Krzysztof Warlikowski’s new Paris staging of Verdi's epic Don Carlos is cold and glassy, but the vocal performances at the Bastille more than compensate.
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 return of the Met's Aida was a joyous celebration of the art form with excellent singers and orchestra doing what they do best against the backdrop of a traditional but effective staging.
After being absent since December, music director Riccardo Muti returned to Chicago Symphony in a passionate account of the epic Roméo et Juliette by Berlioz.
The Lyric Opera put together the best-sounding première of the year so far, in which singers, chorus and the orchestra all began with astonishing confidence and only improved from there.
Verdi's take on the Joan of Arc story may be thin on drama, but outstanding playing from Riccardo Chailly and the La Scala orchestra and top notch singing from Netrebko, Meli and Álvarez make this a wonderful Verdian evening.
Houston Grand Opera’s season-opening production of the fiery opera does it right, from lighting to set to singing, and the end result is a stunning beginning to its season.
De Bosio's highly traditional reading of Nabucco takes blockbuster form, aided by Veronese architect Rinaldo Olivieri's sets, which are at once epic and pragmatic.
Visually traditional, this Norma often indulged on the most predictable aspects of Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, unfortunately missing the opportunity of bringing a bigger audience to the theatre and showcasing the vastness of Italian opera.
Placido Domingo was "suffering from a bad cold" on Saturday afternoon, so baritone Luca Salsi, scheduled to sing Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor later that night, put on the costume and delivered a convincing last minute Don Carlo in Verdi's Ernani.
Verdi’s Aida has been performed over 1,000 times at the Metropolitan Opera, making it the most commonly revived work after Puccini’s La bohème. Because Aida is so regularly programmed, I usually walk rather than run to see this opera.
According to Riccardo Muti in a recent interview for Chicago Classical Review, the cardinal sins of modern conductors when interpreting Verdi are over-aggression and vulgarity. He also notes in an interview included in the concert program that one of the most unique aspects of Macbeth is its use of expressively soft dynamics, even going as far to call the technique avant-garde.
Apart from the precious Quattro pezzi sacri, Verdi wrote very little sacred music until this Requiem, probably due to his agnosticism. When Alessandro Manzoni, one of the most important and admired Italian literary figures, died on the 22nd of May 1873, Verdi felt that something in the Italian cultural world had come to an end.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Attila is not an opera that one hears often. Composed during his self-styled “galley period” – before he found his mature musical voice with Rigoletto – Attila has inherent musical and dramaturgical weaknesses. With one foot still firmly rooted in bel canto tradition, the numerous cabalettas can be exhausting, even ridiculous, considering the dramatic nature of the text.
The title role of Bellini’s Norma is one of the most challenging roles in the female repertory. It has been called the most profound portrayal of womanhood in all of opera. It demands a dramatic coloratura soprano with immense vocal power, rare agility, a wide dynamic range, a broad palette of vocal coloration, and instinctive theatricality.
Iolanta and Francesca da Rimini work particularly well as a double bill because both works share the theme of lovers who find themselves at the mercy of possessive forces. Iolanta's domineering father ultimately yields in Tchaikovsky's opera, but in Rachmaninov's the deceitful Lanceotto is not so accommodating.
C’est peu dire que la nouvelle production de Warlikowski, après les deux reprises qui ont ouvert cette saison de l’Opéra de Paris, était attendue. Promesses tenues.
Pour clôturer la saison, le théâtre du Bolshoï donne sa version de la Damnation de Faust de Berlioz, avec la complicité du metteur en scène allemand Peter Stein. Version respectueuse du livret et de la partition, qui cherche la beauté et la force expressive avant tout.
