Concert Review: A Funeral for a Birthday

Charles Dutoit conducts the War Requiem at Orchestra Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Charles Dutoit. Photo by Chris Lee.

On Thursday night, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra marked the 100th birthday of composer Benjamin Britten (coming up on November 22nd) with the first of three performances of his War Requiem. This massive work, requiring two seperate orchestras, chorus, children's choir and three soloists, was conducted by Charles Dutoit, the Swiss maestro whose globe-girdling 2013 conducting schedule has focused on performances of this particular work.

Opera Review: The Trumpet of the Swan

Parsifal at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Hunting license: Gurnemanz (Kwangchal Youn) confiscates Parsifal's (Paul Groves) bow  in Act I of
Parsifal, as Kundry (Daveda Karanas) looks off. Photo by Todd Rosenberg © 2013 Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Parsifal (by director John Caird, making his house debut) is at once modern and old-fashioned, re-imagining Wagner's medieval iconography (Spear, Grail, magic garden) in a way that makes sense to a modern audience and still respects the rich stage history of this opera at Bayreuth and elsewhere. Mr. Caird's production uses six principal dancers (the choreographer is Tim Claydon) to create a vision of flying swans, woodland creatures (Kundry arrives by anthropomorphic horseback) and more movement than one usually sees in this static opera. The results are emotionally satisfying and magical, and familiar enough to please even the most conservative Wagnerite.

Opera Review: The Song Contest Remains the Same

The Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Die Meistersinger. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Generation gap: Amanda Majeski and James Morris in Lyric Opera of Chicago's
new Die Meistersinger. Photo by Dan Rest © 2013 Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The Lyric Opera of Chicago's new production of Wagner's  Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is one that might be familiar to Superconductor readers. It's by David McVicar, and it's the same one that premiered at Glyndebourne in 2012 and was recently released on DVD. The Chicago version is pretty much the same show--with a few changes and tweaks from director Marie Lambert. (Most notable: the elimination of the stilt-walking fire-breathers following a rehearsal accident earlier this month. They now juggle tenpins.) Sir Andrew Davis conducted a brisk, muscular performance.