Opera & Ballet

Collected opera and ballet reviews

A very well sung new Turandot in Naples is not the car crash it might appear to be

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ItalyItaly Puccini, Turandot: Children’s Chorus (director: Stefania Rinaldi), Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro di San Carlo / Dan Ettinger (conductor). Livestreamed on medici.tv from Teatro di San Carlo, Naples. 9.12.2023. (JPr)

Vasily Barkhatov’s Turandot at Naples’s Teatro di San Carlo

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A fine revival of the Met’s ‘old-fashioned’ Tannhäuser reclaims Wagner’s undervalued early opera

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United StatesUnited States Wagner, Tannhäuser: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Sir Donald Runnicles (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 6.12.2023. (TM)

Ekaterina Gubanova (Venus) and Andreas Schager (Tannhäuser) © Evan Zimmerman/Met Opera

 

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The Metropolitan Opera’s Florencia en el Amazonas fails to float my boat

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United StatesUnited States Daniel Catán, Florencia en el Amazonas: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Transmitted live (directed by Gary Halvorson) and seen at Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 9.12.2023. (JPr)

Ailyn Pérez (Florencia Grimaldi) with waterlilies © Ken Howard/Met Opera

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La Scala’s new ‘stand and deliver’ Don Carlo is excellently sung with Netrebko and Garanča outstanding

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ItalyItaly Verdi, Don Carlo: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and Chorus / Riccardo Chailly (conductor). Livestreamed on Medici.tv from Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 7.12.2023. (JPr)

Anna Netrebko (Elisabeth de Valois) © Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala

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