In review: The Merchant of Venice

Review

At the end, we were left feeling like this was too big a piece for Welsh National Opera to chew on. With most of the cast underwhelming and the orchestra's lack of musical interpretation, it wasn't easy to sit through. We're glad to feel uncomfortable in an opera because of sensitive issues is might broach, or because of a controversy it might cause. But in this case, we were just wondering if they would make it to the end.

Talking with singers: Brenda Rae

Interview

"For me, the key to a great Mad Scene is freedom. It's good to have parameters, but when there's freedom, I can do something unexpected which I think keeps the scene really fresh, and lends to the 'mad' quality of it! Musically, dynamics are key, and really help to keep the audience on the edge of their seats."

It's official: Breaking the Waves wins Best New Opera

Interview

"Breaking the Waves was modern, urgent, and heartbreakingly believable in its tragedy and redemption. It was also striking in the way it transformed the Lars von Trier film, which I found misogynistic, into something completely different – a story about female agency."

There's a role for you in Schmopera: Act II!

Editorial

Readers, in order to take this next step, we need your help. We've never liked the idea of putting ads up on the site; they clutter up your reading experience, and they inhibit our ability to write unbiased material.

Talking with singers: Cassandra Warner

Interview

"First of all, the voice is paramount. Get that technique down first before moving on to anything else. Next, opera is certainly a pleasure to take part in, but at the end of the day, it is a business. You need an income to sustain and advance your career. Be sure to learn important skills such as how to create a spreadsheet, a great bio & resume, a website, a contract, and how to improve your client relation skills."

In review: the JPYA summer performance

Review

The audience's favorite seemed to be a duet between Francesca Chiejina and Thomas Atkins from L'amico Fritz - their two strong voices were very well matched to each other and each full of character and vibrancy. The pair had some of the best chemistry on stage, everyone grinning at Chiejina's sultry consumption of a cherry.

An open letter to audition candidates

Op-ed

Panels don't often offer feedback to candidates: it's time-consuming and usually difficult to successfully administrate in the aftermath of a set of auditions. So here's a general note I wish I could send to everyone who auditions for me:

Talking with conductors: Harry Bicket

Interview

"The notes of a Handel opera are relatively simple, compared to a Strauss or Wagner opera, but I concentrate a lot on the rhetorical gesture of every phrase and in creating a soundworld that precisely matches the emotional temperature of the drama."

Ned Canty's Die Fledermaus: "A pleasant, persistent buzz of happiness."

Interview

"We did try to find some nuance at the very end of the piece, making Rosalinda's forgiveness a little more hard won. In both operas, I believe that this "one crazy night" is the thing that the marriages needed to figure out that question of what is this marriage without children. (Yes, Mère Coupable exists, but I file it with Go Set a Watchman. In my heart and soul the Count and Countess fall back in love, and Atticus Finch is not a bigot."

In review: The Cradle Will Rock

Review

Thanks to this production, I am ready, as a devotee of Blitzstein’s work, to let go of Marc on the piano stool and allow his authorial Authority to grow, to allow the ongoing struggle to reconcile Power, Authority, and Truth to be carried forward through the lens of a conductor’s vision. I encourage everyone else to witness as Blitzstein’s powerful orchestral Cradle at last begins to earn its rightful Authority by catching this production while the paint’s still wet.