By Jane Rosenberg Verdi’s Macbeth, interpreted by a consummate conductor and orchestra with magnificent singing from the chorus and principals, made for a powerful night of opera and a brilliant opener to LA Opera’s 2016-17 season. With a narrative rife with the evil machinations of that tortured pair of king-slayers, Lord and Lady Macbeth, Verdi… Read More LA Opera Presents Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
By Jane Rosenberg Love and greed are the passions at work in the LA Opera’s double bill of Gianni Schicchi and Pagliacci on stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through October 3. In Puccini’s comedy Gianni Schicchi, we have the grasping relatives of Buoso Donati scheming to change his will, as his corpse lies prostrate… Read More Live Opera: LA Opera’s “Gianni Schicchi” and “Pagliacci”
By Don Heckman Los Angeles – Sept. 23. (Wed.) Laura Dickinson. She’s probably your nine year-old daughter’s favorite singer, her voice familiar from the Disney Channel’s animated hits Phineas and Ferb and Sofia The First. But Dickinson’s vocal skills also include far-reaching jazz abilities, as well. She will offer them in an evening that celebrates… Read More Picks of the Week: Sept. 21 – 27 in Los Angeles, Oregon, Chicago, New York, London, Copenhagen, Milan and Tokyo.
LA Opera Opens the 2015/16 Season with Gianni Schicchi, Staged by Woody Allen LA Opera’s thirtieth anniversary season opens with the double bill of Gianni Schicchi and Pagliacci (September 12 through October 3, 2015). Placido Domingo, LA Opera’s general director, will sing the title role in Woody Allen’s staging of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. The opera… Read More LA Opera Announces its 2015/16 Season
By Jane Rosenberg Los Angeles may be suffering the effects of a drought, but the year was a deluge of notable performances in opera and dance. Team a dynamic conductor, James Conlon, with a great coloratura soprano, Albina Shagimuratova, and add the glass harmonica played by rare musical instrument soloist, Thomas Bloch. The result: Lucia… Read More 2014 Remembered: Memorable Opera and Dance Performances
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 Los Angeles. Opera is the exquisite melding of art forms: music, drama, and visual art. The ultimate success of an opera production lies in the perfect balance of all three. On Wednesday evening, June 5, at the Music Center, mid-run through LA Opera’s Tosca by Giacomo Puccini, the music was a success,… Read More Live Opera: Puccini’s “Tosca” performed by the LA Opera conducted by Placido Domingo
By Don Heckman Los Angeles – Aug. 14 & 15. (Tues. & Wed.) Michael Jackson the Immortal World Tour. Cirque du Soleil. The music and lyrics of Michael Jackson are the foundation for a show that “immerses audiences in Michael’s creative world and literally turns his signature moves upside down,” performed by the incomparable artists… Read More Picks of the Week: Aug. 14 – 19
By Don Heckman Los Angeles – Aug. 25. (Tues.) Placido Domingo and Yo-Yo Ma and the L.A. Philharmonic. What a combination. Domingo conducts Tchaikovsky’s dramatic Symphony No. 5 and Ma plays Dvorak’s controversial, but compelling, Cello Concerto. Hollywood Bowl (323) 850- 2000. – Aug. 25. (Tues.) Dana Bronson. Singer/pianst Bronson usually performs in cabaret and… Read More Picks of the Week: August 25 – 30
The International Review of Music 