San Diego Opera's 60th Anniversary La bohème sees Mimì as a ghost
Review: New music quartet entertains and bores
ReviewIn the second section, the ensemble collectively sustained a layered, nuanced, morphing wail. Imagine an emergency foghorn exploding a metropolitan soundscape, triggering car alarms, and galvanizing old-timey constables to lay on their whistles. Think a Lichtenstein-ian Whaam! Blam! Pop! in musical form.
Fellow Travelers is "luminous" in Chicago
ReviewThe chemistry between these two singer-actors in their respective roles was electrifying and irresistible. Your heart soared watching their passion ignite and then sink as their lives and personalities diverged.
Materialism turns tragic: don't miss The Overcoat
Interview"The overcoat is stunning," says baritone Geoffrey Sirett, who is set to sing the role of Akakiy. "It transforms his life, because it is so beautiful and immaculately designed, and it gives him his five minutes of fame."
Talking with singers: Neil Craighead
InterviewIf he could go back and give himself some advice, however, Craighead would add in some encouragement. "I would tell myself that I was on the right track," he says. "I had a lot of the right instincts and a lot of the right tools given to me, but I just needed to trust them."
Gareth Mattey's Belladonna is "unashamedly queer"
InterviewOpera as an art form has always been very accepting of me and other LGBTQ+ people but rarely depicts us on stage. I feel like my work is attempting to develop an intervention in this; to focus on how opera has always delighted in plays of gender and sexuality and, in developing narratives around queer individuals (whether entirely original or adaptations) to bring back an understanding of opera as a strange, queer art form.
Roundtable: an operatic triple threat
InterviewLots of laughter punctuated our shop talk and often the most memorable moments occurred during the singers' natural repartee. Below is a lightly-edited collection of answers to some of my questions, which I asked over the course of an hour-long conversation. Read on for a bit of insight into these three singers' lives and work.
Talking with singers: Franco Vassallo
InterviewWhen I was young I refused some roles because I thought I was not ready to face them. I thought I would have been appreciated for this sense of responsibility and respect for the audience and opera houses - instead, I discovered I had been considered a snob!
Talking with agents: Kathy Domoney
Interview"Singers think I can wave a magic wand and fill their calendar with engagements - if only that were the case! I make it very clear to potential clients that my job is to open doors through auditions, and the singer's job is to present themselves at auditions with confidence, wonderful singing and a strong emotional connection to their arias."
Transfixing: Soundstreams presents Tan Dun's Water Passion
ReviewMichelle Colton, Aiyun Huang, and Ryan Scott showed what true musical versatility means, playing timpani, water (yes, they actually played the water - sometimes with cups to create a neat effect that reminded me of horses galloping through water), cymbals (which they would then dip in the water to create new effects), singing prayer bowls and that's just in the first two movements.
Jerry Springer - The Opera hits New York
ReviewBut why be churlish when songs like "Diaper Man," "Him Am The Devil" and the production number, "This is My KKK Moment," tune up this gleefully lewd production? In fact, you would be advised to just sit back and be a complicit member of the audience that comes pre-stocked with an immensely talented group of misfits longing for their 15 seconds of fame.