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BWW Review: Winter Opera Brings Pearls to St. Louis
Sooner or later it had to happen. Somebody had to notice the similarities between pearl divers, who must free-dive as deep as one hundred feet, and opera singers, who must make one breath last to the very end of that bel canto cadenza. Well, in 1863 Georges Bizet and his librettists saw that link be...
BWW Review: CANDIDE at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
On January 27, 2018, Los Angeles Opera presented the Bernstein work at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a cast that included Emmy-winning television star Kelsey Grammer. He is best remembered for his two-decade-long portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the situation comedies Cheers, Wing...
BWW Review: ELISIR's Latest Duo Charms the Pants Off Met Audience
There have been starrier casts heading up Donizetti's L'ELISIR D'AMORE at the Met--put the opera's name in the NY Times search engine and the first one that shows up is the debut of the famed tenor Tito Schipa in 1932, with bass Ezio Pinza as the quack snake-oil salesman Dulcamara. But this year's p...
BWW Review: A Stunning & Captivating CANDIDE Maestro Bernstein Would Be So Proud of
From the moment the amazing James Conlon-conducted orchestra began their crisp, lively 'Overture' to 'Quartet Finale,' the close of Act One; this remarkable production of CANDIDE entranced the Dorothy Chandler audience. Then after a short intermission, these talented performers and musicians had the...
BWW Review: KING'S SINGERS: GOLD at St. Ignatius Loyola
Ok, y'all…I'm going to be honest. A cappella - or as my aunt, with her charming ignorance, would call it 'acapulco singing' - is just not my jam. Groups that sing sacred 'hits' without vibrato has never been a way I'd choose to spend an afternoon. Maybe it's because I suck at this type of singing?...
BWW Review: Jonas Kaufmann Returns to Carnegie and the Audience Rejoices
After a string of cancellations--including the Met's new TOSCA--tenor Jonas Kaufmann made a triumphant return to New York last Saturday at Carnegie Hall, in a recital with his frequent collaborator Helmut Deutsch. Of course, he could have been singing the telephone book and this audience would have ...
BWW Review: AMERICAN OPERA INITIATIVE: THREE 20-MINUTE OPERAS at The Kennedy Center
Composers and librettists were the stars Saturday night at The Kennedy Center's triple world premiere. For six years, the American Opera Initiative Festival (AOI) has selected three composer-librettist teams to create their own 20-minute operas under the guidance of a seasoned composer and librettis...
BWW Review: JONAS KAUFMANN at Carnegie Hall
Wondering if Jonas Kaufmann is going to go out onstage on any given night is something of a parlor game for many opera fans... The most recent worries about whether or not he would make it to his January 20th recital at Carnegie Hall were put to rest when he strode through the doors with his pianis...
BWW Review: Little Ms. ECHO How Do You Do? Very Well, at Prototype 2018
By the time you read this, another year's edition of PROTOTYPE--New York's two-week festival of new opera-theatre/music-theatre works different from most anything you've ever seen before--will be gone and it was another to be grateful for. The last event on my list was a totally original and stunnin...
BWW Review: TRAVELERS in a Strange Land Called Washington, D.C., in NY Debut at Prototype 2018
Even if it were just for its history lesson about the lavender scare of the '50s-- the witch hunt and the mass firings of gay men and women from the federal government during the McCarthy era--FELLOW TRAVELERS by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce would be well worth seeing. But th...
BWW Review: Caught in the Net of Prototype's ACQUANETTA at the Gelsey Kirkland Arts Center
'Memories of Things Past'--'A la recherche du temps perdu' in Proust-speak--and very much in the past it was, for me at least, going in to ACQUANETTA, the piece that opened this year's iteration of the PROTOTYPE. Its name and purported subject--horror films--conjured up childhood memories for me. Mu...
BWW Review: The Met's New TOSCA Tries for Beauty but Disappoints
The trials and tribulations of the Met's new take on Puccini's TOSCA have been well documented--with all three principals replaced along with two conductors--and it would be nice to be able to say that everything came out happily-ever-after. Alas. There's nothing wrong with the company's surprise-fr...
BWW Review: JAMIE BARTON is the G*ddamned Diva Opera Deserves
I've always wondered what it would be like to swim in a pool of maple syrup and now I know. From the minute Ms. Barton opened her mouth, she unleashed a rolling tone that poured over her audience, soaking them in the sugary, maple tones of her delicious mezzo. We were drenched but in the way an i...
BWW Review: LA BOH ME at The Flour Shed, Hart's Mill
Watch out for the Intermezzo Series next year, as well as all of Co-Opera's touring productions....
BWW Review: Sierra's the Winner, But Blythe Steals the 2017 Richard Tucker Gala at Carnegie Hall
It was great that the 2017 Richard Tucker Gala was heard live on WQXR.org and on WQXR radio on Sunday, but those of us who were in Carnegie Hall had it much better. This year's winner, soprano Nadine Sierra, sounded wonderful (and looked ravishing, by the way) as she whipped through Verdi's 'Caro n...
BWW Review: Deck the Halls with Handel's MESSIAH at Saint Thomas's in New York
Nothing says Christmas in New York like a performance of Handel's great sacred oratorio MESSIAH--okay, for some it's the windows at one of the big department stores--with some outings decidedly religious, like this week's pair of wonderful performances at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. Featurin...
BWW Review: Vive L'ENFANT! From Juilliard's Troops with Conductor Villaume at Alice Tully Hall
The Juilliard Orchestra and Opera beat the Met to the punch this week, featuring French conductor Emmanuel Villaume in a superb concert of Ravel and Debussy, including a lovely performance of Ravel's short opera, L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES, with its clever libretto by the French novelist, Colette. I...
BWW Review: New TROYENS Recording with DiDonato, Spyres and Lemieux is a Horse of a Different Color
Nothing beats sitting in the opera house for the thrill of hearing singers giving their all. But the new recording of Berlioz's LES TROYENS (THE TROJANS), conducted by John Nelson, comes pretty close. Taken from a couple of live concert performances in Strasbourg, France, at the Salle Erasme, with a...
BWW Review: LA STRANIERA at Washington Concert Opera
Washington Concert Opera brings a nicely performed La Straniera to Lisner Auditorium nearly two hundred years after its premiere at La Scala Milan. Vincenzo Bellini's first Milanese success took place in 1827 in the form of Il pirata. Two years later, he stood in a shadow of his own making. He neede...
BWW Review: VERDI SPECTACULAR at Adelaide Town Hall
The finest orchestra, finest opera chorus, and some of the finest soloists, what more could you want?...
BWW Review: CARMEN - Austin Opera's Stunning Masterpiece
Austin Opera continues its tradition of masterfully recreating classic operas with Bizet's CARMEN currently playing at The Long Center....
BWW Review: MADAMA BUTTERFLY at Metropolitan Opera
The best new production of the Gelb era is now ten years old. And it still has the power to please....
BWW Review: LA CENERENTOLA at Opera De Montreal
L'Opera de Montreal delights audiences with its production of Rossini's La Cenerentola. The show has a short run in Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place Des Arts November 11, 14, 16 and 18 at 7:30....
BWW Review: Winter Opera's 'The Student Prince' is superb!
Winter Opera continues its tradition of stunning quality in its revival of 'The Student Prince'....
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF AS ONE at Joan B Kroc Theatre
If a spouse transitions from one sex to another in a state where gay marriage is illegal, is the marriage still valid? There are many possible reactions to that question, including heated discussion, juvenile giggling, or reactionary distaste. Composer Laura Kaminsky chose empathy for those most dir...
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