By Jane Rosenberg On Saturday night the angels were singing in Los Angeles. Angela Meade in the title role of the Druid high priestess and Jamie Barton as Adalgisa sang Norma, Bellini’s bel canto masterpiece, to sublime effect. If the staging seemed a bit flat, the celestial singing of Meade more than compensated for the… Read More L A Opera: Bellini’s “Norma” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
By Jane Rosenberg From opening curtain to final bows, choreographer Alexi Ratmansky, along with his set and costume designer, Richard Hudson, and lighting designer, Jennifer Tipton, hurls us into the very heart of a fifteenth century Renaissance painting in his Romeo and Juliet, created for the National Ballet of Canada and premiering at the Dorothy… Read More Ballet: The National Ballet of Canada’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the Dorothy Chandler
By Jane Rosenberg Orientalism, sin, sex, and religion: Jules Massenet’s opera, Thaïs, has it all (and a thrilling Placido Domingo to boot). A lavish production, now on stage at the Los Angeles Opera, revels in the nineteenth century fascination with extravagance versus asceticism but is oddly bereft of sexual content. The story, taken from Anatole… Read More Opera: LA Opera’s “Thaïs” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
By Jane Rosenberg Whether it’s Wilis, bird, sylph, or sprite, nineteenth century ballet is replete with woman as enchanted creature. And it’s no wonder. Place a willowy beauty on point and earth’s gravity faded as the imagination of such choreographic giants as Petipa, Perrot, and Bournonville soared. Even in the twenty-first century, the fate of… Read More Ballet: Royal New Zealand Ballet’s “Giselle” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
By Jane Rosenberg There were unusual doings at the Los Angeles Opera Saturday night. If your taste in opera is locked in the past, you should steer away from their new production of The Magic Flute, but if inventive, visually abundant, and clever re-imaginings of classic operas are your métier, then this is the production… Read More Live Opera: The Los Angeles Opera performs “The Magic Flute” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The International Review of Music 