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Courtney Smith

Courtney Smith

Courtney Smith is an American freelance journalist living in Milan, Italy. On classical music and opera, she's written for the BBC Music Magazine, Opera Now, Opera News, Corriere della Sera Style Magazine, Auditorium, Limelight and Classical Singer. She's written in-house for classical music organizations such as The New York Philharmonic and the Royal Opera House's blog. On luxury, fashion and beauty, she's written for The Wall Street Journal, Women's Wear Daily, Grazia.it and W Magazine's Editors' Blog. She's written in-house for brands such as Calvin Klein.

Author:Courtney Smith

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Musical stars power Carnegie Hall's 125th Anniversary Gala

By Courtney Smith, 05 May 2016

Affable host Richard Gere united a starry musical cast to celebrate Carnegie Hall’s 125th Anniversary Gala.

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Carnegie Hall's 125th Anniversary Gala

By Courtney Smith

John Dexter's genial Entführung revived at The Metropolitan Opera

By Courtney Smith, 22 April 2016

An amiable revival of John Dexter's Die Entführung at The Metropolitan Opera makes Mozart’s Singspiel accessible and genial.

***11

John Dexter's genial Entführung revived at The Met

By Courtney Smith

Tight ensemble over Sher’s exsanguinated Otello at The Met

By Courtney Smith, 20 April 2016

Little mark of Shakespeare's drama or Verdi's passion behind Bartlett Sher's exsanguinated, highly-stylized Otello for The Metropolitan Opera.

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Sher’s exsanguinated Otello at The Met

By Courtney Smith

Tamed Beauty: Renée Fleming in recital at Carnegie Hall

By Courtney Smith, 09 March 2016

First the beauty, then the words at a Renée Fleming Carnegie Hall Song Recital.

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Tamed Beauty: Renée Fleming in recital at Carnegie Hall

By Courtney Smith

The Big Bang Theory: Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä Goes Big on Sibelius Symphonies

By Courtney Smith, 03 March 2016

A Carnegie Hall Sibelius concert under Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra brought a big American sound to the Finnish composer's symphonies, with great virtuosity and verve from violin soloist Hilary Hahn.

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The Big Bang Theory: Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä Goes Big on Sibelius Symphonies

By Courtney Smith

It’s in the wind: Sir Richard Eyre’s Le nozze di Figaro returns to The Met

By Courtney Smith, 25 February 2016

Mozart’s beauty asserted but never implied, Sir Richard Eyre’s Le nozze di Figaro brings grand complications in bright turns and quick wit.

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It’s in the wind: Eyre's Figaro returns to The Met

By Courtney Smith

Noble truths: Dame Mitsuko Uchida on Truth and Beauty

By Courtney Smith, 23 February 2016

Dame Mitsuko Uchida sources truth, beauty and graceful rebellions in a Carnegie Hall recital of Berg, Schubert, Mozart and Schumann.

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Noble truths: Dame Mitsuko Uchida on Truth and Beauty

By Courtney Smith

Jewish music and Yiddish poetry resurgence by Evgeny Kissen

By Courtney Smith, 16 December 2015

Russian piano virtuoso Evgeny Kissen taps his Yiddish roots for an engaging concert of solo piano works by lesser-known Jewish composers and a classic Yiddish poetry recital.

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Jewish music and Yiddish poetry resurgence by Evgeny Kissen

By Courtney Smith

Bel canto virtuosity, but a retrogressive La donna del lago revived at The Metropolitan Opera

By Courtney Smith, 15 December 2015

Despite starry bel canto experts such as Joyce DiDonato, Lawrence Brownlee and maestro Michele Mariotti, a 2013 Paul Curran staging of Rossini’s La donna del lago reads vacuous on The Metropolitan Opera stage.

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Bel canto virtuosity, but a retrogressive La donna del lago

By Courtney Smith

Lady in Red: Isabel Leonard serenades Carnegie Hall with Spanish Folk Songs

By Courtney Smith, 12 November 2015

Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard paints Carnegie Hall in the high colors of Spanish folk music, accompanied by classical guitar player, Sharon Isbin.

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Lady in Red: Isabel Leonard serenades Carnegie Hall

By Courtney Smith

Fire and Ice: Zeffirelli's vintage Turandot at The Metropolitan Opera

By Courtney Smith, 03 November 2015

Franco Zeffirelli's admired 1987 Turandot honored Giacomo Puccini's chinoiserie fantasy about a cold-hearted princess thawed by love, but musically lacked conviction.

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Fire and Ice: Zeffirelli's vintage Turandot at The Met

By Courtney Smith

“Less is Less” at Teatro Carlo Felice's Simon Boccanegra season inauguration

By Courtney Smith, 22 October 2015

Excellent music-making over an indecisive but faithful Simon Boccanegra production opens Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice new season.

