No Explanation Needed

Review

Opera composers who write their own libretti are rare and with good reason. Musicians train in the land of notes and chords but structuring a good piece of theatre requires a different skill set. In the case of The Impossible She, presented by Rhymes with Opera (as part of the New York Opera Fest) composer Daniel Thomas Davis should have stuck with what he does best.

Great stars & great direction: Andrea Chenier at ROH

Review

It is an increasingly rare occasion to feel moved in the way I was watching this performance when I go to the opera now. Perhaps I'm spoiled; too much of a good thing, and all that.

Alek Shrader on directing Dido: "Ideas assail me."

Interview

"Tina Fey said 'If you want to be a screenwriter, take an acting class to get a sense of what you’re asking actors to do.' It's another perfect quote from one of my writing idols, and my performance experience definitely informs hypothetical staging."

Jubilee: a truly educational experience

Review

This mix of breaking down the fourth wall, group narratives and of course, lots of singing provided for a wonderful and unique theater experience. I have had little to no experience with the Negro Spiritual genre, and Jubilee was truly educational experience.

A Pandora's Box of artistic collaboration

Review

Storen, Glaser, and Soden's teamwork resulted in a score that really is like a Pandora's box. It is a complex kaleidoscope of sound worlds with flavours of new-age, atonal, and modernist experimental styles.

Don't miss: Two Sopranos, One Friendship (and our editor at the keys)

Editorial

Plus! At the piano is Jenna Simeonov (me), founder and editor of Schmopera. Out and about and likely wearing lipstick.

Talking with conductors: Joseph Mechavich

Interview

"It is essential that both the director and conductor celebrate the singer-actor and love the act of storytelling. The awesome feat of the singer producing their sound and getting that sound into the house should be respected."

Talking with singers: Leonardo Capalbo

Interview

"I will not play Carlo as a wounded bird. He may lament the many things which he has lost in life, but his cries are not in vain."

Clumsy Silla victim of inept direction

Review

If the themes are supposed to be timeless (and, indeed, as clear and obviously sketched out as they are in the opera's text), then should it not stand to reason that those themes would still ring true regardless of whether or not it was set in Ancient Rome or in America in 2019?

Youthful & collaborative Dido at the Unicorn Theatre

Review

The sense of companionship the chorus seemed to share extended to their singing which was some of my favourite of the afternoon. Together with the 7-piece ensemble led by conductor Valentina Peleggi they created some absolutely sublime, stylistically considered music.