Tales of Hoffman premiered in Denver with OperaColorado

By -

OperaColorado premiered Tales of Hoffman last Saturday with great delight to the audience. While I will be taking in the performance Tuesday (Nov 10), I thought I would treat you to some of the highlights other reviewers said of the performance.

Wes Blomster, Daily Camera Classical Music Critic said, "Doucet and Barbe obviously had a field day in this co-production with St. Louis and Boston. Their concern was the show -- not the story, and -- largely -- the audience loved it."

Too often productions want to stay "faithful" to some concept of classic opera. However, since Offenbach died before completing the full orchestration of this work directors often take the opportunity to give their own take on the production. First performed in 1881, this opera comes at the cusp of a shift in opera style of Rossini (Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola) which were not necessarily based in reality, to the Verismo composers like Puccini (La bohème, Tosca) who wanted a sense of gritty reality in their works. Tales of Hoffmann is hardly a realistic story, filled with automatron women and yet, there is a sense of political poignancy to the libretto. OperaColorado's production should be a wonderful romp with some truly great music.

The Tales of Hoffmann

Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Performing Arts Complex, 14th and Curtis streets. Opera Colorado presents Jacques Offenbach's fantasical opera, based on three tales by E.T.A. Hoffmann. This version was co-produced with Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Theatre of St. Louis, where it debuted in the summer of 2008. 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Tuesday and Nov. 13 and 2 p.m. Nov. 15. 3 hours, 15 minutes. $30-$160. 800-982-2787 or operacolorado.org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more