AP Review: Terfel Sings Wotan Intensely
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The next great Wotan has arrived. Bryn Terfel sang the role of Wagner's head god for the first time Saturday night in the premiere of The Royal Opera's new production of "Das Rheingold," a macabre staging likely to provoke controversy. With his burnished bass-baritone, impeccable diction and intense acting, he gave a memorable performance that is likely to deepen over the next decade as he performs Wotan on the world's great stages.
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Julie Taymor's production of "Die ZauberflÃ¶te" on Friday was so packed with stage tricks that the exceptional musical performance by the strong cast was overwhelmed.
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Senegalese singer and songwriter Nuru Kane is carrying his sound, and his message, to the West
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Musica Sacraâs real drawing card is its focused, trim sound, which keeps Handelâs vivid, painterly orchestration of âMessiahâ lithe.
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Alison Krauss is a master at slipping into musical styles.
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âBridge to Terabithiaâ is a movie whose emotional depth could appeal more to adults than to their offspring.
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The songwriter confesses to being on an Edith Wharton kick and recommends a rare record everyone should hear.
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Lorin Maazel had a comparatively easy job last night in the first of this week's New York Philharmonic subscription programs. On the first half of the program, he led Mozart's Symphony No. 29 and the Horn Concerto No. 1 by Richard Strauss. He then ceded the podium to Xian Zhang, an assistant conductor at the Philharmonic since 2002, when she won first prize in the Maazel/Vilar Conductors' Competition. Ms. Zhang's task was more rigorous: she led the world premiere of
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Wu Hsing-kuoâs remarkable one-man âKing Lear,â which the Lincoln Center Festival presented on Thursday, expanded codified Chinese opera style to include Buddhist chant, contemporary music and electronics, and Western elements â beyond Shakespeareâs play itself, of course.
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A survey of Messiaenâs organ music performed by Gail Archer is sure to be among the yearâs highlights, to judge by the initial installment on Sunday afternoon.
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In a new work, âTerra Nova,â Ben Munisteri sets the fast, difficult beaten steps to a dreamily slow song by Bjork. The effect is both odd and perfect in its place.
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In Rachid Taha's politically charged pop, Eastern soul gets a Western beat
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Fiona Shaw is indisputably the queen of the mountain in Deborah Warnerâs blazing production of Samuel Beckettâs âHappy Days.â
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Being female and Chinese in the classical music business are helpful in getting yourself noticed, but careers are built â and this one is building fast â on substance. Xian Zhang has it.
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NEW YORK - The man could sing. Oh, how he could sing, and now he can team up and tune up with the angels. As a tenor, he was in their league for decades.
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By Ken Hunt  When the vocalist Fer-nanda de Utrera died, ElPais hailed her as "surely, the best solearera of all time".Shehadacom-mand of several flamenco song idioms, but soled, said to be related to soledad (solitude) - and all the desolation that that word summons - was her forte.
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On a pair of CDs, minstrel of misery Conor Oberst (a.k.a. Bright Eyes) proves great--one out of two tries