Just the third work in the language ever performed at the New York institution, composer Daniel Catán’s homage to magical realism proved lavish but low on drama. By Heidi Waleson Nov. 21, 2023 at 5:33 pm ET Griffin Massey and Mattia Olivieri PHOTO: KEN HOWARD New York The Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s “Florencia en el Amazonas,” which …
Author Archives: Andy Manshel
‘X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X’ Review: Songs of Struggle at the Metropolitan Opera
Director Robert O’Hara resurrects Anthony Davis’s 1986 work about the black civil-rights leader, in a production that gives thrilling voice to a richly jazzy score. By Heidi Waleson Nov. 14, 2023 at 6:04 pm ET Will Liverman (center) in a scene from Anthony Davis’s ‘X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X’ PHOTO: MARTY SOHL/THE METROPOLITAN …
‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ Review: A Story of Paralysis Takes Flight
At the Dallas Opera, Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer’s adaptation of the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby movingly depicts the writer’s experience of being left speechless and almost entirely immobile by a stroke. By Heidi Waleson Nov. 6, 2023 at 5:33 pm ET ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ at the Dallas Opera PHOTO: KYLE FLUBACKER Dallas …
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‘Grounded’ Review: An Opera on War Waged at a Distance
Composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist George Brant’s world premiere at the Washington National Opera follows a female fighter pilot who is reassigned to flying drones. By Heidi Waleson Oct. 31, 2023 at 5:16 pm ET A scene from ‘Grounded’ PHOTO: SCOTT SUCHMAN/THE KENNEDY CENTER Washington ‘Grounded,” a two-act opera by Jeanine Tesori and George Brant, which had its world premiere …
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‘Intelligence’ Review: Jake Heggie’s Songs for Spies
The composer’s new work, which had its premiere at Houston Grand Opera in a production by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, follows a Confederate landowner and an enslaved woman in her household as they run a Union espionage ring during the Civil War. By Heidi Waleson Oct. 25, 2023 at 5:34 pm ET Jamie Barton and …
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‘The Hunt’ and ‘Sin-Eater’ Reviews: New Songs of Old Worlds
Kate Soper’s opera, which had its premiere at New York’s Miller Theatre last week, adapts a medieval legend about virgins used to trap unicorns; David T. Little’s work, performed by Philadelphia’s The Crossing, stems from the bygone practice of paying social outcasts to absorb the sins of the wealthy dead. By Heidi Waleson Oct. 17, …
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‘Dead Man Walking’ Review: A Death-Row Drama at the Metropolitan Opera
With Ivo van Hove’s new staging of Jake Heggie’s opera about Sister Helen Prejean’s role as an adviser to a man condemned to die, the Met continues to embrace contemporary works. By Heidi Waleson Oct. 3, 2023 at 5:06 pm ET Wendy Bryn Harmer, Rod Gilfry, Joyce DiDonato, Krysty Swann and Chauncey Packer PHOTO: KAREN ALMOND …
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‘10 Days in a Madhouse,’ ‘Simon Boccanegra’ and ‘Doppelgänger’ Reviews: Insanity and Humanity
Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O featured a triumphant world premiere about Nellie Bly’s work exposing the conditions at a 19th-century asylum, as well as a production of Verdi’s convoluted love story; director Claus Guth and tenor Jonas Kaufmann staged a gripping performance of Schubert’s ‘Schwanengesang’ (‘Swan Song’) at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. Heidi …
‘Madama Butterfly’ Review: Coming Out of Its Chrysalis
Boston Lyric Opera’s production, the result of a yearslong effort to reconsider Puccini’s classic in the wake of anti-Asian violence, is thoughtful but low on passion; in New York, recitals by Julia Bullock and Lise Davidsen included obscure songs and classic repertoire alike. By Heidi Waleson Sept. 19, 2023 at 5:46 pm ET Karen Chia-Ling …
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Glimmerglass Festival Review: From Baroque to Bernstein
In its first season under director Rob Ainsley, the upstate New York opera festival counted among its offerings a riveting rendition of Handel’s ‘Rinaldo’ and a vivid staging of ‘Candide.’ By Heidi Waleson Aug. 15, 2023 at 5:49 pm ET Korin Thomas-Smith, Keely Futterer and Anthony Roth Costanzo in ‘Rinaldo’ PHOTO: EVAN ZIMMERMAN Cooperstown, N.Y. Starting in …
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