A firm believer in the importance of music at any age, Raisa teaches Opera Appreciation Seminars in a Senior Center in Baltimore, MD. She has launched a Live Opera for Seniors series, allowing her low-income students to study and attend free. Raisa is the author of a music and opera blog called Mandolin Vision.
In the opera world, where loyalty to the libretto is oftentimes taken for poor taste and the use of period sets and costumes is attributed to the lack of a directorial concept, seeing a traditional production becomes a rare (and very comforting) treat.
One of my favorite things about opera in concert is the absence of director’s concept. Don’t take me wrong: I do enjoy a well-directed opera production with a concept.
For almost two decades, Opera Lafayette has been known to DC opera fans as a period-based ensemble reviving long-forgotten gems of French Baroque and Rococo chamber opera repertoire. On Thursday night, the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater hosted Opera Lafayette’s most recent creation: its production of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s pastorale/tragédie en musique Actéon.
When, in 1859, Gounod’s Faust premiered in Paris, it got an icy cold reception. In fact, shocking as it may sound to anyone even slightly familiar with this opera’s glorious arias, breathtaking duets and melodious ensembles, it got rejected by Paris Opera on the grounds of not being sufficiently “showy”.
On Monday night the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts hosted a debut recital of internationally acclaimed German soprano Diana Damrau and her concert accompanist, French harpist Xavier de Maistre.
On Wednesday night Washington Performing Arts Society at the Kennedy Center hosted a Russian art song recital of the internationally acclaimed Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and his longtime concert partner, Estonian pianist Ivari Ilya. As the audience’s excitement about seeing this renowned recitalist was building up, it was disappointing to see quite a few empty seats in the house.
On Saturday night the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts was packed with ardent opera lovers who came to the Washington National Opera to enjoy one of Puccini’s most heartbreaking love stories, Manon Lescaut.
On Sunday night Shriver Hall was packed with Baltimore opera fans who had gathered to enjoy a solo recital of the internationally acclaimed opera “anti-diva” Magdalena Kožená. True to her reputation, this Czech mezzo-soprano came on stage dressed in a casual black gown, which (ignoring the dress change tradition established by her stage colleagues) she chose to wear all night long.
When on Sunday afternoon Joyce DiDonato came onstage at Carnegie Hall, the savvy New York audience gave her a truly royal reception by welcoming her with a long ovation. Such a reaction from the audience was hardly surprising.
On Saturday night the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater was packed with opera fans who had come to enjoy a solo recital from aspiring American soprano Angela Meade. No wonder this one-time-only performance was a complete sell-out – there was no way that DC opera fans would pass up the opportunity to sneak-preview her performance, as she is up for the title role in Bellini’s Norma later this season.
“Poetry and again poetry – tenderness mixed with pain; sensuality, a drama surprising and burning, and a rocketing finale.” This is composer Giacomo Puccini describing one of the world’s most famous operas, La bohème.
On Wednesday night the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts was more crowded than a shopping mall during the holiday season. Apparently, nothing could keep DC opera lovers from getting to the Washington National Opera - not even the notorious peak hour traffic.It comes as no surprise that Mozart’s Don Giovanni, known to some as "the greatest opera ever written" is on most opera fans’ must-see lists.
When I heard that Nathan Gunn was opening Washington National Opera’s 2012-13 season Celebrity Series, I could not be more excited. Indeed, this American baritone, known in the musical world as “the opera divo”, represents everything that today’s opera fans look for in a singer: a beautiful voice, first-class acting, an appealing physique and of course, a great sense of humor.
Ladies and gentlemen of Washington DC and the nearby lands!If last fall you did not get a chance to journey to New York for the Met’s season-opening production of Anna Bolena – do not fret! Last Saturday the Washington National Opera opened its new season with a production of Anna Bolena (a little too bloody for a season opening if you ask me, but maybe that’s what attracts most people to opera th
When I heard that Washington National Opera’s upcoming production of Jules Massenet’s romantic and beautifully tragic opera Werther would be set in the 20th century, I was intrigued.
When I saw a three-tiered theater set-up on the Kennedy Center Opera House stage, consisting of boxes decorated with blue velvet, gold and exquisite paintings, I have to admit that even having seen various different stagings of Verdi’s Nabucco before, I was intrigued.
In the opera world, where being true to a libretto is considered unforgivably boring, and using traditional scenery and costumes very dull, sometimes nothing is more pleasing than seeing a conservative production.
Ever since I saw Angela Gheorghiu in the title role of Barbara Willis Sweete’s brilliant opera film Romeo and Juliette, this soprano has been on my must-see-no-matter-what list. However, seeing Gheorghiu live is much easier said than done.
I hear that both you and your friend are getting married to wealthy and pretty ladies from Washington DC?My heartiest congratulations, gentlemen! As my early wedding gift, allow me to offer you some marriage wisdom: when your beloved betray you, remember to forgive them and keep living happily ever after.Don’t believe in betrayal? Well, then, allow me to prove my point.
Even though some kids are so musically inclined that they are able to take in Mozart and Beethoven pure and unabridged, most young listeners do better with classics once they get a little verbal support to go with the music.
