Music of Remembrance's new one-act opera lingers long after

By Thomas May, 12 May 2015

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Reviewed at Benaroya Hall, S Mark Taper Auditorium, Seattle on 11 May 2015

Milhaud, Suite for violin, clarinet and piano, Op.157b

Wertheim, Le Tsigane Dans La Lune

Bosmans, nuit calme

Bowles, music for a farce

Cipullo, After Life (World Premiere)

Catherine Cook, Soprano

Ava Pine, Soprano

Robert Orth, Baritone

An unforgettable emotional experience

Ako Imamura, 5th March

American composer Jake Heggie's early opera performed by Washington National Opera was one of those rare experiences of an opera full of raw power and wrenching emotion with superb performers that one is not likely to forget soon.

*****

Champion at Opera Parallele: strong, but no knockout

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 19th February

Opera Parallele's production of Terence Blanchard's Champion: An Opera in Jazz features great performances but an uneven score and spotty blocking.

***11

Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick triumphs in San Francisco

Jeffery S. McMillan, 10th October

Though reports of the work’s importance and dramatic power have attended it since its 2010 premiere in Dallas, I doubt many in the audience of the War Memorial Opera House on Wednesday night were prepared for the impact of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick.

*****

Prom 72: Nixon in China at the Albert Hall

David Karlin, 5th September

Every opera should have at least one of those “wow” moments that lift you out of your seat and have you singing them in your head on the way home.

****1

Heggie creates a new holiday tradition for the opera world

Donna Stoering, 20th November

A wonderfully realized production at San Francisco Opera of Jake Heggie's operatic version of a holiday classic.

*****

SF Opera opens new season with Andrea Chénier

Maria Nockin, 9th September

Andrea Chénier returns to San Francisco Opera after a long absence, in Sir David McVicar's realistic production.

*****

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Thomas May

Thomas May is a writer and translator based in Seattle. His books include Decoding Wagner and The John Adams Reader, and he blogs about the arts at memeteria.com. He has written for The Washington Post, Gramophone, Listen, Symphony magazine, OPERA America, crosscut.com, and many other publications.

After Life in Seattle: Music of Remembrance's new one-act opera lingers long after