Author Archives: Alan Rich

[*] laby2;p1205.By Alan Rich [B]Daily News Music Critic[B] Considering the number of years the musical world has basked in the glow of Leontyne Price’s artistry — 33, since her lustrous Aida at the San Francisco Opera — one might have … Continue reading →

Try as they might, not even the assembled forces of the Music Center Opera could obliterate the radiant beauties of Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice.” The question must be raised, therefore: why did they even try? The production, which opened on … Continue reading →

“It’s not quite true, what it says in the gallery brochure,” said Maurice Sendak, “that I only got into opera so that I could design “Idomeneo,” but it’s close. All those old-time “Idomeneo” lovers, they all look down on us … Continue reading →

Of all musical instruments, the clarinets come closest to the sound of the human voice. You might, therefore, expect a concert by two expert clarinetists to come close to the sound of real conversation. You’d be right. Exactly that happened, … Continue reading →

I HAVE NEW ART, 1 VERTICAL OF DICK ‘N’ PAT, WILL BRING IN [F/L]It would be possible, with a little hard work, to have a terrible time at the Music Center Opera’s “Nixon in China,” but why waste the effort? … Continue reading →

The aim of the Los Angeles Festival, as frequently stated by its producers, is to expand the horizons of local audiences through new and mysterious artistic experiences. That being so, Saturday night’s visit to the Japan-America Theater by the Kun … Continue reading →

Has any opera company of any size, anywhere in the world, run up in its first five years a more distinguished string of successes than that of our own Music Center Opera. Sure, there have been lapses along the way, … Continue reading →

Operatically inclined radio listeners within reach of New York’s WQXR know the voice and the wisdom of George Jellinek. For years, especially on his program called “The Vocal Scene,” he has expounded on the great voices of our time, without … Continue reading →

The 18,000-or-so fortunate souls who sat at Ella Fitzgerald’s feet (in a manner of speaking) at the Bowl last Wednesday night were treated a display of pure style, a rare and precious commodity becoming more rare, more precious, in our … Continue reading →

Anytime you get the premonition that civilization might be doomed, you need no firmer assurance of survival that the Saturday night series of concerts at the J. Paul Getty Museum. You can’t get in, of course; the series is always … Continue reading →