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The Lowry strikes not of discord over Royal Opera House in Manchester Lowry Centre

By Ben Hoyle [Times Online, 25 June 2009]

Plans for a £100 million outpost of the Royal Opera House in the North West suffered a potentially serious setback yesterday when one of Manchester’s leading arts complexes said a new opera house in the city would “destroy” it.

Aspen Music Festival goes back in time

Stewart Oksenhorn [The Aspen Times, 25 June 2009]

It was 60 years ago this summer that the Goethe Bicentennial came to town, and there is good reason to celebrate the anniversary of that momentous event. The Bicentennial spawned the Aspen Institute, the Aspen Music Festival and School — and, oh yes, the modern rebirth of this sleepy, former mining town.

Resignations, ENO Model, Might Save City Opera: Norman Lebrecht

Commentary by Norman Lebrecht [Bloomberg.com, 25 June 2009]

This is the tale of two city operas, both of which present high art at popular prices.

John McCarthy: Charismatic choral conductor and arranger

Kenneth Shenton [The Independent, 22 June 2009]

During the second half of the 20th century, John McCarthy was perhaps the most charismatic choral conductor of his generation. Highly adept at operating on all sides of the musical divide, amid a career of great length, distinction and influence, he became one of the most powerful and potent figures in British musical life.

Wagner's great-granddaughter to probe composer's family links with Hitler and the Nazis

By Allan Hall [Daily Mail, 21 June 2009]

For decades the shadow of Nazism has hung over the descendants of Richard Wagner.

His monumental music was embraced by Hitler while, 50 years after his death, the composer’s family were favourites of the dictator and his cronies.

'Ghosts of Versailles' an entertaining evening

By Sarah Bryan Miller [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 18 June 2009]

Opera Theatre of St. Louis has a history of taking fresh looks at operas that had less-than-stellar beginnings (Britten’s “Gloriana” and Adams’ “Nixon in China,” to name two gleaming examples) and illuminating something greater within them.

Vu et entendu : Carmen à l’Opéra-Comique

La critique d’Emmanuel Dupuy [Diapason, 16 June 2009]

C’est l’événement le plus antidémocratique de la saison : Carmen à l’Opéra-Comique, pour sept représentations. Mais l’art et la démocratie font-ils bon ménage ? Vaste débat, auquel le degré de jouissance que l’on atteint en ce soir de première apporte un élément de réponse. Carmen chez elle, rendue à ses dimensions d’origine, dans ce théâtre qui abolit les distances et rend inutiles les surtitres.

A classic confection that's near perfection

By William Randall Beard [Minneapolis Star Tribune, 16 June 2009]

Skylark Opera’s second annual summer festival includes a trademark operetta, Sigmund Romberg’s “The Desert Song,” and one of the great comic operas, “Don Pasquale” by Gaetano Donizetti. The latter is the only one worth seeing.

Anna Netrebko returns to S.F. in 'La Traviata'

By Joshua Kosman [San Francisco Chronicle, 15 June 2009]

From its second act onward, the San Francisco Opera’s new production of “La Traviata” attempts something radically new with Verdi’s familiar melodrama.

AOP & Opera On Tap Present 2nd Part Of Opera Grows In Brooklyn Series 7/11

[Broadway World, 15 June 2009]

AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP), “known for bringing cutting-edge vocal production to the masses,” (New York) and OPERA ON TAP (“…raucous and sublime…un-elitist, imperfect, and fun…”- NY Sun) will present the second installment of its Opera Grows in Brooklyn series, an evening of all new opera scenes and songs from contemporary composers, including new music from David T. Little and the NYC premiere of Stefan Weisman’s opera Fade.


NEWS ARCHIVES »

Current Feature

Birgit Nilsson as Turandot
15 Jun 2009

PUCCINI: Turandot — Buenos Aires 1965

Turandot, dramma lirico in three acts. »

This weeks theme

Operas based on the works of Friedrich von Schiller

“Friedrich Schiller (1759 - 1805) , German dramatist and poet, is best known for his early drama of political revolt, Die Räuber (1781); for his classical masterpiece, the Wallenstein trilogy (1798-99); and for Wilhelm Tell (1804)—in all of which he exhibits his fervent concern for freedom and the ideals of humanity. In German literary history Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are considered the major representatives of German classicism, which lasted from 1786 until Goethe’s death in 1832.” Robert Weninger, Schiller, Friedrich, The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory & Criticism (2nd ed. 2005). Here we will present a rich and varied selection of operas:

  1. VERDI: Luisa Miller — Reggio Emilia 1976
  2. VERDI: Don Carlo — Rome 1954
  3. DONIZETTI: Maria Stuarda — Paris 1972
  4. ROSSINI: Guglielmo Tell — Rome 1954
  5. TCHAIKOVSKY: The Maid of Orléans — Moscow 1971
  6. VERDI: I masnadieri — Baden-Baden 1998
  7. PUCCINI: Turandot — Buenos Aires 1965


Previous Themes:

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Historic Performances: Maria Callas

Works of Giacomo Puccini

Works of Richard Strauss

Works of W. A. Mozart

Works of Jules Massenet

Works on the Theme of “Greeks Bearing Gifts”


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29 Jun 2009

Antonio Pappano and Friends — Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

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Commentary
29 Jun 2009

Dalibor Jenis sings Renato in the Royal Opera house Un ballo in maschera.

“Everything in opera comes from Italy”, says Dalibor Jenis, who sings Renato in the current Royal Opera House Un ballo in maschera. “Italian is the language of music, my second mother language” »

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29 Jun 2009

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Reviews
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Un ballo in maschera at Royal Opera House

On the whole, I’d prefer the conspirators to be sitting on toilets… »

Reviews
26 Jun 2009

Gőtterdämmerung in Venice and Kőln — Sex and Politics Behind the Berlin Wall

With Götterdämmerung, a co-production with the Köln Opera House created by Robert Carsen (stage direction), Patrick Kinmonth (sets and costumes) and Jeffrey Tate (conductor), La Fenice approaches completion of the Ring cycle.  »

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La Traviata at Royal Opera House

Four years have passed since the most celebrated American soprano of recent times, Renée Fleming, graced the stage at Covent Garden, in Elijah Moshinsky’s classic production of Otello.  »

Reviews
25 Jun 2009

Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre shocks Rome but only mildly

Le Grand Macabre is the only opera of György Ligéti, one of the major composers of the 20th century.  »

Reviews
25 Jun 2009

SCHUBERT: Alfonso und Estrella

What is the worst opera with the best music?  »

Reviews
24 Jun 2009

La Traviata in San Francisco

Much ink has been spilled over the failed Marta Domingo production of La Traviata that San Francisco Opera inexplicably imported for its blatantly audience baiting summer season (Traviata, Tosca, Porgy and Bess). »

Reviews
24 Jun 2009

MAHLER: Symphony no. 8

The Gala release of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony from Hamburg performances on 29 and 30 November 1954 serves to document further the composer’s presence in the concerto hall prior to the well-known Mahler-renewal in 1960.  »