Kevin Wells was bitten by the opera bug at 10, having heard a 1936 recording of Jussi Björling singing “Che gelida manina”. He has never been the same since. A student of voice, performance practice, the history of singing and opera, he holds advanced degrees in Italian and has lived and worked in Italy off and on since the 70s. La Scala became a second home as the Met had been during college daze. Now in his native Boston, he works as translator, tutor, and language coach, haunts Symphony Hall, and would haunt the Opera House had it not been demolished in 1958!
Odyssey Opera comes full circle closing its season “Trial By Fire“ with another opera rooted in Schiller’s Die Jungfrau von Orléans, Giovanna d’Arco. Verdi’s seventh opera is an uneven, retrograde effort which fails to mine further the rich vein he had struck in Ernani.
Andris Nelsons' Mozart–Shostakovich pairing allowed the Boston Symphony winds to take the spotlight in the first half, leaving the strings and limited percussion to their task in the second.
Concertgoers defying sub-zero temperatures in Boston were rewarded with one of the fastest Beebthoven Fifths anyone in Symphony Hall is likely to hear.
Mahler had Walter, Mitropoulos and, most importantly, Bernstein to champion him in the US. Bruckner was never as fortunate... until now. When Andris Nelsons succeeded James Levine as Music Director of the Boston Symphony, he specifically mentioned Bruckner as a composer he would program regularly, in marked contrast to his predecessor’s antipathy.
 and the cast-c-liza-voll-photography-resized.jpg "James Maddalena (Jonathan Peachum), Kelly Kaduce (Polly Peachum) and Michelle Trainor (Mrs Peachum) © Liza Voll Photography")
