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BWW Review: French Creampuff CENDRILLON Finally Reaches Met with DiDonato
The Met's new CENDRILLON is a Cinderella of a production, finally allowing Massenet's take on the classic tale of the girl from the cinders who finds her Prince Charming to reach the Met's stage 119 years after its premiere at the Opera-Comique in Paris....
BWW Review: City Opera's AMORE DEI TRE RE Gets the Kiss of Death
Italo Montemezzi's L'AMORE DEI TRE RE, which played four performances at City Opera's Rose Theate this weekend, was greeted as a masterpiece when it premiered at La Scala in 1913 proved popular for years at the Met. Today, I'm not sure that even Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann as the lovers could k...
BWW Review: THE FLYING DUTCHMAN at Theater Erfurt - This DUTCHMAN finally takes flight on the wings of Kelly God's magnificently sung Senta
Theater Erfurt's General Director, Guy Montavon was responsible for nearly turning THE FLYING DUTCHMAN, (Der fliegende Hollander) Richard Wagner's technicolor, romantic dream of an opera into a black, white and grey nightmare. The story of the Dutchman, Wagner's tragic 'pale Sailor' cursed by Satan...
BWW Review: A Tantalizing Taste of Kaufmann's TRISTAN, Nylund's ISOLDE with Boston Symphony under Nelsons at Carnegie
It's hard for opera singers to keep off the radar when they're dipping their feet into a new role--particularly if the role is Tristan in Wagner's great opera, or if your name is Jonas Kaufmann. Yes, the first of the Boston Symphony's string of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE, Act II concerts was on their home t...
BWW Review: A Capella or Not, Oxford's Cathedral Choir Shows Fine Touch of Conductor Darlington at NY's St. Thomas 5th Ave.
I must admit that Christ Church Cathedral Choir--performing at New York's St. Thomas Church 5th Avenue last week to kick off a final tour with retiring Music Director/conductor John Darlington--knocked my socks off with the first part of its program. The men and boys of the choir--a 500-year-old ins...
BWW Review: CAV/PAG at Deutsche Oper Berlin
At the Deutsche Oper Berlin on Saturday night, David Pountney, director of CAV/PAG saddled these beloved works with a concept so profound in its stupidity that it was often mind-blowing and jaw-dropping in its inanity. If there is a special club in Hell exclusively for bad stage directors, Mr. Pount...
BWW Review: PIGMALIONE/PIGMALION at City Opera Not Lover-ly Enough
There's no 'Enry 'Iggins or 'Liza Doolittle in Donizetti's IL PIGMALIONE or Rameau's PIGMALION--we'll have to wait for Lincoln Center Theatre's MY FAIR LADY revival (based on Shaw's PYGMALION) next month for that. But this pair of oddities, produced by New York City Opera last weekend at the Gerald ...
BWW Review: Spectacular RINALDO by Handel at Carnegie with Bicket and the English Concert
Just about the most spectacular opera event of the season so far arrived at Carnegie Hall Sunday afternoon, with the English Concert and Harry Bicket making their annual foray into Handel territory, with a superb RINALDO....
BWW REVIEW: Amanda Muggleton Channels One Of Opera's Greatest Divas As She Reprises Her Portrayal Of Maria Callas In Terrence McNally's MASTERCLASS.
Sydney audiences were treated to a new immersive expression of Terrence McNally's award winning MASTERCLASS with Amanda Muggleton returning to the role that won her a Helpmann Award in 2002....
BWW Review: LA TRAVIATA with Philharmonia Orchestra Of New York - Innovation for Innovation's Sake
As classical music presentations continue to innovate in the 21st century, it's paramount that a keen eye remains focused on the purpose of this innovation. Innovation for innovation's sake will fail every time. And, unfortunately, Philharmonia Orchestra of New York (PONY) fell victim to this pitfal...
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S FLORENCIA EN LA AMAZONAS at San Diego Civic Center
The San Diego Opera's production of Daniel Catan's Florencia en el Amazonas was premiered Saturday at San Diego's Civic Center. Much has been made of the influence the magical realism of Nobel-Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez had on Marcela Fuentes-Berain's libretto, but most of the magic...
BWW Review: With Cast Headed by O'Hara and Maltman, Guess Who Gets the Last Laugh on Mozart's COSI at the Met?
