News
Cerise Jacobs is Full of Revelations in Her New Opera, REV. 23
PREVIEW: of the world premiere production of the Cerise Jacobs/Julian Wachner opera REV. 23, at Boston’s John Hancock Hall, on September 29 at 7:30 p.m.; September 30 at 7:30 p.m.; and October 1 at 3 p.m. Boston-based librettist and myth-maker Cerise Jacobs has an...
The Judas Passion: Sally Beamish and David Harsent offer new perspectives
Librettist David Harsent notes that there is no doubt that Judas’s betrayal led to Christ’s death, but begs us to ask, what did Judas believe was his ‘purpose’? After all, if he had not ‘fulfilled’ this role, chosen or predetermined, mankind would not have been saved....
A night at the opera with Armando Iannucci: the agony, the ecstasy – the giant rotating antlers
The V&A is about to launch its giant show Opera: Passion, Power and Politics. In this exclusive extract from his new book Hear Me Out, Armando Iannucci revels in the artform’s weird rituals, from Wagnerians in cowboy hats to the sublime music soaring out over your...
Vancouver Opera sings a different tune
Vancouver Opera presents dramatic works onstage, but there has been some drama offstage as the company shifts from a traditional season to festival model – and back again, sort of. Two years ago, as it struggled with the same issue many opera companies deal with –...
SMCQ 2017-2018 Season – Long live today’s music!
Montréal, Septembre 20, 2017 – Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) begins its Homage Series with six concerts plus three “special” events focusing on José Evangelista, a composer on a remarkable path. Evangelista has marked the recent evolution of music...
She Falls from a Tower Shaped Like a Dagger
A splendid new co-production of Puccini’s Tosca by Opéra de Montréal and the Cincinatti Opera broods on the terrible power of art, eros, and the state. "Compassion is the yin to power’s yang. Compassion cannot enact the relative freedom and justice of the “good” state...
Letters: Sir Peter Hall obituary
Meirion Bowen writes: Peter Hall played a key role in rescuing the reputation as an opera composer of Sir Michael Tippett, dismissed and mocked in the 1950s as bafflingly over-complex and bizarrely eccentric. Hall’s direction of The Knot Garden in 1970 benefited above...
Mark Padmore on festivals, lieder and musical conversations
Regional music and arts festivals continue to proliferate, so I ask Padmore what it is that makes the four-day festival at Tetbury distinctive, and rewarding for a performer. He explains that he welcomes the opportunity to perform in a beautiful venue, the Georgian...
In order to stay relevant, opera in Australia needs to tackle its demons
Unveiling her final program for Opera Queensland, Lindy Hume reflects on the transformative power of the art form – and the problems that plague it. When I hand the Opera Queensland reins to Patrick Nolan in November, it will mark my last outing as an artistic...
Opéra de Montréal’s Tosca Emphasizes Realism and the Score
The Opéra of Montréal will open its 2017-18 season with an all-time classic: Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, a drama in three acts revolving around a love triangle. A painter (Mario Cavaradossi) and a singing diva (Tosca) are in love, but Scarpia, the chief of Roma’s Police...
Kiri Te Kanawa quits public performance after five-decade career
Soprano who retired from operatic roles in 2009 says her voice ‘is in the past’ and reveals final concert was a year ago Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has announced her retirement from public performance after a career that has spanned almost five decades. The world-renowned...
The silence of the lamb: giving Mansfield Park’s Fanny Price a voice
The meek heroine of Jane Austen’s third novel reveals little of herself. It was in those absences that Jonathan Dove found inspiration for his chamber opera When I first read Mansfield Park, I heard music. That doesn’t always happen when I read, and it certainly...