John Bellemer News
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2024-04-24
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The Boston Musical Intelligencer
2015-05-03 07:11:30
[…] was somehow induced to lie supine on this Last Supper bier. A silent chorus of apparent victims in horns entered. And in the moment that ensued, we finally understood how the tale was being told from the victims’ perspectives: one of the ladies with horns leapt astride Giovanni, and hiking her skirts, simultaneously violated and strangled him. The show ended with Duncan Rock’s weightlifter’s groans instead of the didactic epilogue. Jennifer Johnson Cano, John Bellemer, Meredith Hansen (Charles Erickson photo) But are the ladies in Giovanni’s past really victims? Would we not all like to be either the Don for a Day or his love partner? Maybe so, unless our paramours become, as Bernard Gavoty’s essay for the 1978 Salzburg production suggests, love-hungry creatures who hound us to death. Sure, the Don was a rake and a beloved rogue, but one is left pondering, did the Don ever […]
The Boston Musical Intelligencer
2015-04-29 02:03:31
Raimondi as the Don Boston Lyric Opera’s five-day run of Don Giovanni opens at the Schubert Theater on Friday in what General and Artistic director Esther Nelson describes as a new perspective, “Audiences see Don Giovanni from the point of view of his conquests. The machismo sometimes celebrated in other productions is definitely a liability here. And the talented, beautiful, young cast, along with the production design, propels a 230-year-old opera right to the heart of today’s important social issues.” Helmed by a female-led creative team and starring Australian baritone Duncan Rock in his U.S. lead-role debut as the Rake, the production also features International Opera Awards finalist Jennifer Johnson Cano stars as Donna Elvira. Stage director Emma Griffin envisioned the new production as “powered by two key women in Giovanni’s life, Donna Anna, whom he attempts to seduce and whose father he kills in a duel; and Donna […]
2014-11-23 17:28:22
He’ll take Manhattan
[…] its historic resonance but because the composer, Brent Michael Davids (a Mohican), in addition to his other talents (he has composed for everyone from Kronos to Chanticleer), writes gorgeously for the operatic voice, and there were three splendid soloists to perform it. Stephen Powell, a baritone well known around town from his roles with the New York City Opera and many other groups, sang a Lenape chieftain with a ringing tone and easy dignity. John Bellemer, an American tenor who does most of his singing in Europe, took the unsympathetic role of Director General Minuit with lyric clarity and an easy surge to an impassioned top. The duet of these two uncomprehending figures, one marveling at the beauties of the island, the other calculating their practical worth, was perhaps a missed opportunity—duets at crossed purposes are a staple of comic opera. Davids, however, was not aiming for comedy but, rather, […]
2014-10-05 18:46:56
[…] ornate. Did Maselli immerse himself in a Prokofiev opera before tackling this? That wouldn’t be a surprise. Coloratura soprano Olga Zhuravel sang the lead role, holding the center with a fang-baring luridness. High soprano Micaela Oeste got less time in the spotlight but made the most of it: one particular spine-tingling, stratospheric, chromatic phrase of hers was worth the price of admission alone. The guys – baritones Brad Cresswell and Kevin Glavin, and tenor John Bellemer – were given goofier roles and thus less opportunity to explore as much emotional terrain as the women. Which made sense considering the storyline: unsympathetic characters are easier to kill off. In the spaces between, brief solos made their way cleverly and purposefully throughout the orchestra: Tomina Parvanova’s harp, BJ Karpen’s oboe and Allyson Clare’s viola in particular were standouts. Meanwhile, a series of microphones hung overhead: if the engineers soundchecked this right, the […]
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