Compelling new opera explores a 300-year-old feminist dream

Primero Sueño

By Kurt Gottschalk, 26 January 2025

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“by the finale, it was chaotic revelry as our heroine roused from the dream”

Reviewed at The Met Cloisters, New York City on 23 January 2025

Prestini, Primero Sueño

Louisa Proske, Director

Andrea Lauer, Costume Designer

Jiyoun Chang, Lighting Designer

Magos Herrera, Vocals

Sjaella

Celso Duarte, Harp, Percussion

Luca Tarantino, Theorbo, Baroque Guitar

Child's play: inventive, moving Rinaldo at Glimmerglass

Cameron Kelsall, 31st July

Director Louisa Proske refracts Handel's tale of warlords and witches through the prism of a juvenile dream world, aided by a game cast headed by Anthony Roth Costanzo.

****1

Chausson's rarely heard Le Roi Arthus well served at Bard

Robert Levine, 25th July

The first fully staged American production of Chausson's sole opera features remarkable singing, fine storytelling and plush orchestral playing.

****1

A timely Mother of Us All at the Metropolitan Museum

Kurt Gottschalk, 11th February

The Mother of Us All isn’t an easy work and it’s far from one of Stein’s best pieces of writing. But in this centenary of women’s suffrage, it’s an important one.

***11

Die Liebschaften wechseln wie im Fluge: Händels Serse in Halle

Michael Vieth, 26th May

Zehrende Sehnsucht und pralle Komödie des brillanten Ensembles machten die Eröffnung der Händelfestspiele Halle zum Ereignis.

****1

The Knights on the eve of war at Carnegie Hall

Kurt Gottschalk, 29th February

An evening on the outskirts of war treat Ravel, Brecht and Weill, Bob Dylan and Chico Buarque and a Du Yun premiere with spirit and revelry.

***11

A Brooklyn salon for Clara Schumann's 200th birthday

Kurt Gottschalk, 13th September

Downes' playing is soulful, perhaps rather American, which gave Schumann a late-night jazziness. That tendency fit better with selections by Nina Simone and Harlem Renaissance composers Margaret Bonds and Florence Price.

***11

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Kurt Gottschalk

Kurt Gottschalk is a journalist and author based in New York City. His writings on contemporary and classical music, jazz and improvisation have been published in outlets throughout Europe and America and he has two volumes of short fiction to his name. He produced and hosted the Miniature Minotaurs radio programme on WFMU and currently hosts Afternoon New Music on WKCR.