Opera News articles from July 2003

Opera News archives from July 2003

Pacific overtures. (Viewpoint).(Editorial)
July 1, 2003... An issue devoted to opera in California might suggest an issue devoted to opera in San Francisco. The Bay City, after all, has long been famous as a town where opera matters in a serious way. But as the OPERA NEWS editorial staff commenced...

Opera watch.(Calendar)
July 1, 2003... 1. The first new work of the 2003-04 opera season has an old-world pedigree. Russia's Romanov dynasty will be restored by LOS ANGELES OPERA on September 14, when DEBORAH DRATTELL's NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA has its world premiere at the Dorothy...

Opera Festival of New Jersey. (On The Beat).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... Opera Festival of New Jersey celebrates its twentieth anniversary this summer with productions of Wozzeck, L'Italiana in Algeri and Eugene Onegin. The season was dreamed up by the talented DAVID AGLER, now in his second year as the company's...

This month. (On The Beat).(Salzburg Festival presents L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe )(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... This month, the Salzburg Festival presents the world premiere of HANS WERNER HENZE's L'Upupa und der Triumph der Sohnesliebe (The Upupa-Bird and the Triumph of Filial Love). Maybe it isn't the snappiest title ever devised, but it does promise...

More bad news. (On The Beat).(Tower Records looking for buyer; James Conlon named music director of Ravinia Festival; and other news)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... More bad news for classical recordings: after establishing itself as an industry leader for many years, the great retailer Tower Records is shopping around for a buyer. Over the past few years, discount stores and the rise of free music...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
July 1, 2003... In my April column, I mistakenly referred to Edgar as Puccini's first opera. It is, of course, his second--Le Villi being his first.

Sound bites.(short profile of soprano Jennifer Aylmer)
July 1, 2003... Jennifer Aylmer already knows something that many veterans have yet to learn about performing comic material: "If you just stand there and deliver the song--the song itself is funny. You can't play the cute part. You have to be honest to the...

On-the-job experience. (A Singer's Diary).
July 1, 2003... If it ain't the heat, it's the humidity. Or sudden summer thunderstorm. Or a sound system gone haywire. All veterans of New York Grand Opera's performances in Central Park have a favorite story of some comic mishap. These anecdotes, however,...

How the west was won: the East Coast establishment has long dismissed Los Angeles as a cultural desert. But Lance Bowling's up-close look at the city's history reveals a century-long musical awakening.
July 1, 2003... In 1910, the census revealed that Los Angeles (population 319,000) had a higher proportion of working musicians than any other city with a population of 10,000 or more. New York music journalist Robert Grau wrote that year, "Los Angeles buys...

Cultural earthquake: Why L.A. isn't lotus-land anymore.
July 1, 2003... In some quarters of America, the notion of a sophisticated cultural life thriving in Los Angeles is still something of an oxymoron. The city's notorious and not undeserved reputation for making a fetish of the body and eschewing the life of the...

The Friedkin connection: he made his mark in Hollywood as the director of The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973). These days, Academy-Award winner William Friedkin has decided that his talents are best suited to opera.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... "I love opera," William Friedkin says during a recent interview in the office of Los Angeles Opera artistic director Placido Domingo. "I must say the fulfillment quotient is much better than with film. By the time you've finished directing a...

Disney's fantasia: the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall is the culmination of years of planning and dreaming on the part of some of L.A.'s leading lights.
July 1, 2003... For most of the music world, the moment of truth for Walt Disney Concert Hall will arrive on October 23, when Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the first concert in the new hall, a veritable trumpet-blast of...

The golden bowl: everybody from Judy Garland to the Beatles has played there--but since the 1920s, the Hollywood Bowl has also been one of the city's richest venues for opera and symphony concerts.
July 1, 2003... Carol Merrill-Mirsky, director and curator of the Hollywood Bowl Museum, enjoys the random approach to Bowl history best. "I just love to open up any book to any page," she says, snatching a bound program from a pile on a table without...

Baywatch: San Francisco Opera is in the midst of a daunting financial crisis--and general director Pamela Rosenberg is meeting it head-on.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... It has not proceeded quite as planned. After serving for a decade as co-general director of Stuttgart Opera, Pamela Rosenberg returned to California in August 2001 to assume the general directorship of San Francisco Opera, the company that, in...

