Category Archives: Uncategorized

STARS BRIDGES AND CASTRONOVO POWER LYRIC’S CARMEN

An insignificant novel gave birth to Bizet’s great opera, Carmen, second only to Puccini’s La Boheme among the world’s most popular operas. The novelist Prosper Merimee’ introduces the famous heroine with these words; I heard some bystanders say, ‘Here comes the gitanella!’ Then I lifted up my eyes, and I saw her! It was that very Carmen you […]

The Storm Theatre Company Offers Charming Boucicault

On November 6, 1883 , The Chicago Tribune reported that the “laughter and applause” at last evening’s performance of The Shaughraun at McVicker’s Theater, poved that author and star Mr. Dion Boucicault “has lost none of his power to please.” The same may be said of  the current poduction of Boucicault’s rarely produced The Shaughraun. […]

A TALE OF TWO DIVAS: FLORIA AND FEDORA

On Friday January 12, the streaming service Stage Access broadcast the Vienna State Opera’s 2020 production of Tosca to commemorate the 123rd anniversary of the great opera. The next day ,the Metropolitan Opera transmitted an HD broadcast of Umberto Giordano’s rarely seen 125 year-old opera Fedora. Tosca starred the reigning queen of dramatic sopranos, the  […]

Handel’s JEPHTHA: Being Right in One’s Own Eyes: The Music of the Baroque’s Electrifying Performance

The most commonly used word to describe Georg Friedrich Handel’s 1752 oratorio Jephtha is “dark”. And the word has nothing to do with the fact that the composer was going blind as he was composing. Jephtha, Handel’s last oratorio, is his most troubling masterpiece. The work contemplates the often inscrutable role of the divine in […]

RAVINIA OFFERS A MAGNIFICENT DON GIOVANNI

When opera arrived in Chicago, Mozart’s masterpiece Don Giovanni lagged behind in public approval. The Chicago Tribune reports that in 1867 “Don Giovanni has literally fought its way into public favor here. When first produced it attracted only musicians who recognized its intrinsic worth. But year after year Don Giovanni audiences grow larger and larger. […]