Il Trittico can be seen as Puccini’s operatic response to the challenge of cinema: three pacey shorts with flavoursome, impressionistic music designed to project a sense of time, place and action but with less of a focus on the traditional aria.  Richard Jones’ smart looking production from Covent Garden is its first Royal Opera staging in fifty years but with an excellent ensemble and stylish conducting from Antonio Pappano it clearly deserves to find a place in their permanent repertoire. The first instalment, Il Tabarro, is a miniature verissmo shocker set on a sweltering night in a seedy, Parisian waterside community (just off the red light district it would appear in this staging).  This is the dark side of La Bohème (Puccini even quotes from Mimi’s aria).  A tale of adultery and murder it receives passionate and pointedly non-glamorous performances from Eva-Maria Westbroek and Aleksandrs Antonenko as the doomed lovers.  Lucio Gallo puts in a sympathetic turn as the betrayed husband although vocally he is a bit dull.  The supporting roles are beautifully realised, especially Jeremy White and Irina Mishura as a world-weary docker and his wife. Next comes Puccini’s personal favourite, the gentle tragedy of Suor Angelica, which is…

John Bell's new production of Puccini's "shabby little shocker" is far from shabby but still a shocker.

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Kiri Te Kanawa, Mirella Freni, Ben Heppner and more reminisce about their most cherished albums.

Gale Edwards’s provocative staging of La Bohème, set amid the glamour and decadence of 1930s Berlin, was a visual feast. Anyone in want of a souvenir will thus probably prefer the DVD incarnation of this performance, but Opera Australia has covered all its bases just the same, and released it on CD as well. Recorded live in the acoustically frustrating Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House, this Bohème won’t delight audiophiles – the orchestra in particular sounds much more distant and tinny than it deserves – but the energy of live performance has been well captured, applause and all. As Mimì, Takesha Meshé Kizart sings with opulent voice and tremulous emotion. Her delivery is at times too mannered and grandiose, but all in all she taps effectively into the character’s sweet, passionate nature. Ji-Min Park brings ardent, youthful energy to Rodolfo, but his slender voice tends to sound pressurised, especially in moments of high volume or tessitura. The rest of the cast consists of familiar ensemble faces, with José Carbó’s Marcello as always a thing of vivid and idiomatic beauty. Taryn Fiebig is less convincing as the coquettish Musetta, however, and while Shane Lowrencev and David Parkin are solid…

Salvatore Licitra’s tragic death in a motorcycle accident last year hit the opera world hard. The tenor was one of his generation’s brightest stars, and at just 43 should have had a long and distinguished career ahead of him. Now Sony – with whom Licitra recorded a number of operas and solo albums – has released this 2-CD compilation in his honour. It’s a thrilling, poignant celebration of an artist in his prime, his voice bright, muscular and brimming with emotion. Most of the great Italian tenor repertoire is represented here – Verdi and Puccini dominate, along with various verismo favourites. From the bracing bravado of Di quella pira to a lovely Addio, fiorito asil, Licitra is in magnificent form. It’s repertoire he was born to sing: Cavaradossi, Canio, Manrico and all their brethren fit him ideally. The second disc shows Licitra’s lighter side, with selections from the album Duetto (with tenor Marcelo Álvarez) and previously unreleased recordings of Italian songs. Clearly aimed at the crossover market, the duets are on the syrupy side, but the quality of the singing is exceptional. Better yet are Licitra’s charming renditions of songs like Funiculi funiculà and O… Continue reading Get unlimited digital…

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The American soprano tells us why she relates so well to Mimì in Opera Australia’s erotically charged new bohème. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Opera Australia's Antoinette Halloran sings to a growing audience in her backyard.

The monumental discovery of an unfinished score reveals a composer fascinated with the exoticism of the land down under. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Opera Queensland has announced Julian Gavin is unable to perform due to prolonged illness. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in