If you haven’t been downtown recently to see what’s happening, take a ride on the east or west side train to Broadway and Fulton to see the Handel Project–continuing this Wednesday with Act II and the following week with Act III of Handel’s Jephtha at St. Paul’s Chapel. (ny-pictures.com) After that, they will perform all…
(simonbutler)For more than 40 years, we have been fans of James Levine and of his way with Wagner, especially the Ring of the Nibelungen. We have seen four Ring cycles with him (more than 20 hours of music in four operas each time) and have witnessed his growth into perhaps the most eminent Wagner conductor…
Slated to hear Jonas Kaufmann do one of the two performances of Don Jose at the Metropolitan Opera he signed on to, we, like the other 4,000 Met audience members were disappointed to read in the Times that he was ill, but not disappointed enough not to go. And Carmen is a great piece and…
Celebrating the last outing of the beloved Otto Schenk production at the Met–you know, the one with the entire Nuremberg street of houses three stories high in the second act– (nromusic.com) James Levine brought down the house on a glorious evening of music and song. Fine singers including the reigning Walther Von Stolzing, Johan Botha,…
It’s always a thrill to arrive at the Met and I never tire of it, especially when we’re there to hear a masterpiece and as it had been 10 years since we had last seen The Magic Flute, I was constantly reminded how much of a masterpiece it is. We had resolutely declined to see…
It was Sunday afternoon at Carnegie Hall and the English Concert led by Harry Bicket gleamed as they dug into the rarely performed Handel masterwork, Alcina, in concert version. The small orchestra using mostly modern instruments, but also including the six-foot long lute called the theorbo, (flickr.com) played in today’s Handel manner, that is to…
Today’s guest blogger is that knowledgeable man of music, Rory, who lends his good ears and thoughts to this post. “I had not seen Verdi’s Macbeth in a long time and had very little memory of it. It was his tenth opera (1847 – following Attila) but was revised much later, following La Forza del…
