Metropolitan Opera Preview: Rusalka

It's like The Little Mermaid but with more death.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The sleeper must awaken: Kristin Opolais (rear) and Brandon Jovanovich (foreground) in Rusalka.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Met plunges into a new production of Dvořák's Rusalka, a Czech fairy tale with gorgeous music and a dark but oh-so-Romantic ending. Kristine Opolais sings the title role, which has become one of her signature parts in recent years.

Concert Review: The Early Bird Gets the Mermaid

The New York Philharmonic plays Stravinsky, Zemlinsky and Mozart.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Detail from The Mermaid in the Sea by Edmund Dulac.
Image from WikiMedia Commons.

As the New York Philharmonic gears up for next week’s season announcement, there is no drop in the quality of music being made at Avery Fisher Hall. That’s the impression, anyway from Friday’s 11am matinee concert, the second in a concert weekend featuring the young Russian conductor Andrei Boreyko and three interesting works from dusty corners of the classical repertory. The two large orchestral pieces on the program had this in common both were based upon the fairy tales of Danish author Hans Christian Andersen.