Opera Warhorses

I suspect that most opera goers spend rather little time thinking about the contributions that librettists make to the world of opera. Most will know that Wagner wrote all the words to his operas. Probably, most opera aficionados will associate the librettist Lorenzo da Ponte with Mozart, and Arrigo Boito with Verdi, and Hugo von [...]

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In midyear 2008, I highlighted the operatic works of Benjamin Britten in a “Quests and Anticipations” feature, entitled In Quest of Britten – A 2008-09 Itinerary. During that period, I reviewed performances of Britten works at the Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera and the Hamburg Staatsoper and my colleague Tom reviewed another at the [...]

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As related in the first article in this series, the Los Angeles Opera is mounting three cycles of Wagner’s four opera “Ring of the Nibelungs” in May and June 2010. A year later the San Francisco Opera will present the “Ring” in an entirely different production, with a different conductor and an almost completely different [...]

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