Golden girl of the West: the fans at San Francisco Opera considered diva Dorothy Kirsten "theirs" in a way she didn't quite experience in New York.(includes discography)(Biography)
July 1, 2003... Dorothy Adelle Kirsten, though born and raised in Montclair, New Jersey, and subsequently a longtime resident of New York City, became America's best-loved California prima donna. It was a remarkable evolution. Kirsten originally wanted to be...

Reunion: Leopold Simoneau.(Interview)
July 1, 2003... For most opera-lovers lucky enough to have been around then, the art of the Mozart tenor reached a pinnacle in the 1950s and '60s with two great singers: Leopold Simoneau and Fritz Wunderlich. Wunderlich died early and left far too few recorded...

R. Strauss: Die Agyptische Helena.(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... [] Voigt, Shafer, Grove; Tanner, Robertson, Cutler; Concert Chorale of New York, American Symphony Orchestra, Botstein. Text and translation. Telarc 80605 (2) Die Agyptische Helena, the fifth of the six operas Richard Strauss wrote with...

Britten: Albert Herring.(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... [] Bullock, Evans, Stephen, Burgess, Collins; Gilchrist, Tear, Williams, Opie, Richardson; City of London Sinfonia, Hickox. Chandos CHAN 10036 (2) This, the third studio recording of Britten's comic chamber opera, could have been enjoyed...

Wagner: Die Walkure.(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... [] Schnaut, W. Meier, Fujimura; Seiffert, Tomlinson, Rydl; Bavarian State Orchestra, Mehta. Notes, text and translation. Farao Classics B 108 040 This Walkure, recorded live at the Bavarian State Opera in July 2002, had a troubled past....

Mercadante: Zaira.(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... [] Cullagh, Wild; Miles, Ford, Magee, Lee; Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Philharmonia Orchestra, Parry. Text and translation. Opera Rara 0RR224 As The New Grove Dictionary of Opera puts it, Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870) was "the most important...

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle.(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... [] Kallisch, Fried; Radio Symphony Orchestra of the SWR, Stuttgart, Eotvos: Translations, but no original text. Hanssler CD 93070 Bela Bartok's first and only opera was unveiled to a largely uncomprehending audience and a group of baffled...

"La Rimembranza".(a CD containing songs from Il Salotto - Verdi, Arditi, Costa, Gabussi, Pedrotti et al)(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... Songs from Il Salotto, Vol. 5, by Verdi, Arditi, Costa, Gabussi, Pedrotti et al. Cullagh, Custer, Larmore; Siragusa, Ford, Smythe; Harper, piano. Texts and translations. Opera Rara ORR 223 The latest offering from Opera Rara's fine series...

Pilar Lorengar "The Art Of Pilar Lorengar".(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... Arias and songs by Puccini, Dvovak, Mozart, Bizet, Wagner, R. Strauss, Korngold, Charpentier, Granados and Falla. Various orchestras, Patane, Lopez-Cobos, Solti, Weller; de Larrocha, piano. No texts or translations. Decca 473317-2 (2) ...

Erna Berger "A Vocal Portrait".(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... Arias by Mozart, Verdi, J. Strauss, Puccini, Weber, Donizetti, Bizet. Berlin State Opera Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Blech, Susskind, Beecham and others. No texts or translations. Naxos Historical 8.110733 ...

"Berlin 1930".(CD of songs by Weill, Nelson, Hollaender and Grosz; article includes on-line Opera News for July)(Sound Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... * Excerpts from Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper and Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, songs by Nelson, Hollaender and Grosz. With Lenya, Helmke, Dietrich, Neher, Lion; Brecht, Gerron, Ponto, Bols, Prejean, others; various ensembles. Notes,...

Adams: The Death of Klinghoffer.(Movie Review)
July 1, 2003... * Film by Penny Woodcock. Howard, Blase; Randle, Sylvan, Maltman, Melrose; London Symphony Orchestra, Adams. 115 mins. JOHN ADAMS: A Portrait and a Concert of American Music * Works by Nancarrow, Adams, Reich. Ensemble Intercontemporain,...

Verdi: Il Trovatore.(two DVDs reviewed)(Video Recording Review)
July 1, 2003... * Gencer, Barbieri; Del Monaco, Bastianini, Clabassi; Orchestra Sinfinico e Coro di Milano della RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, Previtali. Hardy Classic DVD HCD 4006 (VAI, dist.), 123 mins. * Villarroel, Naef; Cura, Hvorostovsky, Tomasson;...

