Opera News articles from May 2004

Opera News archives from May 2004

The word on spring fashions.(Viewpoint)
May 1, 2004... The chapters of opera history written in Paris usually involve debacles of one sort or another: the scandalous premiere of Tannhauser, the hostile critical reception to Carmen, the sorely unappreciated genius of Berlioz, the tumultuous creation...

Opera watch.(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... 1. On March 6, CHARLES ANTHONY celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his Met debut by singing Spoletta in Tosca, his 2,882nd performance with the company. Met general manager JOSEPH VOLPE, who called Anthony "the soul of the Met," paid him...

Sound bites.(Brief Article)(Biography)
May 1, 2004... Christophe Dumaux's countertenor career has taken off as fast as his roller blades carry him around Creteil, a popular Parisian suburb where he lives. How did this potential geography teacher end up with engagements that include a Paris Opera...

Miss Liberty: french coloratura Natalie Dessay refuses to be stifled by business-as-usual opera productions.(Interview)(Cover Story)(Biography)
May 1, 2004... Natalie Dessay breathes life into everything she does--even Lyric Opera of Chicago's musty production of Lucia di Lammermoor last January. Dessay did not make an entrance. Her Lucia was discovered seated, stock-still and staring intently...

Little house on the Seine: how does Paris's Theatre du Chatelet manage to present exciting, festival-style opera, year after year? Three clues: location, adaptability and funding.
May 1, 2004... The current season at the Chatelet, dubbed "From Berlioz to Broadway," started off with a bang this past October, when John Eliot Gardiner led his Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique and Monteverdi Choir in Les Troyens, with Susan Graham...

Paris: romance and music.
May 1, 2004... La Fontaine des Mers (1836), one of two bronze fountains designed by Jacob Ignaz Hittorf for the Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris. The square was first illuminated at night by electricity in 1866, to celebrate the birthday of...

Divinites D'Aix.(Aix-En-Provence)
May 1, 2004... When you think of Aix-les-Bains, you probably think of fountains. The civic publicists certainly do, claiming that there are least twenty-three of them in the public domain, and variously likening their sounds to liquid song, champagne bubbles...

La vie en Orange: there's the famous festival, of course, but Alain Fantapie finds other treasures in this southern French city.
May 1, 2004... Those who come to Orange, in southern France, for the annual music festival would do well to look beyond what happens at its ancient theater and examine the rich history reflected in local traditions and culture, and in the stone of the city...

French resistance: how the French broke up with Lakme and Mireille and fell in love with Tosca and Isolde.
May 1, 2004... Hector Berlioz complained that his compatriots had never really appreciated him. Had he been born in Germany, he said, he would have made the career he aspired to--the career of an opera composer. Only after nerve-racking negotiations and...

Monsieur Melodie: Francois Le Roux is a singer with an amazing command of French music. Renaud Machart asks the expert.(Biography)
May 1, 2004... Not all singers are scholars, but French baritone Francois Le Roux knows his vocal history--particularly when it comes to the French art song. When Marcel Landowski's Le Fou was revived by the Theatre du Chatelet in early February this year,...

Madame Etoile: at seventy-seven, Regine Crespin remains a woman of style and substance.(Interview)(Biography)
May 1, 2004... Has the opera world ever known a more potent sex symbol than Regine Crespin? Critics, not known for their limitless vocabulary in describing great voices ("brassy" Merman, "creamy" Te Kanawa), never fail to mention her sexiness. Stage...

Beyond Barogue: Marc Minkowski, the man behind Les Musiciens du Louvre, has learned to hate the B-word.(Interview)
May 1, 2004... Marc Minkowski is eager to put the "Baroque conductor" tag to rest. "I have an obsession to prove I am a chameleon," he says. "I bad been swallowed by the Baroque ocean and my own success in this repertoire." Identity--in the sense of not...

Voices of summer.(The Best Of The European Festivals)(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... Those quick to proclaim the "death" of classical music and/or opera, solely based on the faltering budgets of arts institutions in America and abroad, would do well to take a hard look at the oasis that is this year's European festivals. They...

New York City.(North America)(Don Giovanni, L'Italiana, Queen of Spades)(Opera Review)
May 1, 2004... The Met's new Don Giovanni, introduced March 1, goes back to basics. Michael Yeargan's adjustable unit set, composed of tall, sliding brick walls, has a simple architectural grandeur reminiscent of the ruins of the Roman Colosseum. Defining the...

Chicago.(North America)(The Pirates of Penzance, L'Incoronazione di Poppea)(Opera Review)
May 1, 2004... It wasn't exactly bait and switch at the Lyric on February 5, but the new production didn't much resemble a promise fulfilled. Never mind. Things are seldom what they seem, even in the wonderful world of opera (especially in the wonderful world...

