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Tancredi (Stephanie Blythe) and his family have been stripped of their estates and inheritances and banished from their homeland. Photo: Kelly & Massa for Opera Philadelphia

Mezzo-Soprano Stephanie Blythe Mans Up! – for Rossini’s Seminal Tancredi at Opera Philadelphia

By Charles Geyer on 14 February 2017 Concert Reviews, Opera, Romantic

REVIEW: Opera Philadelphia’s new production of Rossini’s early masterpiece, Tancredi; INTERVIEWS: with the production’s stars – mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, soprano Brenda Rae. “What a wonderful thing – to be able to go to the theater and see something like this, and have it be totally new!” says mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe of Tancredi, the early – and all too rarely revived – 1813 “heroic opera” by Gioachino Rossini, which Blythe currently headlines at Opera Philadelphia. “This piece is new!” Certainly, the crisp, glorious sound; the luxe look; and the energized performances of this exquisite new production all speak freshness and vitality.…

Death of the Swede’s tenor Nicolai Gedda

By Olivier Gentil on 10 February 2017 Baroque and Early, Canadian Music, Classical, Contemporary, Daily News Roundup, Opera, Orchestral, Piano, Popular Music, Quebec Music, Strings, Violin

CANADA OSM Pop Serie : Half Moon Run, Bruno Pelletier and Véronique DiCaire will perform with the OSM. [More infos – Radio-Canada] City of Gatineau finance the construction of artists’ co-op. [More infos – LaPresse] Three concerts in Granby for the Valentine’s Day. [More infos – LaPresse] « L’Amossois Charles Trudel, claviériste du Ben Racine Band [remporte le 1er prix] à Memphis lors de l’International Blues Challenge. » [More infos Radio-Canada] « The 2017 [Hindemith] prize, worth 20,000 Euros, goes to the Montreal-born composer Samy Moussa. Based in Paris and Berlin, Moussa, 32, was among the last proteges of Pierre Boulez.» [More infos Slippedisc]…

Austin Opera Beats the Band with Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment”

By Paul E. Robinson on 4 February 2017 Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Opera

DONIZETTI: The Daughter of the Regiment. Rachele Gilmore (Marie). René Barbera (Tonio). Cindy Sadler (Marquise de Berkenfield). Stefano de Peppo (Sulpice). Austin Opera Chorus and Orchestra/Richard Buckley. Directed by Rebecca Herman. Production provided by Ft. Worth Opera. Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, Texas, January 28, 2017 How does one man manage to write 75 operas in a life span of only 51 years? Gaetano Donizetti, had he lived as long as Verdi – 88 years – could easily have composed over 100. Amazing! Even more amazing is the quality of what he wrote. Lucia di Lammermoor is generally…

Stradivarius à l’Opéra (Spectra)

By Ian Cochrane on 1 February 2017 CD and Book Reviews, Opera, Orchestral, Violin

Stradivarius à l’Opéra Alexandre Da Costa, violin, Vienna Symphony Orchestra Spectra 2016. SPECD7859. 60 min 10 s. This luscious CD of operatic masterpieces transcribed for solo violin shows Alexandre Da Costa at his best. Selections include the Habenera from Bizet’s Carmen, Méditation from Massenet’s Thaïs, Valse from Strauss’s Cavelleria Rusticana, and Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot. From the legendary Richard Wagner, Romance from Tannhauser, Liebeslied from Die Walküre and Preislied from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg are also included. The world-class Vienna Symphony prove to be ideal collaborators. Their full-bodied timbre is a dulcet match for Da Costa’s resonant style. Rather…

Julien Bilodeau: Talking About Another Brick in the Wall

By Caroline Rodgers on 1 February 2017 Contemporary, Interviews, Opera, Quebec Music

Opéra de Montréal’s production of Another Brick in the Wall, inspired by Pink Floyd’s cult album, must be one of the most eagerly anticipated arts event of the year. Composer Julien Bilodeau was given the enormous task of turning the work by Roger Waters into an opera. He spoke to us about the process. After graduating from the Montreal’s Conservatoire de musique, Bilodeau completed further studies in Paris and Frankfurt, and in 2006 received the Robert Flemming prize from the Canada Council for the Arts for most promising composer. Since then he has composed works commissioned by the Montreal Symphony…

