Category: Italian opera

Opera on the Upgrade at the U of A »

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 [...]

Orfeo’s Beautiful Singing a Standout at La Scala’s Telecast »

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 [...]

Verdi, Falstaff »

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 [...]

Verdi, Attila »

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 [...]

Giordano, Andrea Chenier »

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 [...]

Verdi, Il trovatore »

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 [...]

Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor »

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 [...]

Verdi, Simon Boccanegra »

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 [...]

Donizetti – L’elisir d’amore at Lyric Opera of Chicago »

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 [...]

Verdi, Ernani »

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 [...]

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  • Living at the Opera welcomes your participation. Contributions are welcome on live performances, live recordings and first-hand experiences within the opera world. Please review content for clarity and spelling and include your copyright. Only articles submitted by Nick del Vecchio are copyrighted for Living at the Opera. Thank you.

    The articles on Rigoletto, L'Elisir d'amore, Khovanshchina, Macbeth, Boris Godunov, La Forza del destino and Wagner's Ring Cycle were first published in Transactions of the Association of Russian-American Scholars in the USA, Vol 33, 2004.

    The articles Primitive Russia Stakes Its Claim on Wagner's Ring, The Mariinsky Invasion and The Mariinsky's Boris Godunov Hits Its Mark were published in Transactions of the Association of Russian-American Scholars in the USA, Vol 34, 2006-2007.

    Living at the Opera is located in Tucson, Arizona.