Category Archives: Opera
Madama Butterfly Partially in HD -2024
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th May 2024No composer ever wrote a better opera than Puccini’s sad tale of love and abuse set in early 20th century Japan. The late Anthony Minghella’s production has been regularly staged at the Met since it opened the season in 2006. I was at that first performance and liked its colorful and spare staging except for…
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Asmik Grigorian
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 1st May 2024Asmik Grigorian is a Lithuanian soprano (b 1981) who just made her Met debut in the title role of Madama Butterfly. She will repeat the role in the final telecast of this year’s Met in HD series on Saturday, May 11. Over the last decade, she has appeared in an astounding variety of roles at…
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Gunshots
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th April 2024Guns and show business are found together almost as frequently as politicians and TV cameras. Opera is no exception Below are eight operas, well the last one is a trespasser, in which guns are part of the action. In some they are pivotal. My only requirement for inclusion in this article is that gunshots must…
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La Rondine in HD – 2024
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th April 2024Today’s HD telecast of Puccini’s afternoon off – La Rondine – was a repeat of the production of 2009 but with a different cast. The composer’s attempt to write an Italian opera vaguely in the style of a Viennese operetta contains a lot of beautiful music in the service of a work that’s not close…
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Aprile Millo
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th April 2024Aprille Millo (b 1958) is an American soprano who became famous in her twenties. She appeared 161 times at the Met between 1984 and 2007. She was at her vocal peak between 1986 and 1996. Thereafter her appearances at the Met decreased until until she stopped singing with the company before she was 50. She…
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Golden Days – Mario Lanza
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th April 2024The title above is that of a new CD containing 23 selections sung by the late tenor. Why another Lanza disc when so many are already available? These have been remastered and converted to Digitally Extracted Stereo (DES). When listened to on a good audio system the effect is magical. Lanza’s voice is even more…
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Carlo Bergonzi
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd April 2024Carlo Bergonzi (1924-2014) enjoyed a long career as a leading tenor with all of the world’s major opera companies. He was born in Polesine Parmense near Parma. During World War II he was an active anti-Nazi and in 1943 was imprisoned by the Germans. After being released by the Russians he walked over 100 km…
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Roméo et Juliette in HD 2024
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th March 2024I couldn’t get to the live broadcast of this opera last Saturday. Accordingly, I went to the encore presentation today. Bart Sher’s production of Gounod’s opera was telecast by the Met in 2017. In my review of this staging, I said this: “This production, by Bartlett Sher, is new to the Met though its origin…
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Benjamin Bernheim – Boulevard des Italiens
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th March 2024Boulevard des Italiens is the title of French tenor Benjamin Bernheim’s second CD. Released in 2022 it offers 16 selections. The recital presents arias and one duet written by Italian composers to French texts or subsequently adapted to French texts for performances in France. Bernheim was born in Paris and grew up in Geneva. Before…
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Pace, Pace, Mio Dio!
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th March 2024The Metropolitan Opera’s new staging of Verdi’s La Forza Del Destino has caused much comment about the performance of one of the composer’s great soprano roles by a singer (Lise Davidsen) best known for her performances of the heroic German roles. Many reviewers felt that her performance was an outstanding effort. Others, including me, thought…
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