The Feast of Seven: The Best Opera Performances of 2018

Seven great opera performances from a strange and turbulent year.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The year that was: 2018 in opera.

What a year. James Levine was fired from The Metropolitan Opera, which also crowned a new music director. I listened to seven recordings of Carmen. And Placido Domingo tried his hand at....comedy? On to the highlights.

A Thank You

Dear readers of Superconductor: 

It's been a strange year for your favorite classical music blog. No trips to Japan (but two visits to Cleveland!) an article on yours truly singing in public (terrifying!) and too many obituary posts.

Well, we're not dead yet. There has been a recovery of numbers to some degree but also the loss of some advertising clients. However, I'd like to take this, one of the last posts of 2018 to thank those who have stepped up and supported the Patreon initiative that started this summer. If you want to keep reading this publication (and supply its author with the means to continue doing it) your contributions are invaluable.

Thank you. Let's have a great 2019, as we look forward to our TWELFTH year in business!

And now, as Mr. Kasem said, back to our countdown.

Paul Pelkonen

Editor,

Superconductor

The Feast of Seven: The Best Opera Recordings of 2018

Seven notable opera recordings in seven different styles.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The seven best opera recordings of 2018. Art © the respective classical music labels.

Although Superconductor mostly features coverage of live performances, recordings are and continue to be an important part of the classical music genre: the "permanent"...well...record of art that will endure in physical form for decades or even centuries after a performer has moved on to whatever awaits. I don't get to write about recordings anywhere near as often as I would like to, but that doesn't mean I don't listen to and pay attention to what is new.

To kick off our year-ending "Best of 2018" series, here are seven memorable opera recordings for 2018. Chronological order by style. And this year, there's no Wagner or Strauss!):

Every Valley...Has Its Terrors

My first time performing Handel's Messiah.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Where's your Messiah now?

In the course of my professional career, both as the author of Superconductor and for other publications, I have written an awful lot of reviews. However, last night at the National Chorale's annual Messiah Sing-In at David Geffen Hall, the tables were turned: I found myself, along with the audience, as a choral performer, embedded among professional and vocational singers in a struggle with Handel's written work. So yesterday I did the smart thing: bought a copy of the Dover miniature score at Juilliard and sat in Starbucks, listening to a new BR Klassik recording of the oratorio and dog-earing the choral sections in the score: the sections which I would be participating in in the night's performance.