Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
The facilitation of this interview by the San Diego Opera and by the Dallas Opera is gratefully acknowledged. For the first part of this conversation, see: Rising Stars: An Interview with Stephen Costello, Part 1. Wm: In my interviews with John Relyea and Brandon Jovanovich, I have asked both about the impact of receiving the Richard … Read more
The facilitation of this interview by the San Diego Opera and by the Dallas Opera is gratefully acknowledged. Wm: You are from Philadelphia, a city with a long tradition in presenting opera, yet you’ve reported that your earliest musical memories are of Elvis Presley. At what point did you come to know about opera, and … Read more
The San Diego Opera, which last year brought together the husband and wife team of Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez in an elegant production of Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette” (see Costello, Pérez in Passionately Romantic “Romeo et Juliette” – San Diego Opera, March 13, 2010), triumphantly presented their return as Faust and Marguerite in “Faust”, Gounod’s blockbuster hit opera … Read more
For the first part of the interview, see: An Interview with Conductor James Conlon, Part 1. The facilitation of this interview by the Los Angeles Opera is gratefully acknowledged. Wm: It has been written that it was in Cologne you made your commitment to the “recovered voices” – composers whose lives were lost or careers … Read more
After sampling another batch of historic broadcasts, Arthur Bloomfield our guest commentator (and historian of the San Francisco Opera) writes: When the Adler Years were settled into their cruising altitude back in the 1970s there was usually a frisson when that earlierday auteur director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle came up with a new production. And there were … Read more