The arts rule: evocative Lakmé in Baltimore

By Phillip Nones, 04 May 2015

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Reviewed at The Engineers Club: Grand Ballroom, Baltimore on 3 May 2015

Delibes, Lakmé

Baltimore Concert Opera

Anthony Barrese, Conductor

Kaitlyn Davis, Lakmé

Ryan MacPherson, Gérald

Peter Tomaszewski, Nilakantha

Madelyn Wanner, Mallika

Jeffrey Grayson Gates, Frédéric

Sharin Apostolou, Ellen

Melissa Kornacki, Mistress Bentson

Melissa Wimbish, Rose

Nicholas Houhoulis, Hadji

Heather Johnson gives Carmen new meaning in Baltimore

Raisa Massuda, 3rd May

One of my favorite things about opera in concert is the absence of director’s concept. Don’t take me wrong: I do enjoy a well-directed opera production with a concept.

****1

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

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Phillip Nones

Phillip Nones studied piano from age six, also playing percussion in educational and civic groups before moving to a rural area of the USA in 1990, where performance opportunities were few. Recently he has started performing again, participating in “side-by-side” orchestra performances and playing percussion in the World Doctors' Orchestra. His personal collection of music includes over 5,000 classical albums in all formats (CDs, LPs, 78s), plus downloads. In his professional life, he heads up a marketing communications firm in the state of Maryland. He blogs about the French composer Florent Schmitt here.