Reviews

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

Two years ago, the most wildly enthusiastic, cheering, vociferous happy audience I’ve seen in the 50-year history of the San Diego Opera (I’ve attended since Day One) greeted Mexican composer Jose “Pepe” Martinez’ opera performed by the Mariachi Vargas De Tescalitlan band. [See my previous review at Operatic mariachi: “Cruzar la Cara de la Luna” – San Diego Opera, … 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

Washington D.C., two days before the opening of Wagner’s “Flying Dutchman”, had been battered by snowstorms so fierce that they required cancellation of a Washington National Opera Thursday night performance of Poulenc’s “Dialogues of the Carmelites”, But on Saturday evening, fair weather prevailed and it proved smooth sailing for Wagner’s inherently stormy opera. Assuring a propitious opening night was the … Read more

Los Angeles Opera Music Director and Chief Conductor James Conlon is the champion of his opera company’s “Figaro Trilogy” of Rossini’s “Barber of Seville”, Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” and Corigliano’s “Ghosts of Versailles” performed over a two month period that began in early February [See Review: Los Angeles Opera Launches Ambitious New Production of “Ghosts of … Read more

The Seattle Opera has launched a new production of Handel’s 1744 opera “Semele”, about Jupiter’s affair with a human being who turns out to be the mother of Bacchus (Dionysius). Cleverly staged by Tomer Zvulun with impressive sets and projections by Erhard Rom, it provided a vehicle for triumphant performances by Brenda Rae in the … Read more

Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo’s February 14 debut at the San Diego Opera proved to be a Valentine’s Gift to a community that succeeded in rescuing its endangered opera company. D’Arcangelo was a saucy Don, his solid vocal performance and his matinee idol good looks confirming his inclusion in the wide world’s inner circle of contemporary interpreters of this iconic role. [See … Read more

New productions of contemporary American operas are important events. Perhaps no such work has been given a new look with the dedication of musical and visual resources as the Los Angeles Opera’s new mounting of John Corigliano’s 1991 opera, “The Ghosts of Versailles”. The production was stunning. It was created by the team responsible for Broadway’s “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love … Read more

In March 2014, the Board of Directors of the San Diego Opera announced that the company would cease operations, just short of its 50th anniversary. The community uproar that greeted the pronouncement resulted in the resignation of much of the board, and its replacement by a new board dedicated to resolving the company’s financial issues … Read more

The late composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 Spanish-language opera “Florencia en El Amazonas”, has been revived in a new co-production between the Washington National Opera (where the production debuted in September 2014), the Los Angeles Opera and the San Francisco Opera. The lushly-scored, romantically melodic work is a Latin American fantasy about three couples, two present on … Read more

The night after the first San Francisco Opera performance of its co-production of “La Boheme” with Houston Grand Opera and Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company [see Review: Michael Fabiano, Alexia Voulgaridou are Vocally Splendid in John Caird’s Cleverly Conceived “La Boheme” – San Francisco Opera, November 14, 2014], the opera was presented again with a cast in … Read more

Puccini’s “La Boheme” is a perennial candidate for the title of world’s most popular opera.  There are a couple of other contenders, bur none so peopled with likeable characters so in love with life, and so affected when one of them, Mimi, succumbs to a fatal illness.. The San Francisco Opera has a long record … Read more

San Francisco Opera, mixing old and new, continued a highly successful fall season by mounting its historic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production of Rossini’s “Cenerentola”. It proved to be another smash hit, resulting in standing ovations for the four principals and conductor Jesus Lopez-Cobos. First mounted in the 1969 season for Spanish mezzo Teresa Berganza, it is literally the oldest … Read more

The Houston Grand Opera, as the opening night of its 60th season, mounted Verdi’s “Otello” with Simon O’Neill in the title role, Ailyn Pérez as Desdemona and Marco Vratogna as Otello’s nemesis Iago. I attended the third of five scheduled performances. Simon O’Neill’s Otello [Photo: Simon O’Neill as Otello; edited image, based on a Lynn … Read more

Swedish director Göran Järvefelt’s 1988 production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan Tutte” was revived by the Houston Grand Opera. Sporting a cast consisting of veteran operatic comedians Nuccia Focile as Despina and Alessandro Corbelli as Don Alfonso, it provides the vehicle for showing the talents of four young rising stars of opera. Rachel Willis-Sørensen is Fiordiligi, Melody … Read more

The venerable Lyric Opera opened its 2014 season with a new production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”, the opera that opened the first Lyric Opera season 60 years ago. The new production was created by Robert Falls, the Artistic Director of the even more venerable Goodman Theater, which is currently celebrating its 90th season. Although “Don Giovanni” is … Read more