Composer and librettist Kate Soper’s inventive, uneven adaptation of a 13th-century French poem at Long Beach Opera explores the messiness of romantic love. Laurel Irene and Lucas Steele PHOTO: JORDAN GEIGER By Heidi Waleson Feb. 21, 2023 6:11 pm ET San Pedro, Calif. ‘Le Roman de la Rose,” a 13th-century, 21,000-line poem written in Old French, is …
Continue reading “The Romance of the Rose’ Review: An Opera on Love’s Disorder”
This year’s edition of the adventurous showcase includes an intimate double bill by Irish composer Emma O’Halloran and a dazzling, uncategorizable work by Gelsey Bell that spans geologic time A scene from ‘Morning//Mourning’ PHOTO: MARIA BARANOVA By Heidi Waleson Jan. 10, 2023 7:18 pm ET With the 10th anniversary season of the Prototype Festival under way, it’s …
Continue reading “Prototype Festival Review: Operas Personal and Planetary”
Umberto Giordano’s 1898 verismo work has a creaky plot but an engaging score, beautifully delivered by soprano Sonya Yoncheva in a handsome new production at the Metropolitan Opera Sonya Yoncheva PHOTO: KEN HOWARD / MET OPERA By Heidi Waleson Jan. 4, 2023 5:26 pm ET Umberto Giordano’s “Fedora” (1898) proved to be perfect New Year’s Eve fare …
Continue reading “‘Fedora’ Review: How the Met Toasted the New Year”
Kelli O’Hara, Renée Fleming and Joyce DiDonato in ‘The Hours’ PHOTO: EVAN ZIMMERMAN / MET OPERA By Heidi Waleson Nov. 29, 2022 at 1:05 pm New York ‘The Hours,” by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Greg Pierce, which had its world-premiere staged production at the Metropolitan Opera last Tuesday, is clever in concept. Its sources—the 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael …
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”
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