Thursday, September 12, 2013
The late American composer Peter Lieberson imagined he was creating a campfire opera, a Tibetan Buddhist legend told by a narrator, who recites, scats and sings, backed by a small instrument…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:30AM[SHARE]Thursday, August 15, 2013
You can’t seemingly find a more insider composer than David Del Tredici, whose “Bullycide” was commissioned by La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest and will have its p…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:40PM[SHARE]Monday, August 12, 2013
The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Gustavo Dudamel conducts a roller-coaster thrill ride at the Hollywood Bowl.I wonder whether the 9,985 who showed up at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday to hear Gu…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:40PM[SHARE]Thursday, June 20, 2013
Mark Adamo may have invented a biblical Broadway/opera hybrid in the memorable 'Gospel of Mary Magdalene.'SAN FRANCISCO — There have been, in modern times, three Marilyns, a couple of …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:05PM[SHARE]Thursday, June 13, 2013
'Spring, Spring, Spring,' from the choreographer with an arrangement by the Bad Plus, reverses trends in performing Stravinksy's 'Rite of Spring.'BERKELEY — "The Rite of Spring" is a b…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:50PM[SHARE]Monday, June 3, 2013
Promising great things in the First Take at the Hammer are Mohammed Fairouz's 'Pierrot' and Pauline Oliveros' 'The Nubian Word for Flower.'Opera, in our parts, has embarked upon an exception…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]Monday, April 15, 2013
Critic's Notebook: Stanford's 'brain-like' Bing Concert Hall tends to engulf its audience, making it perhaps the perfect setting for the premiere of 'Visitations,' Jonathan Berger's chamber …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 30, 2013
The Royal Opera and English National Opera may be in flux, but what they're putting on stage is instructive for American companies.LONDON — The editor of Opera is worried.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00AM[SHARE]Monday, March 25, 2013
A whimsical production of the Rossini work that has been imported by L.A. Opera offers satire, class warfare — and lovable rats. Definitely bring the kids.The romanticized image Los An…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, March 9, 2013
John Adams has reworked his Passion/oratorio, Peter Sellars staged it and Gustavo Dudamel really brings it to life."The Gospel According to the Other Mary" is now another "Other Mary," the "…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 27, 2013
"The Death of Klinghoffer," the controversial 1991 opera by John Adams, is scheduled to make its much-belated Los Angeles-area debut in 2014. But the producing company won't be L.A. Opera, w…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:30AM[SHARE]Saturday, February 23, 2013
A river and a dragon shaped by writhing performers. A budget nearly one-eighth of L.A.'s. In Munich, the beast is inventively and economically tackled.MUNICH, Germany — Wagner's "The R…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00PM[SHARE]Thursday, January 24, 2013
In the new Philip Glass opera, 'The Perfect American,' the visionary is a flawed, dying man who, even so, makes magic.MADRID — Walt Disney was hardly a perfect American.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:00AM[SHARE]Monday, September 10, 2012
Gavin Bryars' 'Paper Nautilus' makes its American debut in a splendid, fluid performance at the Aquarium of the Pacific.Eight Summer Olympics ago, it was Los Angeles' turn. We did well with …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:30AM[SHARE]Tuesday, June 26, 2012
San Francisco Opera's staging of 'Nixon in China' features a capable cast. But exaggerated makeup and wigs, and silly dances detract from the production.SAN FRANCISCO — A production he…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:00AM[SHARE]Saturday, June 2, 2012
The composer and librettist Peter Sellars look at Christ's Passion through the eyes of women caregivers. It's 'The Gospel According to the Other Mary.'Many of John Adams' scores pursue the b…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:00AM[SHARE]Monday, May 21, 2012
The Los Angeles Philharmonic's new production of the Mozart opera is an extraordinary achievement, freshly illuminated and site-specific. Los Angeles Opera can stop worrying right now.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:00AM[SHARE]Monday, May 14, 2012
The company trots out Herb Ross' popular 1993 production, not an ideal staging for the young cast, including Ailyn Perez and Stephen Costello."La Bohème" is back. So too is Los Angeles Oper…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:00AM[SHARE]Thursday, May 10, 2012
The wow factor is considerable as the New Yorkers — podium in tow — blow out the L.A. venue with their powerful sound and virtuosity in a wide-ranging program.The New York Philha…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:06PM[SHARE]Monday, March 12, 2012
Mark Swed reviews Long Beach Opera's overly silly but marvelously performed Surrealist double bill of Martinu's "Tears of A Knife" and Poulenc's "The Breasts of Tiresias."
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:50PM[SHARE]Sunday, February 26, 2012
The music making, highlighted by James Conlon s vital conducting, is, for the most part, excellent.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:22PM[SHARE]Mark Swed reviews Los Angeles Opera's sassy and well performed production of Benjamin Britten's "Albert Herring."
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:30PM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Mark Swed reviews the San Diego Opera production of Jake Heggie's "Moby-Dick."
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:01PM[SHARE]Thursday, January 26, 2012
Mark Swed reviews Rinde Eckert's stunningly effective "Moby Dick" theater piece, "And God Created Great Whales" at REDCAT.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:25PM[SHARE]Sunday, January 22, 2012
Technology enables people with severe physical and mental disabilities to communicate and enjoy a more enriching life.There is a great deal of music in the world, and no one knows exactly wh…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:00AM[SHARE]Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch troupe gives energetic performance of 'Danzón.' Too bad that, in light of its founder's death in 2009, its future is hardly secure.Tanztheater Wuppertal …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 01:00AM[SHARE]Friday, October 28, 2011
Peter Sellars' "Desdemona" -- with text by Toni Morrison and music by Rokia Traoré -- is an incantatory new re-imagining of Shakespeare's "Othello," giving the missing voice to the women an…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:10PM[SHARE]Monday, October 10, 2011
Tim Fain's "Portals" is a multi-media violin recital experiment which reached the West Coast Sunday at the Broad Stage and included the premiere of Philip Glass solo Partita. The experiment …
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:51PM[SHARE]Sunday, September 18, 2011
Mark Swed reviews Los Angeles Opera's first production of Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," which opened the company's 26th season at the Music Center.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:00PM[SHARE]Friday, September 16, 2011
The Soka Performing Arts Center, which opens Saturday night in Aliso Viejo, is a new acoustical jewel by star acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota. Mark Swed reports on a dress rehearsal by the Pacif…
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:35PM[SHARE]Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Santa Fe Opera revives Berg's "Wozzeck" for the first time in a decade. David Robertson is the exceptional conductor.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:15PM[SHARE]Loading more stories…
