June 2023

Proximity at Lyric Opera of Chicago

"Lyric Opera enjoyed a spectacular success on March 24 with the world premiere of Proximity. The trio of new operas makes for an extraordinary evening of theater, but it will not please traditionalists: the operas are amplified and the politics of the three pieces are presented boldly. For others the work will stand as a revelatory example of what can be gained musically and dramatically by pushing the operatic envelope."

A Thousand Splendid Suns at Seattle Opera

"Seattle Opera’s first world premiere since 2015, A Thousand Splendid Suns owed more of its emotional impact to Khaled Hosseini’s harrowing story than to Sheila Silver’s score, which was evocative and attractive without being particularly memorable or beautiful. Viswa Subbaraman eloquently conducted a polished orchestra, but the vocal writing seemed less assured. Several times the line took voices that had been perfectly audible down to the orchestra’s pitch level, where they vanished."

Der Rosenkavalier at The Metropolitan Opera

"Robert Carsen’s elegantly racy production of Strauss's opera returned to the Met, featuring a magnificent role debut by Lise Davidsen as the Marschallin. Davidsen’s voluptuous, kaleidoscopic soprano was equal parts thrilling and heart-rending, especially in the Marschallin’s great Act I monologue."

Xerxes at Detroit Opera

"Detroit Opera’s presentation of Tazewell Thompson’s Glimmerglass production boasted a brilliant cast, each extraordinary, each making a company debut. Revival director James Blaszko wove their unique gifts into an exceptional whole."

The Song Poet at Minnesota Opera

"Based on Kao Kalia Yang’s much acclaimed 2017 memoir of a Hmong family’s desperate escape from the war-torn mountains of Laos into a Thai refugee camp and their challenging life as refugees in the U.S., The Song Poet featured a score that offers resonance and emotional weight—but Yang's libretto rounds off so many of the book’s sharp edges that memoir and libretto are almost two different stories."

War and Peace at the Bavarian State Opera

"With Russia presently waging war in Ukraine, a production of Prokofiev’s opera that centers on Russian brutality has clear contemporary relevance. Dmitri Tcherniakov once again shows his talent for the significant small gesture—a telling look or a sympathetic touch that gives the audience insight into a character’s emotions."

Hamlet at Opéra National de Paris

"Singing the title role in the Paris Opéra's new production of Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet, Ludovic Tézier gave a career-crowning performance, singing with burnished baritone power and delivering a masterfully nuanced reading of the text. Director Krzysztof Warlikowski’s staging seemed to unleash a newfound dramatic presence in the baritone.

Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Le Rossignol at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

"The evening was a triumph for the entire cast, whose double roles in the two operas were skillfully defined. Above all, this was a showcase for soprano Sabine Devieilhe, as both Le Rossignol and Thérèse/Tirésias. The soaring lines of Stravinsky’s Nightingale could have been written for the soprano, with her diaphanous upper register and sweet-toned precision. More surprising was her performance as Thérèse/Tirésias, in which she showed a remarkable gift for comedy and stylish sensuality."

Nixon in China at Opéra National de Paris

"Renée Fleming made a triumphant return to the Paris Opéra with a winning performance as a slipper-wearing, homespun Pat Nixon in the company premiere of John Adams's opera. The beauty of Fleming’s plangent, unchanging timbre was ideally suited to the character’s more reflective and naïve moments, and Gustavo Dudamel drew a fine performance from an orchestra not familiar with this repertoire."

Overstory Overture at Alice Tully Hall

"Tod Machover's new piece—a thirty-five-minute monodrama for vocal soloist, string orchestra, marimba and electronics—presented a prevailing texture that was defined by its buzzing, clashing aural elements; but an elusive kind of order seemed to be struggling to break through. The first part of the program had included with Anton Webern’s early Langsamer Satz; whether through design or happenstance, parts of Overstory Overture echoed that work’s late-Romantic language, hinting at both a safe harbor and possible further dissolution."

Rhiannon Giddens & Silkroad Ensemble at Zankel Hall

"Six virtuoso performers joined her for the program, titled Indigenous Connections, contributing compositions that tapped into ancestries as diverse as Celtic, Armenian, Ghanian and Chinese. If there was a unifying concept, it was the American Railroad and the multinational laborers called upon to lay the transcontinental track in the mid-nineteenth century."

