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The audience playing the part of “The Water” at Festival O18’s Queens of the Night: Dito and Aeneas at the Theatre of Living Arts; photo by Steven Pisano

Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O18: The Whirlwind That Was

By Charles Geyer on 29 October 2018 Baroque and Early, Choral, Classical, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Multimedia, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Theatre, Visual Arts

REVIEW: of Opera Philadelphia’s “Festival O18” (September 20-30, 2018) – a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, composed by Gaetano Donizetti with libretto by Salvadore Cammarano; the world premiere of Sky on Swings, composed by Lembit Beecher with libretto by Hannah Moscovitch; the premiere of Ne quittez pas (a “reimagined” La voix humaine of Francis Poulenc, with a new prologue featuring numerous of the composer’s art songs); the premiere of Glass Handel, an immersive concert experience featuring countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo performing music by George Frideric Handel and Philip Glass; and Queens of the Night: Blythely After Hours, an opera/rock…

Faith and Folly — Taking Up Serpents, a New American Opera, Bows in Boston

By Charles Geyer on 26 September 2018 Art Song, Choral, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Indigenous, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Uncategorized, Vocal

PREVIEW: of a public workshop performance with orchestra of the new opera Taking Up Serpents – libretto by Jerre Dye, score by Kamala Sankaram; presented by MassOpera, Boston; Sunday, September 30, 2018 at 3 p.m.; Deane Hall at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts (527 Tremont Street, Boston); the opera is a commission of the Washington National Opera and this workshop is presented by MassOpera. In the final passages of St. Mark’s Gospel, Christ declares that a hallmark among his true believers shall be a willingness that “they shall take up serpents!” And in certain quarters…

Sebastian Catana as Rigoletto; Berkshire Opera Festival; photo by Ken Howard

All Jesting Aside – the Berkshire Opera Festival’s Thrilling Rigoletto

By Charles Geyer on 30 August 2018 Classical, Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Theatre, Vocal

REVIEW: of the Berkshire Opera Festival production of Giuseppe’s Verdi’s Rigoletto (August 25 at 1 p.m.; August 28 at 7:30 p.m. and August 31 at 7:30 p.m., at the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Massachusetts). Sex, power, seduction, revenge, and a dazzling lightning storm. Verdi’s gutsy 1851 operatic melodrama, Rigoletto, gets a fascinating, stylish, and unflinchingly close study in the Berkshire Opera Festival’s new production, running through August 31 at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (viewed here at the August 25 opening). Under director Jonathon Loy (who is also the festival’s co-founder), Verdi’s tale of a deformed court jester who seeks…

Michael Hewitt as Lieutenant Horstmayer and Arnold Livingston Geis as Nikolaus Sprink in The Glimmerglass Festival's 2018 production of Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell's "Silent Night." Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival

Through the Glimmerglass, 2018 – Reflections of a Turbulent Century

By Charles Geyer on 24 August 2018 Art Song, Choral, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Dance, Education, Folk, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Romantic

PROFILE/REVIEW: of the 2018 Glimmerglass Festival Season: Silent Night by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell; West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim; Cunning Little Vixen by Leoš Janáček; and The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini and Cesare Sterbini. “It’s remarkable how many important things happened in 1918,” observes Glimmerglass Festival artistic and managing director Francesca Zambello, speaking at a recent pre-show audience address in Cooperstown. “The end of World War I. The birth of Leonard Bernstein. And the premiere of this piece” – this last a reference to Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, which was…

Mozart & Salieri Are at It Again, at dell’Arte Opera Ensemble’s Festival 2018

By Charles Geyer on 9 August 2018 Art Song, Choral, Classical, Classical Music, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Orchestral, Strings, Theatre, Vocal

PREVIEW: of the 2018 dell’Arte Opera Ensemble Summer Festival Season, “Mozart & Salieri,” at New York City’s LaMaMa (66 East 4th Street), August 11 through 26; and INTERVIEWS: with company founder and artistic director, maestro Chris Fecteau, and dell’Arte 2018 creative team members Brittany Goodwin and Catherine O’Shaughnessy. This company is ready to rumble. Call it the Thrilla from Vienna: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, that most bruited matchup of 18th Century musical titans, is slated for a redux this month – this time in 21st Century New York, courtesy of the dell’Arte Opera Ensemble. Grab a ringside seat.…

A scene from DEMON by Anton Rubinstein; Bard SummerScape; photo by Stephanie Berger.

