Mason Bates and Gene Scheer's take on Michael Chabon's 2001 Pulitzer Prize winning novel brings comic book superhero action to life on the Met stage GERALD MALONE Credit: Metropolitan Opera The amazing – and slightly bonkers - adventure of composer Mason Bates...
The festival offers a complete experience for nerds and first timers alike. As Pagliacci took his curtain call at the end of Ruggero Leoncavallo’s corpse-strewn masterpiece, his mum, immediately in front of me, plonk centre Row C in Wexford’s National Opera...
Scottish Opera flew into Manhattan to mark the opening night of their co-production with New York’s Met of Argentinian composer, Osvaldo Golijov’s opera, Ainadamar. A proud moment for Scot Op. A co-pro with the Met is a resounding endorsement of the...
The Met orchestra struck up The Star-Spangled Banner. It is a venerated tradition to sing the American national anthem – adopted in the US as recently as 1931 – at the opening of the Met season. The Lincoln Center’s 3,800 capacity crowd rose as one and sang...
Jove went rogue. He had been trolling the glam nymph Calisto, one of goddess Diana’s followers, below. On earth. Enraptured by her pouting Instagram selfies. Failing miserably. Not even an encouraging emoji for his troubles. Her vow of chastity held out. No first-time...
“Here we are again!”. The catchline of 19th century English music hall star, comedian, drag artist and singer Dan Leno, given a leading role in Kevin Puts’ opera, Elizabeth Cree, about The Limehouse Golem. Cheery subject for an upstate New York...
Nowhere transforms the English countryside into fairyland better than Garsington Opera stage. No opera is more atmospheric than Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In dampish Oxfordshire Wormsley estate the planets were aligned, all set fair,...
Fifty years ago, Christopher Hogwood grafted a new shoot to the tree of British classical music. His brainchild, the Academy of Ancient Music, was to champion the performance of Baroque music on contemporary instruments, providing listeners with a better understanding...
As BA cabin arrival announcements go, on landing at Larnaca in Cyprus, this was a doozy. “For those of you who have turned on your mobile phones and hit the ‘Maps’ button, we are not in Beirut”. Of course, I immediately disabled flight mode and fingered my iPhone...
All out Handel cyber-attack in Halle, Germany. Hang on! Cyber? Baroque, surely, at this 8th-century city’s annual Handelfest. You know, the towering headdresses, spangled costumes, descending Gods in fiery chariots, courtly dances, lots of standing about singing at...
Baroque opera, based as it usually is on improbable ancient myths and legends, nearly always benefits from a fresh eye from a bold director. If today’s audiences are to understand what the hell is going on, a quirky take will grab attention. Louisa Proske, Resident...
The Rest is Opera:
Making opera fun for those of us who ain’t aficianados!
His outing to the Glimmerglass opera festival in upstate New York in August has been scrubbed. One of his favourite calendar items, the festival is a showcase for up and coming artists and cutting-edge productions. He was particularly looking forward to a performance...