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Simon Boccanegra in Genoa

By Courtney Smith

A spirited Don Pasquale opens at Bergamo's Teatro Donizetti

By Courtney Smith, 17 October 2015

To open its 2015-16 season, Bergamo's Teatro Donizetti sourced a youthful, upbeat cast and fresh production for an enthusiastic Don Pasquale.

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A spirited Don Pasquale

By Courtney Smith

Daniele Gatti and Robert Carsen tout a blithely-polished Falstaff

By Courtney Smith, 14 October 2015

Daniele Gatti illuminates Robert Carsen's blithe Falstaff narrative

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A blithely-polished Falstaff in Milan

By Courtney Smith

Naïf Art Nostalgia: L'elisir d'amore at Teatro alla Scala

By Courtney Smith, 03 October 2015

A charmingly-retro, Naïf Art production of Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore at Teatro alla Scala provided a refreshing departure from the minimal, post-apocalyptic devastation trends of modern stagecraft.

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Naïf Art Nostalgia: L'elisir d'amore at Teatro alla Scala

By Courtney Smith

Italian sense, Russian sensibility: Yuri Temirkanov and the St Petersburg Philharmonic at La Scala for MITO opener

By Courtney Smith, 05 September 2015

Yuri Temirkanov chills Felix Mendelssohn and Anton Bruckner symphonic fire with Russian sensibility at the MITO Settembre Musica festival inaugural concert

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Italian sense, Russian sensibility: St Petersburg Phil/Temirkanov

By Courtney Smith

The Unbearable Lightness of Being the Budapest Festival Orchestra

By Courtney Smith, 01 August 2015

Elegant Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra team with seasoned soloists, Yefim Bronfman and Miah Persson, for peerless Bartók and Mahler.

*****

The Budapest Festival Orchestra in Milan

By Courtney Smith

Refreshing the classics: Ponnelle's Barbiere resurrection with the Teatro alla Scala Academy

By Courtney Smith, 27 July 2015

Bridging new and old, the young graduates of Teatro alla Scala's Academy joined seasoned Italian opera legends for an "Academy Project" performance of Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's 46-year-old staging.

****1

Refreshing the classics: Barbiere at La Scala

By Courtney Smith

Minkowski's aimless Mozart with Filarmonica della Scala

By Courtney Smith, 19 July 2015

An all-Mozart Filarmonica della Scala concert with soloists Vilde Frang and Hanna-Elisabeth Müller under conductor Marc Minkowski's lacked cohesion.

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Minkowski's aimless Mozart with Filarmonica della Scala

By Courtney Smith

Jürgen Flimm's painterly Rossini Otello at Teatro alla Scala

By Courtney Smith, 07 July 2015

After an absence of 145 years, Teato alla Scala staged Gioachino Rossini's Otello in a painterly Jürgen Flimm production, sparse set inspired by conversations with Anselm Kiefer.

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Flimm's painterly Rossini Otello at La Scala

By Courtney Smith

Mending fences: Luc Bondy's Tosca at La Scala

By Courtney Smith, 22 June 2015

Six years after its contested 2009 world première at the Metropolitan Opera, Luc Bondy's disputed production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca bowed its third Teatro alla Scala staging here on Monday night.

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Mending fences: Luc Bondy's Tosca at La Scala

By Courtney Smith

Waking Nightmares: Mario Martone's Cav—Pag double bill reprised at La Scala

By Courtney Smith, 12 June 2015

Mario Martone's Cavalleria rusticana—Pagliacci returns to La Scala, with results that do not always convince.

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Waking Nightmares: Mario Martone's Cav—Pag reprised at La Scala

By Courtney Smith

Teatro alla Scala's celebratory Academy evening

By Courtney Smith, 12 June 2015

A report from the Teatro alla Scala, where Academy students took to the stage for a celebratory graduation evening.

Teatro alla Scala's celebratory Academy evening

By Courtney Smith

Coin du Roi’s Serse in Milan's Teatro Litta

By Courtney Smith, 29 May 2015

"Grab ’em by the throat and never let ’em go!" goes the famous quote by legendary Hollywood director Billy Wilder – Sunset Boulevard, Some like it Hot, and Double Indemnity among his masterpieces – who regularly dispensed stellar advice to aspiring, young writers. Unlike good screenwriting, opera’s blood and thunder decree doesn’t need much coaching to bare its jugular.

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Coin du Roi’s Serse in Milan's Teatro Litta

By Courtney Smith

Survivor guilt: Fedora at the Teatro Carlo Felice

By Courtney Smith, 25 March 2015

Daniela Dessì and Fabio Armiliato make their role debuts in the first production of Umberto Giordano's Fedora at the Teatro Carlo Felice for 15 years.

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Survivor guilt: Fedora at the Teatro Carlo Felice

By Courtney Smith