Review: LA Opera's tear-jerking, star-studded, world-class Rigoletto
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Don't miss: Story Binge II
NewsThis year's line-up is an intriguing collection of opera shorts and scenes from larger works, telling stories about everything: break-ups, moving to Mars, copyright infringement, women from the Bible, life as a POW, and even different societal perceptions of AIDS.
Don't miss: Esprit Orchestra presents m'M
NewsThe "M" in Leroux's m'M is the phonetic interpretation of the French word for "love" ("aime"); complementary to the concerto grosso form - a handful of musicians playing alongside a large ensemble - Leroux offers that "'m' represents a small group of instrumentalists within the orchestra, and 'M' represents the remaining larger combination of players surrounding the small group."
Talking with singers: Sondra Radvanovsky
Interview"It took me twenty years to get here," says Radvanovsky of the long game that is the opera singer's career. "Twenty years of cracking on high notes at the Metropolitan Opera, and saying, 'This didn't work tonight, let's try it another way!'" And the work is still not over.
In review: Les contes d'Hoffmann
ReviewHis Hoffmann was strapping, sexy, and desperate, and his open-throated, silvery sound was utterly thrilling. He sang with an extraordinary range of colour, and he took us through the vocal evolution of Hoffmann, as he accumulates more and more emotional baggage from his failed affairs.
Get curious at FAWN 2016/17
NewsFAWN will announce the three composers selected by audiences at last season's Synesthesia IV pt. 1: Sound and Body; plus, they'll reveal details about their new collaboration with Canadian composer Anna Höstman. Throughout the evening, music by Höstman and the three audience-chosen composers will "emerge sporadically" as guests mingle and drink.
What crippling stage fright taught me about money
Op-edA money technique is built in the same way, by investing hours of time into building solid fundamentals. Instead of breath, it's cashflow (the daily ins and outs of your money), instead of onsets it's deliberate decision making (learning to stop making default money decisions and make the ones you really want), and instead of working with someone to lift your soft palette, you work with someone to find one of a thousand little ways you can make your money life easier (by building a safety net, learning to save, and eliminating debt).
In review: Glory Denied
ReviewThe work questions the perspective of emotional trauma, and whose is the most devastating? Is it enduring a prison camp for years only to return to an unrecognizable life? Is it enduring a different kind of prison-like solitude, guilt when one's life's work isn't enough? Nashville Opera's production of Glory Denied, fittingly opened on Veterans' Day, is now one of only five or six full productions of the opera.
In review: Ayre
ReviewThis wasn't just "Miriam sings beautifully," she brought us in and told us stories of life, danger, heartbreak, violence, and love. Miriam is - and always was - a flawless singer, but her acting in this show was unparalleled. Sensitive, candid, visceral, and dedicated to truth - all the things I crave in a theatrical performance.
In review: Lulu at ENO
ReviewWe have our own exasperations with the idea of a femme fatale, especially when they're two-dimensional, relying on sex and spineless men. Yet Kentridge's Lulu brings us into a specific world, while seeming to simply reveal the story without bias. Like Berg's score, the production is one we're eager to see again, to notice more details in Kentridge's layered work.
Being a helpful pianist: which is your page-turning hand?
EditorialOur theory is that there's more nature than nurture in each pianist's preferred page-turning hand. For us, it's our left, because we find ease in a motion across the body, towards the bottom-right corner of the page; in turning the page, our left hand retracts swiftly back into playing position.