Nancy WoznyMusicHouston,
Why should musicals own the review format? Anthony Freud at Houston Grand Opera has come up with a way for opera to get in on the fun with Chorus!, a fully staged review of several show stopping famous and not so famous group sings. And it works for the most ...
Music
Cinderella (Joyce DiDonato) meets Dandini (Earle Patriarco) who is disguised as the Prince. Photo by Brett Coomer Cinderella may be an old-as-the-hills tale, but when the famed Barcelona theater company known simply as Els Comediants got a hold of it, it’s something to behold. With this wildly imaginative troupe ...
Music
Dramatic legend in four parts by Hector Berlioz Libretto by Almire Gandonnière and Berlioz Metropolitan Opera, New York City through December 4, 2008 James Levine, conductor Robert Lepage, director http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/season/production.aspx?id=9929 video preview: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/features/detail.aspx?id=5792 Near the end of the first half of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “La Damnation de ...
MusicHouston,
Is it interesting that what some consider the world most perfect opera, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, is about a consciousless cad? Mozart’s retelling of the Don Juan legend is a study in contrasts, light vs. dark and pure vs. evil. The title character lives large, trampling every female he can find, ...
Harvey O'BrienMusic
It begins with murder and ends in damnation: Mozart’s rather bleak follow up to The Marriage of Figaro, and is, if anything, even more politically incendiary in its depiction of the licentiousness of the gentry than its more controversial predecessor. Don Giovanni’s arrogant defilement of as many and any women ...
Lewis WhittingtonMusic
Don Pasquale Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia March 3, 2009 Donizetti Director David Gately Conductor Richard A. Raub Jeremy Paul Milner, Ryan Kuster, Zulimar L�pez-Hern�ndez, Corinne Winters Taylor Stayton, Joseph Demarest http://www.avaopera.org/ Opera director David Gately’s Wild West version of Donizetti’s ‘Don Pasquale’ is simply inspired artistically and completes ...
Karren LaLonde AlenierMusic
Blood is the image that dominates Duke Bluebeard's Castle, a one-act opera written by composer Bela Bartk with libretto in Hungarian by Bela Balazs. Washington National Opera, under the direction of film director William Friedkin (best known for his film The Exorcist), has produced this engrossing but ...
Suzanne WeissMusic
By Gaetano Donizetti Libretto by Felice Romani San Francisco Opera October 29-November 26, 2008 Conducted by Bruno Campanella Directed by James Robinson http://sfopera.com/ Ramon Vargas (Nemorino) and Inva Mula (Adina). Photo: Terrence McCarthy. San Francisco Opera’s new production of “The Elixir of Love” is as sweet and ...
Karren LaLonde AlenierMusic
Elizabeth Futral plays the role of Princess Yueyang in "The First Emperor" during the final dress rehearsal Monday, Dec. 18, 2006, in New York. The new opera by composer-conductor Tan Dun, is set in the ancient court of Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor of China, and had its world ...
Music
IFaust (William Burden) arrives to court Marguerite Photo by Brett Coomer The Devil Pulls the Strings Faust Houston Grand Opera January 26, 2007 The devil goes by many names, but for opera (and Goethe) lovers, Mephistopheles is the preferred one. With a talent the size of Samuel Ramey ...