The composer of Les huguenots and L’Africaine was already an accomplished master at age 26, as this first-rate recording reveals.
Opera
Opera Album Review: An Extremely Effective Operatic “Pasticcio” Made by Vivaldi from His Own Arias and Those by Other Composers
Vivaldi put this opera together using, in part, arias associated with two famous singers: the “Moorish” (i.e., half-African) Vittorio Tesi and the castrato Farinelli.
Opera Commentary: Labor Action at the MET — “Wear Your Union Colors!”
The hope is that this week’s action by the unions will generate significant media coverage and strong attendance by opera lovers and politicians.
Classical CD Review: A Simon Mayr Comic Opera That’s Really Funny — and Performed with Flair
At this point in his career, Mayr is contributing to the development of the musicodramatic conventions that would set the stage for the masterpieces of Donizetti, Bellini, and Verdi.
Opera CD Review: Two Splendid World-Premiere Recordings Rediscover an Exotic Master of Song — Reynaldo Hahn
Attention is being paid today to talented composers who have been sidelined or disdained because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Reynaldo Hahn qualifies on several counts.
Short Fuse Podcast #36: An Interview with Neal Goren, Conductor and Artistic Director of Catapult Opera
New podcast host Elizabeth Howard talks to Neal Goren about contemporary opera: the trends, attracting new audiences, and how opera can be adapted for the internet.
Opera Album Review: Rossini’s Splendid Passover Opera for Paris — “Moïse et Pharaon”
Just in time for Passover: another fine world-premiere Rossini recording, the 1827 French version of his Moses-in-Egypt opera.
Opera Album Review: An Opéra-Comique from 1832 Shines Again in a Superb Recording
Performed 1600 times in Paris, then forgotten, Hérold’s brilliantly witty, Le pré aux clercs shines again in a splendid recording.
Opera Album Review: Saint-Saëns’s Opera about a Little Silver Bell Works Its Magic
The world-premiere recording of a first rate production of a brilliant, fantastical opera, unstaged and unheard since 1914.
Opera Album Review: Croatia’s Best-Known Opera, “Ero the Joker” — Folk Fun and Games
Croatia’s best-known Opera is like The Bartered Bride or a lighter-spirited Porgy and Bess: tuneful, engaging, and stageworthy.