The NTR ZaterdagMatinee concert series at the Concertgebouw traditionally opens with an opera. This year it was a fiery performance of Modest Mussorgsky’s masterpiece Boris Godunov, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado and with a practically faultless cast.
Full review on Bachtrack.
Caricature of Offenbach by André Gill, 1874, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
No colourful tavern scenes and Venetian gondolas in this new Amsterdam production of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Off-white and black dominate its three-floor set of many rooms. Moreover, this three-hour version assembled by conductor Carlo Rizzi and director Tobias Kratzer is likely to dissatisfy both purists and traditionalists.
Full review on Bachtrack.
Salome with the Head of John the Baptist (c. 1861) by Jan Adam Kruseman at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
While the audience cheered at the end of the new Salome at Dutch National Opera, Malin Byström punched the air triumphantly with her fist. With good reason, because this was a wonderful role debut.
Full review on Bachtrack.
Bust of Doge Francesco Foscari by Bartolomeo Bon © Sailko via Wikimedia Commons
There is no reason why, given the right performers, second-tier Verdi can’t be a top-tier operatic experience, as was the case with this concert version of I Due Foscari.
Full review on Opera Today.
Mostly opera reviews. Mostly from Amsterdam
Operatic wanderer | Flâneur lyrique
a frog exiled in the swamps of amsterdam
Mostly opera reviews. Mostly from Amsterdam
Mostly opera reviews. Mostly from Amsterdam
