BWW Review: Splendid FELLOW TRAVELERS at Des Moines Metro Opera
by DC Felton - July 22, 2021
Every once in a while, a show comes along that takes you completely by surprise. For me, this recently happened with Des Moines Metro Opera's one-night-only performance of FELLOW TRAVELERS at Hoyt Sherman Place....
BWW Review: PLATEE at Des Moines Metro Opera: An Exciting Updated Production for a Classic Opera
by DC Felton - July 13, 2021
Pink, voguing, drag, stiletto heels, opera, seeing that list, you may feel that opera seems out of place, but you couldn't be more wrong. On July 10, Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) took all those and melded them together as they opened the company's premiere production of 'Platée.' While many compani...
BWW Review: MAZEPPA - Opera Blockbuster at Bolshoi Theatre
by Ani Arutyunyan - July 08, 2021
Recently the Bolshoi Theatre presented Tchaikovsky's three acts opera 'Mazeppa', based on Pushkin's poem 'Poltava', part of cultural legacy of Mazeppa. Pushkin took some creative freedom in order to create powerful characters and grand passions. The opera was composed between June 1881 and April 188...
BWW Review: QUEEN OF SPADES in Des Moines Sets Off Fireworks of Its Own in Time for the Holiday
by DC Felton - July 06, 2021
While fireworks may have been going off outside on July 3, Des the Des Moines Metro Opera continued their grand opening weekend after a year with no live opera. The celebration inside was for the opening of their second production of the summer, Tchaikovsky's THE QUEEN OF SPADES, with a libretto b...
BWW Review: Attend the Tale of SWEENEY TODD in Des Moines—the Perfect Evening After a Year Without Theatre
by DC Felton - July 07, 2021
On June 27th, 2019, Des Moines Metro Opera announced its 2020 season to the public but what captured my attention was a barber's chair dimly lit by a window above it. There is only one show that this could have been, Stephen Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD. I had seen the recording of the original product...
BWW Review: Beethoven Rises from the Dead at Green-Wood Cemetery Thanks to Violinist Gil Shaham, The Knights and “Death of Classical”
by Richard Sasanow - June 29, 2021
Pre-Covid, to quote an old groaner, people were dying to get into Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery for the Angel’s Share concert series spearheaded by Andrew Ousley, producer of “Death of Classical.” The latest concert, on June 25, starred violinist Gil Shaham and The Knights ensemble in a sparkling '...
BWW Review: COSI FAN TUTTE at Opera Wroclaw
by Natalia Jarczynska - June 28, 2021
Opera is not always easy to digest, but this piece is an ideal start for beginners. Perfectly well prepared, full of life and elegance will be a wonderful evening that you can spend surrounded by high culture. It is a lively, cheerful and lively spectacle....
BWW Review: EXPRESS G&S, Pleasance Theatre
by Gary Naylor - June 24, 2021
Hop on the Express G&S and see a detective solve a mystery with the help of some of Gilbert and Sullivan's greatest hits....
BWW Review: J'Nai Bridges Recital for LA Opera
by Maria Nockin - June 23, 2021
On June 22, I watched J’Nai Bridges’ online recital at Los Angeles Opera’s website. Bridges has been making highly acclaimed debuts at major opera houses. For her LA Opera recital, she chose major selections by Johannes Brahms and Charles Gounod as well as many lesser-known shorter pieces. She sang ...
BWW Review: IOLANTHE, The Roman Theatre St Albans
by Gary Naylor - June 17, 2021
Fantastical fairies and pompous politicians collide in this sweet satire, one of Britain's favourite operas....
BWW Review: L'EGISTO, Cockpit Theatre
by Gary Naylor - June 07, 2021
Hampstead Garden Opera bring a slice of 17th century Venetian sensibility to our Covidy times....
BWW Review: New Name, Same Competition as Met Council Awards Morph into Laffont Competition and Announce 2021 Winners
by Richard Sasanow - May 17, 2021
On Sunday afternoon, the winners of what had been the Met’s annual National Council Auditions now, the Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition (charmingly emceed by Ryan Speedo Green), were named. This year’s Fab Five were Korean soprano Hyoyoung Kim (the Birgit Nilsson Award), soprano Raven McMillon...
BWW Review: Los Angeles Opera and Opera San Jose Celebrate Latina Composers
by Maria Nockin - May 17, 2021
On Saturday, May 15, 2021, Los Angeles Opera and Opera San Jose presented a recital honoring Latina composers. It includes songs by Modesta Bor, María Luisa Escobar, Chabuca Granda, María Grever, Ernestina Lecuona , Ángela Peralta, Consuelo Velázquez, and contemporary writers, Gabriela Lena Frank,...
