Road Report

Road report: Twilight of the Gods, LA Ring

June 9, 2010

By Jonathan Caves On the last night of the first complete Ring Cycle at Los Angeles Opera Symbolism took the lead: from the moment the curtain dissolved and the stage lights came up we were presented with an array of symbols from across the whole cycle. Loge: hanging over the stage foreshadowing the inferno to [...]

Read the full article →

Road report: Siegfried; LA Ring

June 5, 2010

By Jonathan Caves Siegfried is a problem child: the character can be one of the most annoying characters in all of opera and all too often this opera is the weak link in a Ring Cycle. This was definitely the case last night at The Chandler Pavilion. After the excellent production of Die Walküre (the [...]

Read the full article →

Road report: LA Ring, Die Walkure

June 1, 2010

By Jonathan Caves Last night’s production of Die Walküre as part of the LA Opera Ring Cycle vividly brought home to me a couple of unique aspects of this production.

Read the full article →

Road report: LA Ring, Das Rheingold

May 31, 2010

By Jonathan Caves Overall I really enjoyed the production and I am glad to say that the masks did not, at least to my ear, interfere with the singing. I also must state up front that this is indeed a very literal production – I did not see anything that wasn’t in the libretto – [...]

Read the full article →

Road report: Moscow Conservatory

May 29, 2010

Our performance Friday night at the Moscow Conservatory was truly a wonderful experience. It was an honor to play at such a venerable institution. Founded in the 1860’s, it has been the training ground for countless great Russian musicians. Tchaikovsky, who presided over the Conservatory for a time, is represented by a gorgeous statue in [...]

Read the full article →

Road report: playing at Dom

May 28, 2010

Last night we played at a small venue called “Dom” (means “house”). This is apparently the only place in Moscow where contemporary, avant-garde, or unusual music is performed. Folkloric acts come through and we heard that our friend Carla Kihlstedt, the violinist who improvised with ODEON at Benaroya Hall in November on Wayne Horvitz’ “These [...]

Read the full article →

Road report: old friends, new friends in Moscow

May 26, 2010

After a very long flight from Seattle to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Moscow, ODEONQUARTET finally arrived in Russia on a rainy Tuesday. We had time the next day before our rehearsal to take the Metro to Red Square and see the incomprehensibly huge square and its famous Basilica as well as the Kremlin. Probably [...]

Read the full article →