The latest reviews and critic recommendations from Opera.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A lot of risk, fast rotations in perfect unison, a precarious balance point.
Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini is a beautiful show full of so much emotion and talent.
Richard Wagner's last opera, PARSIFAL, is a tough nut to crack.
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.
In many areas of the arts in New York, January is a quiet month.
Sooner or later it had to happen.
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.
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.
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.
Ok, y'all…I'm going to be honest.
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.
Composers and librettists were the stars Saturday night at The Kennedy Center's triple world premiere.
Wondering if Jonas Kaufmann is going to go out onstage on any given night is something of a parlor game for many opera fans.
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.
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.
'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.
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.
I've always wondered what it would be like to swim in a pool of maple syrup and now I know.
Watch out for the Intermezzo Series next year, as well as all of Co-Opera's touring productions.
It was great that the 2017 Richard Tucker Gala was heard live on WQXR.
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.
