Opera Review: The Three Faces of a Composer

The Met (finally) revives Puccini's Il Trittico.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Three faces of Il Trittico: Marcelo Alvarez and Amber Wagner in Il Tabarro, Kristine Opolais
in Suor Angelica and Plácido Domingo in Gianni Schicchi. Photos by Ken Howard.

No work by Puccini has suffered more neglect and critical ignorance than Il Trittico, his "triptych" of three single act operas that premiered at the Metropolitan Opera one hundred years ago. Part of what has hurt the reputation of this work: comprised of three operas designed to be performed together and in a certain sequence, is the unfortunate habit producers have of playing these works individually, or pairing them "Cav-Pag" style with operas by other composers.

Opera Review: Woman On Fire

Sondra Radvanovsky burns up the Met's Tosca.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

She doesn't get mad. She gets stabby. Sondra Radvanovsky is Tosca at the Met.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

In the twenty-two years since her Met debut, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky has sung many roles, including Floria Tosca, the fiery and jealous opera soprano who is the star of the opera that bears her surname. And yet, this current run of Tosca, which had its second performance on Monday night may mark the first time that New Yorkers really got to see this great American soprano tackle this formidable part head-on.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Tosca

Two new casts take the stage in two runs of the Puccini potboiler.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

It's good to be the chief: Željko Lučić as Scarpia in the Met's Tosca.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

On New Year's Eve 2017, the Metropolitan Opera raised the curtain on its new production of Tosca. This staging returns the opera to its original Roman setting in a budget-friendly version of one of Puccini's most opulent shows.

Opera Review: A Blaze of Saddles

Eva-Maria Westbroek shines in Puccini's Golden West.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

California Love: Eva-Maria Westbroek and Yusif Eyvazov in La Fanciulla del West.
Photo by Ken Howard © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

It is a hard existence to be a lesser known work from the pen of a great opera composer, and no opera has suffered more cruel jokes than Puccini's La Fanciulla del West ("The Girl of the Golden West.") Since its premiere on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in 1910, Fanciulla has fought for survival, much like the hardscrabble gold miners that make up the bulk of its colorful cast. The opera returned to the Met this month with a good cast. On Monday night, a performance featuring tenor Yusif Eyvazov and soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek provided a much needed shot of red blood to an anemic fall season.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: La Fanciulla del West

Italian opera goes west...with Jonas Kaufmann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Just a small-town girl: Eva-Marie Westbroek as Minnie in La Fanciulla del West.
Photo © 2018 Royal Opera House of Covent Garden.

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann and soprano Eva-Marie Westbroek are reunited in Puccini's boiled spaghetti Western. This is the story of a barmaid and a bandit and their forbidden love against the spectacular backdrop of the California gold rush. It premiered at the Met in 1910. Beloved by connoisseurs, Fanciulla stands as one of the great Italian operas, and a work that is only revived occasionally. See it!

The Bernstein Legacy: Some Americans in Paris

Looking back at a flawed but interesting 1988 La bohème.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The catalogue of any large record company is filled with interesting failures: pricey boxed sets that get re-issued at a bargain price or in some cases quietly and suddenly dropped from the catalog, only to reappear in complete compilations of a composers or conductors works. One of those rarities is the 1988 Deutsche Grammophon recording of La bohème, made in Rome with the Orchestra of the National Academy of St. Cecilia under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.

Concert Review: A String of Pearls

Harlem Chamber Players celebrate a decade with Harlem Songfest.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Harlem Chamber Players (above) conductor David Gilbert
and five fine singers celebrated ten years of music at Miller Theater.

It was billed as Harlem Songfest, but the season-ending tenth anniversary concert of the Harlem Chamber Players was more in the nature of an operatic gala: albeit one on a very modest scale. The celebration, a mix of Verdi, Mozart, Bizet and other operatic favorites was held at the Miller Theater on Friday evening, celebrating the good works of this excellent community orchestra that calls northern Manhattan its home.

Meet the New "Love Couple"

or "Whatever Anna Wants, Anna Gets."
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Jump shot: Anna Netrebko and hubby Yusif Eyvazov will sing 'Tosca' together at the Met.
Photo © 2018 The Royal Albert Hall.

The Metropolitan Opera has announced yet another casting change in the company's current production of Tosca which is scheduled to return to the stage on April 26. Tenor Marcelo Alvarez is out, replaced by the tenor Yusif Eyvazov in only his fourth appearance on the Met stage. He is Ms. Netrebko's husband.

Opera Review: Give the People What They Want

The Met unleashes its new Tosca.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Knives for dinner: the second act of Tosca with Sonya Yoncheva and Željko Lučić (prone.)
Photo by Ken Howard © 2018 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Tosca was the most eagerly awaited event of the current season. And on New Year's Eve, the storied New York opera company did not drop the ball.

Concert Review: Songs from a Hockey Arena

Billy Joel rocks Madison Square Garden...again.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Big Shot: Billy Joel at the piano for your dining and dancing pleasure.
Photo © 2017 LiveNation.

OK. Maybe you're waking up, opening my blog page or getting your daily e-mail and going...."Alright. That Pelkonen kid has lost it again. First that Dream Theater review. Then those guys with the three drummers...and now...Billy Joel? The piano man?" Well yes. I saw Mr. Joel's show last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden and enjoyed it thoroughly, and decided to write about it. So settle down, Beavis, pour yourself a glass from a bottle of red or a bottle of white, and let me do my thing.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Madama Butterfly

East meets West with disastrous consequences in Puccini's tragedy.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A dancer in the opening scene of the Met's production of Madama Butterfly.
Photo courtesy the Metropolitan Opera.

