Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
Wm: Last year, you were in Santa Fe for the new production of Britten’s “Billy Budd”? What was it like working with Paul Curran the production designer-director and that cast? LM: It was a truly great experience. Curran is an awesome director. Not only did I play the role of Donald, but I covered Teddy … Read more
Wm: What life experiences did you have before you became an opera singer? LM: My first job was at age 15, in swimming pool construction, but I always sang in church and in the house. I grew up in the tiny town of Carthage in South Central North Carolina, where there are no inter-urban freeways. … Read more
Seattle Opera concluded its first cycle of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs” with “Götterdämmerung”, the longest and most ambitious opera in opera’s standard repertory. The daunting requirements of this piece tax any opera company producing it. Not only did Seattle Opera succeed admirably, it seems certain that no opera company has ever achieved the razzle … Read more
The Seattle Opera’s Stephen Wadsworth – Thomas Lynch “Ring of the Nibelungs” moved into “Siegfried”, the third opera of Wagner’s expansive tetralogy. With a fairy tale storyline (which has always seemed to me to be the exposition of Prince Charming’s adventures on the way to awaken Sleeping Beauty), Siegfried overcomes the intrigues of evil dwarves, … Read more
“Die Walküre”, the second opera in the Seattle production of Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelungs” by Stephen Wadsworth and Thomas Lynch, returns with a cast that combines veterans of the work’s 2005 Seattle performances with newcomers in key roles. Returning are Greer Grimsley as Wotan and Stephanie Blythe as his Wotan’s wife, Fricka, in towering … Read more