Verdi’s Otello from Venice
Otello, Iago and Desdemona, three of literature's most complex and compelling characters, come to life in what many consider Verdi's most moving opera, Otello. Written when the composer was in his...
View ArticleShakespeare, the Musical Muse
It seems so easy: take a play with engaging characters whose motivations and contradictions are quickly comprehensible. Add a gifted composer and an incredibly talented director who also writes...
View ArticleVerdi's Otello at Lyric Opera of Chicago
A new season of broadcasts from the Lyric Opera of Chicago kicks off with Verdi's Otello, a musically and emotionally complex opera founded on jealousy and insecurity. In this production of Verdi's...
View ArticleVerdi's Otello from the Théâtre Antique in France
• Listen to the Operavore streamOtello, Iago and Desdemona, three of literature's most complex and compelling characters, come to life in what many consider Verdi's most moving opera, Otello. Written...
View ArticleMust Opera Be 'Relevant'?
The new opera season is upon us in New York as the Metropolitan Opera prepares to raise its curtain—though it rarely uses its iconic gold silk curtain anymore—on Monday. The company will present a new...
View ArticleReview: Metropolitan Opera Searches Dark Heart of 'Otello' in Season Opener
As Metropolitan Opera opening nights go, the 2015 edition had less gala hubbub – few barricades, no protesters and celebrity guests such as Bette Midler and Helen Mirren making relatively quiet...
View ArticleVerdi's 'Otello' From the Peralada Castle Festival
Otello, Iago and Desdemona, three of literature's most complex and compelling characters, come to life in what many consider Verdi's most moving opera, "Otello." Written when the composer was in his...
View ArticleMusic Inspired by Shakespeare
This week on Exploring Music, host Bill McGlaughlin honors the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare with works by composers that the playwright influenced. Featured pieces include...
View ArticleA Second 'Otello'? The Other Operas Inspired by Shakespeare
Whether offering hijinks or high drama, Shakespeare’s plays have been transformed into operas by many of the great composers, and several of these works have inspired more than one adaptation. Opera...
View ArticleVerdi Nods to Shakespeare with 'Otello'
Tune in at 1 pm Saturday to hear Verdi's Otello from the Metropolitan Opera on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. The Bartlett Sher production, which premiered earlier this...
View ArticleRossini's 'Otello' from Barcelona
Verdi wasn't the only Italian composer inspired by Shakespeare's play Othello. More than 70 years earlier, Rossini had set this tragic tale of jealousy and revenge to music. Though the latter opera...
View ArticleVerdi's 'Otello' from Barcelona
Perhaps no other composer adapted the words of Shakespeare for the operatic stage quite as well as Giuseppe Verdi. His Macbeth, Falstaff and Otello are not just some of the best operas based on works...
View ArticleReview: LoftOpera's 'Otello' by Rossini Rewards With Three Fine Tenors
Is there anybody in this opera who is NOT a tenor?That’s a valid question in Rossini’s Otello, which is sort of based on Shakespeare, predates Verdi’s more famous version of the story and has Desdemona...
View ArticleListen: LoftOpera Directors Discuss Their Fresh Take on Rossini's 'Otello'
As they were gearing up to open the LoftOpera season with Rossini’s Otello, music director Sean Kelly and stage director John de los Santos joined us in the studio to answer the question of why this...
View Article20 Great Music Compositions Inspired by Shakespeare
Sunday is Shakespeare's 453rd birthday and 401st deathday (yeah, thems the breaks). He might not be around to celebrate those anniversaries, but you sure are. In addition to any parties or dramatic...
View ArticleJonas Kaufmann Tackling Otello Will Show at U.S. Theaters in HD
In 1965, Maria Callas sang her final two Met performances, as Tosca. Her Scarpia was Tito Gobbi and the conductor was Fausto Cleva. At the first performance her Mario Cavaradossi was Franco Corelli. At...
View ArticleShakespearean Tragedy Makes a Return with Verdi’s Otello
Love, madness and treachery (at least in its most musical form) provide excellent Saturday afternoon company, as Verdi’s Otello is featured as the Met Opera’s first radio broadcast of the calendar...
View Article3-Minute Opera: Otello
Jeff Spurgeon consolidates the plot of Otello with such wit and articulation that it can only be compared with, daresay, none other than the Bard himself...except Jeff also has a knack for brevity.Tune...
View ArticleVerdi’s Otello: A Shakespearean Tragedy
This Saturday at 1 pm, tune in as the Metropolitan Opera presents a 2015 recording of Verdi’s Otello. This performance features Aleksandrs Antonenko as Otello, the Venetian general whose unbridled...
View ArticleOtello: UNMOORED
“Otello” debuted in Milan in 1887, just two years after European nations gathered in Berlin to agree on a campaign to carve up and colonize the African continent for their own profit. Giuseppe Verdi’s...
View ArticleOtello: Haters
This week on Every Voice with Terrance McKnight, we go deeper into Giuseppe Verdi's character of the “Moor of Venice." Otello is a celebrated general in the Venetian army, and as a Black man in a...
View ArticleOtello: Black Handkerchiefs Matter
Giuseppe Verdi's Otello rose from enslavement to the ranks of army general and marries an aristocratic Venetian woman. It’s difficult to imagine the rich cultural heritage of Otello’s African past;...
View ArticleOtello: The North Star
As the one Black man in Shakespeare’s play and Verdi’s opera, Otello was not only tokenized, but villainized, criticized and minimized. With such an emphasis on Otello’s flaws, how is it that Desdemona...
View ArticleEvery Voice with Terrance McKnight: Otello
Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “Otello,” based on the play Shakespeare wrote in the very early 1600s, is a tragedy about the Moor Otello, his rise to power in European society, and his disastrous fall from it....
View ArticleA Radio Special: Verdi's "Otello"
“Otello” debuted in Milan in 1887, just two years after European nations gathered in Berlin to agree on a campaign to carve up and colonize the African continent for their own profit. Giuseppe Verdi’s...
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