Il Trovatore at Pittsburgh Opera

"Pittsburgh Opera has not presented Il Trovatore since 1999, but to judge by Daniel Rigazzi’s new production for the company, not much has changed in the interim. In an era when U.S. opera companies, including Pittsburgh Opera, are creating new paths forward, the company’s artistic team opted for a resolutely traditional production of Verdi’s opera that put the emphasis on the score, which is Trovatore’s chief virtue."

Die Tote Stadt at English National Opera

"As with other successful revivals of Korngold's opera, ENO's production, by Annilese Miskimmon, served to confirm the individuality and sheer quality of Korngold’s ultra-opulent late-Romantic piece, superbly realised by an enlarged ENO Orchestra, here spilling out into the boxes on either side of the pit. The staging relished the possibilities of a scenario blending the real and the imaginary in a dream- (or nightmare-) like phantasmagoria, and Miskimmon, her team and her cast came close to realizing the definite strengths of a piece which is genuinely worthwhile—although undoubtedly strange."

The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing at Chicago Opera Theater

"Featuring Justine F. Chen's fascinating score, with glorious choral writing, and an excellent libretto by David Simpatico that compellingly depicts Alan Turing’s yearning for connection and unwavering passion for truth, the opera conveys its protagonist's story with a timely, searing relevance."

Bluebeard’s Castle/1915 Four Songs at Boston Lyric Opera

"For the March 22 premiere of Boston Lyric Opera’s blending of Béla Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Alma Mahler’s 1915 Four Songs, the city’s operagoers gathered at the Terminal @ Flynn Cruiseport, a pier on the very farthest edge of the Seaport district, for Anne Bogart's immersive production. While the staging proved heavy-handedly modern, the principal attractions were the two main performers—bass-baritone Ryan McKinny as Bluebeard and mezzo-soprano Naomi Louisa O’Connell as Judith."

“O How Good” presented by MasterVoices

"MasterVoices, in its March 23 concert of Jewish liturgical music, made an unconvincing argument for Ernest Bloch’s 1933 Sacred Service. The one note of true distinction came from the work’s vocal soloist, Justin Austin."

Lawrence Brownlee & Keith J. Miller at Zankel Hall

"Tenor Lawrence Brownlee's recital program 'Rising' is a compilation of songs focusing on the great poets of the Harlem Renaissance and featuring music by Robert Owens, Margaret Bonds and five vital, fiercely creative, young African American composers who contributed new songs. The program all but demanded that more people sing this repertoire."

Solomon at Carnegie Hall

"The English Concert, in its presentation of Solomon, offered a reminder of the 'English' in its name. The Arcadia depicted in so much of Handel’s oratorio has little to do with the Middle East, and much to do with the Sceptered Isle 3,000 miles away. Under its artistic director Harry Bicket, the Concert’s poised, impeccably executed performance, was a portrait of imperial probity."

Die Tote Stadt at Opera Colorado

"Opera Colorado's production of Korngold's opera offered an unexpected twist—one never dreamed by Paul, Korngold or director Chas Rader-Shieber. Paul's imagined, reincarnated Marie was performed by two women due to the sudden illness of the original soprano, Sara Gartland. Thanks Gartland's stunning stage presence and the committed singing of Kara Shay Thomson, things worked out better than expected."

Arabella at Deutsche Oper Berlin

"With Strauss's opera, director Tobias Kratzer took care not to work against the music, but his intellectual and dramaturgical framework was less compelling than his previous outing at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a production of Der Zwerg. In Kratzer's hand, Arabella became an opera about changing attitudes about gender in the past 160-odd years. The musical caliber of the performances was also noticeably lower than in past Strauss outings. It was, however, dismayingly consistent with the patchy quality of this season’s new productions."

Idomeneo at Staatsoper Unter den Linden

"This Idomeneo, staged by the Scottish director David McVicar, has been intended to kick off the house's Mozart cycle in 2020; in fact, a dress rehearsal took place in March of that year shortly before opera houses throughout Germany were shuttered during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Three years later, the McVicar Idomeneo finally bowed at the house not with a bang, not with a whimper, but with a shrug."

Thumbprint at Portland Opera

"Kamala Sankaram music and her opera, which recounts the true and heroic story of Pakistani human rights activist Mukhtar Mai, have value, but the performance presented by Portland Opera was less powerful and moving than I had expected."

The Shining at Lyric Opera of Kansas City

"The Shining, by Pulitzer Prize recipient Paul Moravec with libretto by Mark Campbell, proved to be a huge crowd pleaser. It was also heartening to see the presence of so many young audience members, who were clearly having a glorious time. The work is one of the most compelling new operas to emerge in some time and deserves a place in the repertory."

