| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 3-May-2013 The Engineers Club: Grand Ballroom | Heather Johnson gives Carmen new meaning in Baltimore |
 One of my favorite things about opera in concert is the absence of director’s concept. Don’t take me wrong: I do enjoy a well-directed opera production with a concept. But let’s face it: how often does an opera artist get an opportunity to express his/her own vision of the character? Hardly ever, unless, liberated by the absence of director’s demands, the artist gives the role a bold treatment, and through it, inspires the audience to see a familiar opera at a different angle.
Read full review... | |
| 6-Apr-2013 National Concert Hall | Drama at Joseph Calleja's concert in Dublin |
 There was more than a little drama at Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja’s sold-out concert recital in Dublin’s National Concert Hall this evening. He was joined by Irish soprano Claudia Boyle and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Proinnsías Ó Duinn. Predictability was the order of the day in the choice of programme: familiar arias and duets from the Italian and French operas with a complementary sprinkling of overtures and intermezzi for the orchestra. This was as close one gets to popular classical music: songs that might feature on the classical charts.Read full review... | |
| 22-Mar-2013 Handa Opera, Sydney Harbour | Opera Australia's Carmen lights up Sydney's harbour |
 There can be fewer more idyllic places in the world to see an opera. Behind the floating stage was Sydney’s harbour bridge and opera house; to the left, the lights of the central business district; and to the right, the glittering lights of the Northern Shore and the occasional ferry making its way to Circular Quay. With last year’s Handa Opera on the Harbour, Verdi’s La Traviata having been named 2012 Australian event of the year, this year’s opera – Bizet’s Carmen – was highly anticipated.Read full review... | |
| 14-Mar-2013 Bord Gáis Energy Theatre | A traditional Carmen from Moscow State Opera in Dublin |
 With an opera like Carmen, one never knows exactly what to expect. Recent trends (with English National Opera, for instance) have been to up the levels of raunchiness in an attempt to recreate the original scandale which this depiction of lower-class immorality in 19th-century Seville met with in Paris in 1875. Anyone expecting such blatant sensuality will have been disappointed with the Moscow State Opera’s production of Bizet’s classic.Read full review... | |
