Though only a handful of Emily Dickinson’s hundreds of poems were published during her lifetime (more than 1700 others were found posthumously), she is best known as a risk-taking writer whose work straddled the line between the straightforward and the more abstract.
Review: Bullock, Woods and Hanick Are Anything but ORDINARY THINGS at NY's 92nd Street Y
The audience at New York’s 92nd Street Y the other night was certainly happy to be at a recital, “From Ordinary Things,” by the trio of soprano Julia Bullock, with her colleagues Seth Parler Wood on cello and pianist Conor Hanick.
Review: Cleveland Orchestra’s Splendid VERDI REQUIEM at Carnegie Hall
The Verdi Messa da Requiem—better known to English speakers as the Verdi Requiem—featuring the Cleveland Orchestra and its Chorus, with a quartet of soloists, breezed into Carnegie Hall the other night and promptly knocked many concert-goers out of their seats.
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