Eight young artists to get hands on practical experience with a major opera company. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
February 12, 2014
Otello on an aircraft carrier sails on a sea of orchestral pleasures if short of a proper captain at the helm. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
February 12, 2014
How to make a spectacle out of Wagner’s last opera Parsifal? There’s the rub. Belgian company La Monnaie called on Italian avant-garde theatre director Romeo Castelluci to lend his vision to this four-hour production. The result is a Kundry dressed in white anorak and gumboots, lashings of nudity and bondage and an albino python, said by Castelluci to represent Wagner’s music, and whose ‘venom’ might be a cure. (Herpetologist’s note: Pythons are not venomous). There’s also a German shepherd dog which occasionally makes an appearance like Inspector Rex on a case. Also in the mix are 300 extras and explicit scenes in the second act where Klingsor’s castle is a cross between an S&M parlour and a gynaecologist’s consulting room. It all looks like a Pilates class gone horribly wrong. Castellucci is known for shocking audiences with violence, nudity and, on occasions, steaming piles of excrement. This was his first operatic venture. It’s difficult to imagine how he would follow this up if invited. The cast, orchestra and chorus are all solid if not exceptional. But then it can’t be easy competing with 300 extras, a dog, a snake and topless dancers with white beehive wigs. The liner notes say…
February 6, 2014
American professional audition service will make their first visit down under, in a quest for local talent.
February 4, 2014
German conductor noted for his exploration of the byways of the German and Czech repertoire passes at 78. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
February 4, 2014
Zambello’s handsome Carmen is graced by some fine performances, and not just from the horses.
February 4, 2014
A rather good opera company tucked away in Armidale. Who knew?
February 3, 2014
Without inviting accusations of Sydney snobbery, I think I can safely state that opera performances are not exactly a frequent occurrence in Armidale, a rural town of some 24,473 inhabitants in northern NSW. This makes the sophomore production by local company Opera New England something of a big deal – and not just for the town’s inhabitants, but for all those who believe opera can, and should, flourish outside Australia’s state capitals. Puccini’s La Bohème was the ambitious choice of opera (following on a well-received debut with Figaro last year), and it demonstrated that even a grand Romantic blockbuster can be staged in a small theatre on a small budget. All you need is an engaged community, a dash of talent and plenty of hard yakka. The cast of this production was comprised of hopeful young singers from around Australia, and I’m guessing it took little effort for them to step into the roles of passionate young artists living on the smell of an oily canvas. Many of the voices were still works-in-progress, but all the singers were able to meet the challenges of the score, some brilliantly so. As the consumptive seamstress Mimì, recent Sydney Con graduate Sarah Toth gave an assured performance,…
February 3, 2014
Royal Opera House brings the past to life as the Lady de Grey photo archive goes online. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
January 30, 2014
Strauss and Hoffmansthal’s fantastic fairytale has a reputation as a brute to stage and while expensive, requiring a heavy-duty cast of singers to do it justice its heavy symbolism and Jungian archetypes, it’s a gift to directors who can give free rein to their imagination. Sadly, most try too hard to spell out the bafflingly symbolic as seems to be the case in Jonathan Kent’s literal production which serves the human aspects well but is rather ho-hum when it comes to the other-worldly; Barak and his wife live in a squalid Laundromat while the inhabitants of the Spirit-World gad about in a colourful Russo-Oriental pastiche. The Mariinsky singers have the necessary heft but also a great deal of Slavic wobble. Best of the bunch were the Olgas Sergeeva and Savova as the Dyer’s wife and Nurse; both threw themselves into the maelstrom and their dramatic intensity made up for the occasional ugly sound. Gergiev’s conducting, while wildly exciting, lacks the sweeping Echt-Straussian line and while the strings make some glorious sounds the orchestra comes across as relentlessly loud and crude. An essential purchase for Gergiev fans, perhaps, but I would veer towards the Sawallisch/Munich production with its clever Kabuki-style and musical…
January 30, 2014
Charles Wuorinen’s operatic version of Annie Proulx’s gay classic gets mixed reception at Teatro Real, Madrid. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
January 30, 2014
So how did Opera Australia’s Ring Cycle measure up against the great productions of history?
January 29, 2014
