The composer’s operetta ‘La Périchole’ gets a smartly trimmed adaptation set during the Prohibition and starring Isabel Leonard and Ramin Karimloo at Washington National Opera. By Heidi Waleson March 20, 2024 at 2:08 pm ET Isabel Leonard and Ramin Karimloo PHOTO: SCOTT SUCHMAN Washington “Songbird,” the adaptation of Offenbach’s operetta “La Périchole” now playing at the …
Continue reading “‘Songbird’ Review: Making Offenbach Swing in Washington”
Detroit Opera presents two of the avant-garde composer’s rigidly devised but cacophonous works, jumbling together various arias and piano works from music history into a disorienting whole. By Heidi Waleson March 12, 2024 Kisma Jordan PHOTO: AUSTIN RICHEY Detroit What happens when you put classic European operas into a Mixmaster on stage? You get John Cage’s cycle …
Continue reading “‘Europeras 3 & 4’ Review: John Cage’s Controlled Chaos”
Mariusz Treliński’s new production of Verdi’s revenge drama moves the action to a war-torn present and stars the shining Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen. By Heidi Walseon ) Soloman Howard and Lise Davidsen. PHOTO: KAREN ALMOND / MET OPERA New York Mariusz Treliński’s new production of Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino,” which opened at the Metropolitan Opera on …
Continue reading “‘La Forza del Destino’ Review: A Light in the Darkness at the Metropolitan Opera”
Boston Lyric Opera gave the work by Guadeloupe-born composer Joseph Bologne a snappy staging without making a strong case for its score, while MetLiveArts deftly put the more famous composer’s work in a global context. By Heidi Waleson Ashley Emerson and Brianna J. Robinson in ‘The Anonymous Lover’ PHOTO: NILE SCOTT STUDIOS Boston and New York With opera …
The annual festival returned with an uneven slate of new works, from Huang Ruo’s oratorio ‘Angel Island’ to Heather Christian’s lively ‘Terce: A Practical Breviary.’ By Heidi Waleson Jan. 16, 2024 at 5:30 pm ET A scene from ‘Angel Island’ PHOTO: MARIA BARANOVA New York and Brooklyn, N.Y. At its best, the annual Prototype Festival, coproduced by Beth …
Continue reading “Prototype Festival Review: Originality in Opera”
Carrie Cracknell’s production, which had its premiere on New Year’s Eve, sets the opera in the present-day U.S. while offering few fresh insights into Bizet’s classic By Heidi Waleson Rafael Davila and Aigul Akhmetshina PHOTO: KEN HOWARD / MET OPERA New York Director Carrie Cracknell, who made her Metropolitan Opera debut with a new production of Bizet’s …
Continue reading “‘Carmen’ Review: A Misguided Modernization at the Met”
The English Concert, an ensemble led by Harry Bicket, returned to the New York venue for its annual performance of an opera by the Baroque master, turning in one of its finest productions to date. Conductor Harry Bicket (at the harpsichord, back to camera) and Lucy Crowe PHOTO: STEVE J. SHERMAN By Heidi Waleson Dec. 13, 2023 at …
Continue reading “‘Rodelinda’ Review: Handel Well-Handled at Carnegie Hall”
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 …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ Review: A Story of Paralysis Takes Flight”
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