Living at the Opera

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 a [...]

From Seen and Heard International
By:James L. Zychowicz
Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sir Andrew Davis (conductor) Civic Opera House, Chicago, 20.2.2010 (JLZ).
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s new production of Hector Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust marks the first performance of this work in the company’s repertoire. This work, which its composer called a [...]

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 of opera-goers, musicologists [...]

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 strong, but partly [...]

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 this [...]

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 Opera Center [...]

From Seen and Heard International
By: José M Irurzun; Picture © Javier del Real
Soloists, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid. Coro Intermezzo. Conductor: Jesús López Cobos. Teatro Real de Madrid. 19 and 20.1.2010 (JMI)
The new year starts in Madrid with these performances of Wagner’s Dutchman, a work that
has not been performed at the Teatro Real since the [...]

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 it is a [...]

From Seen and Heard International
By: José M Irurzun; Picture © Antoni Bofill
Soloists, Orquestra Simfònica y Coro del Gran Teatre del Liceu.Conductor: Marco Armiliato. Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona. 13.14 & 15. 12. 2009 (JMI)

Verdi’s Trovatore had not been performed at Barcelona’s Liceu since the1992–93 season, which is extremely strange, taking into account the enormous [...]