Seattle.(North America)(Ariadne auf Naxos)(Opera Review)
May 1, 2004... Seattle Opera's superlative new production of Ariadne auf Naxos (seen Feb. 28), directed by Chris Alexander and designed by Robert A. Dahlstrom, equaled in excellence the team's spectacular SO Boris Godunov of 2001. Ariadne complains, in "Es...

London.(International)(The Tempest)(Opera Review)
May 1, 2004... Eagerly awaited as one of the big events of the season was the premiere by the Royal Opera of Thomas Ades's The Tempest (February 10). The most acclaimed composer of his generation, feted by the critics since his early twenties, Ades has...

Rome.(International)(Marie Victoire)(Opera Review)
May 1, 2004... It has been fashionable for at least forty years for opera houses to unearth half-forgotten works in the hope of discovering a neglected masterpiece, but they rarely have the chance to stage the first-ever performance of an opera by a famous...

Paris.(International)(L'Espace Dernier)(Opera Review)
May 1, 2004... The last world premiere under Hugues Gall's directorship of the Opera National de Paris took place on February 23 at the Bastille. The work, by German composer-conductor Matthias Pintscher (born 1971), is described as "Musiktheater in four...

April online edition of Opera News.(International)(Brief Article)(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... NORTH AMERICA: Gotham Chamber Opera's Die Schwarze Spinne; Lyric Opera of Chicago revives Butterfly; Jo is New Jersey State Opera's Lucia; Caesar conquers Pittsburgh; Abduction! in Florida; Rigoletto in Dayton; Minnesota Opera's Lucrezia...

Eric Cutler.(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... Eric Cutter [] "DEBUT" Songs by Schumann, Liszt, Hahn, Barber B. Moore, piano. EMI 5856142 Eric Cutler has been making his mark on the opera world, after winning the Met auditions in 1998 and spending time in the Metropolitan Opera...

Mozart: Idomeneo.(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... MOZART: Idomeneo [] Evans, Patterson, Montague; Ford, Davies, Gedda, Bayley; Orchestra and Chorus of Opera North, Parry. English text. Chandos 3103 (2) This new English-language Idomeneo makes several provocative points, but they're likely...

Floyd: of Mice and Men.(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... FLOYD: Of Mice and Men [] Futral; Griffey, Hawkins, Patrick, Maddalena; Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Summers. Text. Albany TROY 621/22 (2) After lying quiescent for some years after its 1970 premiere, Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice...

Cras: Polypheme.(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... CRAS: Polypheme [] Marin-Degor, Debize; Beuron, Arapian; Choeur Regional Vittoria d'Ile-de-France, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Tovey. Text and translation. Timpani 3C3078 (Qualiton, dist.) Inventor, religions scholar and rear...

Rasch: Mein Herz Brennt.(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... RASCH: Mein Herz Brennt [] Pape; Thalbach (narrator); Dresden Symphony Orchestra, Carewe. No texts. Deutsche Grammophon B0001941-02 In Mein Herz Brennt (My Heart Burns), composer Torsten Rasch has achieved something genuinely astonishing....

Andreas Scholl.(Sound Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... Andreas Scholl [] "ARCADIA" Cantatas by Scarlatti, Marcello, Gasparini, Pasquini, Accademia Bizantina, Dantone. Texts and translations. Decca 1808-02 Countertenor Andreas Scholl is like a fine jewel, attractive in itself, but requiring a...

May online edition of Opera News.(Brief Article)
May 1, 2004... New recordings of Sullivan's Prodigal Son, Kozeluch's Moise in Egitto and Bach's St. John Passion; Conlon conducts Liszt's &. Stanislaus, historical recordings of Ariane et Barbe-Bleu and Macbeth. Ambrogio Maestri is a scene-stealing...

Janacek: the Cunning Little Vixen (animated film adaptation).(Video Recording Review)
May 1, 2004... JANACEK: The Cunning Little Vixen (animated film adaptation) [] Buffle, Doyle, Coxon, Watson; Deutsche Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Nagano. Performed in English. Opus Arte DVD OA 0871 D (Naxos, dist.), 75 mins. JANACEK: The Makropulos Case...

Dateline.(Calendar)
May 1, 2004... METROPOLITAN OPERA (Metropolitan Opera House, 212-362-6000; www.metopera.org) May 1m Don Giovanni (Mozart). Deshorties, Kringelborn, Tilling; Mattei, Polenzani, Pertusi, Bernstein, West; A. Davis, Keller, Yeargan/Robot-Pinson, Kalman ...

Paris coda.
May 1, 2004... Luxury Goods: The high-end French joailliers have opened boutiques in all the world's shopping capitals, but there is nothing quite like the exquisitely appointed Parisian ateliers of place Vendome and rue Saint-Honore. Visit CHOPARD (1)...