Der Ring des Nibelungen at Staatsoper Stuttgart

"This musically grand, theatrically idiosyncratic Ring was held firmly aloft by sensitive playing from the Staatsorchester Stuttgart. In his second full Ring in under a year, general music director Cornelius Meister drew fire from the Stuttgart orchestra. His conducting was finely detailed, tautly dramatic and expressively bold. The individual productions were, inevitably, somewhat uneven—but when considered as a unit they amounted to a Ring with incredible theatrical diversity and artistic scope. This was a fractured Gesamtkunstwerk: a multifaceted Ring whose often-jagged cut caught the light, revealing new and complex facets.

Blue at Washington National Opera

"In 2019, when the Glimmerglass Festival premiered Blue, the tense, forceful opera by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson about the death of a Black man at the hands of the police, George Floyd still had a year to live. When Washington National Opera staged the work at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on March 11, Tyre Nichols had been dead only two months. For all the national soul-searching that those and other similar-circumstance deaths generated, not much, it seems, has fundamentally changed, which made this production of Blue feel all the more impactive."

La Traviata at Virginia Opera

"Virginia Opera finished off its 2023–24 season with a production of La Traviata that matched traditional costumes and sets with vintage musical values. A generous dollop of rubato-rich phrasing, along with plenty of finely shaded dynamics, brought to mind a kind of styling more associated with old recordings than contemporary performances. Passage after familiar passage benefited from the elastic tempos, artfully shaped by conductor Adam Turner, who maintained a supple rapport throughout with his appealing cast and the mostly polished Richmond Symphony Orchestra."

Rigoletto at Utah Opera

"Director Stephanie Havey inspired the cast, achieving an unselfconscious, purposeful performance while Joseph Colaneri led a find band of Utah Symphony Orchestra musicians in a colorful, nuanced reading, giving singers ample support."

Carmen at Lyric Opera of Chicago

"Bizet's opera re-entered Lyric Opera's repertory in what was one of the most theatrically satisfying outings Bizet’s perennial chestnut has seen in Chicago for some time. For this revival, Lyric jettisoned their problematic 2017 production by Rob Ashford and reverted to the company’s previous mounting, with its evocative settings by Robin Don, last seen here in 2010. Coming back to this classic production felt like encountering an old, beloved friend."

Roberto Devereux at Zurich Opera

"Zurich Opera's new production of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux brought to a close the performances of the composer’s so-called three Tudor Queen operas, conducted majestically by Enrique Mazzola and directed puzzlingly by David Alden. As with previous bel canto operas that Mazzola has brought to Zurich, his command of the score was impeccable. Under his control, Philharmonia Zürich provided exquisite support to the singers."

Falstaff

"New to Robert Carsen's production was Michael Volle, singing his first Met Falstaff. Volle’s other Met credits include some Traviatas, some Richard Strauss and a good deal of Wagner, a composer whose presence was surely felt in Volle’s dynamic vocal power: Volle was consistently on top of the orchestra, projecting clearly and effectively even when other singers were lost in a forte shuffle. But just as noteworthy as Volle’s vocal command was his personification of the fat knight. In comedy, especially comic operas, it’s easy to fall into slapstick and grab cheap laughs; Volle leaned into the fat-phobic tropes written by Arrigo Boito and enhanced by Carsen’s production, but he also played up the angrier, more malicious and at times raunchy undertones of Falstaff with integrity."

Otello at Maryland Lyric Opera

"The ambitious Maryland Lyric Opera, which has offered a mix of staged and concert presentations since its founding in 2014, combined elements of both to deliver a stirring Otello that closed out the company’s Verdi-centric season. Other than the opening storm scene, when a bit more bite and drive would have been welcome, there was no lack of fire in the opera’s most dramatic scenes, and certainly no skimping on refined nuance in poetic passages. All in all, this was a classy, absorbing account of Verdi’s penultimate masterwork."

Nabucco at Washington Concert Opera

"On the podium, artistic director Antony Walker’s sensitivity to the finer, gentler points of the score, not to mention his familiar foot-stomping enthusiasm for dramatic passages, yielded a tight, kinetic performance at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium."

Die Zauberflöte at Welsh National Opera

"Daisy Evans, director and translator of Welsh National Opera’s new staging of Mozart's opera, wanted to tackle head on the work’s 'insidious overtones of racism, misogyny and discrimination,' and adopted an unusually interventionist approach. Reams of new dialogue presented the revised values of Evans’s rethink, yet even the director seems to have been unsure whether all of the revamped material remained narratively clear."

