The New Orleans Opera, performing in the spacious Mahalia Jackson Theater, presented Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera”, utilizing G. Alan Ruznak’s sets that place the opera in mid-19th century New Orleans. The performance (the first of two) was a vehicle for native son Paul Groves’ role debut in the lead tenor part of Riccardo. Thoughts on [...]
Entries from November 2011
Louisiana Locale, Impressive Casting for Paul Groves’ First “Ballo” – New Orleans Opera, November 18, 2011
November 19th, 2011
Tags: 2005-2012: William's Reviews
50 Year Anniversaries: Leontyne Price, Sandor Konya in “Madama Butterfly”: San Francisco Opera, September 28, 1961
November 13th, 2011
Note from William: This post continues my series of observances of the 50 year anniversaries of the historic performances that I attended at San Francisco Opera during the general directorship of Kurt Herbert Adler. This is the second of six such observances of performances from the company’s 1961 Fall season. As a college Freshman, who [...]
Tags: 50 Year Anniversaries
Vittorio Grigolo, Nino Machaidze Sublime in Ian Judge’s Romantic, Erotic “Romeo et Juliette” – Los Angeles Opera, November 9, 2011
November 11th, 2011
In 1868, the hottest ticket in Europe was the premiere of Charles Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette”, at Paris’ Theatre Lyrique on the Seine’s East Bank (just a few hundred feet West from where the present Theatre du Chatelet is located). It was one of the most successful opening nights of any opera in history, with [...]