A response to "our response"

Op-ed

So is it enough to simply lay down Bernstein's words every time tragedy strikes? No. And while beauty is important in art, art also must challenge, alert and stimulate its performers and listeners, opening our minds to new, diverse thoughts, connecting us to our common humanity, reflecting the darkness of our times and motivating us into action. Activists have already started their marches worldwide: the Women's Marches, most recently the anti-wall marches in Mexico, and anti-Islamophobia marches in Toronto.

4 great love duets & why they're awkward

Humour

Yet Cio-Cio San is singing about life-long marriage and the happiness and stability it would bring her; Pinkerton is really singing about experiencing the world, marvelling at the obedience and admiration in the eyes of his young Japanese wife and getting excited to have some exotic sex with her. And never forget that line about Cio-Cio San being fifteen years old...yikes.

Don't miss: the Amici Ensemble reimagines Don Giovanni

News

Insiring the concert's title, Don Giovanni Reimagined, the Amici ensemble presents Josef Triebensee's arrangement; the Bohemian oboist and composer reduced Mozar'ts opera, scoring it for a chamber ensemble of wind instruments, and enough singers to cover the short selection of numbers from the opera.

Talking with singers: Ailyn Pérez

Interview

"I would tell everybody that the work is real," she says with a laugh. "Just because now you've sung at the Metropolitan Opera or have a new production, or have reached your dream role...the work still remains." Pérez describes it as having to "reintroduce yourself all the time," taking charge of her own professional choices and constantly looking ahead to the next project.

When singers call in sick

Editorial

A singer's best publicity is their work. Great singing begets more opportunities, and poor singing begets bad reputations. There are plenty of reasons not to sing while sick: it can do damage to your vocal folds, it can make you stay sicker for longer, and it means you lose a paycheque. But when a singer has to decide, to sing or not to sing, the decision often hinges on the performance they think they can give.

Don't miss: Radvanovsky in recital at Cadogan Hall

News

"There's an intensity and dramatic commitment with Sondra that's made her connect with audiences in a way few singers are able to do," says Rosenblatt, founder of the series, of Radvanovsky's place as a leading soprano in opera today. "The actual instrument itself is nothing short of a marvel – it's a huge voice but one that she's able to use with complete control so that she's also able to sing the most delicate of phrasing that touches whoever she's singing with."

In review: The Pirates of Penzance at ENO

Review

With the ENO Orchestra sounding the best yet we've heard them under Gareth Jones, this Pirates of Penzance has a ball with everything that's silly and absurd about the show. Broad, flat geometric shapes created imaginative, flexible sets; saturated blues and reds placed us properly in Britain, and flashes of green came with the young, fresh flock of Stanley girls, and a murky purple took the story into the nighttime hours.

Don't miss: rough for opera #15

News

Jonathan Higgins' Schutzwall is set in 1961 Berlin, one month after the wall was put up, overnight, with no warning. Catherine Kontz's A Certain Sense of Order draws on the life and work of Anne Sexton, the fascinating American poet who struggled with mental illness all her life, and whose shocking poems were considered "confessional". Benjamin Tassie's Hurricane Zoo is an operatic adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's First Visit with Mescalito, the Gonzo-journalism-style account of his first mescaline trip.

Shades of opera: how to tell your buffo from your bel canto

How-to

Verismo music is decidedly gorgeous, with long, sweeping lines and a thick orchestra. The musical style is a foundation for the film scores of today, and though the impression is powerful, the harmonic structure of many verismo scores is fairly simple; it adds to the audience accessibility, and makes for some beautiful tunes to hum as you leave the theatre.

In review: Adriana Lecouvreur at ROH

Review

In his role debut as Maurizio, Brian Jagde was a total standout performance. An athletic, strapping Count, Jagde had all the virile charisma that actor-types love. His sound was a throaty, grounded tenor with unreal beauty, and he wisely chose a handful of moments to show almost impossible volume. With Gheorghiu, Jagde created an honest relationship between Maurizio and Adriana. They had chemistry and respect for each other, reminiscent of Tosca and Cavaradossi.