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Kristen Choi as Suzuki, Yunah Lee as Cio-Cio-San, and Aleksey Bogdanov as Sharpless in the Glimmerglass Festival's 2014 production of ‘Madame Butterfly.’ (Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival.)

The 2014 Glimmerglass Opera Festival, part two

A new take on ‘Madame Butterfly’

Francesca Zambello may well be a model for opera directors in the 21st century. Her direction of Madame Butterfly hints at some of the reasons why.

Karl Middleman

Sep 02, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

Lutfisk, Spock, lutfisk! (Photo by Ken Whitmore - © 1978 Ken Whitmore - Image courtesy mptvimages.com)

'Star Trek' and my own 'Enigma Variations'

Dreams of music

I never dream of music. I’ve heard composers talk of it, and I’ve envied that gift. Because it is a gift if a composition can indeed come to you just like that, like a scene in a movie, in a dream. What I wouldn’t give to have that! But I don’t.

Kile Smith

Sep 01, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

Christian Bowers as Clyde Griffiths in the Glimmerglass Festival's new production of Tobias Picker's "An American Tragedy." (Photo: Karli Cadel/The Glimmerglass Festival)

The 2014 Glimmerglass Opera Festival

Deserted, abused, drowned, abandoned

In the summer, you have to leave Philly to enjoy opera. The Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York is a worthwhile destination.

Karl Middleman

Aug 23, 2014 Articles 6 minute read

Those were the days, my friend. (Photo by Nathan Gibbs, via Creative Commons/Flickr)

I was the mother of a teenaged garage band

Ever since Noah was small, I’ve taught him that rock and roll is more than music; it is, as Bruce insinuates, a religion.

Ilene Raymond Rush

Aug 15, 2014 Articles 4 minute read

Authentic yet swinging Crescent City rhythms: Perseverance Jazz Band (Photo by Looking Glass Photography)

Perseverance Jazz Band in Wallingford

Where did New Orleans jazz go? To Philly!

Traditional New Orleans jazz survives and flourishes some 1,300 miles to the northeast of its birthplace with the Perseverance Jazz Band.

Robert J. Robbins

Aug 10, 2014 Articles 4 minute read

Opolais, Kaufmann: A chick flick with the ultimate sound track.

Covent Garden’s ‘Manon Lescaut’

Tawdry as she goes

Covent Garden’s controversial porno-revival of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut was denounced as tawdry and coarse. Yet it did grip my attention. And it does support the opera’s key emotional point.