1

Worldwide reviews for a worldwide audience

Best Opera Overall
Best Leading Male
Best Leading Female
Best Performance by an Orchestra
Best Set Design

Best Lighting
Best Costumes
Best Stage Direction
Best Performance by a Chorus
Most Dynamic Couple

The "Best Of" everything we saw and heard in the 2007-2008 opera season.

Each year OperaOnline.us honors some of the “Best Of” what we saw and heard in the previous season. This is our fifth annual award presentation.

As we have in the past, we stress that our opinions are subjective and in no way reflect on the high caliber of performances of other members of a production. What generally earns our
“Best Of” is something extra that caught our attention from one performance. It’s usually that extra “something” that tips the scale and breaks the tie when one exists.

This year, our West Coast reviewer, Carie Delmar wanted to go beyond opera performances and include in her presentations recital performances as well -- and so, in the “Best Performance by Leading Male and Female” categories, she did just that.

Also, Carie thought two performers were deserving of a “Best Of” -- and so this year, unlike in years past, we will acknowledge two winners in at least one category, that isn’t an opera, but a recital.

Lastly, R. Todd Shuman sent us in his categories from Chicago. Readers cann glance at our 2007-08 "Previous Reviews" section to see what he said about each.

Having said that, and without further adieu, we offer our “Best Of” recipients for the 2007-2008 Opera Season, stressing again that the list is only as complete as two of our four writers made it. We covered far more operas than we mention here, and two of our writers were unable to make their usual contribution. As the season progresses we may, yet, reveive their nominations and awards and enter them as an update.

By: PAUL JOSEPH WALKOWSKI
OPERAONLINE.US

BEST OVERALL OPERA PERFORMANCE for the 2007-2008 season, taking into consideration all elements of the production, including performances, the competition was keen.

It was a virtual tossup between the New York Met for its stunning, contemporary production of

Charles Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliette” and Opera New England of Cape Cod’s production (staged National Lyric Opera) of the very same show, “Romeo and Juliette.” Both productions were magnificent: one imaginative and contemporary, the other, traditional and beautiful. Only because I was so skeptical of the Met’s version by Guy Joosten, and because it succeeded on so many levels, do I award this year’s “Best Of” to the NEW YORK MET for its overall, imaginative, colorful and moving production of “Romeo and Juliette.”

BEST STAGE DIRECTION this year goes to MICHAEL CAPASSO for National Lyric Opera’s “Romeo and Juliette,” sponsored by Opera New England of Cape Cod. What impressed me most here was the use of staging and performance to change scenes while the show was going on and never once making the moment awkward or distracting. I wrote, “Scenes seemed to change, almost imperceptibly, in the middle of acts, while the performers moved about from outside to inside, from crypt to garden to outdoor balcony. During intermission members of the audience raved about the look of this production, and for good reason.” It’s this kind of production that earns a “Best Of,” from us.

BEST COSTUMES this year goes to ANGELA HUFF for giving us such a realistic look and feel that goes with period costume productions. Her “Romeo and Juliette” for National Lyric Opera, as part of Opera New England of Cape Cod’s summer season, gave us the look and feel for the era and added considerably to the enjoyment of this wonderful production.

BEST SETS this year goes to GRANITE STATE OPERA for its production of “Lucia di Lammermoor.” There were many inspiring sets in this year’s lineup. But of this one, in particular, we wrote, “Where to begin . . . the sets, courtesy of Stivanello Costumes Co., Inc, designed by Sormani of Milano were The inside of a Scottish Castle never looked so real or imposing; the interior scenes were breathtakingly beautiful and lit magnificently, . .. It is embellishments such as these that make good opera even better. Indeed, when the audience applauds when the curtains part, you know you’re going to be in for a thrilling visual ride, as this was.” Hats off to SORMANI OF MILANO and GRANITE STATE OPERA for a production well done.

BEST LIGHTING goes to QUENTIN STOCKWELL for the wonderful use of lighting in GRANITE STATE OPERA’S production of “Lucia di Lammermoor, especially the use of backlighting to create and enhance mood. Well done!

BEST PERFORMANCE OF AN ORCHESTRA goes to the NEW YORK MET ORCHESTRA, under the conductorship of Placido Domingo, for the Met’s production of “Romeo and Juliette.” What more can be said? When the Met’s hot; it’s hot, and when I viewed this performance back in December of 07, the Met orchestra was at its mellifluous best.

BEST COUPLE this year goes to OLGA CHERNISHEVA AND ORLIN GORANOV. When they were on the stage together in TEATRO LIRICO D’EUROPA’S beautiful “Madama Butterfly,” it was hard to see anything or anyone else on stage with them. Their chemistry for this performance in October of 07, was nothing short of luminescent.

BEST MOMENT in a production is that moment that makes one sit up and one’s jaw to drop in amazement. I had such a moment a couple times this year: First time was National Lyric Opera’s production of” La Fanciula del West,” when Minnie, hoping to restore order to a wild bar fight let loose with a blast from her trusty 12-gauge shotgun. It was a shocker, and one hell of a moment for the audience. The other moment was actually done without a sound taking place, just music, and it too, was

a magic moment. It was in the Met’s dream sequence in Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.” Instead of dreaming of fairies, the two hungry children dreamed of an oversized banquet table, attended by a dozen oversized chef’s. Performed in slow-motion, this was a moment to be seen and appreciated, and it was. Hats off to the NEW YORK MET, which is our “Best Of” winner in this category this year for its production of “Hansel and Gretel.”

BEST PERFORMANCE OF A LEADING FEMALE this year goes to ANNA NETREBKO, for her singing and acting in the NEW YORK MET’S “Romeo and Juliette.” We award it to Netrebko not because she’s the femme du jur of the year, but because she did an outstanding job as the fated lover and won our hearts for a performance that was about as perfect as it can be. She never looked better than when she was suspended from the ceiling in a bed, making love to Roberto Alagna. I didn’t get it. I didn’t understand it. Why suspended from the ceiling? But, she handled it all marvelously, never lost a beat, and stayed in sync with Mr. Domingo, whom she has had a minor skirmish with in the past for her vocal – well, shall we say independence. Brava!

BEST PERFORMANCE OF A LEADING MALE this year goes to ROBERTO ALAGNA, for keeping up with Ms. Netrebko in the NEW YORK MET’S, “Romeo and Juliette.” His performance was even; his acting was superb, and his physical matching with Netrebko was right on mark. When they made love and sang, neither activity suffered. It was a glorious performance in a wonderful and imaginative show that may have been a little modern and abstract for some, but for this reviewer, the singers held it all together by telling their story in libretto and body language that was natural and traditional as it comes.

Todd Shuman's

"Best of" from
Lyric Opera of Chicago

Best Male—Nathan Gunn (“Barber of Seville”)

Best Female—Christine Brewer (“Die Frau ohne Schatten”)

Best Production/Director—Die Frau ohne Schatten (Paul Curran, Director)

Best Sets—Kevin Knight (“Die Frau ohne Schatten”)

Best Lighting—James F. Ingalls (“Dr. Atomic”)

Best Set Design —Kevin Knight (“Die Frau ohne Schatten”)

Eastv Coast and Chicago, this page.

West Coast from Carie Delmar,