Inevitable solitude in the Ricci/Forte's new diptych

By James Imam, 22 November 2018

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“an identifiably high-octane, imaginative style”

Reviewed at Teatro Massimo, Palermo on 18 November 2018

Schoenberg, Die glückliche Hand

Bartók, Duke Bluebeard's Castle

Teatro Massimo

Gergely Vajda, Conductor

Stefano Ricci, Director

Nicolas Bovey, Set Designer

Gianluca Sbicca, Costume Designer

Gábor Bretz, A man (Schoenberg), Bluebeard

Atala Schöck, Judith

Coro del Teatro Massimo

Orchestra del Teatro Massimo

A roof-raising Ernani in Palermo

Mark Pullinger, 26th February

Omer Meir Wellber conducts a spirited account of Verdi's early opera, semi-staged and live-streamed from the Teatro Massimo.

****1

A punk, post-industrial Siegfried in Palermo

Edoardo Pelligra, 20th December

Despite this mis-en-scene’s lack of intensity, this Siegfried closed the 2015 season of the Teatro Massimo with an outstanding musical performance.

***11

Shamelessly, age-defyingly garish: La Fille du régiment

David Karlin, 17th September

Franco Zeffirelli's Palermo La Fille du régiment wears its 55 years with style and elegance, lifted by outstanding singing from Desirée Rancatore and Celso Albelo.

****1

Mascagni's Le maschere struggles to take flight in Wexford opener

Andrew Larkin, 18th October

Excellent singing, an amusing production and lively staging showcases Mascagni's Le maschere in the best possible light at Wexford Festival Opera.

***11

The political drama of Marino Faliero in Bergamo

Renato Verga, 20th November

14th-century Venice, a city of intrigue, criminal activity and mysterious masks, is the setting for Donizetti's opera about the Doge Marino Faliero, whose life is torn between public and private issues.

****1

Asmik Grigorian strengthens the Met’s revival of Eugene Onegin

Susan Stempleski, 20th April

The Lithuanian soprano’s riveting performance as the central character in Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece lights up Deborah Warner’s mostly bland production.

****1

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James Imam

James Imam is an arts journalist writing for publications including The Financial Times, The Times, Musical America and Opera magazine. He grew up in Manchester, read anthropology at Cambridge and has since lived in Milan. As a once-aspiring countertenor he has an abiding interest in Baroque music.

Inevitable solitude in the Ricci/Forte's new diptych at the Teatro Massimo