Christophe Dumaux
A refreshing gateway drug: The Magic Flute at O17
ReviewWhile a new and forward-thinking production such as this Flute is of tremendous value, we must be wary of the cost on the performers themselves. There is a danger in productions where singers are made to fit into a sort of machine (see The Metropolitan Opera) and do not have total freedom to access their full range of expressive tools. These are the tools which would otherwise allow them to connect with the audience and portray their respective characters without limitation.
A dreamy psychological thriller: Vanessa at Oper Frankfurt
ReviewThoma presents the trio of women as three generations of the same person: Erika, the Baroness and Vanessa herself are all one immortal woman, eternally alone and suffering, stuck in time forever and unable to move forward. The Baroness embodies Vanessa's future as a bitter widow, while her niece Erika represents her past as a hopeful, beautiful, innocent young girl. As Erika laments, "Sometimes I am her niece/But mostly her shadow".
LA Opera scores in first half of Bizet double-header
ReviewIf you're someone who has seen little or no opera, Carmen is perhaps the perfect place to start because it's a perfect show; the libretto and score are true partners. Although the show runs about three and a half hours, the drama is so compelling and the music is so beautiful, you never find yourself looking at your watch (or, depending on your age, the clock on your cellphone).
A stunning premiere: Elizabeth Cree
ReviewThe production is bursting at the seams with variations in style, mood and display. Its musical ideas seamlessly transition from comical to frightening. The score includes some familiarity in terms of the musical vocabulary it employs. We hear moments evoking a Broadway musical, moments that are reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann's sounds of horror, and moments of gorgeously sweeping romantic lines.
Talking with singers: Andrew Haji
InterviewAfter high school, Haji went not into music, but into computer science. After just two years - and a realization that he was miserable - he "quickly abandoned ship". He took a year off, during which he met with his high school music teacher, discussing the beginnings of his plan to pursue music.
Talking with singers: John Fanning
Interview"Even geezer singers will take breaths they shouldn't," he says of the all-too-human aspect to singing live onstage. "Those things never change, we just get better at dealing with them."
Talking with singers: Simone Osborne
Interview"For the first couple of seasons that I came back I still very much felt like I had to prove myself," says Osborne of returning to what she considers her home company. She admits to feeling pressure to bring consistently great performances to the COC, where the standard of artistry is high and the audiences are in-the-know. "It's probably the pressure I put on myself."
Using your voice again: a plan of action
Op-edThis can be a vulnerable process, and in sharing this writing with you, I do feel quite vulnerable. Who knows how and where I will be compelled to sing more frequently again, but I do know that my voice has power and I can likely use it to improve the situation of my friends, family, communities, fellow humans, and of the earth.
Keeping the thread: moment-to-moment awareness in singing
Op-edThe body only does what the mind tells it and allows it to do. Intense, almost loving attention to every single note can help realize a tricky passage like this. When it comes to runs and coloratura in general, this approach is useful because it can help give fast singing a real clarity, accuracy and a sense that there is plenty of time to sing all the notes and for them to be heard.
Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt: where opera meets science
Interview"Composers have included scientific subjects and references, from Mozart's send-up of the real Dr. Mesmer in Così fan tutte, to John Adams' Dr. Atomic about Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb. The very act of scientific discovery is a creative one."