GILBERT and SULLIVAN: in Austin
Sullivan & Gilbert is currently being staged in Austin. For fans of Gilbert & Sullivan, you will be thinking I made a mistake by switching the names. For that, you…
OFRENDA: A Tear of Death
Premiering at the new home of Austin Opera, south of the river (Lady Bird Lake), is Ofrenda. Claudia Chapa hosted an intimate gathering before a recent performance of the opera.…
La Bohème returns to Austin Opera
Photo: Timothy Myers, Music Director, Austin Opera Orchestra The old warhorse opera about a group of Bohemians in Paris in the 1830s has returned to Austin Opera. I reviewed its…
AUSTIN OPERA at 40
Austin Opera celebrated its 40th birthday in style at the Long Center this past weekend. Music Director Timothy Myers, in an interview with KXAN news, said in advance of the…
A Resplendent Night of Orchestration & Operatic Singing
What do you get when you mix one of the most original living conductors (our own Farkhad Khudyev, Associate of Music in Orchestral Studies & Music Director of the UT…
Madame Butterfly and a New Beginning for Austin Opera
The old war-horse Madame Butterfly was recently restaged by Austin Opera in a thoroughly enjoyable performance. Ever since its debut in 1904, it has become a canonical opera, likely seen…
DEATH AND NATURE SHALL STAND AMAZED
Austin Opera: Verdi’s Requiem Written by Verdi in Latin, his 1874 Requiem is widely regarded as a transcending masterpiece, but it certainly not an opera in the traditional sense of…
CINDERELLA at Houston Grand Opera
Since its premiere in Rome in 1817, Rossini’s opera Cinderella has been a fan favourite. It’s most recent staging at Houston Grand Opera was a sheer delight. Patrick Summers, artistic…
Manchurian Candidate and the cycle of History
Creators Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell won a Pulitzer Prize for their first opera, Silent Night. This was reviewed in SunNewsAustin in 2019 (see link below). They teamed up again…
A Cultural History of Western Music
Bloomsbury has been publishing its Cultural History series for a few years now. One recent example is the Cultural History of Music, under review here. If you are looking for…