138 stories by "Richard Sasanow"
For the sheer magnitude of its singing, there hasn't been anything like the Met's ecstatic new production of TRISTAN UND ISOLDE in a very long time.
Quick: What film won the Golden Globe for Best Movie in 1997? It was THE ENGLISH PATIENT. But more important for composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek, the question is What film…
South African soprano Elza van den Heever has long had a 'date' with Beethoven's Leonore, in his only completed opera FIDELIO. It wasn't exactly a blind date--she has known for years that, e…
When South African soprano Elza van den Heever made her debut at the Met, as Elizabeth I in Donizetti's MARIA STUARDA, it was something that was totally memorable in every way--not only for …
It probably would have been worth the trip to Bard SummerScape's production of Pietro Mascagni's IRIS--last heard at the Met in 1931--simply to make the acquaintance of soprano Talise Trevig…
THE ILLUMINATED HEART, the opening program for this year's Mostly Mozart Festival--the 50th--at David Geffen Hall, may not have offered any new insights into the mind of the genius composer …
Although the solstice doesn't officially appear for another week or so, the summer opera clock is already ticking. There's a plethora of performances going on all over New York City, in addi…
Although Kevin Newbury has directed operas by some of history's greatest composers--Donizetti and Bellini, Strauss and Mozart among them--he makes no bones about it: He prefers his composers…
Earth Day has come and gone in 2016, but symphonic orchestra audiences in New York have lots to remember from this year's celebration, with performances of Mahler's DAS LIED VON DER ERDE (SO…
Do you remember that cataclysmal moment in the Stanley Kubrick film of Stephen King's The Shining, when Jack Nicholson axes his way through the bathroom door and says, wild-eyed, Here's John…
When Broadway's Andrew Lippa was commissioned by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus to write I AM HARVEY MILK for its 35th anniversary in 2013, the hour-long work was a success from the star…
The world premiere production of a new work, I AM ANNE HUTCHINSON I AM HARVEY MILK--what the creators call a concept opera--takes place next Saturday, April 23, at the Music Center at Strath…
The premiere of JFK in Fort Worth on April 23 is a big step forward for composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek--who made a splash in contemporary opera circles with their post-…
The Tudor Trilogy --putting together Donizetti's ANNA BOLENA, MARIA STUARDA and ROBERTO DEVEREUX--was fabricated to light Beverly Sills' fire as America's Queen of Opera at the old New York …
Tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who's justly acclaimed for his high notes--forget about a high C; how about an F above that!?--just finished the New York premiere of the Daniel Schnyder opera CHARL…
In THE ORPHIC MOMENT, a "dramatic cantata," composer-librettist-conductor-poet (phew!) Matthew Aucoin takes an 18th century masterwork, Gluck's ORFEO ED EURYDICE--perhaps the greatest of the…
MADAMA BUTTERFLY was never my favorite Puccini until the current production conceived by Anthony Minghella. Before, Butterfly always seemed too submissive, Pinkerton too brutish and their ch…
Tenor Matthew Polenzani--he of the refined singing, elegant deportment and serious nature--is having a great season at the Met, with major roles in a pair of new productions. First, he was N…
Point/counterpoint: As if to set off its trio of Elizabethan tragedies by Donizetti, the Met is presenting two of the master's comedies. First up: DON PASQUALE, and it was a pip. (The other …
LoftOpera, about three years old, is a darling of hip opera lovers of all ages in New York, as well as the mainline media, and its recent performances of Puccini's TOSCA make it easy to see …
Judging by the Regina Opera's take on Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, which finished its run on Sunday, it doesn't have a hipster bone in its body, which, I think, would have been just fine…
Anna Netrebko came out on stage in a shimmering white and silver gown with matching headband, looking like an Art Deco goddess in a poster by Alfonso Mucha. It's a look that suited her--not …
Lincoln Center's American Songbook series doesn't usually cross the road to opera-land, but I'm glad it did, when it presented the Ricky Ian Gordon-Leonard Foglia chamber opera A COFFIN IN E…
Opera for the 21st century is more than setting RUSALKA in a whorehouse, populating RIGOLETTO with a cast of apes or sending MARIA STUARDA to a maximum security prison. It must start with a …
With MARIA STUARDA at the Met, we're back for the second installment of Donizetti's so-called Tudor Trilogy, with ANNA BOLENA (Anne Boleyn) already off to the gallows and ROBERTO DEVEREUX (w…
