As the weather gets warmer, things are starting to heat up in the local classical music scene. Catch world premiere performances, explore great works of the 20th century, and travel back in time to 17th century Italy or 12th century Germany. Continue reading What We’re Hearing This Month: Classical Music Picks for May
Plowright has described her current roles as “witches and bitches, bags and hags.” Among them are the role she last sang here in 2008, Klytemnestra in Richard Strauss’s Electra, (definitely a bitch), the Ortrud she wishes she had been able to sing (“She’s a witch. I would have liked to sing Ortrud—I probably could get away with it at a pinch, but the angst isn’t worth it”), as well as the beggar woman in Sweeney Todd, (“she‘s a bag and a hag as well”). Continue reading A Conversation with Mezzo Soprano Rosalind Plowright
Seattle Opera’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème feels like coming home. Even if you’ve never seen Bohème before, you’ll feel warm, welcome, and aware of life’s fragile beauty afterward — not just because of Puccini’s glorious score, but because of Seattle Opera’s treatment of it. Continue reading A “La Bohème” at the Seattle Opera That’s to Die For
Zetlan is currently in Seattle singing Musetta in La Bohème (February 23 to March 10). Updated to be set the year it was written, 1896 (it’s usually set in the 1830s), the production features photography — in the staging, in the sets, and even on the show curtain, which will include a picture actually taken in Act II of the opera. Continue reading “Bohème” and Rhinemaidens in Harnesses – Oh My!
In the opera, the salmon have gone missing, and other animals (a mischievous orca, an observant heron, a grumpy turtle) are worried. There’s also a brother and sister who are were-salmons, and a fisherman who would like to catch ALL THE SALMONS for himself. Continue reading New “Heron and the Salmon Girl” Opera Begins an “Our Earth” Cycle
One of those self-confessed Wagner nuts, actor/writer/raconteur Stephen Fry, offers a guided tour of his obsession in Wagner and Me, a fascinating 2011 documentary opening at the Grand Illusion tonight and running through January 31. It’s a combination travelogue, biography, and love letter that reveals as much about its host/narrator as it does its controversial subject. Continue reading Stephen Fry Confronts the Warts-and-All Genius of Richard Wagner
This co-production of Cenerentola (at McCaw Hall through January 26), has taken the coloratura in the score, and expressed it visually as well. The innovative, playful sets and costumes by Joan Guillén are a riot of colors — one of the stepsisters seems to be wearing a boldly upbeat Picasso for a dress, and the stage fills, in one scene, with what appears to be a chorus of sozzled Oompa Loompas. Continue reading Seattle Opera’s Eye-Popping “La Cenerentola” Adds Twist to the Tail
