Germany 2013: Wagner 200th Birthday Concert in Bayreuth
The stars and luminaries turned out last night in Bayreuth to hear Christian Thielemann (again) lead the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in an amazing sampler of Wagner's mature work, including all
Opera
Germany 2013: Wagner Birthday Concert in Dresden
The first of two extraordinary concert events took place Tuesday night in Dresden's Semperoper, with Wagner specialist Christian Thielemann leading the Dresden Staatskapelle on the eve of Wagner's birthday. In addition to
Germany 2013: Tannhäuser in the Wartburg
In 1842, soon after becoming Saxon Court Composer in Dresden, Wagner visited the Wartburg, a thousand-year-old castle on a mountain overlooking the Thuringian city of Eisenach. There, Wagner became entranced by
Germany 2013: Bayreuth Open House
Greetings from Germany, where I'll be visiting places new and familiar over the next week, mostly in commemoration of Wagner's 200th birthday on May 22. Germany has struggled in the
(le) Poisson Rouge and the Metropolitan Opera Preview Nico Muhly’s “Two Boys”
Nico Muhly remains one the most active young composers around. Last Tuesday night, fresh off of curating at and performing in his own festival, A Scream and An Outrage, he returned to New York for two shows at Le Poisson Rouge. The night consisted of a broad range of works based loosely based around a preview of his opera, Two Boys, premiering at the Met in October.
The opera premiered at the English National Opera in 2011. With a libretto by celebrated American playwright Craig Lucas, it examines issues associated with the darker corners of the Internet and online chat rooms. The opera is a part of Met general manager Peter Gelb’s larger effort to bring opera to a younger demographic, and the nature of the issues explored drags opera firmly into the 21st century.
“Dialogues des Carmélites” at the Metropolitan Opera
by Michael Cirigliano II Photo credit: Ken Howard, AP Photo As the curtain rose on the revival of John Dexter’s production of Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites at the Metropolitan
Opera on Tap Presents “SMASHED” at HERE Arts Center
by Melanie Wong In accordance with their self-proclaimed mission to reach new audiences and change America’s “stuffy” and “elitist” perception of opera, nonprofit organization Opera on Tap presented their first original opera,
Commentary: What’s Happening to Music Criticism?
"No statue has ever been erected to a critic." – Jean Sibelius Times are tough for music criticism. Just this past year, one newspaper reassigned one of their two full-time
Opera Hispánica Presents “María de Buenos Aires”
by Melanie Wong On Friday night, Opera Hispánica presented Ástor Piazzolla’s tango-opera, María de Buenos Aires, at (le) Poisson Rouge, the culmination of the pioneer Latino opera comapny's first festival season.