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1 week ago | 
observer.com | Christopher Corwin
Stuart Skelton, Nina Stemme and Brian Mulligan as Tristan, Isolde and Kurwenal performing behind the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Photo: Jessica Griffin / Philadelphia OOperas-in-concert have long been a popular—and far less expensive—alternative to fully staged presentations. Some audience members will miss opulent sets and costumes, but many appreciate the opportunity to concentrate on the music and not be distracted by “crazy” modern productions.
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1 week ago | 
parterre.com | Christopher Corwin
By ’79, Norman had given up Aida, which I believe she only performed in concert, so it’s a surprise to discover her stinging “Ritorna vincitor,” along with Santuzza’s aria from Cavalleria rusticana, an opera which, like Carmen, Fidelio, Salome, and Pénélope, she recorded but did not perform on stage. Gurrelieder, on the other hand, was a work that Norman took on occasionally and recorded with Seiji Ozawa.
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3 weeks ago | 
observer.com | Christopher Corwin
Peter Kálmán, Alexey Zhilikhovsky and Aigul Akhmetshina as Bartolo, Figaro and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
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3 weeks ago | 
parterre.com | Christopher Corwin
As usual, the Met concludes its season with two orchestral concerts at Carnegie Hall, the first is an all-Richard Strauss program that includes Yannick Nézet-Séguin leading Elza van den Heever in a selection of the composer’s Orchesterlieder. Chris’s Cache offers today a smörgåsbord of those sumptuous soprano songs performed by celebrated Straussians Edita Gruberovà, Genia Kühmeier, Soile Isokoski, and Asmik Grigorian along with five by Jonas Kaufmann, once again proving he can sing anything.
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4 weeks ago | 
observer.com | Christopher Corwin
Arsen Soghomonyan and Sonya Yoncheva as Hermann and Lisa. Ken Howard/MetOperaWhen details of star soprano Anna Netrebko’s lawsuit against the Metropolitan Opera surfaced, one of the projects planned for her was a revival of Tchaikovsky’s searing tragedy Queen of Spades.
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1 month ago | 
parterre.com | Christopher Corwin
Spring is the tenuous nexus connecting this week’s Chris’s Cache which features Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden: A Spring Fairy Tale featuring the great Irina Arkhipova as Spring itself, along with pirates of Werther with Ileana Cotrubas and Luis Lima and a MeT Samson et Dalila with Elena Obraztsova seducing Guy Chauvet. Rimsky’s operas are rarely done outside Russia though Dmitri Tcherniakov’s beloved production of Tsar Sultan just completed a run in Madrid.
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1 month ago | 
parterre.com | Christopher Corwin
Roberta Mameli, Rosa Feola, and Sophie Junker: three of the world’s most appealing sopranos have each just released a new CD of often entrancing 18th century vocal music. And they all are visiting the NYC area in 2025. One performed a concert just before spring arrived; one is at the Met until Saturday; and the third arrives in July to headline the crowning event of a nearby summer festival.
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1 month ago | 
observer.com | Christopher Corwin
Song Hee Lee as Cleopatra amid Ruckus at Hudson Hall. Photo: Paul KheirIn September of 1966, the Metropolitan Opera opened its brand-new Lincoln Center home with the world premiere of samuel barber’s Antony and Cleopatra while New York City Opera, now its close neighbor across the plaza, simultaneously served up sly counter-programming with Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto.
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1 month ago | 
parterre.com | Christopher Corwin
Nigel Wilkinson’s recent review of a Brussels performance of Mahler’s gigantic choral Eighth Symphony stirred up some discussion about the ubiquity of the composer’s purely (or primarily) symphonic music in concert halls today. I’ll chime in to say that I too find the symphonies a chore, excepting the sublime “Adagietto” from Death in Venice — I mean, the Fifth Symphony.
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1 month ago | 
parterre.com | Christopher Corwin
The Met’s first new Aïda since 1988 got off to an inauspicious start on New Year’s Eve when the ersatz-Indiana Jones who opens the show by descending to the stage floor struggled to disengage his harness. Things didn’t improve much after that for director Michael Mayer and Company when star tenor Piotr Beczala struggled through “Celeste Aïda”. Yet he continued, taking down every high note and embarrassing himself and Met General Manager Peter Gelb, who reportedly encouraged Beczala to continue.
