The Staatsoper unter den Linden’s prima does not have the glamour associated to La Scala’s season opening performance, but the event does involve the presence of the Bundespräsident and simultaneous broadcast to thousands of people at the adjoining Bebelplatz. For the 2009/2010 season, an old production has been chosen, Harry Kupfer’s Tristan und Isolde, first [...]
Archive for August, 2009
Once more with feeling
Posted in Reviews, tagged Cheryl Studer on August 8, 2009 | 14 Comments »
The Berlin International Music Festival is an attempt to fill in the Sommerloch’s blank by offering a series of masterclasses and concerts when basically nothing else is happening in the classical music scene in Germany’s capital city. In its second edition, the main guest was soprano Cheryl Studer, who offered two concerts beside teaching classes. [...]
Babylonia’s upstate gardens
Posted in Reviews, tagged Angela Meade, Caramoor Festival, Daniel Mobbs, Lawrence Brownlee, Rossini's Semiramide, Vivica Genaux, Will Crutchfield on August 1, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Rossini’s Semiramide is such a monumental work that many an opera house would rather not bother to stage it. Of course, the libretto requires grandiose sets, but the real challenge is to cast four exceptional singers with absolute technical finish. It is rather curious then that Caramoor, a summer festival that takes place every year [...]
