By ANDREW POWELL Published: February 22, 2017 MUNICH — Bavarian State Opera had a delicate problem. It was selling too many tickets online, more with each passing season. Its system, powered by CTS Eventim, was so robust and so fast that little was left to sell via phone or in person minutes after the 10 […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 31, 2017 MUNICH — The New York-based League of American Orchestras yesterday issued this statement in response to Executive Order 13769, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States: “The music that orchestras play and the communities they serve are global and include people and cultures from […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 27, 2017 ZURICH — It was not the most natural of programs. Beethoven’s familiar C-Major Piano Concerto (1795) prepared nobody for Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà … , or Lightning Over the Beyond … , the 65-minute theological ornithological astronomical would-be symphony Messiaen finished in 1991. Wary of the exotic fare ahead, […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: January 11, 2017 ZURICH — Christof Loy’s staging of Alcina here, new in 2014 and just revived, imagines a blurred line between a theater troupe’s onstage roles and its members’ backstage passions and asks what it means to break free of illusion — this last substituting for Ariosto’s island magic, happily […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: December 6, 2016 MUNICH — London-born conductor Anthony Bramall, 59, has been appointed Chefdirigent of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz here, effective next season. He succeeds Marco Comin. Bramall studied singing at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and conducting with Vilém Tauský. He has already led several productions with the […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: November 30, 2016 MUNICH — As fluent as Valery Gergiev is in Prokofiev, he had precious little to say with a cycle of the symphonies here this month. Fluency meant wise tempos, a feel for the boldness in the scores’ structures, a facility in cuing the two orchestras on duty. It […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: October 29, 2016 RAVENNA — Imprints, sub-brands, and discreet licensing entities were once a way for artists with bargaining power to secure fatter stakes in the published output of their work. Among conductors, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein and Nikolaus Harnoncourt enjoyed the privilege. Are such endeavors still viable, given social […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: September 9, 2016 SALZBURG — Today’s iconic Verdian has completed the casting for his delayed return to the iconic Verdi opera, sources say. Due next summer here, Riccardo Muti’s opening-night roster for Aida reportedly will be: Aida — Anna Netrebko Amneris — Anita Rachvelishvili* Radamès — Francesco Meli Amonasro — Luca […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: September 3, 2016 MUNICH — Visiting orchestras cost more for concertgoers. But why exactly? Several factors govern ticket prices on tours, often mitigating each other, and all have a bearing this month as three orchestras from this city hit the road: — Bavarian State Orchestra (BStO) with Kirill Petrenko, general music […]
Read the rest of this article »By ANDREW POWELL Published: August 19, 2016 BAYREUTH — Clouds over Europe’s festivals this summer are as figurative as they are literal. The trouble is not lower standards or Regietheater, or even money, but has to do with Europe itself and macabre shifts that are gradually threatening the way of life accepted since 1945. Last […]
Read the rest of this article »
