Spain Manuel Penella: El gato montés: Soloists, Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid, Coro del Teatro de la Zarzuela, Óliver Díaz (conductor), Teatro de la Zarzuela, Madrid, 3.3.2012 (JMI)
Opera & Ballet
Collected opera and ballet reviews
Stagecraft Dominates in Seattle Opera’s Orphée et Eurydice
United States Gluck, Orphée et Eurydice: Seattle Opera, soloists, Gary Thor Wedow (conductor), Jose Maria Condemi (director), Phillip Lienau (sets), Heidi Zamora (costumes), Connie Yun (lighting), Joyce Degenfelder (hair and makeup design), Yannis Adoniou (choreography), Beth Kirchhoff (chorus master), Philip A. Kelsey and David McDade (musical preparation), McCaw Hall, Seattle, 25 & 29.2.2012 (BJ)
Banal Libretto and Unadventurous Score Mar Judith Weir’s New Opera
United Kingdom Judith Weir, Miss Fortune (British premiere): Soloists, Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Paul Daniel (conductor). Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, 12.3.2012 (MB)
Memories of Another Past: Stefan Herheim’s La bohème
Norway Puccini, La bohème: Soloists, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Chorus, and Children’s Chorus, Eivind Gullberg Jensen (conductor), Oslo Opera, 23.1.2012 (JFL)
Classical Opera Performs Lucio Silla, Mozart’s Underrated Opera!
United Kingdom Mozart: Lucio Silla, K135: (Concert Performance) Soloists of Classical Opera, Orchestra of Classical Opera, Members of the Lucio Silla Chorus / Ian Page. (conductor), Cadogan Hall, London, 8.3.2012 (MMB)
Good and Bad Is All Good at New York City Opera
United States Verdi, La Traviata: Soloists, chorus and orchestra of New York City Opera, Steven White, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, 16.2.2012 (GG)
Spring Passions Run High with Two Sublime Frederick Ashton Ballets
United Kingdom Ravel: Daphnis and Chloë; Messager: The Two Pigeons: Artists of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, David Bintley (director), Royal Ballet Sinfonia/ Koen Kessels (conductor) Birmingham Hippodrome, 2.3.2012 (GR)
Pan American Mozart from Madrid
Spain Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito: Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, Thomas Hengelbrock (conductor), Coro Intermezzo, Teatro Real, Madrid, 2.3.2012 (JMI)