Death by Life – White Snake Projects’ masterful and powerful digital operatic exploration of systemic injustice and mass incarceration

United StatesUnited States Various, Death by Life: Naomi Wilson (soloist), Tiana Sorenson (soprano), Lucia Bradford (mezzo-soprano), Aaron Blake (tenor), Nicholas Davis (baritone), The Victory Players / Tian Hui Ng (Music Director). White Snake Projects, Cyberspace. (Viewed on 22 & 25.5.2021) (RP)

Prologue digital environment © Curvin Huber

Read more

The ESO plays David Matthews’s conspicuously successful arrangement of Elgar’s String Quartet

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Elgar reimagined, Elgar (arr. David Matthews): English Symphony Orchestra / Kenneth Woods (conductor). Wyastone Concert Hall, Monmouth. Relayed via the ESO’s YouTube channel, 14.5.2021. (JQ)

Kenneth Woods conducting the English Symphony Orchestra

Read more

Bang on a Can video revives evocative ‘John Henry’ oratorio

United StatesUnited States Julia Wolfe, Steel Hammer: Bang on a Can All-Stars / David Bloom (music director), soundtrack recorded at the Bunker Studio, Brooklyn, and David’s Studio, New York, for video made exclusively for Cal Performances, Berkeley. Streamed first on 6.5.2021, and available on demand through 4.8.2021. (HS)

Singers Molly Netter, Rebecca Hargrove and Sonya Headlam

Read more

Opera Philadelphia takes the leap into live opera with The Drama of Tosca

United StatesUnited States Puccini, The Drama of Tosca: Soloists, Opera Philadelphia Chorus & Orchestra / Corrado Rovaris (conductor), Opera Philadelphia, Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, 5.5.2021. (RP)

Quinn Kelsey (Scarpia) and Brian Jagde (Cavaradossi) (c) Dominic M. Mercier

Read more

Pairing style and substance in Cleveland with Britten and Ravel

United StatesUnited States In Focus / Episode Ten, Style & Craft: Frank Rosenwein (oboe), Carolyn Gadiel Warner (piano), Strings of the Cleveland Orchestra / Vinay Parameswaran (conductor). Previously recorded at Severance Hall, Cleveland (9.3 and 8-9.4.2021) and reviewed as a video stream. (MSJ)

Vinay Parameswaran and strings of the Cleveland Orchestra
© Roger Mastroianni

Read more

A new production of Don Giovanni at Prague’s Estates Theatre offers surprises, charms and thrills

Czech RepublicCzech Republic Mozart, Don Giovanni: Soloists, National Theatre Chorus and Orchestra / Karsten Januschke (conductor). Performed at Národní Divadlo, Estates Theatre, Prague and premiered 24.4.2021 on Czech Television and available for streaming globally until 1.5.2021. (RP)

Pavol Kubáň (Don Giovanni), Jana Sibera (Donna Anna)
and Richard Samek (Don Ottavio) © Jan Pohribný

Read more

San Francisco Opera does Rossini’s Barber live at the drive-in

United StatesUnited States Rossini, The Barber of Seville: Soloists and Orchestra of San Francisco Opera / Roderick Cox (conductor). Marin County Civic Center, San Rafael, California, 23.4.2021. (HS)

Lucas Meachem delivers Figaro’s signature aria
from his War Memorial Opera House ‘dressing room’ (c) Stefan Cohen/SFO

Read more