Reviews
Review: Opéra de Montréal’s “ultra-conventional” approach to Rigoletto feels out of place in #MeToo era
Is there a more problematic opera for the #MeToo era than Rigoletto? As yet another wealthy, powerful, privileged man sits in Washington accused of sexual assault, Verdi’s portrayal of predatory male entitlement and unpunished crime seems more distasteful and vexing...
Review: “Thought-provoking and very funny” new play-opera I Call myself Princess tackles cultural appropriation at premiere in Toronto
Jani Lauzon’s I Call myself Princess (seen Sept. 13th) skilfully weaves together two stories. The first is the historical story of Charles Wakefield Cadman, an ‘Indianist’ composer of the early 20th century. Together with his professional partner, the Cherokee...
Review: English National Opera’s high-energy production of Paul Bunyan an “immersive theatrical event”
The trouble with Paul Bunyan is that the music is too good. If Benjamin Britten hadn’t been bursting with creativity and bristling with technical accomplishment in 1941—and had he not revised the score and passed it for publication just before his death—W.H. Auden’s...
Review: Manitoba Underground Opera wraps up another season of re-imagined classics
Manitoba Underground Opera surfaced once again on the cusp of Winnipeg's regular arts season with four new productions performed repertory style and now billed as an opera festival. This year’s lineup presented Aug. 16-24 at a variety of venues highlighted strong...
Review: Highlands Opera Studio 1940s La Bohème much more than an operatic warhorse
It was with a certain degree of ambivalence that I attended the summer 2018 production of La Bohème at Highlands Opera Studio. I was disappointed when I heard that the choruses in Acts II and III were cut, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to sitting through...
Review: Russell Braun demonstrates “astonishing expressive power” in The Bassarids at Salzburg Festival
When he began working on The Bassarids in 1963, the 37-year-old Hans Werner Henze (1926-2012) had been writing operas for more than a decade, starting with his first full-length work for the stage, Boulevard Solitude (Hanover, 1952), a jazzy version of L’Abbey...
Review: Joyce El-Khoury brings a ‘meaty dramatic approach’ to long-lost Liszt opera Sardanapalo
Can something be called ‘new’ 170 years after it was written? In the case of Franz Liszt’s unfinished opera Sardanapalo, the answer is an emphatic yes. The first act of the work was given its world premiere this past weekend in Weimar, Germany thanks to David...
Review: Santa Fe Opera returns to its Straussian roots with a new, “not to be missed” Ariadne auf Naxos
When the late John Crosby created an opera house in the middle of the New Mexican desert, just north of Santa Fe, one of the operas in its inaugural season (1957) was Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos. As much as possible, Crosby featured a Strauss opera every...
Review: Robert Lepage’s techno-heavy The Magic Flute at Festival d’Opéra de Québec
The blockbuster show at this summer’s Festival d’Opéra de Québec is Robert Lepage’s new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute (seen Aug. 2). It marks the continuation of a long, fruitful collaboration between the Québecois mega-director’s production company, Ex...
Review: Karina Gauvin’s “consistently beautiful singing” is the highlight of Glyndebourne’s Saul
Back in the days before we expected Handel’s oratorios to be staged as operas, the smart comment was always that they were essentially the same thing; because the Church decreed that operas could not be staged during Lent, Handel instead tackled biblical subjects and...
Review: BrottOpera’s production brings “artistic strength” to Mozart’s The Magic Flute
After a seven-year absence, fully staged opera returned to FirstOntario Concert Hall for one night as BrottOpera mounted Mozart’s The Magic Flute (seen July 19) in an English-language production directed by Patrick Hansen. Founded in 2014, BrottOpera’s two-week...
Review: Royal Opera House’s midsummer Falstaff is “truly a dream”
It’s no secret that Robert Carsen’s production of Falstaff (seen July 13), which premiered at London’s Royal Opera House in 2012, has become an absolute must for zealots of Verdi’s ultimate opera, not to mention for unconditional Carsen fans. After some highly...