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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…

Lebrecht Weekly – Pietro Mascagni: Guglielmo Ratcliff (RTE Lyric)

By Norman Lebrecht on 6 January 2017 Lebrecht Weekly, Opera, Romantic

Whenever I watch any opera by Mascagni and Leoncavallo other than ‘Cav’ and ‘Pag’ I have no trouble understanding why the two composers went down in history as one-hit wonders. True, there are those who make claims for Leoncavallo’s La Boheme (Mahler deemed it vastly inferior to Puccini’s) and others are thrilled by Mascagni’s sex-slave Iris, but neither work has struck me as more than a barrel-scraping of the short-lived 1890s verismo craze, deservedly occupying the fringes of musical memory. All the more reason, then, to eat a few of my words on this first encounter with Guglielmo Ratcliff, a…

Maalouf © JF PAGA Grasset

Amin Maalouf: Up-Close with the Man from “Afar”

By Charles Geyer on 31 December 2016 Contemporary, Interviews, Opera

INTERVIEW: with Amin Maalouf (Kaija Saariaho’s librettist-collaborator on L’Amour de loin and other works) 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…

Photo: Robert Altman

Brooklyn, Beer, Bleachers…and Macbeth!

By Charles Geyer on 21 December 2016 Opera, Romantic

REVIEW AND COMPANY PROFILE: LoftOpera’s unique, found-site production of Verdi’s Macbeth (viewed December 14, 2016) The production has run its course, the drums are silent. But a rising subterranean tattoo of enthusiasm for the vibrant LoftOpera brand of alt-opera experience goes on, and it’s well worth logging a memoir of the company’s most recent happening. A Drum, a Drum! Macbeth Doth Come! Fate has calendared a rendezvous for you in the wilds of Brooklyn. You trek through hell and high water – not to mention some of the borough’s more recherché endroits – to get there. Witches gambol and do…

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

So Far! So Good! L’Amour de loin Comes to the Met

By Charles Geyer on 9 December 2016 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

OPERA REVIEW: L’Amour de loin by Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf – Metropolitan Opera debut (December 1, 2016) Meditative, poised, sly, and slow-burn, L’Amour de loin oh so gradually grows to dramatic ripeness. Its music glimmers, undulates, bewitches – as fluid in its variety and moods as the play of sun and moonlight on the Mediterranean. But the opera hangs full fire until, ultimately, it knocks you back with its hidden emotional and existential wallop. This elegant and profound French-language work by Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, with libretto by Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf, has been accruing international kudos through more…

Sheku Kanneh-Masson et violoncelle Amati de 1610

Daily News Roundup: 8 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 8 December 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Orchestral, Popular Music, Strings, Violin

Greg Lake, bassist, guitarist and singer of British progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer lost his fight to cancer yesterday at the age of 69. The keyboardist Keith Emerson took his own life in March 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89g1P_J40JA Sheku Kanneh-Mason was presented with the 1610 Amati cello he played at BBC Young Musician of the Year. The instrument is a permanent loan from Florian Leonhard workshop in London. Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky announced today he was withdrawing from all coming opera engagements. The 54-year-old singer who was diagnosed with brain tumor in 2015 will continue giving concerts and recitals,…

Anthony Bramall - Photo: Andreas Pohlmann

Daily News Roundup: 7 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 7 December 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Scena Jazz, Violin

Jazz pianist Joey Alexander is nominated for a Grammy in the jazz solo category. The 13-year-old Indonesian was nominated last year in two jazz categories but left empty-handed. Find out who the other nominees are here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1liUart72g Anthony Bramall has been named principal chief conductor of Munich’s State Theater on Gärtnerplatz. The British conductor, 59, will start in summer 2017. The Northern Ireland Opera has appointed Walter Sutcliffe as its new artistic director. The 30-year-old British will be starting in February 2017. Violinist and concertmaster Jerrold Rubenstein passed away yesterday in Brussels. The New Yorker taught at the Antwerp…

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