Dudamel serves up Otello at the Hollywood Bowl

By Néstor Castiglione, 16 July 2018

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“a velvet fist in a velvet glove”

Reviewed at Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles on 15 July 2018

Verdi, Otello (Concert performance)

Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor

Russell Thomas, Otello

Julianna Di Giacomo, Desdemona

George Gagnidze, Iago

Jennifer Johnson Cano, Emilia

Paolo Fanale, Cassio

Derek Taylor, Roderigo

Önay Köse, Lodovico, Herald

Christopher Job, Montano

Los Angeles Master Chorale

Los Angeles Children's Chorus

Los Angeles Philharmonic

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Mark Pullinger, 1st June

Amy Lane directs an intimate staging of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s 2018 chamber opera in the compact Milton Court Theatre.

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Longborough Festival Opera season starts slow with Orlando

Eleanor Knight, 30th May

Beth Taylor gives the lows and highs of Handel's heroics an almighty, whole-body shakedown in Sinéad O'Neill’s new staging of Handel's Orlando.

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Roy Westbrook, 28th May

Bruno Ravella's splendid 2021 production of Strauss' opera of Viennese manners returns with a fine cast.

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Peter Quantrill, 28th May

Mount Vesuvius looms over Cecilia Stinton’s compelling new production of Così fan tutte.

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David Karlin, 27th May

Music Director Douglas Boyd conducts a performance of exceptional musical quality, and Louisa Muller's uncontroversial but passionate direction makes this Traviata one for the ages.

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A witty hotel Don Giovanni opens Blackwater Valley Festival

Andrew Larkin, 27th May

Tom Creed’s witty production at Lismore Castle delivers strong singing, sharp comedy and lively orchestral playing, even if the opera’s darker supernatural edges are somewhat diminished.

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Néstor Castiglione

Néstor Castiglione is a freelance music critic, program note annotator, translator, and lecturer born and raised in Los Angeles. Aside from classical music, he also writes and lectures on the culture and popular music of early Shōwa Japan (1925 – 1945). His website is Echorrhea and you can also follow him on Instagram @echorrhea.