The world is suffering through a terrible pandemic, the most catastrophic in a century. Apart from the impact the virus has had on public health, the effect on the arts, particularly the performing arts, has been devastating. Museums and performing venues have closed, performances have been canceled, and the very survival of arts organizations has […]
Opera
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Boffo performances of Wolf-Ferrari “Il segreto di Susanna”
Spoiler alert: “Il segreto di Susanna” è che fuma sigarette.* Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari perfectly captured the spirit of opera buffa with “The Secret of Susanna.” As the genre dictates, the cast consists of only three roles (one non-singing). The action is quick, farcical, the story concise. Wolf-Ferrari’s work follows the consequences of Suzanna hiding a secret […]
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Letter from Salzburg 4: Ariodante
How can a baroque opera from 1734 be squared with 21st Century sensibilities? That was the challenge for director Christof Loy in staging Handel’s Ariodante. Fortunately, he had available the formidable resources of the Salzburg Festival and the estimable mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, who not only remains one of the world’s great singers but also now […]
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Letter from Salzburg 3: Wozzeck
One the most eagerly awaited productions of the 2017 Salzburg Festival season was Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, staged by the South African artist and stage director William Kentridge. Coincident with this new production was an exhibit of his work at the Museum der Moderne, Thick Time: Installations and Stagings, featuring eight large-scale multimedia installations, one of which was […]
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Letter From Salzburg 2: Lady MacBeth of Mtsensk
Intendant Markus Hinterhäuser in his second season at the artistic helm of the Salzburg Festival is refining the focus of the Festival that had become somewhat diffuse in recent seasons. In addition to the operas of Mozart (indispensable in a music festival in the city of his birth) and star vehicles such as Aïda, both […]
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Letter From Salzburg 1: I Due Foscari
Almost exactly 100 years ago the Salzburg Festival, located in the picturesque Austrian city of that name, was founded by stage director Max Reinhardt and playwright (and librettist for Richard Strauss) Hugo von Hoffmanstahl. During the summer the Festival attracts music lovers from around the world to hear opera of surpassing quality, plus the finest […]
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Claudio Monteverdi’s Total Eclipse of the Renaissance
Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi inhabited a changing landscape; the high-minded, heavenly polyphony of the renaissance was gradually giving way to the more prosaic and popularly oriented sound of the baroque. 2017 marks the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s baptism in Cremona on May 15, 1567. On April 9th, 1567 the city of Rome was only 2 […]
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Il Trittico and The One-Act Dilemma
The One-Act Problem Opera companies face a dilemma when presented with a one-act work. The fixed costs of a production are not much less than a standard two- or three-act work, so ticket prices remain the same. Yet the audience is receiving less than a full evening’s entertainment. So with the exception of Wagner’s Der […]
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WTJU presents: Opera in the Park – Tues, July 18, 2017
WTJU presents: Opera in the Park A fun, outdoor performance by Charlottesville Opera Principal and Young Artists in the IX Art Park sculptural greenspace — 522 2nd Street SE in Charlottesville. Featuring selections from the Charlottesville Opera’s summer shows: Rigoletto and Oklahoma! Tuesday, July 18, 7:00-8:30pm FREE and open to the public.