BWW Review: Here's Hoping For The Return of the People's Opera, NOLI ME TANGERE
Gone are the days when the opera is treated like an old-world passion and a cultural event where people are required to dress to the nines.
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BWW Review: WNO's Exquisite EUGENE ONEGIN at the Kennedy Center
Washington National Opera's (WNO) Eugene Onegin is exquisite! The entire evening soars like a dream with pitch-perfect performances led by the immaculate Anna Nechaeva as Tatiana.
BWW Review: Winter Opera brings Remarkable Voices to the Druidic World of NORMA
Winter Opera has opened a sumptuous production of Norma, Vincenzo Bellini's bel canto masterpiece from 1831.
BWW Review: Finding GOLD as the Met's Ring Cycle Begins Anew
If Robert Lepage's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle (formally, DER RING DAS NIBELUNGEN) had worked as smoothly when it opened in 2010 as it did at this season's marvelous premiere of its prologue, DAS RHEINGOLD, on Saturday afternoon, there probably still would have been complaints--not about its f
BWW Review: Live from the Crypt, It's Baritone Lucas Meachem
The Crypt Sessions, which take place in the stone chamber beneath the Church of the Intercession on West 155th Street in Manhattan, might conjure up visions of horror, though it bears no relation to HBO's long-running anthology, “Tales from the Crypt.
BWW Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood
On March 3, 2019, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented its more-than-a-little-bit-zany version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE) at Los Angeles's El Portal Theatre.
BWW Review: Carsen's Stellar FALSTAFF with Ambrogio Maestri and Game Cast Returns to the Met
Will anyone else but Ambrogio Maestri bring the same dynamism to Robert Carsen's 1950's take on Verdi's masterpiece, FALSTAFF? Time will tell.
Andre Previn - of Opera and Classical Music, as well as Hollywood, Broadway and Television - Dies at 89
Composer, conductor and pianist Andre Previn has died at the age of 89 on February 28.
BWW Review: ARIODANTE at Monte-Carlo Opera
For the first time in history, Ariodante has stepped on the Monte-Carlo Opera stage, bewildering and enchanting the Monegasque audience in this 3+ hour opera by Handel.
BWW Review: COSI FAN TUTTE, Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House revives its 2016 Cosi with all the mischievous wit and splendid music of Mozart and Da Ponte - but also lets us in on the game within the game - and the price that's paid
BWW Review: How Did the Queen of Carthage Die? Juilliard's Version of Purcell's DIDO Isn't Telling
Purcell's DIDO AND AENEAS, written in about 1689 with a libretto by Nahum Tate, doesn't exist in a final version approved by the composer but, well, never mind.
BWW Review: KING ARTHUR at Elder Hall, University Of Adelaide
State Opera is presenting the semi-opera, or dramatick opera, King Arthur,
BWW Review: Laugh a Little, Cry a Little for Met's Well-Sung RIGOLETTO
No matter what one thinks of the Met's transfiguration of Verdi's RIGOLETTO from Francesco Maria Piave's Mantua to '60s Las Vegas--I personally like much of this “Rat Pack” production from director Michael Mayer--the singing at Saturday's performance [the second of the season] was first rate.
BWW Review: DON GIOVANNI at OPERA WROCLAW - Universal Madness
This is a well known story: Don Giovanni - addictive seducer - struggles with live in temptations to meet consequences.
BWW Review: The Kitchen Finds Room for IMPROVEMENT with Robert Ashley's Modern Classic
You may have your own idea about what “opera” means and is, but I'd bet it's a world away from what composer Robert Ashley--whose 1985 work, IMPROVEMENT (DON LEAVES LINDA), has been running this week at the Kitchen in west Chelsea--had in mind.
BWW Review: TURANDOT at Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Opera Celebrates 60th Diamond Anniversary Opening With A Brilliant Production of Turandot
BWW Review: A Yummy FILLE DU REGIMENT Thanks to Yende and Camarena (and Don't Forget Donizetti)
I've already cheered tenor Javier Camarena's Herculean take on “Ah, mes amis!” in the Met's current FILLE DU REGIMENT--with 1 ½ dozen high Cs, including an encore--but there's more than the tenor in Met's current revival of the Donizetti gem to make the season suddenly seem grand.
BWW Review: ORCHESTRA OF THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE IN CONCERT, Royal Opera House
This evening of contrasting sentimental works was far too fiery to resound with echoes of the (Russian) soul.
BWW Showstopper: Audience Insists 'Encore! Encore!' and Camarena Does It Again in FILLE DU REGIMENT at the Met
Tenor Javier Camarena set a record last night with his encore of “Ah, mes amis!” as Tonio in the season's first performance of Donizetti's LA FILLE DU REGIMENT.
BWW Review: ANA MARIA MARTINEZ at Crowder Hall, U Of AZ
On February 5, 2019, The Tucson Desert Song Festival and the University of Arizona (UA) presented a recital of Spanish language art songs by soprano Ana Maria Martinez and pianist Craig Terry in Crowder Hall.
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF RIGOLETTO at The San Diego Civic Center
The San Diego Opera's opening-night production of Verdi's Rigoletto featured the powerful voice and convincing acting of baritone Stephen Powell in a title role he has sung often.
BWW Review: Countertenor JAKUB JOZEF ORLINSKI Goes for Baroque at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall Debut
It wasn't so long ago that countertenors were still considered an oddity; today, you can't turn around without tripping over one, or more.
BWW Review: Debuts Galore at Met's First DON GIOVANNI of the Season, But Willis-Sorensen's Anna Steals the Show
According to a quote attributed to Andy Warhol, if you want to tell a good painting from a bad one, first look at a thousand paintings; then you'll realize that there are no hard and fast rules.
BWW Review: NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC PREMIERES 'FIRE IN MY MOUTH' at David Geffen Hall At Lincoln Center
The American-born, Pulitzer Prize winning composer Julia Wolfe, has written a tour-de-force oratorio about the devastating Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of March 25, 1911, utilizing a huge cast of singers and instrumentalists.
BWW Review: LA GIOCONDA at LA MONNAIE in Belgium
Olivier Py's vision of Amilcare Ponchielli's opera La Gioconda is in the purest sense of the term a wonderfully vibrant and dynamic revival.