Author Archives: Andy Manshel

The Venetian music we didn’t hear in Venice.

at the Frick

The end of the all Isabel season at the Met.

Heartbeat Opera and Opera Lafayette.

An opera about Mozart’s collaborator Lorenzo Da Ponte dulls down that librettist’s picaresque story. Thomas Hampson as Lorenzo Da Ponte in ‘The Phoenix’ Photo: Lynn Lane By Heidi Waleson April 30, 2019 3:32 p.m. ET Houston Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo Da Ponte were a perfect partnership, creating “Le nozze di Figaro,” “Don Giovanni” and …

Continue reading “The Phoenix’ Review: An Exciting Life Turned to Ash”

A rare black tenor to be cast in the part, Russell Thomas imbues Otello with vocal and psychological nuance. Tamara Wilson as Desdemona and Russell Thomas as Otello in the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Verdi’s ‘Otello’ PHOTO: MICHAEL COOPER ByHeidi Waleson April 29, 2019 4:34 p.m. ET Montreal In 2015, the Metropolitan Opera decided to end its …

Continue reading “A Revolutionary ‘Otello’”

For the Clarion Choir

is a madhouse! Unbelievable!

Harry Bicket and the English Concert return to Carnegie Hall for their annual Handel presentation. Soprano Brenda Rae and Benjamin Hulett with the English Concert and the Clarion Choir in Handel’s ‘Semele’ at Carnegie Hall Photo: © 2019 Steve J. Sherman By Heidi Waleson April 15, 2019 3:49 p.m. ET New York Since their initial …

Continue reading “Opera Review ‘Semele’ Review: A Delicious Mashup of Genres”

The New York premiere of an opera based on the true story of a second-generation Vietnamese-American teenager who takes two jobs to support her brothers after her mother leaves the family, and is sent to jail for truancy even though she is an honor student. By Heidi Waleson April 15, 2019 3:57 p.m. ET New …

Continue reading “Bound’ Review: Knowledge and Madness”