Opera & Ballet

Collected opera and ballet reviews

Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers fits smoothly into Opera San Jose’s creative video format

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United StatesUnited States Jake Heggie, Three Decembers: Veronika Agranov-Dafoe and Sunny Yoon (pianos) / Christopher James Ray (conductor), fully staged production by Opera San Jose, video made at Fred Heiman Digital Media Studio, San Jose, California, and streaming from 3.12.2020 to 31.12.2020. (HS)

Susan Graham, Efraín Solís, & Maya Kherani in Three Decembers (c) David Allen

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Dancers take second place to the visual effects in ENB at Home’s five short ballet films

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom English National Ballet’s Digital Season: Five films released for rental via Ballet on Demand (click here), part of the company’s new video platform, ENB at Home, between 23 November and 21 December. (JO’D)

James Streeter and Jeffrey Cirio in Laid in Earth

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New Zealand Opera’s Tosca: what a production, voices, playing and conducting!

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New ZealandNew Zealand Puccini, Tosca: Soloists, Freemasons New Zealand Opera Chorus, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra / Tobias Ringborg (conductor). St. James Theatre, Wellington. 10.10.2015. (PM)

Tosca (1)-500
Simon O’Neill (Cavaradossi) and Orla Boylan (Tosca) (c) Neil Mackenzie

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Kaufmann is not the best thing about Konwitschny’s Vienna Don Carlos which stands the test of time

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AustriaAustria Verdi, Don Carlos: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Bertrand de Billy (conductor). 4.10.2020 performance (directed for TV by Dominik Kepczynski) and reviewed when streamed on 22.11.2020. (JPr)

Don Carlos – Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlos), Igor Golovantenko (Rodrigue)
and Michele Pertusi (Philippe II)

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It maybe a Weill but give Opera North’s The Seven Deadly Sins a chance if you can

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Weill, The Seven Deadly Sins: Soloists, Orchestra of Opera North / James Holmes (conductor). Livestreamed (directed by Jonathan Haswell) from Leeds Playhouse’s Quarry Theatre, 21.11.2020. (JPr)

Shelley Eva Haden (Anna II) & Wallis Giunta (Anna I) © Tristram Kenton

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Musical splendours in a wonderful performance of Handel’s Ariodante livestreamed from the Royal Opera House

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United KingdomUnited Kingdom Handel, Ariodante in Concert: Soloists, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Christian Curnyn (conductor). Livestream (directed for TV by Peter Jones) from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 20.11.2020. (JPr)

Chen Reiss (Ginevra), Gerald Finley (King of Scotland) & Paula Murrihy (Ariodante)

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A rarely performed eighteenth-century opera: The Anonymous Lover by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

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United StatesUnited States Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, The Anonymous Lover: Soloists and Orchestra of LA Opera / James Conlon (conductor). Colburn School’s Zipper Hall, Los Angeles, streaming from 14.11.2020 – 29.11.2020. (JRo)

A scene from LA Opera’s The Anonymous Lover (c) Larry Ho

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Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in Piacenza moved from fierce energy to the most tender emotions

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ItalyItaly Handel, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, HWV 72 (1708, ed. Longo/Pe/Guglielmi): Soloists, Ensemble barocco La Lira di Orfeo / Luca Guglielmi (harpsichord / conductor). Livestream from Teatro Municipale, Piacenza, via OperaStreaming (click here) and also streamed via Facebook, 15.11.2020. (CC)

Aci (Raffaele Pe) in Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

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