A charming Monteverdi L'Orfeo in Seoul

By Percy Dorian Lee, 04 August 2015

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Reviewed at Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul on 26 July 2015

Monteverdi, L'Orfeo (Orpheus), SV318

Seoul Metropolitan Opera

Hye-wook Jung, Euridice

Jin-ah Huh, Euridice

Gyo-won Han, Orfeo

Seil Kim, Orfeo

Ju Hee Jung, La musica

Bohae Kim, La messaggiera

Hee Sang Lee, La speranza

Seok Neuk Lee, Apollo

Jun Hyuk Park, Caronte

In Hui Kim, Plutone

Glyndebourne’s first Tosca: vocally strong but imperfect

David Karlin, 21st May

Ted Huffman brings some interesting ideas to his first Glyndebourne production. Excellent singing is let down by indifferent physical acting.

***11

The ears have it: Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas on the Cutty Sark

Mark Valencia, 21st May

Come away fellow sailors, your anchors be weighing! All board the Cutty Sark for a semi-staging of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists.

****1

Anna Netrebko gatecrashes Riccardo Chailly’s La Scala farewell

Laura Servidei, 16th May

Riccardo Chailly’s final new production as artistic director is a celebration of Verdi and of a conductor whose relationship with the Milanese audience has clearly deepened over the years.

*****

The Drover's Wife brings Aboriginal Dreaming to opera audiences

Jeremy Eccles, 16th May

Emerging from different incarnations of Leah Purcell’s play, George Palmer’s opera develops traditional Dreaming elements from Aboriginal mythology, premiering in Brisbane.

****1

Orlando revisited: Olga Neuwirth’s Woolf adaptation comes to Berlin

Elena Luporini, 16th May

The German premiere of Olga Neuwirth’s Orlando at the Komische Oper cements it as a postmodern grand opéra – for better or for worse.

***11

Iolanta paired with Luonnotar in dramatic Helsinki double bill

No’a L. bat Miri, 15th May

In Helsinki, Antony McDonald pairs Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta with a staged version of Sibelius’ tone poem Luonnotar, brilliantly voiced by soprano Silja Aalto.

*****

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Percy Dorian Lee

Hailed as “the most charming…artist…with personality,” Percy Dorian Lee has been an active musician worldwide, having been the First Prize winner of a number of competitions for piano and performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Salle Cortot in Paris and Bishopsgate Hall in London. His compositions have been heard to an acclaim in such venues as the Kennedy Center and Berlin Philharmonic Chamber Music Hall. He holds degrees and diplomas from The Juilliard School and Yale University, and he has been on the jury of national and international music competitions as well as on the faculty of a well-known university in Korea.

A charming Monteverdi L'Orfeo at Seoul Metropolitan Opera