In Berlin, ‘Hélène’ Not So Belle And ‘Tosca’ Is Teutonic
By Rebecca Schmid
BERLIN - The Komische Oper and Staatsoper opened the season with new productions that fell flat. Barrie Kosky's La belle Hélène offered strangely little Offenbach, and 'Tosca,' led by Daniel Barenboim, veered toward Wagner.
Pianist Or Artistic Chief, Buchbinder Is Purist At Heart
By Rebecca Schmid
VIENNA – Rudolf Buchbinder, who will play Stateside with the Boston Symphony under Thierry Fisher Oct. 16-21, is not a man of compromises. For several years, he has made only live recordings and usually travels without scores.
Da Vinci’s Design For Gamba-Organ Voiced At Festival
By Rebecca Schmid
WROCŁAW - Leonardo da Vinci sketched a wheel-bowed keyboard instrument that he never built. At Poland's festival Wratislavia Cantans, Sławomir Zubrzycki performed on his realization of the viola organista, completed at last.
Updating Strauss: Daphne In Denim, Up A Wall St. Tree
By Susan Brodie
BRUSSELS - In Guy Joosten’s high-concept production, Daphne's a dreamy heroine, quite literally a tree hugger, protesting against the technology-obsessed world of her parents, dissolute one-percenters in evening dress.
Rossini Festival Revives ‘Aureliano’ In Vocal Splendor
By Rebecca Schmid
PESARO – In the seaside town where Gioachino Rossini was born, opera has persevered with an unrivaled standard of authenticity. All productions this year, including Aureliano in Palmira, were based on recent critical editions.
Schubert Rarity ‘Fierrabras’ Is Star Of Salzburg Fest
By Rebecca Schmid
SALZBURG -- In today's fierce competition, when one can view a world of arts on the computer screen, Salzburg must prove its offerings are not only a cut above but available nowhere else. A new 'Fierrabras' does that.
Keyed For Europe, Toronto Symphony Crowns A Festival
By Colin Eatock
TORONTO – Kicking off a European tour for the city back home, maestro Peter Oundjian and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra performed a festival concert for Toronto Summer Music, now in its ninth season. Next stop, Vienna.
MCANA Reports: Strauss Leads The Way At 2014 Dresden Music Festival
DRESDEN - It was to this magical city on the Elbe that five members of the Music Critics Association of North America were drawn for the Dresden Music Festival June 7-10. Their reviews and impressions are gathered here.
Lean Force Lifts Beethoven ‘Missa’ At Dresden Fest
By Paul Hyde
DRESDEN – The late conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler believed the Missa Solemnis to be the composer's greatest work, and a thrilling performance at the Dresden Music Festival under Ivor Bolton supported that claim.
Venerable Leipzig Orchestra Upholds Its Historic Image
William Littler
DRESDEN – The Gewandhaus Orchestra, in a visit to this neighbor Saxon city, is now led by Italian Riccardo Chailly, whose operatic experience seems to have contributed to a lightening and brightening of the ensemble's famed sound.
Dresden Festival Soaring Sky High With Eclectic Mix
By Paul Hyde
DRESDEN -- Jan Vogler has seen ticket revenues double in six years as head of the Dresden Music Festival. "I want to tell a message that is deep but also fun," he says of his program palette. "My goal is to understand my time."
Osaka Competition Pulls International Chamber Groups
By Robert Markow
OSAKA – Every three years Japan is host to three interlocking global chamber music contests, including one of the world's Top Four for string quartets and the fan-judged Festa, at Musikverein-inspired Izumi Hall.
Abbado Celebrated In Dresden Concert He Was To Lead
By George Loomis
DRESDEN - Following Claudio Abbado's death, the Dresden Music Festival turned the conductor's scheduled appearance into a June memorial in the Frauenkirche, with an orchestra that sprouted from his efforts.
Strauss’ ‘Feuersnot’ Rings Authentic In Al Fresco Staging
By Rebecca Schmid
DRESDEN – As part of the 150th anniversary celebration of Richard Strauss, the Dresden State Opera and Dresden Music Festival collaborated on a semi-staged production of the composer's early opera Feuersnot.
European Opera Trek: Refreshment In Shock And Awe
By Susan Brodie
Robert Carsen's circus-themed Rigoletto in Brussels, Andreas Kriegenburg's shattering Die Soldaten in Munich and Herbert Wernicke's joyful staging of Bach's Actus Tragicus in Stuttgart highlight a bracing operatic spring.
On Roller Coaster Tour: ‘Troyens’ To ‘Elegy’ and ‘Carmen’
James L. Paulk
A quick sampling of European opera houses left mixed impressions, from a wondrous Berlioz production at La Scala and Henze's rarely performed Elegy for Young Lovers at La Fenice to a radical take on Bizet at the Komische Oper.
Chausson’s ‘Arthus,’ Updated to WWI, Can’t Shed ‘Tristan’
By Susan Brodie
STRASBOURG – L'Opéra National du Rhin scooped a rarity of the Opéra de Paris 2014-15 season with Le Roi Arthus. But the mixed-era production was cartoonish and the cast struggled with Wagnerian vocal demands.
Viennese Unleash Twin Thrillers In ‘Wozzeck, Salome’
By Patrick J. Smith
NEW YORK - In a highlight of the New York operatic season, Carnegie Hall's Vienna: City of Dreams festival gave Wozzeck and Salome in consecutive concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Welser-Möst and Nelsons conducting.
Wuorinen’s Opera Misses Tenderness Of ‘Brokeback Mtn.’
By Susan Brodie
MADRID - Brokeback Mountain, a new opera by Charles Wuorinen and Annie Proulx about forbidden love between two ranch hands, echoes Wyoming's mountain grandeur. But one longs for a character to sing his heart out.