BWW Review: All Hail the Met's “Wagnerians in Concert,” Live from Wiesbaden, Germany
by Richard Sasanow - May 09, 2021
With nary a “Ho-yo-to-ho” to be heard, the Met’s “Met Stars Live in Concert” series brought four eminent Wagnerians--sopranos Christine Goerke and Elza van den Heever, tenor Andreas Schager and baritone Michael Volle--together from the dazzlingly Baroque Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden, German...
BWW Review: dwb (driving while black) film at UrbanArias
by Barbara Trainin Blank - May 03, 2021
The title and content of this filmed opera reminded me of a friend with a young biracial relative. Whenever he ventures out, whether by foot or car, his mother provides him with a letter explaining who he is and asserting that his purpose is benevolent in case the police may approach him....
BWW Review: BRYAN HYMEL RECITAL FOR ARIZONA OPERA AND TUCSON DESERT SONG FESTIVAL
by Maria Nockin - April 29, 2021
On April 28, 2021, Arizona Opera, in partnership with Tucson Desert Song Festival, presented an online recital by dramatic tenor Bryan Hymel and pianist Michael Borowitz. They opened their streamed recital with the lyrical aria, 'Ombra mai fu” from Handel’s opera Xerxes. Sung by Xerxes I of Persia i...
BWW Review: THE SAN DIEGO OPERA'S BARBER OF SEVILLE at Pechanga Sports Arena
by Ron Bierman - April 29, 2021
The San Diego Opera continued its quixotic foray into parking-lot adventures with The Barber of Seville by Rossini, social distancing once again forcing substantial changes to a production's length and cast size. Revisions to libretto, costumes, set and lighting went all out for a zany farcical effe...
BWW Review: Lyricist-Librettist Mark Campbell Brings His Vision of the World to NY Festival of Song
by Richard Sasanow - April 18, 2021
Whether he’s writing about soldiers in World War I (SILENT NIGHT with Kevin Puts) or immigrants landing on Ellis Island (A NATION OF OTHERS with Paul Moravec), setting a ‘penny dreadful’-inspired story (ELIZABETH CREE with Puts) or looking inside a mad genius of technology [THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE...
BWW Review: DON PASQUALE at Opera Santa Barbara
by Maggie Yates - April 12, 2021
Don Pasquale, directed by Josh Shaw, is a comic opera that pits the vivacious young Norina (Jana McIntyre) and her lover, Ernesto (Matthew Grills), against Ernesto's blustering, elderly uncle, Don Pasquale (Andrew Potter)....
BWW Review: THE IMPRESARIO at Enigma Chamber Opera
by Andrew Child - April 08, 2021
There is a lot good about Enigma Chamber Opera’s new meta-comedy adaptation of Mozart’s The Impresario, but the highest praise must be reserved for its formatting as a highly scroll-able hour-long entertainment (mainly because it is actually at most a 20 minute performance trapped inside a redundant...
BWW Review: Merola Opera Program: ANYTHING FOR LOVE AND HONOR
by Maria Nockin - March 24, 2021
On Sunday, March 21, 2021, tenor Issachah Savage and collaborative pianist Laurie Rogers gave a half-hour recital called Anything for Love and Honor for the Merola Opera Program. Savage, a former member of Merola, won three prizes at Seattle’s International Wagner Competition in 2014: First Prize, t...
BWW Review: San Francisco Opera Streams SIEGFRIED
by Maria Nockin - March 22, 2021
On March 20, 2021, San Francisco Opera presented a free stream of Richard Wagner’s opera Siegfried as part of Francesca Zambello’s 2017-2018 American Ring. Forest projections set the mood for Runnicles and Zambello’s nature-friendly, quasi-impressionistic rendering of the opera. Lighting Designer Ma...
BWW Review: A CHILD OF OUR TIME: ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2021 at Adelaide Festival Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre
by Barry Lenny - March 17, 2021
It begins with the mezzo-soprano, the wonderful Elizabeth Campbell....
BWW Review: Houston Opera's Jack Swanson Recital
by Maria Nockin - March 15, 2021
On Friday evening March 12, 2021, Houston Grand Opera presented Live from The Cullen: Jack Swanson and Richard Bado in a wide-ranging recital of music by Robert Schumann, Leonard Bernstein, Roger Quilter, Kurt Weill, Franz Liszt, and Gioachino Rossini. Swanson can hold his audience spellbound with ...
BWW Review: Santa Fe Opera Online Benefit Concert
by Maria Nockin - March 12, 2021
On March 11, 2021, Santa Fe Opera presented an online benefit concert for its renowned apprentice programs. Singing the concert were former apprentices mezzo-soprano Emily Fons, tenor Jack Swanson, and baritone Will Liverman. Fons sings an aria from The Haunted Manor, Liverman sings an aria from Pag...
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