A magical world premiere at San Diego Opera imagines Frida Kahlo reuniting with her husband, Diego Rivera, from beyond the grave; composer Ethel Smyth’s 1906 work, in a fusty revival at Houston Grand Opera, depicts English villagers who plunder shipwrecks and kill the survivors. Guadalupe Paz and Alfredo Daza PHOTO: KARLI CADEL By Heidi Waleson Nov. 1, …
Continue reading “‘El último sueño de Frida y Diego’ and ‘The Wreckers’ Reviews: The Music of Death”
The opera, which premiered at Penn State, depicts the fierce conflict between urban planner Robert Moses and journalist Jane Jacobs. Rinde Eckert as Robert Moses (right), with Tomas Cruz PHOTO: JEREMY DANIEL By Heidi Waleson Length (6 minutes)Queue State College, Pa. It’s odd that “A Marvelous Order,” an opera depicting the epic Robert Moses vs. Jane Jacobs battle over the fate of …
Continue reading “‘A Marvelous Order’ Review: Battling the Power Broker”
Davóne Tines collaborates with Jennifer Koh at BAM in a performance that delves into both artists’ life stories, and with Tyshawn Sorey at the Park Avenue Armory commemorating the 50th anniversary of Morton Feldman’s tribute to Rothko Chapel. Davóne Tines and Jennifer Koh in ‘Everything Rises’ at BAM PHOTO: ELLEN QBERTPLAYA/BAM By Heidi Waleson Oct. 18, 2022 …
Continue reading “‘Everything Rises’ and ‘Monochromatic Light’ Review: Examination and Celebration”
This season brings genre-pushing variety, from the premiere of David T. Little’s ‘Black Lodge’ to Rossini’s rarely seen ‘Otello.’ Timur and the Dime Museum perform live with the film of David T. Little’s ‘Black Lodge’ PHOTO: STEVEN PISANO By Heidi Waleson Oct. 4, 2022 5:47 pm ET Philadelphia After two years of pandemic-imposed hiatus, Opera Philadelphia’s groundbreaking …
Continue reading “O22 Festival Review: In Philadelphia, Redefining Opera on Stage and Screen”
The Metropolitan Opera is mounting this diva vehicle (in Italian) for the first time in a new David McVicar starring Sondra Radvanovsky. Sondra Radvanovsky as Medea PHOTO: MARTY SOHL/THE METROPOLITAN OPERA By Heidi Waleson Updated Sept. 28, 2022 5:11 pm Luigi Cherubini’s “Medea” (1797) is a diva vehicle, which should have made it a perfect choice for …
Continue reading “‘Medea’ Review: A Mother’s Operatic Malevolence”
Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the U.S. premiere of a new staging of the classic Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick/Joseph Stein musical, as well as a traditional production of Verdi’s tale of three high-born men in the 16th century competing to marry one woman. Steven Skybell as Tevye PHOTO: TODD ROSENBERG By Heidi Waleson Sept. 20, 2022 4:40 pm …
Continue reading “‘Fiddler on the Roof’ and ‘Ernani’ Review: In a Shtetl and in Spain”
In San Francisco, the celebrated minimalist’s newest opera attempts to balance political drama with romantic tragedy but is held back by its reliance on traditional tropes Amina Edris and Gerald Finley PHOTO: CORY WEAVER/SAN FRANCISCO OPERA By Heidi Waleson Sept. 13, 2022 5:44 pm ET San Francisco The San Francisco Opera, celebrating its centennial this season, is …
Continue reading “‘Antony and Cleopatra’ Review: John Adams’s Avant-Garde Shakespeare”
In her final season as artistic director, she presents a comedic Rossini pastiche, ‘The Sound of Music,’ ‘Carmen’ and a thematically linked double bill of ‘Taking Up Serpents’ and world premiere ‘Holy Ground.’ Keely Futterer in ‘Tenor Overboard ’PHOTO: KARLI CADEL/THE GLIMMERGLASS FESTIVAL By Heidi Waleson Updated Aug. 16, 2022 5:21 pm ET Cooperstown, N.Y. Francesca Zambello’s …
Continue reading “Glimmerglass Review: Francesca Zambello’s Curtain Call”
The 2022 roster includes the world premiere of ‘M. Butterfly,’ plus productions of ‘Falstaff,’ ‘Barber of Seville,’ ‘Carmen’ and ‘Tristan und Isolde’–the company’s first Wagner in over 30 years. Kangmin Justin Kim and Mark Stone PHOTO: CURTIS BROWN/SANTA FE OPERA By Heidi Waleson Aug. 9, 2022 5:34 pm Santa Fe, N.M. This season’s Santa Fe Opera world …
Continue reading “Santa Fe Opera Review: High Notes of the Season”
Gregory Spears and Tracy K. Smith’s new, luxuriously cast opera, which premiered in Cincinnati, depicts cousins at odds over family property in 2008’s American South and the complex history of their black ancestors. Reginald Smith Jr. and Talise Trevigne PHOTO: PHILIP GROSHONG By Heidi Waleson July 26, 2022 5:24 pm Cincinnati What makes a narrative operatic, demanding …
Continue reading “‘Castor and Patience’ Review: Land and Legacy”
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