Eric Owens as Jaufré Rudel in Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin. Photo by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Best of mySCENA: Amin Maalouf on his collaboration with Kaija Saariaho

By Charles Geyer on 1 February 2017 Contemporary, Interviews, Literature, Opera

The opera L’Amour de loin – or Love from Afar – premiered to conspicuous plaudits in Salzburg in 2000, and has enjoyed numerous productions around the globe. It also signaled the beginning of a remarkably fertile, ongoing collaboration between composer Kaija Saariaho and then first-time librettist Amin Maalouf. Maalouf has since partnered with Saariaho on three more musico-dramatic works, all of them sharing certain distinctive features: strong female characters, epitomizing a generative, rancorless strain of feminism; an elusive, gossamer air of mysticism; a usually gentle, ultimately affirmative perception of the workings of providence; and a subtle yet dogged curiosity about the paradox of simultaneous…

Alexandre Da Costa Takes on Opera

By Ian Cochrane on 1 February 2017 Interviews, Opera, Orchestral, Violin

Canadian violin virtuoso Alexandre Da Costa is on a mission – to bring classical music to the public. His latest project Stradivarius à l’Opéra consists of twelve gems from the operatic repertoire, reworked for solo violin and orchestra. He selected the works that he felt suited his large, lush tone, found the arrangements and then made a recording, now out on CD. Da Costa said that the project has two principal objectives: to appeal to opera lovers with a different approach to classics, and to reach out to those not familiar with the beauty of opera by providing an easily…

Marianne Fiset, Photo: Yves Renaud

OdeM’s Dialogues des carmélites both Timely, Timeless

By Kiersten van Vliet on 30 January 2017 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

Stage Director Serge Denoncourt returns to the Opéra de Montréal for the first time in almost two decades, lending a measured dramaturgic eye to Poulenc’s indispensable chef-d’oeuvre. Their second production in as many to include an all-Canadian cast and artistic direction, with Dialogues Opéra de Montréal once again confirms the richness of the Canadian operatic scene. In advance of Opéra de Montréal’s new production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des carmélites, The Globe and Mail published a profile of the production entitled “Timely lessons about faith and intolerance” that compares the plot of Dialogues, which is based on the 1794 Martyrs of Compiègne…

Armin Kolarczyk (Wagnerdämon), Photo: Falk von Traubenberg

In Wahnfried, It Ain’t Over ‘til Wagner’s Son-in-Law Sings!

By Charles Geyer on 25 January 2017 Contemporary, Interviews, Opera, Romantic

PROFILE AND INTERVIEW: An advance discussion with Avner Dorman about his new opera: Wahnfried “When I started working on this project,” recalls Avner Dorman, “there were people who said it could be controversial.” Those people were probably right, but it doesn’t faze Dorman in the least. “From my point of view,” the celebrated American-Israeli composer replies, “I think that’s a good thing for an opera.” Dorman, best known to date for his “intricate craftsmanship and rigorous technique” in a dazzling array of orchestral, chamber, dance and vocal works, is about to have his first opera, Wahnfried, premiered at the Badisches…

anatomy theater, Photo: James Daniel

They Sing the Body Dissected: anatomy theater

By Charles Geyer on 10 January 2017 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Interviews, Opera

OPERA REVIEW: anatomy theater, a new opera by David Lang and Mark Dion, part of the 2017 Prototype Festival, New York City (New York premiere, viewed January 7, 2017). INTERVIEW: Composer David Lang. She’s been hanged for murder – but men still can’t keep their hands off her. Signs posted at the entrance to Brooklyn’s BRIC Arts | Media House for performances of anatomy theater warn of “simulated hanging” and “nudity” featured in the show. And, yep, both appraisals prove quite true (with nothing “simulated” about the latter, by the way). But no tipoff can adequately prepare one for the…

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