William Burnett

Madeline Sayet’s new production of Mozart’s “Magic Flute” sets in the Woodlands of Central New York State will receive 12 performances at the 2015 Glimmerglass Festival. Her production has become the vehicle for displaying the vocal talents of Pennsylvania lyric tenor Sean Panikkar and Korean coloratura soprano So Young Park, admirably supported by strong cast of … Read more

Francesca Zambello, long an advocate for presenting classics of American theater in opera houses, chose Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide” to stage for the 2015 Glimmerglass Festival. When compared with Bernstein’s blockbuster hit “West Side Story”, whose composition was contemporaneous, “Candide” has been considered unsuccessful. [Below: David Garrison as the poet-dramatist Voltaire; edited image, based on a Dory … Read more

The Glimmerglass Festival is located in New York’s Finger Lakes district. In developing repertory, the Festival often considers operas or productions that have some tie to the surrounding communities. Thus, the Festival’s interest in the early 18th century Vivaldi opera “Cato in Utica” is easily understood, with a nearby New York city sharing the name of the … Read more

The Glimmerglass Festival presented director Anne Bogart’s new reconceptualization of Verdi’s “Macbeth”. The production was the occasion for role debuts by Pennsylvania baritone Eric Owens and Tennessee soprano Melody Moore, both of whom displayed mastery of their roles’ vocal demands and deep insights into the psychological motivations of these formidable characters. [Below: Lady Macbeth (Melody Moore, right) … Read more

Donizetti’s daffy French comic opera “La Fille du Régiment (The Daughter of the Regiment)” became the Santa Fe Opera’s latest “discovery” from the core 19th century French repertory – a body of works that was neglected during the first half century of the opera company’s existence, but which it has been exploring with a series of brilliant new productions. For its … Read more

The oldest opera that is considered part of the core operatic repertory is Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro [Le Nozze di Figaro]”. Dating from 1786, and undervalued in its day, except in the Bohemian capital of Prague [See my article Don Giovanni in Bohemia: How the Community of Prague Assured Mozart’s Last Four Operas], “Le Nozze” is now … Read more

Italian composer Marco Tutino’s new opera based on Alberto Moravia’s 1958 novel La Ciociara received its world premiere at San Francisco Opera’s War Memorial Opera House before an enthusiastic audience. San Francisco Opera music director Nicola Luisotti, conducting the San Francisco Opera Orchestra with the limitless energy one expects from a Luisotti performance, added yet another triumph … Read more

In one of its most ambitious undertakings in the San Francisco Opera’s 93 years of existence, the company mounted Sir David McVicar’s massive production of Hector Berlioz’ “Les Troyens”. The opera was presented with a distinguished cast of international rank, consisting mostly of American artists (the Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci sang the role of … Read more

The first offering the Sixth Korea Opera Festival, held in May and early June 2015 was Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro”, performed by the Muak Opera Company on three consecutive days at the attractive and acoustically impressive Seoul Arts Center. Kihwan Sim’s Figaro [Photo: Bass-baritone Kihwan Sim was Figaro; edited image, based on a publicity photograph … Read more

“Die Walküre”, Houston Grand Opera’s second installment of their one a year commitment to the four operas of Wagner’s “The Ring of the Nibelungs”, is one of the early steps in Christine Goerke’s ascendancy to the title of world’s reigning Wagnerian dramatic soprano. In the mid-1950s Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson, with her steel-edged power voice, came … Read more

Over the past half decade Parisian opera audiences have taken to heart the dramatic musical works of American composer Stephen Sondheim, presented at the Théâtre du Châtelet. A foursome of Sondheim productions – which included “Into the Woods”, “Sunday in the Park with George” and “A Little Night Music” – were conceived by Scottish director Lee Blakeley. The Houston … Read more

The Los Angeles Opera presented Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” in a performance that was cheered by the appreciative audience. The cast demonstrated, not only the depth of the world’s operatic talent, but the commitment of the Los Angeles Opera to introducing new singers or singers in new roles to Los Angeles audiences. The quintet of … Read more

The San Diego Opera mounted the most complex production of its three-opera 2014-15 season – the first San Diego appearances of John Adams’ extraordinary 1987 opera “Nixon in China”. The opera has been discussed on these pages, particularly the popular Vancouver (British Columbia) production seen in San Francisco [see  25 Years Old, “Nixon in China” … Read more

The New Orleans Opera presents two performances each of four operas each season. As the third opera of its 2014-15 season it created a new production of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”, directed by E. Loren Meeker with sets by Ryan McGettigan. The cast, led by Texas lyric coloratura soprano Laura Claycomb in the title role and … Read more

Reviving a production she created for the Opera National de Paris (now listed as a Washington National Opera production), Francesca Zambello assembled a major cast for Poulenc’s mid-20th century opera. The opera explores the final days of the lives of several members of a small convent of Carmelite nuns in a Parisian suburb who are trapped in … Read more