"Healing Bach" presented by the American Classical Orchestra

"The high point of the entire concert was the aria “Wo zwei und drei versammiet sind” (Where two or three are gathered together). Countertenor Daniel Moody gave a convincing lyric performance, and the orchestra was at its finest in this serene, welcoming music."

Samantha Hankey & Sophie Raynaud at Weill Recital Hall

"Samantha Hankey, in her March 10 Weill Recital Hall debut, stayed within the realm of late Romanticism, offering works by Strauss, Alma Mahler, Zemlinsky, Ravel and Satie, along with early, tonal Schoenberg and Berg. The material was a canny fit for Hankey’s particular gifts. Her warm, generous lyric mezzo-soprano is a Romantic instrument in itself; moreover, her exemplary musicianship allowed her to navigate the songs’ chromaticisms precisely and convincingly."

"Light of Paradise" at Cathedral of St. John the Divine

“The March to Liberation” at the New York Philharmonic

"Adolphus Hailstork's 1985 cantata Done Made My Vow is not a subtle work, but it is a stirring one: Hailstork marshals his various resources to surefire effect. At the New York Philharmonic’s March 2 performance of the piece, when the speaker, Simon Estes, delivered Obama’s “audacity of hope” speech, it was hard not to feel inspired by the uplifting words."

Schubert’s Symphony in C Major & Meditations on Rilke at the New York Philharmonic

Animal Farm at Dutch National Opera

"Unfortunately, dramatist Ian Burton and composer Alexander Raskatov, perhaps misled by the small size of Orwell's narration, tried to dramatize as many facts and events as possible, creating in some scenes an over-accumulation of elements that worked against a flowing storyline. The resulting fragmentary impression was enhanced by a musical pattern of fierce, often dramatic chords with an emphatic presence of wind instruments and percussion, with which the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, expanded to seventy members under the direction of Bassem Akiki, underlined the stage event."

Candide at Atlanta Opera

Solomon at LA Opera

"Although the action of Handel's Solomon is set in Jerusalem, the composer crammed it with generous tributes to his adopted country, Great Britain, including abundant praise to George II, his patron; deference to the rituals of the Anglican church; poetic idylls on the English countryside; continuous acclaim of justice and mercy; and even a brief tribute to Britain’s fighting prowess. Solomon is a mighty paean to a prosperous country, but though the accolades as so frequent that it can be a challenge to discern the spine of the action. But the strength of the English Concert’s disciplined yet energetic concert performance under Harry Bicket’s baton at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was to reveal precisely the unity of the piece and the nature of the society it glorified."

Il Trittico at Scottish Opera

Andromaque at Opéra de Saint-Étienne

"This opera's four principal roles are vocally challenging with sweeping changes of register. This is particularly true for Andromaque and Hermione. Both these roles were obviously written for singers on the cusp of soprano and mezzo. Despite moving phrasing, and a concentrated dramatic presence, mezzo Ambroisine Bré sounded stretched in her upper register as Andromaque. The finest singing of the evening came from Marion Lebègue as Hermione, whose waves of fury and sadness posed no problems for her rich mezzo with an ideal mix of force and despair."

Siegfried at Zurich Opera

"After the glories of Zurich Opera’s Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, director Andreas Homoki’s production of Siegfried was something of an anti-climax. Much of the blame can be laid at Wagner’s feet. The opening scenes of squabbling between Mime and Siegfried followed by a drawn-out question and answer competition between the Wanderer and Mime constitute a feeble fifty-minute attempt at humor."

L’Orfeo at the Royal Danish Opera

"Jetske Mijnssen's staging of Monteverd’s Orfeo for the Royal Danish Opera’s Old Stage closed after two performances in March 2020, the day before Denmark locked down in the grip of Covid-19. For many of us, the production’s intense thoughts on loneliness and grief lingered on through the silent days of the pandemic. Revived by Johanne Holten, the original staging’s clear, cutting and breathtakingly beautiful meeting of music and movement lost none of its original impact."

Così Fan Tutte at Dallas Opera

"The magical combination of Lorenzo da Ponte’s words and Mozart’s music benefitted from the restrained staging that Dallas Opera brought to Così Fan Tutte at the Winspear Opera House. From large gestures to minute details, Michael Cavanagh’s production brought out the opera’s absurd humor, and the brilliant comic staging was matched by the splendid acting and singing."

