Bachtrack logo
What's on
All eventsConcertsOperaDanceKids eventsMasterclassesCompetitionsFestivals
Reviews
All reviewsConcert reviewsOpera reviewsDance reviews
Articles
All articlesFeaturesInterviewsOpinionPlaylists
News
Video
Video homeAll videoStreamed eventsConcertsOperaDanceKids eventsMasterclassesPublishers
Site
About usContact usLink to usConditions of useCookiesPrivacy
Young artists
Travel
EventsReviewsArticlesVideo

Sex, angels and cannibalism: Written on Skin at Opera Philadelphia

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 17 February 2018
Loading, please wait...
See full listing
“Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo... cut the air with his first, unnerving note”
Reviewed at Academy of Music, Philadelphia on 16 February 2018
Programme
Benjamin, Written on Skin
Performers
Opera Philadelphia
Corrado Rovaris, Conductor
Will Kerley, Director
Tom Rogers, Set Designer, Costume Designer
Lauren Snouffer, Agnès
Mark Stone, The Protector
Anthony Roth Costanzo, Boy / Angel 1
Krisztina Szabó, Marie / Angel 2
Alasdair Kent, John / Angel 3
More Opera reviews
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
Opera by committee: Opera Philadelphia premieres Complications in Sue
Cameron Kelsall, 4th February
Opera Philadelphia commissions ten composers to tell the story of an ordinary woman's idiosyncratic march from cradle to tomb.
****1
A didactic Decameron: The Seasons at Opera Philadelphia
Cameron Kelsall, 20th December
Conceived by Anthony Roth Costanzo and Sarah Ruhl, this high-handed pasticcio sets the climate crisis to a soundtrack of Vivaldi.
***11
A long, strange trip: Opera Philadelphia’s Il viaggio a Reims
Cameron Kelsall, 19th September
The intrepid company brings Damiano Michieletto’s well-traveled production of a Rossini rarity to the US for the first time. 
***11
The Listeners: daring psychological thriller at Opera Philadelphia
Cameron Kelsall, 25th September
The new opera by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek draws on cult mindsets and conspiracy theories but smartly avoids sensationalism. 
****1
Opera Philadelphia's Unholy Wars creates a dialogue with Monteverdi
Cameron Kelsall, 23rd September
Arab-American tenor Karim Sulayman devises a thoughtful pastiche that centers the perspective omitted from Early Modern depictions of the Middle East in music.
****1
More reviews...
Read reviews of
Alasdair KentAnthony Roth CostanzoCorrado RovarisKrisztina SzabóLauren SnoufferMark StoneOpera PhiladelphiaSir George BenjaminTom RogersWill KerleyWritten on Skin
Related articles
Loading image...
Aiming high: Hugh Cutting on Handel, good storytelling and countertenor appeal
Loading image...
Sensuality and modern music: Barbara Hannigan
Loading image...
Opera in the blood: Speranza Scappucci
Loading image...
Bachtrack top ten: Opera in English
Ilana Walder-Biesanz
Ilana Walder-Biesanz
Ilana Walder-Biesanz is a product manager for Yahoo, a theatre and opera critic, and a classically trained mezzo-soprano. She explored theater and opera stagings as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge and as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany. She currently writes for Bachtrack, San Francisco Classical Voice, and Stark Insider. Twitter: @ilana_wb.