Opera Lovers Network

07/04/2020

https://www.london-unattached.com/la-boheme-royal-opera-house-review/

05/17/2020

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/21/arts/concert-sutherland-horne-pavarotti.html

AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyCONCERT: SUTHERLAND, HORNE, PAVAROTTIBy Peter G. DavisMarch 21, 1981Credit...The New York Times ArchivesSee the article in its original context from March 21, 1981, Section 1, Page 11Buy ReprintsView on timesmachi...

05/09/2020

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/may/19/the-royal-operas-la-traviata-celebrates-150-performances-watch-two-clips-from-a-classic-cast

To mark the 150th performance of Richard Eyre’s Royal Opera production on 18 May, here are two clips from a classic 2009 production, with Antonio Pappano conducting and Renée Fleming, Joseph Calleja and Thomas Hampson in the title roles

02/11/2020

Mirella Freni, an exemplary Italian prima donna for nearly 50 years, whose voice was ideally suited to lighter lyric roles but maintained its bloom even as she took on weightier, more dramatic repertory in midcareer, died on Sunday at her home in Modena, in north-central Italy. She was 84.

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Ms. Freni was acclaimed for her exquisite singing in lighter lyric roles. In midcareer she also dared to explore weightier ones.

12/29/2019

Robert Carsen’s 2017 production of Der Rosenkavalier updates the opera from its mid 18th-century setting to 1911, the eve of the devastating First World War.

Over the top sets with large rooms and colorful furniture, the Marschallin’s enormous bed, cannons in Faninal’s house and an overpopulated bo****lo are meant to signal the decadence and impending doom of Viennese society.

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The Met revives Robert Carsen's updated production of Der Rosenkavalier with a strong cast led by Camilla Nylund. Sir Simon Rattle led the Met Orchestra in an inspired and detailed reading of the score.

12/29/2019

George Balanchine left his choreographic mark on 20th-century dance like no other artist of his ilk. His routines are celebrated and revived season after season, and his creative baby, the New York City Ballet, is still at the forefront of balletic dance in the United States.

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Hollywood Soapbox reviews George Balanchine's The Nutcracker at the New York City Ballet. The beloved holiday tradition continues through Jan. 5.

11/27/2019

Met Opera Chief Peter Gelb Renews His Contract Through 2027

Peter Gelb has not enjoyed a particularly smooth tenure as the general manager at New York's Metropolitan Opera. But the company's board expressed its faith in him on Monday by extending his contract through 2027.

The agreement — which arrived a full two and a half years before Gelb's current contract expires — signals the board's strong commitment to Gelb, who earned some $2.17 million in combined pay and benefits during the company's last reported financial year.

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Despite some very public bumps in his tenure, the head of the largest performing arts organization in the U.S. received a five-year extension to his contract.

11/25/2019

Ever since his coronation opera Gloriana bombed at its 1953 premiere, Benjamin Britten has never quite owned the stage of his country’s figurehead opera house in the wholehearted way one might expect. Perhaps, though, that is changing, after Deborah Warner’s Billy Budd earlier this year comes this equally big-scale Death in Venice, staged here for the first time in 25 years.

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Mark Padmore’s impressive central performance powers David McVicar’s luxurious if earthbound revival of Britten’s final opera

11/23/2019

Laurent Pelly’s 2012 production of Massenet’s Manon updates the story from the early 18th century to a 19th-century Belle Époque setting.
The heroine’s journey from a naive but high spirited country girl to an avaricious courtesan in Paris, and finally to a broken prisoner is a sobering reminder of the cruelty suffered by women in a male-dominated society.

The production highlights the watchful and lecherous eyes of men in formal clothing as they silently gaze upon an exposed and flimsy shelter of Manon and her lover Le Chevalier des Grieux in Paris.

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Laurent Pelly’s darkly stylish production of Manon is revived with a strong cast of singers. In the title role, Lisette Oropesa demonstrated elegant and incisive singing, while Michael Fabiano was her virile and powerful partner.

11/19/2019

The Lyric’s Don Giovanni Turns the Table on Opera’s Most Infamous S*x Abuser

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It may seem odd that Don Giovanni, the opera premiered by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1787, has taken on new social relevance more than 230 years later. But the recently increased awareness …

11/13/2019

Akhnaten review – musical prowess and, at times, astonishing theatre
4 / 5 stars 4 out of 5 stars.

Coliseum, London
The ENO chorus and a troupe of jugglers shine in Philip Glass’s evocative opera about an empire-building pharaoh

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The ENO chorus and a troupe of jugglers shine in Philip Glass’s evocative opera about an empire-building pharaoh

11/09/2019

The Sleeping Beauty review, Royal Opera House: Revival of this very human ballet has a new energy

This 19th-century classic, with its Tchaikovsky score and choreography by Marius Petipa, has become a signature work.

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This 19th-century classic, with its Tchaikovsky score and choreography by Marius Petipa, has become a signature work