Joo Won Kang won first place in the advanced division.By Greg StepanichFor the Grand Finals of the Palm Beach Opera’s annual vocal competition this year, technical accomplishment appeared to matter most to the panel of four judges.Baritone Joo Won Kang of Seoul, South Korea, won the top prize in the advanced division (for ages 24-30), and bass-baritone Brandon … [Read more...]
Opera review: Staging, weak Cavaradossi mar second cast of PBO’s ‘Tosca’
Tiffany Abban.By Rex HearnThere are times when the stronger regional opera companies mount Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca to exploit every emotion: love, hate, seduction, torture and betrayal. Each is accented and the audiences go home satisfied.This was not one of them.Palm Beach Opera’s version, directed by Massimo Gasparon, had none of the blood lust … [Read more...]
Opera review: Soprano Taigi shines in PB Opera’s ‘Tosca’
Chiara Taigi and Riccardo Massi in Tosca.By Greg StepanichGood singing can get an opera audience past uninspired acting, but when it comes to the heroine of Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, it’s best to have someone who can do both well.And on Friday night, Palm Beach Opera did.In the Italian soprano Chiara Taigi, who opened its current run of Puccini’s “shabby … [Read more...]
Music review: Colossal ‘Requiem’ at PB Opera proves hugely enjoyable
Bruno Aprea leads the Verdi Requiem on Sunday. By Greg StepanichEven if you hear it by playing a YouTube video through the tinny speakers built into your laptop, Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem makes an overwhelming impression.So much more overwhelming was it, then, to see the massive chorus and orchestra lined up on stage Sunday afternoon at the Kravis Center … [Read more...]
Opera review: Splendid second cast shines in PB Opera’s ‘Nabucco’
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: PB Opera’s bold, radical ‘Giovanni’ stumbles without statue
Gezim Myshekta as Don Giovanni.By Greg StepanichChekhov’s rule in theater was this: If you’ve got a gun on stage, you’re going to have to fire it at some point.By the same token, if you promise people a monster, you’re going to have to show it. But the Palm Beach Opera’s new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which opened Friday night at the Kravis Center, dispenses with the … [Read more...]
Opera review: ‘Otello’ decent but spotty at PB Opera
Soprano Sabina Cvilak.By Greg StepanichFor its first staged production of the season, the Palm Beach Opera on Friday presented a decent, if unremarkable, production of what is often considered Giuseppe Verdi's finest opera.Otello, which for the composer marked a bold advance toward a seamless fusion of music and drama, requires a kind of singing and acting that it only got … [Read more...]
Music review: PB Opera’s Beethoven sometimes messy, but packs a wallop
Mezzo-soprano Michaela Martens and soprano Ruth Ann Swenson sing during the finale of Beethoven's Ninth at the Kravis Center on Friday night.By Greg StepanichSeeing the gigantic forces arrayed on the stage of the Kravis Center, one couldn't help wondering whether the audience was about to hear a performance of the Mahler Eighth Symphony.But all those people were there Friday … [Read more...]