Artikel von Dan Wang

The Lyric Opera’s new production of Rigoletto evokes visually the contours and high-contrast relief of a surrealist painting. 

The finale was the dramatic and musical high of the night, when both Ana María Martínez and Mariusz Kwiecień let themselves cut loose, laying waste to the bare stage.

The Lyric Opera’s new production of Carmen is lusciously embodied, with expressionistic splashes of colour against a quasi-modern backdrop. 

In the end, Newbury’s production leaves you with more questions than it answers. 

English conductor Nicholas McGegan led a responsible reading of Handel's now-classic oratorio, infusing some dramatic and lyrical touches into a largely unruffled evening.

Setting the opera in the backyard of a suburban house feels refreshingly honest: the ridiculous and simplistic tale of the evil witch, the prince and the maiden is rightfully returned to the arena of children's games, and adults look on indulgently, with a wink.

This production, directed by Tim Albery and with sets and costumes by Tobias Hoheisel, boasts more than one megastar.

Strong vocal talent rules the night, and a late moment of visual splendor caps off a serviceable reading of a battered warhorse.

If the production is full of pleasures, they do not immediately or obviously connect to a sense of some larger plan, which might have been helped along with a more dynamic set.

With clear direction and well-executed hits (such as the lush trio from the end of the third act), the show will appeal to those with nostalgia for the production and wish to escape the biting cold with the sound of strings warmed by horns.

Die Lyric Opera hat die bisher bestklingende Premiere des Jahres zusammengestellt, in der Sänger, Chor und Orchester alle mit erstaunlicher Sicherheit begannen und nur noch besser wurden.

It is the fusion of textures and styles coming from the pit that gives Bel Canto a memorable musical profile.

Bringing out the unabashed colour and detail of the score, Andrew Davis delivered a superb reading in the pit, tightly coherent and with exemplary attentiveness to articulation. 

What makes this Figaro memorable and admirable is the way it manages both to be sprightly in its tone and details and also luxuriant in places that another director might have blown through.

The cast of young professionals seemed entirely at ease in Midsummer Night’s sometimes abstruse musico-mythical world, and made their surroundings work for them.

Cédric Tiberghien’s recital at Symphony Center on Sunday built up like a crescendo, rising to ever greater heights of contrast, color, and explosive energy.

David Pountney's production of Mieczysław Weinberg's opera The Passenger travels to Chicago. 

Amber Wagner sings Elisabeth with a deepened command and an access to a horizon of sound that make it seem as though her throat had found six more inches of release. It’s a phenomenal performance.

American tenor Brian Jagde is the standout in this Tosca, with just those notes of honey and throatiness that seem to wrap up an orchestra’s sound and deliver the whole package to your front door, no signature needed.

Vasily Petrenko and Paul Lewis – two young men, around 40 years apiece – joined forces at the CSO last week in a program of very mature works.