Tag Archives: Santa Fe
Rigoletto in Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 26th August 2015The Santa Fe Opera presented Verdi’s Rigoletto on August 25, 2015. The virtues of Verdi’s masterpiece are too well known to warrant repetition. The success of this opera depends on the interpretive powers of its three principals and the leadership of the conductor. But it is the baritone who sings the title role who carries…
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Don Pasquale in Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd August 2014Donizetti’s comic masterpiece received its final performance of the season by the Santa Fe Opera on August 22, 2014. Laurent Pelly’s production is a collaboration with Barcelona’s Liceu and the San Francisco Opera. Pelly set the action in Post World War II Rome rather than the Rome of 100 years earlier. The time change was…
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Beethoven in Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd August 2014On Thursday evening August 21 the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival presented and all Beethoven program at the Lensic Performing Arts Center. The evening began with the last of Beethoven’s sonatas for cello and piano – the 5th in D Op 102, #2. Written in 1815 along with the 4th sonata, it was dedicated to…
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The Pearl Fishers in Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th July 2012Bizet’s opera The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) had never been performed by the Santa Fe Opera until this season. Since its premiere in 1863 it has hung around the outskirts of the standard operatic repertory. It has only received four performances by the Metropolitan Opera, the last in 1916 with Enrico Caruso heading the cast….
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Opening Night at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 20th July 2009Sunday, July 19, marked the beginning of the season for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. The first half of the program was devoted to French music. The second half consisted solely of Brahms’ Piano Trio No.1 in B major. First up was Faure’s lovely Elegy in C minor. This short piece was beautifully played…
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Don Giovanni Returns to Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th July 2009Last performed by the Santa Fe Opera in 2004, Director Chas Rader-Shieber production of Don Giovanni returned to the company’s stage last night (July 18, 2009). Designer David Zinn clothed even the trees in red and hot pink. His movable sets adjusted the changing scenes with great dramatic effect. The opera’s famous penultimate scene was…
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L’Elisir d’Amore in Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th July 2009The Santa Opera presented its new production of Donizetti’s comic ruby last night (July 15, 2009). Stephen Lawless set the action in an Italian village just at the conclusion of World War II. Why? Who knows. But the show works despite a few contradictions induced by the change in setting. Sergent Belcore is in the…
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