Classical Music Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 10

BWW Review: ANDREA BOCELLI at Capital One Arena
by Elliot Lanes - December 16, 2019

As a reviewer you hear lots of advance hype about a particular show or performer before having your own experience. Much of the time the hype doesn't live up to the end product. Selling over 90 million recordings opera singer Andrea Bocelli was definitely one of those performers who I had heard a lo...

BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S AMAZING NIGHT at At The Balboa Theatre
by Ron Bierman - December 16, 2019

The San Diego Opera's first Detour Series performance this season was 'One Amazing Night' with Soprano Ailyn Pérez, tenor Joshua Guerrero and accompanist Abdiel Vázquez. All are outstanding young award winners with impressive resumes. The first half featured operatic arias, enjoyable and worth the t...

BWW Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY: LING CONDUCTS PROKOFIEV & DVORÁK at At The Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - December 11, 2019

The San Diego Symphony Orchestra's Conductor Laureate Jahja Ling returned again for multiple performances this season. In the first of these he was at the helm for Rimsky-Korsakov's Suite from The Snow Maiden, Prokofiev's third piano concerto, and Dvorák's eighth symphony....

BWW Review: Tchaikovsky's QUEEN Reigns and a Star is Born at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - December 04, 2019

I know it takes a leap of faith for the Met to schedule something outside the ABC operas--AIDA, BOHEME, CARMEN plus a TOSCA, TURANDOT and a few others--and go for something a little more off the beaten track. Tchaikovsky's QUEEN OF SPADES certainly falls into that category, even though it isn't exac...

Photos/Reviews: THE QUEEN OF SPADES at the Metropolitan Opera, New York
by Alan Henry - December 04, 2019

Get a first look and check out reviews for the Met Opera's The Queen of Spades! Tchaikovsky's eerie thriller of imperial Russia has its first performances at the Met since 2011. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov is Hermann, the fanatical gambler whose obsession with a powerful secret drives him to madness. Sopran...

BWW Review: GUSTAVO DUDAMEL AND THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC PLAY BRUCKNER at Geffen Hall At Lincoln Center
by Joanna Barouch - November 27, 2019

No one knows what is going on underneath the modest exterior. Such was the case of Austrian-born Anton Bruckner (1824-1896). A man whose personal credo seems to have been 'say little but do much,' Bruckner managed to overcome a difficult early life with a huge amount of perseverance, not to mention ...

BWW Review: COSI FAN TUTTE Meets GREASE At The Juilliard School
by George Weinhouse - November 25, 2019

Of numerous operaphiles I have encountered, there is a fair amount of partisanship when it comes  to COSI FAN TUTTE by Mozart.  People either love it or dislike it.  I believe the plot is partially to blame; an aging bachelor challenges two younger friends to test their fiancees' devotion and suppos...

BWW Review: DVOŘÁK'S NEW WORLD Picks Up Slack in Symphony Concert
by Perry Tannenbaum - November 25, 2019

Sometimes orchestras program pieces to meet popular demand, and at other times, they program works to meet expectations or fulfill a sense of obligation. It's so easy to yield to inertia. This past weekend's Charlotte Symphony concerts balanced both types of choices. The DVOŘÁK'S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY ...

BWW Review: TRAVIATA at Opera WROCLAW - Feel The Breath Of The Universe
by Natalia Jarczynska - November 21, 2019

Have you ever wandered why two cheesecakes based on one recipe are slightly different? Even tough you use the same flour, sugar and cheese the taste is not the same. Sometimes it's better, sometimes it's worse. But if you take great ingredients like Traviata, big budget, good voices, Grazyna Szapolo...

BWW Review: Austin Opera Dazzles With RIGOLETTO
by Lynn Beaver - November 13, 2019

Austin Opera's latest effort, Verdi's, RIGOLETTO dazzles in every way. They absolutely outdid themselves this time....

BWW Review: PAYARE AND SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY CONTINUE BEETHOVEN CELEBRATION at The Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - November 13, 2019

The programming for Rafael Payare's first season as the San Diego Symphony's music director and conductor anticipates next year's celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.  The schedule includes four symphonies, three concertos and an overture by that great composer. The entire seco...

BWW Review: PARLANDO NEW YORK DEBUT at Merkin Hall
by Peter Danish - November 11, 2019

Auspicious debuts seem to be in the air in NYC this fall. Last month the new Athens Philharmonic blew the roof off Carnegie Hall with an extraordinary Mahler 2 in its debut, and this month a new ensemble called Parlando did the same at Merkin Hall - in a vastly different kind of program....

