Heather Johnson as Elizabeth Proctorand Sean Anderson as John Proctor, in The Crucible.Editor's note: This story has been reposted to correct errors.By Rex Hearn Sarasota Opera’s season in February and March each year has three weekends to suit the traveling operagoer.This year’s offerings were Don Giovanni, The Crucible, La Bohème and I Lombardi.I wasn’t … [Read more...]
Opera review: Second cast of PBO’s ‘Carmen’ features auspicious debuts
Madgalena Wór and Rafael Dávila in Carmen.(Photo by Alissa Dragun) By Rex Hearn I’ve seen Georges Bizet’s Carmen many times, but the second cast of the recent Palm Beach Opera production offered even a veteran operagoer fresh delights. Chief among them Saturday night was the Polish-born mezzo-soprano Magdalena Wór, who made a magnificent debut with this company, with her … [Read more...]
Opera feature: Ever-vital ‘Carmen’ to close PB Opera season
Georges Bizet (1838-1875).By Greg StepanichThe young Frenchman Jean-Luc Tingaud is the associate conductor at the venerable Opéra-Comique in Paris, the same theater (though not the same building) where the opera Carmen premiered in March of 1875.Three months later, Carmen’s composer, Georges Bizet, died of runaway strep throat at the tragically young age of 36. Tingaud says the … [Read more...]