Living at the Opera

In 2002, the opera department at the University of Arizona hit the jackpot with an endowment of $1,000,000. The funding came by way of Amelia T. Rieman, a trained concert pianist and soprano and a longtime supporter of the University and particularly of the opera program. She and Prof. Charles R. Roe, the Director of [...]

It is rare these days to attend an opera performance where the vocal and dramatic interpretation of an opera takes center stage over the physical production. But that is exactly what happened at the 2009 opening night telecast of Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo from La Scala at the Loft Cinema on March 14th, 2010. With early [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: Bernard Jacobson Seattle Opera, soloists, cond. Riccardo Frizza, dir. Peter Kazaras, set designer Donald Eastman, costume designer Anna Björnsdotter, lighting designer Connie Yun, Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Seattle, 27 & 28.2.2010 (BJ) There are opera productions that are faithful to the spirit of the work, yet tell us nothing [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: Bernard Jacobson Soloists, Metropolitan Opera chorus and orchestra , cond. Riccardo Muti, dir. Pierre Audi, set and costume designers Miuccia Prada, Herzog & de Meuron, lighting designer Jean Kalman, Metropolitan Opera, New York, 23.2.2010 (BJ) Under the baton of Riccardo Muti, making his long-overdue debut at the house to [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: José M Irurzun Soloists, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. Coro Intermezzo.Conductor: Víctor Pablo Pérez. Teatro Real de Madrid. 18/19.2.2010 (JMI) Among the ten operas by Umberto Giordano, Andrea Chenier is number one in the popularity stakes but it’s one of those curious things that while Chenier always had the appreciation [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: Bernard Jacobson Seattle Opera, soloists, cond. Yves Abel, dir. José Maria Condemi, set designer Allen Moyer, costume designer John Conklin, lighting designer Thomas Hase, Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, Seattle, 16 and 24.1.2010 (BJ) Music trumped drama in Seattle Opera’s new Trovatore, partly because vocal and orchestral values were so [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: José M Irurzun On my way to Valencia I was wondering how I would handle the transition from the Barcelona Tristan to Lucia in just three days. The jump from one opera to the other is not an easy one, unless you see in the Donizetti two protagonists as [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: José M Irurzun After the brilliant performance of Ariodante last December, Oviedo finished its opera season with a greyish kind of tone from a Simon Boccanegra that left much to be desired. Coming from the Santa Fe Festival with stage direction by Stefano Vizioli, discovering what the interest in [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: James L. Zychowicz; Picture © Dan Rest Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its 2009-2010 season with a masterful staging of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore or The Elixir of Love, as it is billed. The revival of this venerable production is enhanced by an excellent cast, led by Lyric’s Ryan [...]

From Seen and Heard International By: José M Irurzun; photo © E. Moreno Esquibel. Soloists, Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa. Coro de Ópera de Bilbao. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder, Palacio Euskalduna de Bilbao. 16.1.2010 (JMI) Ernani is one of the best Verdi operas from the so-called ‘years in the galleys’ so far as I am concerned, although [...]