Minnesota Opera's Thaïs: a bright star in Massenet’s galaxy of women

By Phillip Nones, 21 May 2018

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Reviewed at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts: Music Theater, Saint Paul on 20 May 2018

Massenet, Thaïs

Minnesota Opera

Christopher Franklin, Conductor

Andrea Cigni, Director

Lorenzo Cutùli, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Kelly Kaduce, Thaïs

Gerard Schneider, Nicias

Lucas Meachem, Athanaël

Wm. Clay Thompson, Palémon

Jeni Houser, La Charmeuse

Nadia Fayad, Albine, Myrtale

Zenon Dance Company

Marcus Dilliard, Lighting Designer

Arrestingly effective: Dead Man Walking at Minnesota Opera

Katherine Syer, 27th January

Dead Man Walking is currently the most frequently performed contemporary American opera. Joel Ivany's staging, first mounted in Vancouver, opened recently at Minnesota Opera just days after the opera's Spanish première in Madrid.

****1

Minnesota Opera Don Pasquale “goes Hollywood”

Phillip Nones, 15th October

Don Pasquale is updated to 1950s Hollywood, delivering clever staging and slapstick humor while sacrificing none of Donizetti's musical artistry.

****1

A Rheingold that works on every level in Minnesota

Phillip Nones, 20th November

Highly idiomatic and effective singing by Greer Grimsley, Denyce Graves and other cast members, coupled with inventive stagecraft wizardry, make the Minnesota Opera's first-ever Rheingold a memorable production.

****1

Nabucco launches Opera Philadelphia's season with power

Gale Martin, 6th October

During Verdi’s bicentenary month and year, it’s fitting that Opera Philadelphia kicked off its 2013/14 season with the work that Verdi himself considers as having launched his own career – Nabucco. Written at a time when Italy longed to be free of foreign rule, Verdi’s name and the expression “Viva Verdi” became synonymous with Italian nationalism and unification.

****1

A spirited Don Pasquale

Courtney Smith, 17th October

To open its 2015-16 season, Bergamo's Teatro Donizetti sourced a youthful, upbeat cast and fresh production for an enthusiastic Don Pasquale.

***11

A sorta fairy tale: Sleepers Awake premieres at Opera Philadelphia

Cameron Kelsall, 22nd April

A new opera by Gregory Spears subverts the Sleeping Beauty trope, with middling results.

**111

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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.

The Minnesota Opera stages Thaïs, a bright star in Massenet’s galaxy of women