Montezuma in Lübeck
In Lübeck I attended the premiere of a seldom-performed opera from the year 1755 called Montezuma, about the indigenous Mexican emperor and his defeat in the early 16th century by Read More …
Tag: Operas
Rossini in Bremerhaven
From the outside, the City Theater in Bremerhaven looks rather cramped and austere, but inside it is pleasant, with wood paneling on the walls both in the lobby and in Read More …
Rusalka in Antwerp
The two largest cities in Flanders, Antwerp and Ghent, had separate opera companies until 1981, when the two companies were merged to form the Flemish Opera — now known as Read More …
The Lausanne Opera and Gabriel Fauré
The Opéra de Lausanne is the only opera house I know of that looks more impressive from the back than from the front. The front end still looks much the Read More …
Bizet’s Carmen in Toulon
Whatever else you might have heard about Toulon, you should be aware that it has a gorgeous nineteenth century opera house — one of the largest opera houses in France Read More …
Bizet’s Carmen in Marseille
The sun never shines on the façade of the Municipal Opera House in Marseille because the building faces north (or more precisely north-northwest). So whatever time of day you take Read More …
Opéra de Lille
The original Municipal Theater in Lille was built from 1784 to 1787 and served its purpose for over a century, until it burned to the ground in a mysterious fire Read More …
Lully and Strauss in Nancy
The opera house in Nancy is on an elegant public square called Place Stanislas, which was designed and built in the 1750s on orders of the Duke of Lorraine, Stanislas Read More …
Crash of an Airbus at the Opera
Instead of being shipwrecked, captured by pirates and sold into slavery, the Italian travelers in David Hermann’s staging of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri were flying comfortably in an Airbus when it Read More …
The Royal Opera in Versailles
In the Royal Opera in the north wing of Versailles Palace I saw an elaborate performance of the musical comedy Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by the playwright Molière (1622-1673) and the Read More …