Anthony Davis’s opera about the iconic Black Power figure starts a nationwide series of engagements in Detroit. Davone Tines as Malcolm X (center)PHOTO: MICAH SHUMAKE / DETROIT OPERA By Heidi Waleson May 23, 2022 5:22 pm Detroit In 1986, when Anthony Davis’s opera “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” had its world premiere at the New …
Continue reading “‘X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X’ Review: More Self-Empowering Than Radical”
Brett Dean’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy has its North American premiere at the Met. Jacques Imbrailo as Horatio and Allan Clayton as HamletPHOTO: KAREN ALMOND / MET OPERA By Heidi Waleson May 18, 2022 5:37 pm New York I was ready tolove Brett Dean’s “Hamlet,” which had its North American premiere on Friday at the Metropolitan Opera. The …
Continue reading “‘Hamlet’ Review: A Princely Opera Usurped by Noise”
György Kurtág’s first opera, adapted from Samuel Beckett’s one-act play and completed at age 91, is filled with compassion for its four aged characters Frode Olsen PHOTO: SEBASTIEN MATHE By Heidi Waleson May. 12, 2022 5:16 pm The bleakness of György Kurtág’s opera “Fin de partie” (“Endgame”), now playing at the Paris Opera’s Palais Garnier, could be …
Continue reading “‘Fin de partie’ Review: Beauty in the Bleakness of ‘Endgame’”
Le chemin de St. Jacques from Cahors to Moissac and Paris
The Met’s new production of the Donizetti work, by Simon Stone and dubbed ‘Lucia: Closeups of a Cursed Life,’ transports the tragic tale to a dying American Rust Belt community in the present day. By Heidi Waleson April 25, 2022 5:10 pm ET Simon Stone’s remarkable new production of Donizetti’s “ Lucia di Lammermoor, ” which …
Continue reading “‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ Review: Despair Made Magnetic”
In Los Angeles, Du Yun’s solo opera about a father’s struggles has its premiere and the Los Angeles Philharmonic teams with Deaf West Theatre for a unique take on Beethoven’s work. By Heidi Waleson Updated April 18, 2022 6:29 pm ET Los Angeles In an early scene of Du Yun’s “In Our Daughter’s Eyes”—a solo …
Continue reading “‘In Our Daughter’s Eyes’ and ‘Fidelio’ Reviews: A Parent’s Pain and Beethoven”
Michel van der Aa’s film opera imagines what it would be like to leave your body behind to have your mind preserved in the digital world. By Heidi Waleson March 24, 2022 5:52 pm ET New York Michel van der Aa’s work explores the intersection of music, film and technology. “Upload,” his haunting new film opera, …
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The U.S. premiere of a show, delayed by Covid-19, drawn from a Chinese compilation of myths that was first transcribed in the fourth century B.C. By Heidi Waleson March 17, 2022 6:11 pm ET Brooklyn, N.Y. Over the 80 minutes of “Book of Mountains & Seas,” which had its U.S. premiere on Tuesday at St. Ann’s …
Continue reading “‘Book of Mountains & Seas’ Review: A Creative Look at Creation Myths”
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Center and the 10th anniversary of the American Opera Initiative, monument-inspired premieres from diverse creators By Heidi Waleson March 8, 2022 6:51 pm ET Washington Operas written for special occasions have a long history—for example, the many French Baroque pieces created for coronations and weddings. “Written in Stone,” …
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Composer Christopher Cerrone and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann offer an updated, Americanized take on the Japanese director’s ‘Rashomon.’ By Heidi Waleson Feb. 22, 2022 6:08 pm EST Pittsburgh ‘In a Grove”by composer Christopher Cerrone and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, which had its world premiere at the Pittsburgh Opera’s Bitz Opera Factory on Saturday, is all about atmosphere. Based …
Continue reading “‘In a Grove’ Review: Kurosawa at the Opera House”
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