Category Archives: Opera
È sogno o realtà?
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 6th May 2023Verdi’s last opera Falstaff, written when he was almost 80, is opera’s greatest sport. It is unlike anything else by the composer or by anyone else, for that matter. Verdi had written all his previous with the expectation of pleasing his audiences while observing the highest artistic standards. But near the end of his life,…
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Champion in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th April 2023Terence Blanchard’s second opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones which opened the Met’s previous season was such a hit (it will be back next season) that the company staged his first opera Champion this year. The opera tells the story of five time boxing champion Emile Griffith. Musically Blanchard’s first opera is not as…
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Faust – The End
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th April 2023Charles Gounod’s opera Faust, very loosely based of Part1 of Goethe’s Faust, was once so frequently performed that its constant presence at New York’s Metropolitan Opera caused the house to be derisively dubbed the Faustspielhaus. Today the opera, while still performed is not as frequent a visitor at the world’s lyric theaters as it was…
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Der Rosenkavalier Not in HD – 2023
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 15th April 2023When I arrived at the theater where I have been watching the Met’s HD telecasts since they started about 17 years ago I was informed that the theater’s sound system had failed and accordingly the show would not go on – at least not where I was. I returned home in time to catch the…
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Sing For Your Life – Book Review
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 10th April 2023This evening the Met will present its first performance of Terence Blanchard’s opera Champion about the life of boxer Emile Griffith. The leading role will be sung by Ryan Speedo Green whose life story is worthy of its own opera. It’s already been the subject of a book – Sing For Your Life: A Story…
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Falstaff in HD 2023
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 1st April 2023Robert Carsen’s production of Verdi’s valedictory masterpiece Falstaff was first telecast by the Met in December 2013. It returned today with a new cast. Verdi’s last work for the stage is an operatic sport. There is no work in the canon like it. Its melodic fecundity, mercury-like pace, vocal ingenuity, and its deep insight into…
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Finale 37 – Act I Lohengrin
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 30th March 2023Wagner’s most performed opera, Lohengrin, returned to the Met this season after hiatus of 17 years. It is also the only Wagner opera we know for certain that Verdi saw in performance. This was on November 9, 1871 in Bologna. He left detailed notes on his impression of the work. The Bologna production was the…
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LSO Performs Shostakovich and Shchedrin
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th March 2023On April 22 the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 1. The soloist will be Cliburn winner Kenny Broberg. He will be joined by trumpeter Will Strieder. The second half of the evening’s program will present Rodion Shchedrin’s adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen For String Orchestra and Percussion. Tickets can be purchased…
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Robert Merrill Sings Porgy and Bess
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th March 2023Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess is now a standard in the operatic repertory. In 1950 a complete performance of the opera was hard to find. The best known songs from the work were often done as recital pieces or on recordings. The Met didn’t mount its first production of the opera until 1985. In 1950 two…
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Lohengrin in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th March 2023Wagner’s most popular opera returned to the Met this season after an absence of almost 17 years. This new production was directed by François Girard with sets and costume by Tim Yip. The staging uses stark walls and a circular device through which moved a succession of moons. Stars dominated the third act. The choristers…
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