El Niño at Spoleto

By Susan Blood, 01 June 2014

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Reviewed at Memminger Auditorium, Charleston on 30 May 2014

Adams, El Niño

Joe Miller, Conductor

John La Bouchardière, Director

Erica Brookhyser, Mezzo-soprano

Caitlin Lynch, Soprano

Daniel Bubeck, Countertenor

Brian Cummings, Countertenor

Steven Rickards, Countertenor

Mark Walters, Baritone

Imagine waiting: The Blind at Lincoln Center Festival

Rebecca Lentjes, 11th July

Imagine waiting for a long time. You can’t see anything, so you can’t entirely trust your unfamiliar surroundings. Imagine heightened senses: sounds with sharper edges, drafts of air crawling across goosebumped skin, scents stretching out to you in the darkness. Imagine an opera in which the performers can watch the audience rather than the other way around.

*****

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

The triumph of virtue: Rossini’s Cenerentola in Brisbane

Sandra Bowdler, 29th April

Margarita Gritskova leads a fine ensemble performance of Rossini’s most under-appreciated opera by Opera Queensland.

****1

Grigolo shines in a mixed new Roméo et Juliette at the Opera di Roma

Pia Maltri, 28th April

With its 1940s setting, Luca Del Fusco’s direction alienates in a new production of Gounod's Shakespeare-inspired opera.

***11

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

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Susan Blood

Susan's experience includes art school administration, gallery management, music publicity and journalism which you can find in print and online with her blog here. As a reviewer she has attended theater, opera, ballet and symphony all her life and loves having the opportunity to share it with others.

A deeply human Messiah comes to Spoleto Festival USA