Mata Hari at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz

"Composer Marc Schubring is seen by many as a shining star in the revival of the German genre musical. The success of Schubring’s 2015 Liasons Dangereuses, composed for Munich‘s Gärtnerplatz Theatre, led to that company’s commission of a new musical based on the life of Mata Hari. The story was told on two dramatic levels and in two musical styles, and it's to Schubring‘s credit that he composed not only the musical portions of the score but also the rock segments."

Pelléas et Mélisande at LA Opera

"James Conlon, for whom Pelléas is a special favorite, conducted, it seemed, with one eye constantly fixed on the scenery, so the separate elements of production were unified and intensified through the music."

Daphne at Carnegie Hall

"The American Symphony Orchestra and its music director Leon Botstein brought Richard Strauss’s Daphne to the mainstage at Carnegie Hall in a monumental concert featuring this rarely performed score—the opportunity to hear it live is extraordinary enough—but this performance in particular was elevated by the exquisite Daphne of soprano Jana McIntyre."

Jeanine De Bique and Concerto Köln at Zankel Hall

"Trinidadian soprano Jeanine De Bique possesses a quick, violin-like soprano of remarkable agility, and her singing in her Zankel Hall presentation with Concerto Köln was most satisfying when she was executing bursts of coloratura rage. One could hear every note of her runs, which frequently culminated in dazzling high notes. Unfortunately, her vocal delivery was inconsistent. Perhaps because she has recorded this repertoire, De Bique frequently fell into the sort of quiet croon one adopts when singing into a sensitive microphone. However, when she was good, she was very, very good."

CHERUBINI: Les Abencérages

“This is a truly rewarding opera, and this recording makes the best possible case for it.”

DESSAU: Lanzelot

“This political satire is a daring outcry against totalitarianism from within East Germany. Over the past fifty years, it’s retained its bite.”

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Christmas Eve

“It features a lush, spirited score and a charming libretto, and Christof Loy’s production enlivens it with sparkling modernity and a light hand.”

ROSSINI: Messa di Gloria

“Antonio Pappano’s theatrical approach makes this the go-to recording of this enjoyable work.”

Lena Belkina: Passion for Ukraine

“A broken-hearted love song to Ukrainian music, full of seismic intensity, unfathomable grief and endless love.”

BABBITT: Works for Treble Voice and Piano

“A landmark collection rendered with astonishing mastery and musicianship.”

VERDI: Rigoletto

“A large elevated frame serves symbolically as a window into the Duke’s libido and his transgressions. It’s a neat directorial concept.”

Maria Callas: Live in Copenhagen

“There are some riches here, and the sound is excellent, providing a rare, faithful idea of the voice in a hall.”

MOZART: La Clemenza di Tito

“A labor of love and a testament to artistic determination. It’s a young, enthusiastic performance, enjoyable on its own merits.”

Cyrille Dubois: The Sphere of Intimacy

“Early and little-known pieces by François Couperin receive expert treatment in this beautifully crafted recital.”

POULENC: La Voix Humaine

“Véronique Gens is impressive, and her instrument remains in remarkably good shape. She finds the brittleness and pathos in the role without recourse to any cheap effects.”

Barbara Hannigan: Sehnsucht

“Expertly and with infectious spirit, she sings some classics from the years around 1900.”

Tim Mead: Sacroprofano

“The English countertenor is profoundly impressive with an exceptionally rich timbre, impeccable control of vibrato, stupendously precise coloratura and surpassingly elegant legato.”

Kenny Overton: A Bright Tomorrow

“In most of the musical-theater selections on the album, you wouldn’t know Overton is an opera singer, and that’s a compliment.”

BOWLES: A Picnic Cantata

“It feels like a lark: the creators clearly enjoyed their collaboration and were not interested in making a major statement. Ephemerality is coded in its DNA.”

Ruby Hughes: Echo

“A moody, melancholy recital that exploits Hughes’s impressive ability to sing artfully at a pinpoint pianissimo.”

NONO: Intolleranza 1960

“This smacks of champagne socialism: an opera-going elite, in €330 seats, watching the plights of poor migrants set to an ultra-avant-garde score.”

GRIMES, NEGRÓN, NOVA, SHAW, SNIDER: The Blue Hour

“Trippy and kaleidoscopic but also engaging and continually interesting.”

MOZART: Requiem
SALIERI: Requiem

“The voices and instrumentalists of Le Concert Spirituel bring these works into fascinating dialogue.”