Astonishing double bill at New York Philharmonic

By Ako Imamura, 28 September 2019

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“a superb realization of complex musical drama that engaged all our senses, gripping and absorbing”

Reviewed at Lincoln Center: Wu Tsai Theater, David Geffen Hall, New York City on 26 September 2019

Bartók, Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Schoenberg, Erwartung

Jaap van Zweden, Conductor

Bengt Gomér, Director

Nina Stemme, Judith

Johannes Martin Kränzle, Bluebeard

Katarina Karnéus, A Woman

New York Philharmonic

Wagner's music conquers all qualms in Opera North's Parsifal

Richard Wilcocks, 1st June

Richard Farnes returns to Opera North to conduct and Sam Brown directs a concert staging of Wagner's final opera, Parsifal.

****1

A persuasively dark Don Giovanni from Swedish Radio

David Karlin, 14th June

Andrew Staples creates an austere, monochrome semi-staging that's strangely appropriate to the times; Peter Mattei and John Lundgren lead an excellent cast.

****1

Nina Stemme returns triumphantly to Hobart

Sandra Bowdler, 2nd November

Nina Stemme returns to Hobart and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Marko Letonja, with an all-Wagner concert, ably assisted by Swedish bassJohn Lundgren

*****

The early flowering of opera: a fragrant L’Orfeo at Schwetzingen

Mengguang Huang, 3rd May

Markus Bothe’s Botticelli-inspired production fuses tableau vivant aesthetics with Jörg Halubek’s surgical musical precision, offering a peerless, vivid tribute to the fragrant dawn of opera.

****1

Two funerals and a bedding at the Linbury Theatre

Eleanor Knight, 1st May

Tales of love and loss as operas by Elena Langer, Charlotte Bray and Elizabeth Maconchy form a varied triple bill in this showcase for The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Artists.

****1

Boston Doodle Dandy: Boston Lyric Opera presents La Fille du régiment

Kevin Wells, 1st May

Very few singers can hold an audience in the palm of their hand the way Brenda Rae as Marie does in this rollicking frolic.

****1

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Ako Imamura

Atsuko (Ako) Imamura is a retired investment banker in New York City. Born in Japan, she trained as cultural anthropologist in the US before turning to ﬁnance. She now spends her time attending opera and classical music concerts in New York and in Europe. Wagner is her favorite opera composer.

Astonishing double bill of Erwartung and Bluebeard’s Castle at New York Philharmonic