BWW Review: NJ SYMPHONY PERFORMS GRIEG AND BRAHMS at Bergen PAC
by Peter Danish - November 07, 2019

Composer Jean-Féry Rebel was something of a rebel (sorry could not resist) in late 17th and early 18th century France for his use of unusual often dissonant harmony. Les Elémens ('The Elements') which describes the creation of the world was a radical work for its time and still feels surprisingly mo...

BWW Review: RAFAEL PAYARE CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN AND TCHAIKOVSKY at The Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - November 06, 2019

Rafael Payare's honeymoon with the San Diego symphony orchestra has barely begun, but I'm ready to predict a long and happy marriage. His energetic and emotional conducting brought unexpected excitement to even an ultra-conservative program of Schumann, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. The opening Overtur...

BWW Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE at Washington National Opera
by Jenny Minich - November 05, 2019

The magic of the WNO's THE MAGIC FLUTE is that it is captivating for all ages and a tempting proposition for first-timers and opera-buffs alike....

BWW Review: SCHUBERT AT THE ITALIAN ACADEMY at Columbia University
by Joanna Barouch - October 28, 2019

An delightful evening of great music and learning was presented at the Italian Academy at Columbia University....

BWW Review: MACBETH at WA Opera
by Cicely Binford - October 22, 2019

a?oeDouble, double, toil and troublea?? has made its way to His Majesty's Theatre, but instead of this famous line being spoken by the usual three witches, it (or an approximation of it) is sung in Italian by eighteen classically trained witches. WA Opera's production of Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth ope...

BWW Review: The San Diego Opera Brings a Thrilling AIDA
by Ron Bierman - October 22, 2019

The San Diego Opera's AIDA served Verdi's marvelous score without the usual extravagant sets and throngs of spear-carrying tunic led Egyptian soldiers. Although that conceded a bit of excitement, especially during the triumphal march scene, exceptional singers and musicians held the audience's atten...

BWW Review: ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE'S at Carnegie Hall with Beatrice Rana, piano
by Joanna Barouch - October 21, 2019

A Baroque composer, albeit the most important of his time (or of all time, as many are of the opinion) on the same program as a Romantic composer, one of the plethora of musical innovators of the 19th century? How could such music possibly be of interest?...

BWW Review: ARIZONA OPERA STUDIO CONCERT at Mon Orchid Gallery
by Maria Nockin - October 15, 2019

On Monday October 14, 2019, Arizona Opera and its Valley Friends presented a concert of arias by the Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artists at the Mon Orchid Gallery, a small hall with excellent, if somewhat live, acoustics. As a rule, AZ Opera chooses six singers and one pianist to be their studio arti...

BWW Review: THE ATHENS PHILHARMONIC DEBUTS AT CARNEGIE HALL
by Peter Danish - October 13, 2019

THE ATHENS PHILHARMONIC 'MAHLER 2ND' at Carnegie Hall...

BWW Review: Rafael Payare Conducts The San Diego Symphony Orchestra at the Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - October 09, 2019

It's an exciting time for San Diego classical-music lovers. There are more concert choices than ever before, and performance quality has been impressive for everything from solo recitals to symphony concerts and operas. The La Jolla Music Society's $82 million dollar multi-stage Conrad Prebys Arts C...

BWW Review: TURANDOT At The Metropolitan Opera
by George Weinhouse - October 07, 2019

Birgit Nilsson, one of the greatest Turandots of our time, was fond of saying that Wagner made her famous but TURANDOT made her rich. Why was this so? Simply because very few sopranos can toss out the high notes, cut through the thick orchestration and sing over the huge chorus, which are the minimu...

BWW Review: PORGY AND BESS at The Metropolitan Opera
by Joanna Barouch - September 26, 2019

Opening Night at the Metropolitan Opera! The very words tingle with palpable electricity and anticipation. Whether you attend in person, or go to the Times Square simulcast, or whether you listen on the radio or on the Met website, you are participating in one of the most thrilling events of the Ne...

BWW Review: PROM 50: ORCHESTRE DE PARIS, Royal Albert Hall
by Charlotte Downes - August 28, 2019

Prom 50 featured the Orchestre de Paris playing three pieces: Robert Schumann's Genoveva-overture, Jörg Widmann's Babylon Suite, and Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F major, a?oePastorala??....