Latest Operas Stories
By Sue Gilmore For half its length, Bay Area author Amy Tan's 2001 novel "The Bonesetter's Daughter" thrums along in a quiet, self-reflective way, its narrative driven by the estrogen-drenched domestic angst that entangles mothers and daughters in so many of her books. In Part Two, on a particular page with a single spectacular incident, however, the whole thing explodes, going unmistakably, irretrievably, over-the-top operatic with such force that it casts everything that has gone before...
By Bob Strauss At the moment, Woody Allen is enjoying his most popular, best- reviewed movie in years, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." So, in typical self-sabotaging fashion, the next thing up for the 72-year-old comedian and film auteur is something he could likely get crucified for. "Unlike at movies, at the opera, they boo," says Allen, referring to his first-ever stab at directing live opera, "Gianni Schicchi," which premieres Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. "I don't know if I...
By Jim Farber In his New York City apartment, Placido Domingo keeps a small embroidered pillow that proclaims: "If I rest I rust." It certainly is the right motto for the globe-trotting tenor's nonstop lifestyle. One moment Domingo was in Beijing performing before thousands at the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games. Seemingly the next, even before the torch had time to cool, he was onstage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion to discuss the opening of Los Angeles Opera's 23 rd season. The...
By Cheryl North Seated in the single chair in front of the security man's cubicle in the lonely lobby of the Zellerbach rehearsal area in Davies Symphony Hall, I had almost given up the possibility of an interview with grand opera's gold medal-level baritone, Dmitri Hvorostovsky. Communication problems and hours of phone tag had stretched the time for our prospective interview from 2:30 p.m. on into the early evening. The great singer is in town with his beautiful Italian-born wife,...
TENOR Dean Power gave the performance of his life at the festival launch, singing the Handel aria Forte E Lieto Amore. The 22-year-old, who is to start a masters course at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, is representing the Opera Theatre Company, which will be performing in the festival. He said: "I've been singing for about eight years and it's really exciting and nerveracking to be chosen to be here today." Dean is on the Opera Theatre Company's young artists programme for the next...
By MOORE, Christopher Her voice has been described as gutsy and sensual. Russian singer Elena Bocharova talks to CHRISTOPHER MOORE. . The voice from a hot and humid New York city is unmistakably, unequivocally Russian. The personality filtering across the satellite link is also very Russian - expansive, warm, passionate, qualities which, according to a growing number of critics, are echoed in Elena Bocharova's operatic performances. Barely 16 years after she arrived in the United...
By George Loomis What a pleasure it would be to encounter a great production of "Don Giovanni" at the Salzburg Festival again, but a jinx seems to dog the venerable event's recent treatment of Mozart's core operas, this one in particular. Last year, following the Mozart anniversary year of 2006, when all 22 of the composer's operas were staged, the festival understandably took a break from new Mozart productions. But he is back this year in the Haus fur Mozart with a new "Don Giovanni" by...
By Erica Hansen Deseret News "PIRATED!" Rodgers Memorial Theatre, through Sept. 6, (801-298- 1302); running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes (one intermission) Romp: n. A high-spirited, carefree and boisterous play. That pretty much sums up creator/director Jim Christian's "Pirated," now running at Rodgers Memorial Theatre. Set in 1933 Hollywood, silent pictures are on their way out and "talkies" are the new trend. Not wanting the extra cost of hiring actors who can sing, and vice versa, owner...
ARCADIA - The music of Bernstein's most popular works, "Candide" and "West Side Story," will be featured at the California Philharmonic's "Beethoven, Bernstein and Bolero," which takes place at 8 p.m. Aug. 23 at the The Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave. Also featured will be the final movement - "Ode to Joy" - from Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9," and Ravel's "Bolero." Soprano Khori Dastoor, mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzm n, tenor Kalil Wilson and bass baritone Cedric Berry will join the orchestra...
By Kenneth Walton WHEN Scottish Opera performed Kurt Weill's The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny back in the 1980s, director David Alden placed the opening scene in Margaret Thatcher's 10 Downing Street kitchen. Such was the apparent extremism of right-wing Thatcherism at the time that the irony wasn't lost on an opera satirising a mythical American desert town where every man is out for himself; where lumberjack Jimmy Mahoney gets roasted on the electric chair for not being able to...
