Reviews
Canadian Opera Company Tosca “a reading that loudly accented some of the big moments and played up the vivid colouring of Puccini’s rich orchestration”
The late American musicologist Joseph Kerman famously dubbed Puccini’s Tosca “that shabby little shocker,” though his pithy characterization is actually the opening salvo of a critical assault on the composer’s final opera, Turandot. Kerman had already had his way...
Houston Grand Opera Salome Maestro Keri-Lynn Wilson “balanced crisp rhythms and powerhouse sonority with delicacy and lilt”
There is a lot of talk in Richard Strauss’s Salome that something bad may happen. Several unfortunate things happened concerning Houston Grand Opera’s sixth staging of the opera, seen April 30 in Wortham Theater Center’s Brown Theater. But multiple delays and...
Canadian Opera Company Macbeth “COC Chorus and Orchestra are in top form for this musically exciting work”
Verdi’s Macbeth, which opened the Canadian Opera Company’s spring season April 28, is a challenging piece. It premiered in Florence in 1847 but was then revised for Paris in 1865 with significant cuts and additions. It’s mainly the later version we see today, which...
Manitoba Opera Così fan tutte capping its 50th Anniversary Season with Laughter and Wit
Manitoba Opera (MO) capped its 50th anniversary season with laughter and wit this spring; its latest production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte cheekily billed as a “Canuck Cosi” more Canadian than a bottle of maple syrup or hockey Saturday night. Three performances held...
The Metropolitan Opera Champion “There wasn’t a weak performance onstage”
There’s a fistful of good reasons for seeing Champion. There’s the story, a real and strong one: the life of the sexually conflicted prizefighter Emile Griffith, haunted by his accidental killing of another boxer in the ring. There’s James Robinson’s direction, clear...
The Metropolitan Opera La bohème Nézet-Séguin “was greeted with the evening’s heartiest cheers”
In his not-quite-fourteen years at The Metropolitan Opera, that compact bundle of music-directorial energy known as Yannick Nézet-Séguin has taken his measured time with Puccini: a decade passed before his first Turandot, in October 2019, and another two years elapsed...
Amici Chamber Ensemble From Strauss to the Orient “Joyce El-Khoury’s soaring soprano was even more impressive than usual”
The 2022-23 season of the Amici Chamber Ensemble drew to a glorious close with From Strauss to the Orient, a strikingly beautiful concert of works by Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, and a group of Lebanese songs (likely unfamiliar to most in the audience). For the...
Edmonton Opera Stabat Mater “musically powerful”
Edmonton Opera wrapped its 59th season with four intimate performances of an apt sacred work on the cusp of the Christian Holy Week. Artistic director Joel Ivany programmed Pergolesi’s 1736 treatment of the 13th-century hymn Stabat Mater to cap off his first full...
Pacific Opera Victoria Così fan tutte “this cast was a joy to listen to”
With Pacific Opera Victoria’s latest mounting of Mozart’s Così fan tutti (seen April 12), the company continues its long run of gathering excellent individual voices and melding them into glorious ensembles. Vocally, this Così was superb and made a great case for...
New Music Edmonton Le Désert Mauve Quebec Multidisciplinary Artist Symon Henry’s New Experimental Opera
New Music Edmonton (NME), founded in 1985, under a different name, by the Canadian composer Violet Archer, promotes contemporary composition in the broadest sense, and its mandate includes introducing Edmonton audiences to artists beyond the city’s local preserve. On...
Against the Grain Theatre Bluebeard’s Castle “A truly arresting take on the Bluebeard story”
Hungarian composer Béla Bartók wrote only one opera, Bluebeard’s Castle (A kékszakállú herceg vára). Since its premiere in 1918, it has become a 20th Century classic and a staple of the standard repertoire, one that’s regularly staged by opera companies around the...
Tapestry Opera / Obsidian Theatre Of the Sea “a very considerable achievement”
Of the Sea; libretto by Kanika Ambrose, music by Ian Cusson, premiered at the Bluma Appel Theatre on Saturday evening. It’s a co-production of Tapestry Opera and Obsidian Theatre and it has its origins in Tapestry’s 2018 LibLab which led to a co-commission from the...