Rubinstein’s Demon Lover Stalks Bard SummerScape 2018

By Charles Geyer on 2 August 2018 Classical Music, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Opera, Romantic, Vocal, World Music

REVIEW: of the 2018 Bard SummerScape production of Anton Rubinstein’s 1871 opera Demon; and INTERVIEW: with Dr. Leon Botstein (American Symphony Orchestra founder and SummerScape festival artistic director). A warning to all princes of the Caucasus – lock up your daughters! The devil is on the prowl, and he’s feeling amorous. Russian composer Anton Rubinstein’s 1871 opera, Demon, weaves a fascinating yarn of ultimate forbidden love. Based on an earlier, censored poem by Russian poetic genius Mikhail Lermontov, a demon (depicted as the very model of the proud, lonely, passionate Byronic tragic hero) finds himself smitten by the beauty of…

The Grisettes from THE MERRY WIDOW; photo by Gary David Gold

Opera Saratoga 2018, in Plain English

By Charles Geyer on 12 July 2018 Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Vocal

REVIEW/PROFILE: of the Opera Saratoga 2018 mainstage production season: Franz Lehar’s The Merry Widow, David T. Little’s and Royce Vavrek’s Vinkensport, Gareth Williams’ and Anna Chatterton’s Rocking Horse Winner, and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul; at the Spa Little Theater, Saratoga Springs, New York, through July 15. You’ve still got all of August for those good pulpy beach reads. Why not set aside a bit of July to savor a different delectus of juicy plotlines during the all too brief lyric holiday afforded by Opera Saratoga’s summer 2018 season, running only through July 15? This year’s programming is (almost) completely…

Fall Season: Orchestras and Chamber Music

By Léa Papineau Robichaud on 1 September 2017 150/375, Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight, Orchestral, Quebec Music

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) will start its season with Mahler’s Symphony no. 8, “Symphony of the Thousand,” a large-scale work gathering more than 350 instrumentalists and singers on stage (September 19 & 21). In addition, Russian music will hold a special place during the fall. Russian-born conductor Vasily Petrenko will present an all-Russian music concert in October (October 11, 14, and 15), and pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin will complete the evenings with a concerto by Prokofiev. On November 11, the St. Petersburg Mariinksy Orchestra will present a concert in Montreal under the baton of renowned…

A return to new and contemporary music – 2017-18 Season

By Alexandre Villemaire on 1 September 2017 Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Contemporary, La Scena Spotlight, Quebec Music

Once again, the contemporary music scene in Montreal promises a season full of concerts and new music experiences. Whether as sophisticated regulars of contemporary music, fans of instrumental or mixed music, or even intrigued by the exploding scene of digital music and sound installations, Montreal’s artistic community will fulfill your desires as cosmopolitan music lovers. Here is an overview of several events to schedule on your calendar. La Société de musique contemporaine du Québec For its 52nd season, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) [Quebec Contemporary Music Society] presents a colourful program with diverse influences. This year, the…

Magda Olivero: Legendary Soprano

By Denis Robert on 1 September 2017 Art Song, La Scena Spotlight, Opera

Part I Although no longer at their apogee, in the 1960s the two great sopranos of the time, Maria Callas and Renata Tebaldi, were still burning up the stage, and I had the great good fortune to see them. Thanks to their recordings, I had heard them when they were at the height of their careers. These memorable records, beloved by fans, divided the latter into two rival camps. At the time, I counted among my friends Georges Nicholson (for Callas) and Michel Beaulac (for Tebaldi). Each stoutly defended his idol’s merits, Nicholson being proud of Callas’ strong sense of…

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