| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 30-Mar-2013 San Diego Civic Theatre | Ferrucio Furlanetto triumphs in San Diego Opera's Murder in the Cathedral |
 An internationally acclaimed singer with a career spanning well over 30 years should be granted almost whatever role he’d like to do. It would also be understandable if the singer chose a well-known, crowd-pleasing piece, but, as is quite evident by now, Ferruccio Furlanetto is not a typical singer. The elder statesman of Italian basses, who has made Massenet’s Don Quichotte a staple of his repertoire, requested and received from San Diego Opera a new production of Ildebrando Pizzetti’s rarely performed Murder in the Cathedral (1958).Read full review... | |
| 16-Jan-2013 Staatsoper | Ponnelle's L'italiana in Algeri with a veteran cast at the Vienna Staatsoper |
 In a city where the Vienna State Opera ball is considered the climax of the carnival season and where the local news would lend itself to great libretti (were operetta still in fashion), it is not too surprising that music and theatre performances occasionally mirror the headlines. A Vienna Staatsoper revival of L’italiana in Algeri has coincided with the sentencing of a former Austrian minister and MEP following a “cash for laws” scandal.Read full review... | |
| 12-Jun-2012 War Memorial Opera House | Verdi's Attila returns to San Francisco… with a vengeance! |
 In an attempt to persuade Attila the Hun to spare Italy from the scorch and burn policy, the corrupt Roman general Ezio says, "Avrai tu l'universo, resti l'Italia a me," ("You can have the universe, but leave Italy for me"). The two warlords were not the only ones who stood to profit handsomely when Verdi’s Attila returned to San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House on Tuesday night in Gabriele Lavia’s new staging (a co-production with Milan's La Scala).Read full review... | |
| 24-Jul-2011 Royal Albert Hall | “That devil of a Mass” Prom 13: Verdi – Requiem |
 The Proms Choral Sundays series moved from last week’s dramatic opening (Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony) to the more familiar but no less spectacular territory of Verdi’s Requiem. Since 1956, this has been a Proms regular, with 16 previous performances, including a run of five in the eight years from 1956 to 1963. Although it was first performed in a church (San Marco, in Milan, 1874) it was repeated in La Scala three days later to a rapturous reception, and has since found its natural home in the opera house or concert hall rather than church.Read full review... | |
