Ritorno d'Ulisse In Patria (Monteverdi)

Another reason why I love living in New Haven: seeing amateurs perform a Baroque opera because they love opera, not because they plan to become professions.  Hurray for Ellen Rosand's Yale undergrads. We'll be back for next year's production.

NYTimes review

Recommend.

The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a serial killer (Michael Sturminger)

Purportedly premised on the memoirs of Jack Unterweger, a late-20th-century Austrian serial killer, the production combines the grotesquery of the criminal's clever justifications for his crimes with the lush beauty of late-18th tragic opera.   Why the two are combined is never made fully clear.  Visually, the two are connected when Unterweger attacks and strangles the two singers.  Conceptually, the second seems to be fantasy of his life as a tragic work of art in which some are doomed (through no fault of the artist) to die.
With John Malkovich as Unterweger.
Outrageous, yes. Yet, I'm still not certain this production lives up to its hype.

The Threepenny Opera (Kurt Weill, 1928)

 Directed by Robert Wilson and performed (in German) by the Berliner Ensemble (a descendent of the theatrical ensemble Brecht founded in 1949), this production of Weill's savage satire thrust the audience squarely into Weimar Germany. The design was impeccable and the performances were flawless. It merits seeing a 2nd time.

Highly Recommend. And again.

Atys (Lully)

To my mind, there is no musical ensemble responsible for more exquisite productions than William Christie's Les Arts Florissants. The ensemble has a head start by dedicating itself to Baroque music, but it maintains that lead by attending to every detail so that the whole is as close to perfect as possible.
This year, LAF and Opera Comique restaged their 1987 production of Lully's Atys.
The court of King Louis XIV birthed French opera in the middle of the 17th century, and the man most responsible for its development was Jean-Baptiste Lully, a musician and dancer from a working-class Florentine family. Under the king's oversight, Lully developed tragedies en musique incorporating highly stylized dance and costumes into the opera. Atys is one of his earliest productions, its subject matter chosen by the king.
The story of Atys comes from Ovid, as retold by Philippe Quinault.
Highly recommend.

Il Travatore (Verdi)

Fantastic performances of a luscious opera.

Recommend.

Capriccio (Strauss)

A delightful (and sometimes comic) meta-meditation on the nature and purpose of opera. Renee Fleming's final, soulful aria was moving.

Recommend.

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)

Lovely to see Natalie Dessay in this overwrought, umpahpah role once again.

Recommend for Dessay; otherwise forget it.

The Nightingale and other works (Stravinsky)

A visually stunning production by Canada Opera Company and Robert LePage of several, very compelling short works by Stravinsky.

Very highly recommend.

Iphegenie au Taurus (Gluck)

Another terrific live HD broadcast from the Met.

Highly recommend.

Nixon in China (Adams)

Highly Recommend.

Hamlet (Ambroise Thomas)

A fine production of a 19th-century French opera not produced at the Met since the 1890s. I was disappointed that Natalie Dessay was replaced when she fell ill; however, Marlis Petersen provided a wonderful performance equal to Simon Keenlyside's fine one.

Recommend.

The Faerie Queen (Henry Purcell)

Exquisite productions of The Faerie Queen are no easy feat. Les Arts Florissants demonstrates just how rewarding the task can be in tonight's complex tapestry of drama, music, dance, costumes and sets. The whole production--all four hours (with intermission long enough to tune two harpsichords)--was enchanting and breathtaking. At the end, I could have easily set myself back down and watched it all over again.

And if the performance itself were not enough, Christie and company closed the curtain call by singing love lyrics to the audience and cascading red paper petals onto the audience. What a wonderful experience!

I don't know if I'll ever have an experience to match this one.

Highly recommend.

Actéon (Charpentier)

This Les Arts Florrisants production opens gloriously: the opening chorus is sung as the singers enter the sage from the auditorium's aisles. During those few minutes, we were surrounded by rich sound of baroque voices.

Highly recommended.

Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)

This was part of a marvelous Baroque triple-header performed by William Christie's Les Arts Florrissants at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Easily, Dido and Aeneas is my favorite Baroque opera, and most likely of any period. And LAF did ample justice to the work with superb vocal and instrumental performance, as well as an engaging staging. (I don't think, however, that anything will ever match LAF's stunning production of Rameau's Les Boreades.) Performances by Sonya Yoncheva (Dido), Andreas Wolf (Aeneas), and Emmanuelle de Negri (Belinda) were particularly sumptuous.

Highly recommend.

Simon Boccanegro (Verdi)

Fine production of Verdi's achingly beautiful opera, featuring Placido Domingo's Met debut as a baritone.

Highly recommend.

Carmen (Bizet)

The Met has a new production of Bizet's Carmen, and it is worth seeing--even if you think you've seen Carmen one time too many. Elina Garanca is sexy, provocative Carmen, and under Richard Eyre's stage direction, the sexual intensity never falters.

Recommend.

Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss)

Although the eponymous character of today's opera is a young man, this opera is really about women. Not only is the role of Octavian (Der Rosenkavalier, played by Susan Graham) a trouser role, but the young courtier's love is split between two women, Therese (the older, more experienced Marchionesse played by Renee Fleming) and Sophie (a young woman about to be betrothed to an older count, played by Christine Schafer). Before the end of the first act, the Marchionesse realizes that her young lover will soon abandon her for a young wife. Dumping him him before he can abandon her, she sends Octavian away. A comic, not very interesting second act and the comic, not very interesting first half of the third act, follow. The final half of the third act--nearly four hours into the production--is worth the long wait, as Fleming, Graham, and Schafer trade solos, duets, and a glorious trio.

By pairing Graham and Fleming, this production further emphasizes the opera's interest in women.

Highly recommend.

Aida, Verdi

Lots of fun. No elephants.

Recommend.

La Cerentola, Rossini

A lovely production of an opera that was more musically interesting than I'd anticipated.

La Sonambulist, Bellini

Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Rivera provide lovely performances in quirky opera with semi-successful staging by Mary Zimmerman.

Recommend.