A truly great Gatsby: John Harbison's opera gets a thrilling performance in Boston

By Roger Smith, 10 June 2013

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Reviewed at New England Conservatory: Jordan Hall, Boston on 12 May 2013

Harbison, The Great Gatsby

Gordon Gietz, Jay Gatsby

Devon Guthrie, Daisy Guthrie

Alex Richardson, Tom Buchanan

David Kravitz, Nick Carraway

Krista River, Jordan Baker

David Cushing, George Wilson

Katherine Growdon, Myrtle Wilson

Charles Blandy, Tenor

Lynn Torgove, Mezzo-soprano

James Maddalena, Baritone

Donald Wilkinson, Bass

Dana Whiteside, Baritone

Ryan Turner, Conductor

Orchestra of Emmanuel Music

Chorus of Emmanuel Music

Frauenliebe und -sterben: Kratzer’s triple bill at Staatsoper Hamburg

Mengguang Huang, 15th April

Director Tobias Kratzer engineers a haunting pasticcio of Schumann, Bartók and Zemlinsky, tracing the domestic sphere’s shift from romantic surrender to the blood-soaked secrets of a century-spanning house.

****1

Diamonds and steel: Anna Pirozzi rules in La Scala’s Turandot revival

Laura Servidei, 12th April

Visually enchanting and meticulously staged, this centenary revival confirms Livermore's production as a modern classic.

****1

Regents Opera’s Salome lands a knockout punch at York Hall

Mark Pullinger, 10th April

Mark Ravenhill directs a brutal, bloody Salome for Regents Opera at the spiritual home of British boxing, York Hall.

****1

Art imitates art in ETO’s bracing new Pagliacci

Dominic Lowe, 10th April

Divorced from Cavalleria rusticana, English Touring Opera’s contemporary take on Leoncavallo’s masterpiece ticks all the boxes.

****1

Handel’s Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno returns to Rome

Pia Maltri, 7th April

Robert Carsen’s staging of Handel's oratorio arrives, via Salzburg, in the city where Handel composed it in 1707.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

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Roger Smith

Roger Smith was born in London and studied for BA in Music at Kingston University, followed by an MMus in Music Theory and Analysis at Goldsmiths College. He studied opera at Birkbeck College, the City Lit and Morley College.