Talking with singers: Sara Duchovnay

Interview

"In addition to emotional support, I want to be able to provide members of my community with opportunities for financial stability so they can get out of unhealthy situations, whether they be unhealthy relationships, less-than-ideal living situations, or jobs that don’t enhance their careers."

MetroWest Double Bill Provides Thrills & Delights Despite Mismatch

Review

Of course, sometimes the trickiest part of finding a pair of operas to form a double bill with is finding the links between the two works to be presented: after all, an operatic double-bill is only made stronger with the right pairing of works to perform.

The voice teacher series: Arianna Zukerman

Interview

"I won't give anyone false hope - there are those singers who don't have what it takes but it's not for me to tell those people. That's a very hard-won lesson that sometimes only comes from putting yourself "out there" and seeing where you stack up."

The voice teacher series: Jennifer Casey Cabot

Interview

"Breath support is the foundation of everything we do as singers, so it is a constant focus in my studio to understand and integrate buoyancy, appoggio and breath pacing mastery."

Edmonton Opera delivers imaginative, inspired Don Giovanni

Review

If love is the soul of genius, as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once said, what would that make lustful abandon? In the case of one of opera’s best-known "bad boys", a fiery eternity of damnation.

Tristan und Isolde: drug-induced elegance

Review

Caught between duty, desire and despondence, Kaufmann's Tristan navigated with a melancholic and determined grace, building to fanatical splendor only to dissolve in hallucinatory turmoil. Whether he can sustain all of this vocally and emotionally in a full production is a question that the opera world eagerly waits to have answered.

When Don Giovanni is the "Don"

Review

There is a temptation for any director, therefore, to try something different or new. To quote Stephen Sondheim: "you gotta get a gimmick." In this case, it's not a gimmick but a brilliant conceit from director Josh Shaw that works on every level. Here, Don Giovanni is…well…the "Don" as in the head of the local mafia.

Pärt's Passio closes Seraphic Fire's passionate series

Review

Pärt's trademark, soaring dissonances churning uninterrupted, punctuated by tense, expectant silences and delicate instrumental interludes. During the lecture preceding Seraphic Fire's April 14 performance, Artistic Director Patrick Dupré Quigley noted the symbolism behind this hardline continuity: a sense of predestination, advancing steadily through the traditional text toward the inevitable crucifixion.

Wendy Bryn Harmer Leads Sensitive, Inspirational Fidelio

Review

It is a great thing, then, that Boston Baroque has mostly found the right cast with which to lead this reading of the opera, especially with Wendy Bryn Harmer. By the end of it, I felt as inspired by Harmer's portrayal of Leonore as the other characters on the stage: and really, is that not the most important feeling one should have coming out of an opera where good triumphs over evil?

Confusing & creepy: Proving Up

Review

Personally, I felt like The Sodbuster was more of a symbolic spectre of death. Death must have been a powerful presence among settlers. It was an extremely perilous way of life, and people died frequently, often isolated and unknown.