South Florida’s two regional opera companies are adding some new things to a lineup heavy in audience favorites, while across the state in Sarasota, the repertory company is returning to an early Verdi masterwork and offering a French rarity. The country’s largest opera troupes are making moves this season into a much more modern direction, with new works, especially … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Opera gets $6 million gift; announces 2022-23 season
WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach Opera has received a gift of $6 million from a local foundation, the largest donation in the opera company’s 61-year history. The gift, announced last week, will allow Palm Beach Opera to move forward with renovations on its new home in the artsy Northwood section of West Palm Beach. The company announced in September it had bought an … [Read more...]
Well-sung ‘Merry Widow’ closes PB Opera season in light, frothy style
By Rosie Rogers Palm Beach Opera’s production of Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow last weekend at the Kravis Center made a light and lively, if not technically perfect, closer for the company's 60th season. Directed by Helena Binder and using Sheldon Harnick’s English lyrics, the show compensated for a few flaws with beautiful sets and an able cast. Binder introduced many … [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...]
On eve of PB Opera’s ‘L’elisir,’ tenor explores poignancy of ‘Una furtiva lagrima’
By Robert Croan Mario Chang has no qualms about touting the Palm Beach Opera production of L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love), in which he will be the star this weekend. (The show runs Friday through Sunday.) “Tell the people that if they stay away they’re missing something very good,” says the Colombian tenor, who will play the central role of Nemorino. “This … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Carmen’ a study in strong women
By Rosie Rogers What kind of woman is Carmen? Since the premiere of Georges Bizet’s Carmen in 1875 she has been many different things. She can be a dangerous femme fatale, a proto feminist icon, or just another operatic woman doomed to die. In Palm Beach Opera’s Jan. 28 performance of Carmen, J’Nai Bridges’ Carmen fits none of these archetypes. She was fully human — … [Read more...]
Young artists do Purcell proud at Palm Beach Opera opener
By Rosie Rogers Although the exact circumstances of the composition of Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas have been contested over the last 30 years, the first verifiable performance of the work was given in London by the students at Josias Priest’s School for Girls in 1689. The lively cast of Palm Beach Opera’s 60th anniversary production of the opera on Dec. 11, made up … [Read more...]
Season Preview 2021-22: The season in opera
It may be that the biggest news of the American operatic world has been the drama over at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, which has only just settled things with its crews after 18 months of COVID hiatus. But local opera companies have stayed in the game, too, perhaps none more so than Palm Beach Opera, which mounted an outdoor festival in February at the iThink Financial … [Read more...]
Arts buzz: Kravis posts classical lineup; Buffett in Delray; PB Opera announces season
WEST PALM BEACH — Major performers and ensembles in the classical music world have been scheduled for the coming Regional Arts season at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, in the expectation that vaccinated audiences can return to the West Palm Beach venue. The season, announced April 6, will feature a dozen programs, and include appearances by the much-beloved … [Read more...]
Dozen young singers make for a beautiful PB Opera Liederabend
Another night when Palm Beach Opera beats the virus with an outdoor song recital. This time the venue was the spacious veranda of the well-groomed National Croquet Center. Twelve singers, six each from the Benenson Young Artist and Apprentice Artist programs, were accompanied by the distinguished pianist Ksenia Leletkina, whose doctorate is from the Eastman School of Music … [Read more...]