Adam Diegel and Laura Vlasak Nolen in Nabucco.(Photo by Palm Beach Opera) By Rex HearnThe “A” cast may have sung Nabucco on Friday night for Palm Beach Opera, but on Saturday night I heard the alpha cast.The company alternates its principals in two casts for each of its full productions and the Saturday lineup featured five incredible voices, “B” cast or … [Read more...]
Music review: Supporting characters shine brighter in PB Opera’s ‘Nabucco’
Mark Rucker as Nabucco.By Greg StepanichIt takes a lot of big singing to fill up all the space in the static tableaux of Verdi’s Nabucco.And on Friday night at the Palm Beach Opera, most of that sonic filling was provided by two singers other than the principals: a sonorous bass as Zaccaria and a thrilling tenor as Ismaele.For its first production in 25 years of … [Read more...]
Opera review: Sometimes brilliant, sometimes silly, FGO’s ‘Carmen’ still bold, colorful
Kendall Gladen and Adam Diegel in Act IV of Carmen.(Photo by Gaston de Cardenas) By Greg StepanichThe Florida Grand Opera closed its 69th season Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale with a production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen that was sometimes brilliant, sometimes risible, but that also offered reliably good singing and enough dramatic punch to give it real … [Read more...]