The Met struck operatic gold earlier this year with its La bohéme. As another relatively new soprano, Hui He sings her first Met performances as Cio-Cio San, the company hopes that their Puccini luck continues. This is one of the greatest love stories of the operatic canon. It's a sharp commentary on American imperialism and the uncaring treatment of "natives" by "enterprising" Yankee vagabonds. It's both. It's brilliant. It's Butterfly.

Opera Review: This...is...Jeopardy!

The Metropolitan Opera revives Turandot.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

James Morris (center) celebrated 1,000 performances at the Metropolitan Opera on
Tuesday. Here he appears as Timur in  Turandot with Aleksandrs Antonenko (left) as
The Unknown Prince and Maria Agresta (right) as Liù in Puccini's opera.
Photo by Marty Sohl copyright 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

Turandot is Giacomo Puccini’s final, unfinished work. It is a a grand fantasy of legendary China as reimagined through the lens of Italian romanticism. It is a farm tale, the story of an ice-hearted princess and the fearless Prince who wins her hand. It is seen (wrongly) as the end point of the genre of Italian opera. It is also, along with La bohème, the last of the Metropolitan Opera’s giant Franco Zeffirelli productions, crowded extravaganzas that evoke the opulence of a bygone era. (In this case, we’re talking about the 1980s.)

Opera Review: Flowers in the Attic

Singing defeats spectacle in the Met's latest La bohème.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Angel Blue and Dmytro Popov share a tender moment in Act III of   La bohème.
Photo by Marty Sohl Copyright 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Franco Zeffirelli production of La bohème is the company's biggest export. Seen in films and commercials, this series of ginormous Parisian picture postcards can swallow up singers. With 250 people onstage at one point in Act II and a huge simulated blizzard in Act III, this show risks rendering the love story of Rodolfo and Mimì redundant in the face of its spectacle. However, thanks to a stellar cast of young singers and a fresh face on the podium, this current revival is quite possibly the Met’s best Bohème in many years.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Turandot

Fantastical, phantasmagorical and faintly ridiculous.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

That's amore: Marcelo Alvarez (center) woos Turandot as thousands cheer.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

The Met's elaborate production of Puccini's final opera returns to the delight of people who like "Nessun dorma" and big, elaborate productions.

New Head on the Block

Puccini's Turandot claims yet another victim.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Princess Turandot. Art from the original cover of the score as published by Ricordi.

The title character of Puccini's final opera Turandot is a fabulous Chinese princess, and possibly the most bloodthirsty heroine in opera. Y'see, Turandot, the daughter of the Chinese Emperor, is a single girl. And in a vow to her ancestor, she has her would-be suitors decapitated when they fail to answer three riddles. One could view this work as an exotic vision of ancient China through the eyes of a late Romantic Italian composer...or a game show gone horribly wrong.

Opera Review: Minnie Shot First

The New York City Opera opens with La fanciulla del West.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

A rootin'-tootin' romance: Jonathan Burton and Kristin Sampson in  La fanciulla del West.
Photo by Sara Shatz courtesy New York City Opera.

Of the mature operas by Giacomo Puccini, La fanciulla del West (English title The Girl of the Golden West) is unique. It was his first (and only) opera written for the American stage, premiering at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910 with Enrico Caruso in the tenor part and the composer in attendance. Based on a play by David Belasco, (he also provided Puccini with source material for Madama Butterfly) its ending preaches tolerance over tragedy. The final curtain descends on an ambiguous but generally happy note as the hero and heroine ride off into a new future. It was an inspired choice to open the second full season of the resuscitated New York City Opera.

Death, Congress and Tosca

On Twitter with Puccini and the banality of evil.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Cover art for the CD issue of the 1980 Karajan Tosca.
Image © 1980 Deutsche Grammophon/UMG.

It started because I couldn't sleep.

Tonight was the super-stealthy midnight vote by the Republican Party to enact a so-called "skinny repeal" of the Affordable Care Act, the health care achievement by President Barack Obama that has enabled me to continue my career both as a freelance writer and as the author of Superconductor, my very own classical music publication that you're reading if you're reading this right now.

Opera Review: Curtains for a Super-Spy

The Prototype Festival stages Mata Hari.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Dancing undercover: Tina Miller (center) in a scene from Mata Hari.
Photo by Benjamin Heller © 2017 HERE and the Prototype Festival.

Margaretha Geertruida Zelle MacLeod, known to history as "Mata Hari", is an ideal subject for opera. And now, thanks to the Prototype Festival, she is. Friday night marked the second New York performance of Mata Hari, created by the team of composer Matt Marks and Paul Peers and kicking off this January celebration of modern operatic works.

Opera Review: The Girl in the Bubble

Kristin Opalais returns as Manon Lescaut.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Cast aside: Kristin Opalais in the last scene of Manon Lescaut. 
Photo by Ken Howard © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

When the Metropolitan Opera opened its new Richard Eyre production of Manon Lescaut last February, it stirred up a firestorm of criticism. Mr. Eyre moved the action ahead to France in the 1940s, an occupied and defeated nation under the Nazi boot. On Monday night, this revival featuring Kristin Opalais in the role that she created last season seemed particularly on point, its oppressive sets, decadent, doomed atmosphere and the libretto's treatment of women as a commodity a set of mirrors for these troubled times.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: La Bohéme

The Met brings back its meal ticket featuring four starving artists.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

If the shoe fits...Susanna Philips (center) as Musetta in a scene from Act II of La Bohéme.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2016 The Metropolitan Opera.

A brace of young, talented tenors, sopranos and baritones portray Puccini's Paris bohemians, trying to stay warm through a long cold winter and a massive Act Three cascade of fake stage snow. This is the Met's most-performed and most revived show, back for another year.