Author Archives: Alan Rich

Perfection in the arts comes in many shapes and sizes. Nobody could mistake the grand, humanitarian strokes in Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” for the glistening, small-scale artifice of Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale”; each are perfect comic operas in the elegance of … Continue reading →

There is a certain shock value in hearing the music of the distant past, as there often is with music of today. Our most familiar repertory stems from a time (Bach, say, through Debussy) when certain stated or implied rules … Continue reading →

Elsewhere the drought took its toll, but the UCLA campus has been richly awash these last four days — inundated, that is, with magical Mozart, much of it unfamiliar, all of it beautifully done. Perhaps the limitations suggested by the … Continue reading →

Just before the happy end of “Happy End,” the 1929 Bert Brecht/Kurt Weill musical that began a five week run at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory on Friday night — the ringleader of the bandit gang delivers a ringing speech. … Continue reading →

By general agreement, “The Girl of the Golden West” is Puccini’s problem opera. Maybe so, but the Music Center Opera’s new production, unveiled Wednesday night in an out-of-town tryout at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, presents … Continue reading →

Even before Francesca Zambello arrived at the appointed hour, expectations had been shaped by memories of another hugely talented, innovative, ferociously energetic operatic stage director of our time. You can’t help it. It was Boston’s Sarah Caldwell, after all, who … Continue reading →

Every visitor, and even a few residents, recognize Manhattan as a paradise for the sightseer. But there needs to be a comparable word — “soundhearer,” perhaps? — for the music critic, with a few hours off from official duties, who … Continue reading →

It seems to be a Long Beach Opera axiom that the more challenging the work at hand the more brilliant the results. The results this season bear this out: an indifferent stab at a couple of sure-fire romantic melodramas to … Continue reading →

As expected, Luciano Pavarotti filled the Hollywood Bowl on Monday night, both with his voice and with his fans. The one was received by the others — 17.979 strong, the full Bowl capacity — with clear and obvious delight. It … Continue reading →

There are certain advantages to being old. I can collect the awe of the multitude for having seen Rachmaninoff play the piano, and for having shaken hands with Bela Bartok. Still there are drawbacks. I have made the terrible blunder, … Continue reading →