Election night 2020 IN Series opened a cantata-as-opera based on the Senate Judiciary hearings of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. It was bold enough that Artistic Director Timothy Nelson had announced earlier this year that his company IN Series would be “the first completely virtual opera house” and produce a full season of works. Then came […]
Review: IN Series takes to film with a contemporary Orphée et Eurydice
IN Series is presenting its 2020-2021 season completely online and free through its platform, INvision, though paid access has additional perks. Their production of Orphée et Eurydice (which became available November 1) embraces the unique qualities of film with no regrets for the absence of stage production. Presenting Opera (a uniquely non-realistic medium) as film […]
Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ruth Bader Ginsburg well earned the sobriquet “Notorious.” Everything about her seemed to live in happy contradiction. She followed her mother’s “dueling” advice: always to be a lady and to live a life of independence. She sparred almost daily with her more conservative “constitutionalist” colleague on the Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia, yet considered him a […]
Opera Lafayette heads to Colorado cattle country for live open air performances of The Blacksmith
Learning about performance companies leaping into bold adventures and rediscovering the impulse of sharing their art in new creative ways has never been more welcome. Opera Lafayette, a company known primarily for its performances of lost operatic masterworks staged in period costumes with accurately reconstructed choreography, has busted out of its well-accoutered walls and heads […]
Francesca Zambello: Thoughts on opera in the time of Covid
On May 13th, Opera America launched its first annual conference online, marking the organization’s Fiftieth Anniversary. Over 1200 people had signed in when I checked the count of attendees, representing fellow artists and organizations the world over. Many, I’m sure, had been feeling scared or depressed, struggling through shutdowns, layoffs, and most especially questions regarding […]
Opera review: Don Giovanni meets the #MeToo movement
It was inevitable. Don Giovanni would have to face the match of his life against the #MeToo movement. The problem is this production, not two years after the resplendent WNO production directed by John Pascoe, not only brought down the man, but the production itself, and all but poor Amadeus Mozart. The stakes were high […]
Opera review: Samson and Delilah. Modern technicals make this rarely seen story “an opera for the senses”
Opening night came on a Sunday afternoon for Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns. It’s an opera not seen in Washington for ages, and, headlined by the ravishing J’Nai Bridges, the event was highly anticipated. The production moved like a rolling dreamscape, an opera for the senses – and especially the heart. We hear a […]
Review: World Stages: The Clemency of Titus
In The Clemency of Titus, currently being presented at the Kennedy Center under its World Stages program, we have the most unbelievable plot imaginable given one of the most delightful productions imaginable. This production is well worth a visit. And I look forward to seeing anything else this collaborative produces. The multi-award-winning Havana Lyceum Orchestra […]
Review: Three new operas showcased in WNO’s AOI Festival 2020. Is the development process working?
2020 marks the 8th year of Washington National Opera’s showcase of new compositional teams working in the most specialized art form of opera in a rollout of three twenty-minute operas. It’s clearly a much-needed service. Opera companies across the country are searching to develop new talent but, even more, to attract younger audiences. Most of […]
Review: Venus and Adonis from Opera Lafayette
Celebrating Opera Lafayette’s twenty-fifth season, Ryan Brown has brought a rare and truly exquisite small gem of an opera to Washington audiences. To do so, Brown has left his more familiar continental excavations of early operatic repertoire and jumped the Channel to England to the court of Charles II where, in John Blow’s composition, he […]
Review: Mozart’s whimsical The Magic Flute from Washington National Opera
Wild things abound in this production of Washington National Opera’s The Magic Flute, currently playing at the Kennedy Center. With Maurice Sendak’s artwork at its forefront, the opera’s elements of childlike whimsy makes it an entertaining night for audiences of all ages. Conventions of opera are adhered to, with all of the classical training obvious […]
Review: Otello from Washington National Opera
Washington National Opera opened its 2019-20 season at the Kennedy Center on Saturday night with a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Otello signaling that the company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Francesca Zambello and General Director Timothy O’Leary, goes from strength to strength as it embarks upon its 64th season. Verdi esteemed no writer more […]
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