| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 16-Apr-2013 Royal Opera House, Covent Garden | Die Zauberflöte at Covent Garden |
 How, I wonder, is it best for an opera company to treat a revival of a well-aired, well-liked, decent but not particularly radical production of a top ten opera? This was what the Royal Opera had to contend with in this season’s revival of David McVicar’s 2003 setting of Die Zauberflöte: many in the audience will have known every note of the opera, and several will have been thoroughly familiar with the production.
Read full review... | |
| 25-Feb-2013 Civic Opera House | Verdi's Rigoletto at Lyric Opera of Chicago |
 Of all the mischievous dramatic reversals that line Rigoletto’s plot – the hunchbacked jester tricked into abducting his own daughter, the daughter tricked into loving the brainless Duke (posing as a penniless student), and the terrifying reunion of father and daughter in a scene of murder – is not the most breathtaking, after all, the fact that the opera begins with a convincing display of the debauched status of romance but then confronts us, for the remainder of Act I, with all the innocence and conviction of Gilda’s first love?Read full review... | |
| 8-Sep-2012 War Memorial Opera House | San Francisco Opera opens 90th season with Rigoletto |
 The San Francisco Opera, one of the big American houses that has exhibited commendable fiscal resourcefulness while maintaining its artistic standards, selected a conservative opener for its 90th season with a revival of its de Chirico-inspired production of Rigoletto. During these tough economic times, trotting out an old warhorse, by itself, is no strategy for the long-view, but the company introduced a twist to get the most out of Verdi's tale of vengeance.Read full review... | |
| 29-Jun-2012 War Memorial Opera House | An English Magic Flute at San Francisco Opera |
 In keeping with its summer season of novelties, San Francisco Opera have produced a new English-language production of Mozart's The Magic Flute. Advertisements for the production showed baritone Nathan Gunn in a green, full-body leotard as a sort of frogman of a Papageno, leaping in the air and wearing a manic expression. This image on posters and direct mailing salvos implied a Romper Room-styled Magic Flute was coming to town: bring the kids for some good-ol' family fun.Read full review... | |
