Traditional Rigoletto in Baltimore: A tribute to Verdi

“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.

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”.

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.

Musically inoffensive, the soaring Romanticism further makes sense given the story, in which a cast of García-Márquezian characters float down the Amazon River on a steamboat rife with passion and yearning.

Donné pour la première fois à l'Opéra national de Paris, l'ouvrage du compositeur américain est un succès sur le plan musical, théâtral et chorégraphique.

Retour du bel canto à Liège avec une belle production de l'opéra de Gaetano Donizetti où triomphe, dans le rôle-titre, une Jessica Pratt impressionnante de maîtrise et d'engagement.