Opera Music

The legendary French composer has passed away at 97 years old. For OC, the Dutilleux sun shone strong in 2009...

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has just released a ‘heavy metal’ music video video entitled ‘Dumbass’ which is a kind of therapy session with explicit lyrics regarding his 81 day detainment in China during 2011. COMMANDOpera reviewed the video and notes it is highly allegorical in nature which makes the work all the more curious [...]

Chopard brand ambassador Anna Netrebko skipped town between Donna Anna replications at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden to tread the red carpet on...

While Friday night at the ROH had been dedicated to men in skirts; on Saturday we switched to men in tights. I didn’t intend to see Nicholas Hytner’s somber period Don Carlo twice within only a few months, but I happened to be in London and I’m very glad I did. When I saw this same production at the Met in March, it was most notable for not being laughable; this London version was genuine high drama. Verdi, Don Carlo. Royal Opera House Covent Garden, 5/18/2013. Production by Nicholas Hytner (revival), conducted by Antonio Pappano with Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlo), Lianna Haroutounian (Elisabetta), Mariusz Kwiecien (Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Philip II), Beatrice Uria-Monzon (Eboli, Eric Halfvorson (Grand Inquisitor). It didn’t seem like the same production as the Met's, to be honest. Visually, it’s not the most stunning. The images are stark but not particularly memorable and some of the sets look kind of bargain basement. Here, the excellent characterization more than made up for that. The smaller ROH stage concentrated the action, the chorus somehow shrunk into the background and the whole thing ended up like a family affair. While this is an opera with an extremely sophisticated sense of relationships, its political specificity only occasionally extends beyond the level of the “take these dangerous letters.” When you have a cast and production this attuned to interpersonal dynamics the contraction of everything into the domestic is perhaps unsurprising. The least convincing part of the production, in this performance, was the noisy and violent staging of the auto-da-fe, whose brutality is appropriate enough but, stuck into this heightened atmosphere, seemed strangely at odds with everything else. When politics elsewhere seems like a pastime for the displaced libido, watching Inquisition thugs beat up some random heretics for ten minutes is something of a non sequitur (particularly when the rest of the scene returns to focus on the personal relationships of the protagonists). At the beginning of the opera, Elisabetta and Carlo are convincingly lovey teenagers, but only an act later they have aged into very lonely adults (in Elisabetta’s case resignedly, in Carlo’s case desperately). At the end of each scene, the curtain keeps descending behind Carlo, leaving him facing the audience alone, but everyone else in this opera is pretty isolated too—something that never seemed as dominate a theme in the opera’s New York incarnation. To quickly skip to the end, I still don’t like this production’s elimination of the surprise ending in which Elisabetta and Carlo are sucked into Grandpa Carlo’s tomb. Carlo is too wimpy and unhinged to deserve the semi-heroic/tragic death this production gives him (attempting to fight off around ten soldiers and failing), while the original finale is a spooky twist befitting the drama’s grand strangeness. The single greatest improvement of this performance over New York’s was Antonio Pappano on the podium. It’s a real shame he never conducts at the Met. No one has a better sense of color and pace in Verdi than he, and this was a grave, exciting, and polished performance. The cello solo was also great, and taken at a gloriously slow tempo. The talk of this performance was Armenian soprano Lianna Haroutounian as Elisabetta, who was plucked out of relative obscurity to replace frequent canceler Anja Harteros for most of the run. (Harteros is in these photos; I can’t find any of Haroutounian. Imagine someone with similar hair but a good foot shorter.) Haroutounian’s quite a find, with a clear, beautiful soprano of considerable power.* This was not an entirely consistent performance; some phrases were more refined and controlled than others, and her middle voice seemed thinner than her (giant) top notes until the big aria in the last act. She’s a good and likable actress, sassy at the beginning

As Opera Australia prepare their new Ring Cycle, they celebrated Wagner's 200th birthday earlier today via the traditional medium of cake. A specially-commissioned life-sized Valkyrie helmet, full of chocolatey goodness, was taken on a tour of the building before the ritual demolition.

This is SOME VOICE!!!! Kipnis sings scenes from Seraglio, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlo, Meistersinger, Parsifal (with Fritz Wolff) and then three Russian folk songs,followed by the Brahms "Vier ernste Gesange" and then Brahms' "Von ewige liebe" and finally Schubert's "Erlkonig" "Heidenroslein" and "Ungeduld." (72 minutes)

Morgan PearseAussie barihunk Morgan Pearse, who created quite an internet sensation with our last post, was just named one of five artists to be represented by the prestigious Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT) in the United Kingdom. Over 100 applicants competed in the preliminary and semi-final rounds, and only five artists were selected for representation. Pearse was the only singer selected. Set up in 1984, YCAT provides a unique stepping stone for exceptional young artists who have the potential for international performing careers. The group introduces these artists at home and abroad. The organization provides artists with a secure management base and works with event promoters in the United Kingdom and abroad in securing performance opportunities. Soprano Elizabeth Watts and the Sacconi Quartet were previous musicians selected for the honor. Pearse is the Royal College of Music’s inaugural Joan Sutherland Scholar studying with Russell Smythe. He was recently awarded top prize in the Singers Section of the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition.

That most profound and controversial of all operatic composers was born 200 years ago today. In celebration of the natal day, WKCR is broadcasting a Wagner marathon, all the operas from Rienzi to Parsifal, over the next two days. La Cieca expects the cher public will assist in the festivities by sharing favorite YouTube clips of Wagnerian brilliance.

Benjamin CoveyCanadian barihunk Benjamin Covey will be performing in a concert celebrating the life and poetry of Scottish poet Robert Burns. The first half of the concert will explore Burns' world through word and song. He'll be joined by soprano Virginia Hatfield in performing "Comin' thru the rye," "Ye Banks and Braes," "Sweet Afton," "My love is like a red, red rose" and "Auld Lang Syne."The second half of the program will feature music from the Broadway musical Brigadoon. Songs include "The Heather on the Hill," "Almost like being in Love," "Waitin' for my Dearie" and "Go Home to Bonnie Jean."The concert is on Friday, June 7th at 7:30PM at the Church of the Redeemer in Toronto, Ontario. For more information, or to purchase tickets by phone, call 416-755-7158.A Graduate of the University of Toronto and an Alumni of Calgary Opera’s Emerging Artist Development Program, Covey debuted as Morales/Dancaire in Carmen with Manitoba Opera. He graduated from San Francisco’s prestigious Merola Opera Program in 2010, where he sang Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore.

This second revival of Jonathan Miller’s La bohème was the first time I had caught the production.