Opera Impressions

La Boheme - The Movie

I recently saw the new movie of La Boheme  on PBS and would like to share a few impressions. This movie features Anna Netrebko as Mimi and Rolando Villazon as Rudolfo. The movie was directed by Robert Dornhelm. I had been awaiting this film for some time especially since Ms. Netrebko did not sing the Boheme for which I had tickets last year because of her pregnancy and because I recently ran into Mr. Villazon on the street in New York City and, thus, felt even greater incentive to see his performance.

Les Contes d'Hoffman

I had really been looking forward to The Tales of Hoffman at the Met and was delighted with the entire performance. The performance of this opera at the Met had a wonderful blend of great singing, rousing music and interesting drama. The production by Bartlett Sher advanced the essence of the opera in so many ways. In describing the performance, I am sure that I will run out of superlatives.

ELEKTRA - Family Discord Takes Its Toll

Once again discord had severe repercussions for the family of Agamemnon and Klytamnestra who performance after performance seem to fall into the same dysfunctional traps. This time the infamous family dynamics were ably portrayed by the cast at the Metropolitan Opera in the performance of Richard Strauss' Elektra.