June 2023
NICHOLAS BROWNLEE: STAR OF SANTA FE OPERA’S FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER
Revisiting Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha • Mid-Century Modern: Revisiting Classic American Operas • The Bard Music Festival on Vaughan Williams • 96-Hour Opera in Atlanta • Sound Bites: Gemma New • Liner Notes: Christine Baranski
Features
Sound Play
American bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee, who this season sings the Dutchman in Santa Fe, has emerged as a Wagnerian to watch—and hear.
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Extraordinary Journey
Extraordinary Journey
Two new adaptations of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha underscore the opera’s enduring viability.
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Rediscovered Country
Rediscovered Country
Leon Botstein explores unfamiliar repertory at the annual Bard Music Festival.
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Singing to Win
Singing to Win
An insider offers his perspective on what it is like to sing in a vocal competition.
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96 Hours for Change
96 Hours for Change
Atlanta Opera’s unique competition showcase for new operas supports underrepresented voices.
Departments
In Review
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Proximity at Lyric Opera of Chicago
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."
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A Thousand Splendid Suns at Seattle Opera
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."
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Der Rosenkavalier at The Metropolitan Opera
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."
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Xerxes at Detroit Opera
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."
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The Song Poet at Minnesota Opera
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."
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War and Peace at the Bavarian State Opera
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."
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Hamlet at Opéra National de Paris
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.
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Les Mamelles de Tirésias and Le Rossignol at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
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."
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Nixon in China at Opéra National de Paris
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."
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Overstory Overture at Alice Tully Hall
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."
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Rhiannon Giddens & Silkroad Ensemble at Zankel Hall
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."
Recordings
WAGNER: Der Ring des Nibelungen
A Thinking Person's Ring.
Stefan Herheim’s provocative production is intellectually elaborate and emotionally complex.-
CHERUBINI: Les Abencérages
CHERUBINI: Les Abencérages
“This is a truly rewarding opera, and this recording makes the best possible case for it.”
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DESSAU: Lanzelot
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.”
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RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Christmas Eve
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.”
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ROSSINI: Messa di Gloria
ROSSINI: Messa di Gloria
“Antonio Pappano’s theatrical approach makes this the go-to recording of this enjoyable work.”
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Lena Belkina: Passion for Ukraine
Lena Belkina: Passion for Ukraine
“A broken-hearted love song to Ukrainian music, full of seismic intensity, unfathomable grief and endless love.”
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BABBITT: Works for Treble Voice and Piano
BABBITT: Works for Treble Voice and Piano
“A landmark collection rendered with astonishing mastery and musicianship.”
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VERDI: Rigoletto
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.”
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Maria Callas: Live in Copenhagen
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.”
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MOZART: La Clemenza di Tito
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.”
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Cyrille Dubois: The Sphere of Intimacy
Cyrille Dubois: The Sphere of Intimacy
“Early and little-known pieces by François Couperin receive expert treatment in this beautifully crafted recital.”
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POULENC: La Voix Humaine
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.”
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Barbara Hannigan: Sehnsucht
Barbara Hannigan: Sehnsucht
“Expertly and with infectious spirit, she sings some classics from the years around 1900.”
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Tim Mead: Sacroprofano
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.”
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Kenny Overton: A Bright Tomorrow
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.”
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BOWLES: A Picnic Cantata
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.”
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Ruby Hughes: Echo
Ruby Hughes: Echo
“A moody, melancholy recital that exploits Hughes’s impressive ability to sing artfully at a pinpoint pianissimo.”
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NONO: Intolleranza 1960
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.”
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GRIMES, NEGRÓN, NOVA, SHAW, SNIDER: The Blue Hour
GRIMES, NEGRÓN, NOVA, SHAW, SNIDER: The Blue Hour
“Trippy and kaleidoscopic but also engaging and continually interesting.”
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MOZART: Requiem
SALIERI: Requiem
MOZART: Requiem
SALIERI: Requiem“The voices and instrumentalists of Le Concert Spirituel bring these works into fascinating dialogue.”