Three-quarters Britten. That was my weekend. On Saturday I attended the afternoon performance of Britten’s opera, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” at the Metropolitan Opera. Then in the evening I attended the first concert of Columbia University’s Miller Theater Early Music Series, by Le Poeme Harmonique, a French early-music ensemble led by Vincent Dumestre, in music by Monteverdi and some contemporaries under the program title “Combattimenti!” On Sunday, I attended two recitals, at 1 and 4, … <Read More>
Claudio Monteverdi
A Minimalist Monteverdi Production for the 21st Century: Opera Omnia’s “The Return of Ulysses”
Last week Opera Omnia, a tiny company that is the brainchild of Baroque opera enthusiast Wesley Chinn, presented its third production in New York, Claudio Monteverdi’s “The Return of Ulysses,” at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. I attended the final performance on Thursday, September 12. I was particularly drawn to attend this because one of my favorite musicians, baritone Jesse Blumberg, was singing the role of Ulysses. But I was also intrigued to see what Opera … <Read More>