To answer the most burning question for many: Yes, Broadway's Kelli O'Hara can sing opera, acquitting herself nobly and well in the company of “real” opera singers and filling the huge Met Opera without a mike. (FYI: She did study opera herself in her early days.) She brought theatrical pizzazz ...
BWW Review: Winter Opera of St. Louis Presents L'ELISIR D'AMORE
We went out into the chilly spring evening - and it became, for me, one of the most totally pleasing evenings of opera I've ever experienced. Winter Opera of St. Louis presented Donizetti's 'L'Elisir d'Amore' in a production that was as near perfection as one could ever ask....
BWW Review: Exciting Goerke and Nezet-Seguin Change Dynamic of Met's ELEKTRA
When Christine Goerke took on the title role in the Met's revival of Richard Strauss's masterwork ELEKTRA--the final work of director Patrice Chereau--she wasn't so much competing with Nina Stemme, who sang the premiere of the production last spring, but with herself. Six months before this version ...
BWW Review: WNO's Passionate DON CARLO
Giuseppe Verdi's epic opera is being staged for the first time in two decades at WNO and features a sterling cast in a grand production....
BWW Review: HAMLET: ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2018 at Adelaide Festival Theatre
Allan Clayton's performance as Hamlet is riveting....
BWW Review: Verdi Reigns at JUILLIARD-MET LINDEMANN Concert
When I first heard soprano Hyesang Park and tenor Kang Wang--two of the bright young singers featured in last weekend's Juilliard and the Met's Lindemann Young Artist Program concert--they were leads in a charming production of Bellini's LA SONNAMBULA at the school. On Friday evening, they were two ...
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S TURANDOT at the Civic Center
The San Diego Opera's new production of Puccini's Turandot held rapt attention throughout its three acts in spite of a dark plot that's implausible even for opera, and a lead character less loveable than Lady Macbeth. Powerful men from other kingdoms flock to win Princess Turandot's hand by answerin...
BWW Review: La Divina ANTONACCI Takes New York (Again) for City Opera Recital at Zankel Hall
When soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci walked on stage at Zankel Hall for her recital the other night, I thought I had wandered into an Antonioni movie, with a ravishing diva (usually played by Monica Vitti) about to perform for a rapt audience. Then she opened her mouth and sang the first of a series...
BWW Review: MARIA DI ROHAN at Washington Concert Opera
While not entirely rare for a single family to possess multiple musical talents, it's certainly unusual to see two people from the same family as leads in the same performance. Washington Concert Opera's Sunday evening performance of Maria di Rohan was such an anomaly: an opera featuring sisters. Ma...
BWW Review: Meade Fearlessly Outruns Dazzlingly Difficult SEMIRAMIDE at the Met
A lot of risk, fast rotations in perfect unison, a precarious balance point. No, I'm not talking about doing a twizzle in Olympic ice-dancing--but starring in SEMIRAMIDE by Gioacchino Rossini, a man who believed there was no such thing as too many runs, roulades and high notes. Neither did soprano A...
BWW Review: MADAMA BUTTERFLY at Times Union Theater
Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini is a beautiful show full of so much emotion and talent. The beautiful story, in which Miss Saigon is based on, is intriguing and heartbreaking leaving audience members to reflect on what they hold dear. A story of a young girl who believes in love so much she will...
BWW Review: Parsing PARSIFAL at the Met, with an Impressive Cast under Nezet-Seguin
Richard Wagner's last opera, PARSIFAL, is a tough nut to crack. With its highly religious overtones, lack of action and incredible length (it ran about 5 hours 40 minutes the other night), it's not exactly a 'light night' at the opera--even if for those of us who consider opera to be a 'light night'...
BWW Review: No Heart on the Sleeve of WRITTEN ON SKIN at Opera Philadelphia
Opera Philadelphia's production of the George Benjamin-Martin Crimp WRITTEN ON SKIN is another feather in the cap of the company that's quickly becoming the one to watch in the world of contemporary opera....
BWW Review: NY City Opera's Moving, Lively CRUZAR and 'What is an Opera?'
In many areas of the arts in New York, January is a quiet month. But in the opera world, the last few weeks certainly have been jumping. It has also been a fine time for asking 'What is an Opera?' For me, January started with Prototype 2018's ACQUANETTA and ended this past weekend--with many in betw...
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