Akhnaten Glows

SANTA FE, NM: How often do you go into a concert hall or an opera house where a world premiere is happening and know that you’ve struck gold as soon as the opening notes are sounded? Not very often, in my experience. Ever rarer is the occasion when the piece leaps high over the already sky-high bar that you’ve set for it. Well, it happened with the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs in the Santa Fe Opera House last Saturday on the 22nd of July.

SANTA FE, N.M. – Composers who attempt to tame the artistic beast known as opera often must make several tries before coming close to their goal, if they ever do. Then there’s someone like Mason Bates, who has shot out of the starting gate and raced across the finish line with his first opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, which had its world premiere July 22 at the Santa Fe Opera.

CINCINNATI — A compelling production of Frida presented by Cincinnati Opera is breathing new life into Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s 1991 opera about the beloved Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Designed by Monika Essen and directed by Jose Maria Condemi, the 2015 production originated at Michigan Opera Theatre. It unfolds cinematically in 13 scenes over two acts to a vivid and clever libretto by Hilary Blecher and Migdalia Cruz.