Canada Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos: Pacific Opera Victoria, soloists, Oriol Tomas (director), Ian Rye (set designer), Sheila White (costume designer)), Kimberly Purtell (lighting designer), Jacques Lemay (choreographer), Victoria Symphony, Timothy Vernon (conductor), Royal Theatre, Victoria, British Columbia, 21.2.2014 (BJ)
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala: Playing Safe Does Not Always Work
Italy Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor, Orchestra and Chorus Teatro alla Scala, Pier Giorgio Morandi (conductor), La Scala, Milan, 19 & 21.2.2014 (JMI).
Ana Maria Martinez in Triumphant Rusalka Premiere
United States Dvořák, Rusalka: Soloists, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Sir Andrew Davis, (conductor), Civic Opera House, Chicago. 22.2.2014 (JLZ)
Musically Impressive Zauberflöte Let Down by Comic Shenanigans
Germany Mozart: Die Zauberflöte: Soloists, Saxon State Opera Chorus, Staatskapelle Dresden / Stefan Klingele (conductor), Semperoper, Dresden, 20.2.2014 (SRT)
Rapturous Performance of Purcell’s Fairy Queen at Bury Court
United Kingdom Purcell, The Fairy Queen: Soloists and Chorus of Bury Court Opera with Southbank Sinfonia/Simon Over (conductor), Bury Court, Farnham, 22.2.2014. (RD)
A Grand Night at the Opera
Switzerland Verdi: Don Carlos Soloists, Chorus of the Zurich Opera, Philharmonia Zurich, conductor: Fabio Luisi, Zurich Opera, Zurich. 21.2.14 (JR)
Ravel’s Whimsical Melange of Animals and Teacups
United States Ravel, L’ enfant et les sortileges: Opera d’arte, Kenneth Shaw (artistic director), Amy Johnson (associate artistic director), Brett Scott (music director), Kathryn Illis (production design). University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. Cohen Family Studio Theatre, Cincinnati, OH. 21.2.2014 (RDA)
ENOS’s Peter Grimes Makes the Big Screen
United Kingdom Britten,Peter Grimes: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of English National Operas / Edward Gardner (conductor), screened at Duke of York Cinema, Brighton, 23.2.14 (RB)