Category Archives: Opera

SINGING SAVES STONE’S CAMPY LUCIA AT THE MET

  In 1964 the literary critic Susan Sontag published the definitive work “On Camp”’ in which she defined the genre as loving “the unnatural, the artificial, the exaggerated.” In art, Camp’s exaggeration proceeds from both passion and naiveté, both of which opera director Simon Stone employed in his production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the […]

May 22, 2022 – 3:46 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Art, Books, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater, Uncategorized | Comments Off on SINGING SAVES STONE’S CAMPY LUCIA AT THE MET

EUN SUN KIM IGNITES LYRIC’S FIERY TOSCA

Chicagoans love their Toscas. Puccini’s opera has attracted passionate performers and audiences alike since it first arrived in Chicago. The latest incarnation will certainly join the distinguished  ranks of the best Toscas seen in the city. Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca is based on Victorian Sardou’s wildly popular drama La Tosca, made famous by Sarah Bernhardt’s world […]

March 24, 2022 – 2:23 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Art, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Politics, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on EUN SUN KIM IGNITES LYRIC’S FIERY TOSCA

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA’S RIGOLETTO: MISDIRECTED BEAUTY

Two years after the 1851 premiere of Rigoletto at La Fenice in Venice, Verdi summarized his opera in words which seem to pertain to almost every production of the opera: As far as dramatic effectiveness is concerned, it seems to me that the best material I have yet put to music (I’m not speaking of […]

January 31, 2022 – 12:48 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Books, Current Events, Dance, from Paul, History, Men and Women, Music, Opera, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on THE METROPOLITAN OPERA’S RIGOLETTO: MISDIRECTED BEAUTY

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY IN CHICAGO: THE GREAT WIN AN OPERA HOUSE LOTTERY!

“As 21 January 1867 dawned, exciting and auspicious events were occurring all across the operatic world. In faraway Paris, Giuseppe Verdi was put­ting the finishing touches on his new opera, Don Carlos, in preparation for its eagerly awaited l’Opera premiere for the Paris Exposition. Jules Massenet was ardently overseeing the final rehearsals for his own […]

January 21, 2022 – 6:29 am | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Art, Books, from Paul, History, Music, Opera | Comments Off on ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE YEARS AGO TODAY IN CHICAGO: THE GREAT WIN AN OPERA HOUSE LOTTERY!

MODEST MUSSORGSKY HAS HIS DAY: BORIS GODUNOV DONE HIS WAY

Exactly one hundred and fifty years since Mussorgsky’s opera Boris Godunov was rejected for performance by Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre his version of his opera is staged and transmitted live to hundreds of thousands of spectators around the world. Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) came from a more or less peasant family in Russia. That fact, plus his […]

October 10, 2021 – 3:39 pm | By Paul Kuritz | Posted in Acting, Current Events, from Paul, History, Music, Opera, Poetry, Quotations, Theater | Comments Off on MODEST MUSSORGSKY HAS HIS DAY: BORIS GODUNOV DONE HIS WAY