Lyric Opera scheduled two runs of Bizet’s “Carmen” for its 2010-2011 season, in October and in March. The March performances paired the Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Nadia Krasteva as Carmen with American tenor Brandon Jovanovich as Don Jose. At this stage of their careers, both assignments are signature roles for the two artists. I have previously remarked [...]
Entries from March 2011
Krasteva, Jovanovich Sizzle in Chicago “Carmen” – Lyric Opera, March 15, 2011
March 17th, 2011
Tags: 2005-2012: William's Reviews
Countdown to Britten Centennial: Conlon, Racette and Burden Impress in Enigmatic “Turn of the Screw” – March 12, 2011
March 15th, 2011
The Los Angeles Opera is only mounting six mainstage operas for its 2010-11 season, but of these six the company mounted works by three composers whose bicentennial or centennial years will be celebrated in 2013. Wagner and Verdi were represented by popular core works, respectively “Lohengrin” and “Rigoletto”, but to honor Britten, L. A. Opera [...]
Tags: 2005-2012: William's Reviews
Dropping in on the Adler Years: The Spirit – and High B flats – of ’79…..
March 13th, 2011
Our guest commentator (and historian of the San Francisco Opera) Arthur Bloomfield writes: Time to review another of the protein-rich San Francisco Opera seasons from the final years of Kurt Herbert Adler’s long reign as the company’s all-seeing general director, that veritable eagle of Van Ness Avenue. Listening again to the 1979 broadcasts, where to begin? [...]