By Márcio Bezerra It is as if Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a musical Midas: Every musical genre he touched was elevated by him, including opera. Few other composers (one must think as far back as Monteverdi) prepared the way for the advent of modern (19th century) opera as he did. Therefore, it is always a treat when Palm Beach Opera stage one of his masterworks as it … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Elixir of Love’: A silly love story, beautifully sung and told
By Rosie Rogers One of the most exciting things about opera is the indulgence and relatability of its heightened emotions, and what’s more relatable than the uncertainty of love? Directed by Fenlon Lamb, Palm Beach Opera’s production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love created this relatability by telling a love story that is as earnest as it is silly. Gorgeous lighting … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Hansel’ makes deft use of small Crest surroundings
By Dennis D. Rooney Those of us who as children read the Grimm Fairy Tales, or better yet, had them read to us, know all about creepy castles, evil forests, wicked stepmothers, wily foxes and sanguinary wolves, ungrateful kings, scheming dwarfs, and other bad actors we came to know from the folk tales collected by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm in the early 19th century. There … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Hansel’ explores world of play, menace on a set made of paper
In the Palm Beach Opera’s upcoming trip to the land of make-believe, everything is made of paper and grommets are our friend. If that sounds odd, how about this: For its December production, which in past years has amounted to such things as outdoor concerts and presentations of huge symphonic works including Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem, the company is … [Read more...]
‘Tosca’ launches Palm Beach Opera season in excellent style
For the first opera of its 2017-18 season, Palm Beach Opera handed its audience a gift. In mounting a box-office surety in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, the company was doing its best to make sure it had a sizable audience for its first mainstage production of the year. And on the afternoon of Jan. 28, the Kravis Center house was gratifyingly huge. But in bringing this opera … [Read more...]