by Robert Rollin
On Saturday night, April 8, The Cleveland Opera gave an outstanding performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights. Despite the venue’s awkward acoustics and lack of a pit for the sizeable orchestra, conductor Grzegorz Nowak led a well-balanced performance that allowed the singers to be heard clearly. The opera flowed beautifully through its many intricate arias, recitatives, and ensembles, and all eight leads were in fine voice. [Read more…]
by J.D. Goddard
Before performing at a major theater in downtown Cleveland last Saturday for the first time in its 17-year history, Opera Circle logged an impressive record of 47 opera performances in churches and other venues throughout Northeast Ohio. On June 15, Opera Circle brought to the Ohio Theater stage in PlayhouseSquare an adventuresome production of one of the most venerated operas of all time, Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. In the works for over two years and previously performed on a smaller scale in 2007, Opera Circle’s Rigoletto bravely broke away from the company’s past operational and financial constraints.
The production’s frugal yet effective sets and upstage projections, somewhat restrained lighting and straightforward staging allowed its strong cast of singers to keenly concentrate on the dramatic flow of this most tragic of stories, free from the distraction of flamboyant and opulent sets. [Read more…]