Ken Howard News

The Met had a wonderfully conducted performance of Wagner's DER FLIENGENDE HOLLANDER with a marvelous singer in the title role. Unfortunately, that was in 2017, when the Met's Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin was on the podium and Michael Volle was the forceful Hollander. This time around, when Francois Girard's new Expressionist production had its premiere the other night, with Valery Gergiev at the helm and Evgeny Nikitin as the Dutchman, things did not go so smoothly.

San Francisco Opera's 2020 Summer SeasonSan Francisco Opera presents a trio of masterworks spanning the 18th century to the present for its 2020 Summer Season at the War Memorial Opera House June 7a?"July 3. In an update announced today, Caroline H. Hume Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim will conduct Giuseppe Verdi's Ernani replacing James Gaffigan who has withdrawn from the production due to family reasons. The summer season will also include George Frideric Handel's Partenope in Christopher Alden's popular production and the Bay Area premiere of composer Mason Bates' kaleidoscopic exploration of life, love and creativity, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

I admit this is an absolutely personal, totally one-sided view of what gave one man opera thrills last year and what I will look back on with delight. Some are old works, some are new, some are individual performers, some are ensembles, some are complete productions, some are merely the highlight of an evening, most are domestic, a few are foreign. In any case, as the new decade begins, I recall that these are the vocal highlights that made my heart beat a little faster and made me look forward to the year ahead.

A funny thing happened the other night at the Met when the curtain came down on William Kentridge's stunning new production of Alban Berg's cruel and devastating WOZZECK. The audience didn't rush from their seats to escape into the night. They stayed and cheered for an opera with a reputation for being, well, challenging for opera-goers weaned on Figaros and Flutes, Aidas and even Ring Cycles.

I know it takes a leap of faith for the Met to schedule something outside the ABC operas--AIDA, BOHEME, CARMEN plus a TOSCA, TURANDOT and a few others--and go for something a little more off the beaten track. Tchaikovsky's QUEEN OF SPADES certainly falls into that category, even though it isn't exactly an unknown. The current production by Elijah Moshinsky, conducted by Vasily Petrenko, which still looks like new and opened the other day for the season's run, is not just well-sung and beautiful to see but makes a very good case for doing it more often.

Get a first look and check out reviews for the Met Opera's The Queen of Spades! Tchaikovsky's eerie thriller of imperial Russia has its first performances at the Met since 2011. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov is Hermann, the fanatical gambler whose obsession with a powerful secret drives him to madness. Soprano Lise Davidsen makes her highly anticipated Met debut as his long-suffering lover, Lisa, with mezzo-soprano Larissa Diadkova as the otherworldly Countess. Baritone Igor Golovatenko is Yeletsky, baritone Alexey Markov is Tomsky, and Vasily Petrenko conducts. 

There's nothing subtle about Lyric Opera's staging of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's contemporary opera DEAD MAN WALKING. Based upon the novel of the same name by Sister Helen Prejean, DEAD MAN WALKING focuses on Sister Helen's relationship with 29-year-old Joseph De Rocher, a prisoner on death row in Angola, Louisiana convicted of the murder of a young couple (and the sexual assault of a young woman). While DEAD MAN WALKING clearly aims to be morally complex in its exploration of capital punishment and the notion of whether or not we should also treat criminals as human beings, the piece feels overwrought. The debate at the opera's center is painted with broad strokes; at one point, we literally see protestors outside the prison holding picket signs depicting both sides of the argument.

Dead Man Walking, the powerful opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist-playwright Terrence McNally, will have its long-awaited Lyric premiere this month. There will be six performances Nov. 2-22 at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Dr., Chicago. Tickets start at $39 and are available at lyricopera.org/dmw or by calling 312-827-5600.

With apologies to Gluck, “Che faremmo senza Jamie Barton?”—'Where would we be without mezzo Jamie Barton?”--in the revival of Mark Morris's production of ORFEO ED EURIDICE at the Met, under Mark Wigglesworth's firmly rhythmic baton. ORFEO, written in the mid-18th century, was an opera of a different stripe for its time. (The Met uses the 1762 Vienna version, one of many.) It leans heavily on dance and choral singing, as well as recitative.

Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, an operatic fable about the power of music, returns to the Metropolitan Opera for the first time since 2011 for seven performances beginning October 20, 2019.

Five years ago, Anna Netrebko unveiled her take on Verdi's Lady Macbeth at the Met and wowed audiences from here to eternity. But since the first week of the Met season, she's brought her sexy, ebullient and take-no-prisoners Lady Macbeth back and showed that she's even better than ever--singing the pant (and the spots) off the role.

SPARKY & BUTCH, a short comedy, and SENIOR LOVE TRIANGLE, a feature drama, play in a program together Thursday, August 8that 6:00 at The Vets Cinematheque. Both films, from different points of view, explore how we approach love and life as we age.

On July 27, 2019, Santa Fe Opera added a new work to the operatic canon with its world premiere of THE THIRTEENTH CHILD by Danish composer Poul Ruders and American librettists Becky and David Starobin. The production was  co-commissioned and co-produced by Santa Fe Opera and the Odense Symphony Orchestra.

On July 26, 2019, Santa Fe Opera presented R. B. Schlather's rambunctious production of W. A. Mozart's dramma giocoso Così fan tutte. His first act started with Don Alfonso as a cowboy and the two couples, Fiordiligi with Gugliemo and Dorabella with  Ferrando dressed in tennis whites. Amanda Majeski, who has sung several leading roles at Santa Fe,  showed herself to be a capable Fiordiligi whose top notes bloomed with silver magic as she romped around the stage. For a?oeCome Scoglioa?? (a?oeLike a rocka??), she was comedically impassive and for a?oePer pietàa?? (a?oeFor pitya??) she truly begged for forgiveness as she used every note in her wide range to encompass the  scope of Mozart's writing.  whose top notes bloomed with silver magic as she romped around the stage.

On Wednesday, July 24, 2019, Santa Fe Opera presented Leoš Janáček's powerful dramatic opera Jenůfa. Laura Wilde, a former Santa Fe Apprentice who performed the title role at English National Opera in 2016, again sang the lead while Patricia Racette, who has often sung Jenůfa, portrayed her stepmother, Kostelnička. Both artists gave glorious dramatic interpretations of their roles in this shattering but moving opera.

Colombian-American soprano Vanessa Vasquez, winner of the 2017 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, recently completed a residency at the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. While there, she sang as Mimi in La boheme, Gilda in Rigoletto, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, and Violetta in La traviata. She made her professional opera debut in summer 2017 as Liu in Turandot at the Des Moines Metro Opera. This past season, she was Violetta at Arizona Opera and, currently, she is appearing as Mimi in La boheme at Santa Fe Opera.

On June 28, 2019, Santa Fe Opera opened its 63rd Season with Giacomo Puccini's tale of poverty-stricken young lovers in nineteenth century Paris. Stage Director Mary Birnbaum told the tale in a straight forward manner but with with an occasional twist that fomented conversation among audience members during the intermission and after the final act. 

Neil Simon's classical farce, Rumors runs June 14-29 at Arena Dinner Theatre. The play, directed by Jordan Plohr, will conclude Arena Dinner Theatre's 2018-19 season.

It's crazily creative, winding up like Disney's 'It's a Small World' ride on methamphetamine.

Placido Domingo has announced final details about the company's upcoming presentation of Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata, conducted by James Conlon