OPERA THEATER REVIEWS

Two of Australia's favourite artists, Emma Matthews and Jacqueline Dark....

Andrew Turner is sensational as Don Jose in this production....

There are no second acts in American lives, wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald in 'The Last Tycoon.' New York City Opera proves him wrong, with its new chamber version of the Tobias Picker-JD McClatchy 2013 opus DOLORES CLAIBORNE. Based on a novel by Stephen King perhaps better known from the film starring ...

This was another winner for State Opera...

As a sometimes-self-identifying Millennial, it may come as little surprise that opera is relatively new territory for me. I've grown up as a lover of musical theater, but classic opera is a whole other ball o' wax. Mainstream media doesn't exactly drop Verdi, Mozart, Leh r, or even Gilbert & Sulliva...

The Pirates of Penzance--opera or operetta? The answer to that question seems important to some opera lovers who believe a 'serious' opera company doesn't do operettas. Too bad for them if their doubts made them miss out on San Diego Opera's hugely entertaining production. A nearly sold-out audience...

On Oct 14, 2017, Los Angeles Opera presented Giuseppe Verdi's third opera, NABUCCO in a new and extremely well detailed production by Thaddeus Strassberger....

Small town charm is the fuel for the Canadian Opera Company's ELIXIR OF LOVE. Set in any town Ontario, Donizetti's beloved characters appear even more appealing and recognizable in James Robinson's quaint production. As part of the bel canto operatic repertoire, beautiful singing is an exception...

Director, Cath Dadd, has put together an hilarious production with a cast to die for....

WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED, which made its NY debut in a pair of performances at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem last weekend, after its world premiere at Opera Philadelphia's O17 festival last month, is more than an opera or performance piece. And it sure as hell isn't an evening's entertainment. Compose...

There are no happy endings for the poet Hoffmann (even in the solid hands of the charismatic tenor Vittorio Grigolo) or any of the women he fantasizes about in Offenbach's LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN (TALES OF HOFFMANN). Still, there are enough enjoyable moments to make Offenbach's music worth hearing onc...

On October 7, 2017, Los Angeles Opera presented Georges Bizet's THE PEARL FISHERS starring sweet-voiced Mexican star tenor Javier Camarena as Nadir. Steel-voiced Mexican baritone Alfredo Daza, was Zurga, his rival for the hand of Leila, a beautiful priestess who had taken a vow of chastity....

I wouldn't exactly call Matt Aucoin, 27, a show-off, even though he wrote the music and libretto for THE CROSSING--his 2015 opera having its NY debut at BAM's Next Wave Festival this past week--and conducted the performance as well. (He left the subtle, fine direction to Diane Paulus, who originally...

Swanky sets, shimmering voices, sumptuous costumes - it all sparkles when met with sublime Strauss. The Canadian Opera Company presents the Canadian premiere of ARABELLA, a lyric comedy by Richard Strauss. A co-production with Santa Fe Opera and Minnesota Opera, ARABELLA is sung in German with Engli...

Now, modern scholars tend to exonerate Lucrezia from being the diabolical poisoner that her enemies have portrayed for 400 years. But let's face it, that diabolical Lucrezia makes much better opera. Donizetti knew that, as shown in his 1833 opera about her. Victor Hugo displayed the same sensibility...

The trio of soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, mezzo Joyce DiDonato and tenor Joseph Calleja promised a fine evening of singing for the Met's new NORMA and, for the most part, there wasn't much to quibble about. Too bad Sir David McVicar--and his design team--couldn't come up with something a little bolder...

Winston Churchill called Russia 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.' Well, Mother Russia had nothing on ELIZABETH CREE, the new chamber opera by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell, based on Peter Ackroyd's novel--having all those traits plus a brilliant score and a smart libretto that raced f...

Superficially, Wolfgang Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE (or DIE ZAUBERFLOTE for you purists) and David Hertzberg's THE WAKE WORLD couldn't seem less alike and, taken together, they stretch the definition of what makes an opera. Yet, as part of Opera Philadelphia's daring new O17 opera festival, they have a...

FOUR NIGHTS OF DREAM, composer/librettist Moto Osada's opera performed in its US premiere last week at the Japan Society, is based on a cornerstone of 20th century Japanese literature, 'Ten Nights of Dream' by Natsume Soseki. While the four stories Osada has chosen may seem stylized and foreign to ...

Since our resident opera critic, Steve Callahan, was appearing in one of the pocket operas produced this past weekend (September 8-9, 2017) by the STL Opera Collective, he asked if I would cover the shows, and I was happy to do so. This is a group that is just in their second season, but judging b...

Verdi's sumptuous epic AIDA graces the Kennedy Center for the first time in more than 25 years, and it is a knock-out. The three hour visual and auditory spectacle helmed by director Francesca Zambello and conductor Evan Rogister with original sketches and concept design by famed visual artist RET...

The last time the Met did Puccini's LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST--GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST--it was such a dispiriting affair that I was ready to write it off as past its expiration date. New York City Opera to the rescue!, opening its season with a lively revival of the Italian master's work about the Calif...

CARMEN, the title character in Georges Bizet's opera, is a young woman who wants the social freedoms nineteenth century men simply took for granted. Sung magnificently by Ana Maria Martinez, Carmen is suave and self-confident, but enroute to certain destruction. Currently, L A Opera is offering an ...

You will have to hurry to catch this terrific night out....

Though the title role in Mozart's DON GIOVANNI goes to the fabled lady killer--and Mostly Mozart's production was lucky to have a first-rate Don in baritone Christopher Maltman--the opera is a real ensemble piece, with every one of a half dozen characters key to a successful performance. In the Buda...