From around the world: Houston. (North America).(Houston Grand Opera's La Traviata)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... There she was, tucked into the downstage-left corner of Desmond Heeley's super-deluxe Act I decor for Houston Grand Opera's La Traviata--Renee Fleming, queen of the world's lyric sopranos, poised to make the most eagerly-awaited role debut of...

From around the world: New York City. (North America).(Wagner's Parsifal at the Met, and other operas in NYC)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... The presence of Valery Gergiev on the podium, with Rene Pape and Falk Struckmann assuming their roles here for the first time, added particular interest to the revival of the Met's 1991 production of Wagner's Parsifal. At the opening...

From around the world: Pittsburg. (North America).(Pittsburgh Opera presents La Boheme )(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... Ruth Ann Swenson's role debut as Mimi (at the Benedum Center, April 27) was a tryout with Pittsburgh Opera, with a view to eventual performances at the Met. It is another step in this singer's gradual vocal progression from the bel canto...

From around the world: Brooklyn. (North America).(Brooklyn Philharmonic and Brooklyn Academy of Music present Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... In late April, the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the Brooklyn Academy of Music teamed up for a production of Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte at the Harvey Theater (seen April 28). It was notable chiefly for the rare chance to savor the artistry of two fine...

From around the world: Washington, DC. (North America).(Washington Opera presents Don Giovanni)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... Washington Opera's diverting new production of Don Giovanni, designed for its temporary home in Constitution Hall, seemed determined to prove Oscar Wilde's observation that "wickedness is a myth invented by good people to account for the...

From around the world: Denver. (North America).(Opera Colorado presents Sweeney Todd)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... Seemingly all at once, opera companies have rediscovered Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim's deliciously ghoulish Broadway hit about a vengeful, crazed barber. Troupes including Lyric Opera of Chicago and Toledo Opera have presented it this...

From around the world: Melbourne. (International).(Opera Australia's Lulu reviewed)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... Opera Australia's dazzling new production of Lulu (seen April 15) didn't seek to neutralize the dualities in this demanding, contradictory work: mundane versus mythic, satirical versus realistic, hyperbolic versus cool. And, perhaps following...

From around the world: Berlin. (International).(Achim Freyer directs Salome for Deutsche Oper)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... Achim Freyer's new Salome for Deutsche Oper was misjudged on many counts. As always with Freyer, the images were intriguing, an invitation to delve deeper into whatever he sees in the piece. In this case, the starting-point seemed to be...

From around the world: Salzburg. (International).(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... The newly reorganized Salzburg Easter Festival presented an emotionally charged, visually static Fidelio last April, with the dynamic Berlin Philharmonic, led by its new director, Simon Rattle. Nikolaus Lehnhoff's austere production, in black,...

From around the world: London. (International).(opera Elektra plays Covent Garden)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... Covent Gardens new Elektra (March 31) was to have been conducted by Christoph yon Dohnanyi, who withdrew due to pneumonia. He was replaced by Semyon Bychkov (house debut), whose experience in this piece told in the precision and drive of an...

From around the world: Paris. (International).(Robert Carsen directs Rameau opera Les Boreades)(Opera Review)
July 1, 2003... Rameau's last opera, Les Boreades, was never performed during the composer's lifetime, perhaps due to the composer's death, in 1764, or perhaps because the libretto by Louis de Cahusac, a freemason, denounces the abuse of power and celebrates...

July on-line edition of opera news.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2003... NORTH AMERICA: At the Met, debutante Brewer is Ariadne, Jepson the Composer; Gruber returns to Abigaille; Kringelborn, Botha and Morris perform Meistersinger. Goeldner is City Opera's zesty Carmen; Dicapo offers Sondheim's Passion; New York...

Dateline.(Calendar)
July 1, 2003... KIROV OPERA (Metropolitan Opera House, 212-362-6000; www.metopera.org) July 8 Semyon Kotko (Prokofiev). Pavlovskaya, Loskutova, Savova; Lutsiuk, Chernomortsev, Bezzubenkov; Gergiev July 9 Semyon Kotko (Prokofiev). Mataeva, Loskutova,...

Libiamo! (Coda).(review of San Francisco restaurant La Traviata)(Restaurant Review)
July 1, 2003... With salsa on the stereos blaring on the sidewalks and salsa on most tables indoors, San Francisco's Mission District is proud home to dozens of Mexican and Central American restaurants--and one old-fashioned trattoria, La Traviata (2854...