Nina Ananiashvili – New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/arts/dance/nina-ananiashvili-at-lincoln-center-review.html
Sukhishvili – Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/in-sukhishvili-georgian-ballet-elegant-tradition-meets-modern-energy/2015/10/07/c4d4f500-6d17-11e5-aa5b-f78a98956699_story.html
FOR LUCIANO PAVAROTTI – with Love, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center
“A cascade of applause: Encore! Encore! Fncore! … The music was brilliantly directed by Maestro Arkady Leytush. Lucio Gallo sang with a powerful voice … We were emotionally moved by the Tenor Arnold Rawls who sang the aria ’Nessun dorma’ from Turandot. … an elegant presentation.”
Franco Corsaro, America Oggi
Source: NY1 TV Arts
Opera’s Rising Stars Mark Valentine’s Day With Pavarotti Tribute
At Lincoln Center, powerful operatic voices celebrated Valentine’s Day and the life of one of the all time greats, Luciano Pavarotti. NY1’s Stephanie Simon filed the following report on the special musical tribute. Opera singers from near and far gathered at Lincoln Center Thursday night to pay tribute to opera great Luciano Pavarotti. The Italian tenor died in September at the age of 71. Today’s rising opera stars saluted him at Avery Fisher Hall.
Dwayne Croft is currently performing at the Metropolitan opera. He performed with Pavarotti many times, and says it was a dream come true. “The good thing about Luciano and what he did was he reached out to the entire world and even people who knew nothing about opera knew Luciano Pavarotti,” said Croft. “You could put his picture up and people knew, “Oh, that’s Pavarotti,” even if they couldn’t pronounce his name they knew it was the big famous opera singer.”
Lucio Gallo is also performing at the met. He got his big break performing with Pavarotti in 1991 in a concert for up-and-coming talents. “Each year in New York, Luciano did a concert plus young singers, so I was so lucky,” said Gallo. “It was a good concert and a good start.”
Not all the singers performing Thursday night had the opportunity to perform with Pavarotti, but they all said they admired him and were inspired by him.
Bass baritone Umberto Chiummo says the world loved Pavarotti because he was so giving of his gift. “What he did, actually, was art, but it was art from heart and he was direct, he was simple, he was frank,” said Chiummo. The event was produced by “International Concerts,” a not-for-profit, which provides performance opportunities for emerging artists. It was fitting to have the event at Lincoln Center. It was there in 1972 that Pavarotti made history with 17 curtain calls and it’s there that his spirit lives on.
– Stephanie Simon
LA MOLINARA, Paisiello
“This performance was projected energetically and with good humor by everyone on stage. Winning, pert, charming.”
New York Times.
“History was made with this US debut of La Molinara. Ensembles bubbled with energy and good cheer. The singers made a romp of he affair and sang with confidence and grace.”
American Record Review
“The artists were all excellent both as singers and as actors. Rarely has music and drama fused with such freshness, facility and musical grace.”
America Oggi
THE JEWEL BOX
“Refined performances, the singers distinguished themselves with excellence.”
New York Times
“The seven singers produced a sprightly show, adept in musical style, attractive.. The perilous heights of the bravura arias were negotiated with extraordinary purity and precision of pitch, the Composer sang with warmth. Especially polished!”
New York Post
“Mann’s dynamism gives a welcome bolt of energy. Young and energetic”.
Time Out/New York
“Full of magnificent music. Every note of it is fabulous. Unique melody rules the stage … truly spectacular performances.
The Westsider
STARS OF THE BOLSHOI, Carnegie Hall
“This was simply one of the best live performances – Even better than expected! All five singers distinguished themselves with excellent technique, great skill and powerful voices. A standing ovation. This concert … may change things for the better.”
Maya, Pritsker, Novoye Ruskoye Slovo
IVANOV by Chekhov
review by Deirdre Donovan, Theater Scene
Coming on the heels of Classic Stage Company’s Ivanov, the Maxim Gorky State Drama Theatre brought authentic Russian definition to Chekhov’s 1887 play. For one performance only at John Jay College’s Gerald Lynch Theater (on November 17), in repertory with Jacques Deval’s Tovarich (on November 16 and 18), theatergoers had a chance to see Chekhov’s Hamlet performed in Russian with authority and flair.
Should you not be familiar with this gem of a company, it is one of the most prestigious repertory companies in the Russian Far East, purveying world classics and contemporary Russian works since 1932. Touring in Russia and abroad, this company based in Vladivostok has distinguished itself both for its all-Russian productions and its bilingual productions with American companies. This company cross-fertilizes its repertoire with Chekhov, Shakespeare, and other world-class playwrights.
As directed by Efim Zvenyatskiy, this production had no bells and whistles accompanying it. This was Ivanov unembellished, ungarnished, and yet possessing the full meaning of Chekhov’s play. Here you saw a number of expert actors who were not only virtuosos but seemed to have Chekhov running through their corpuscles. Unlike Classic Stage Company’s interpretation of Ivanov, Gorky’s rendering had less spin and more spine. In short, there was no gilding the lily here.
The set was extremely basic. The veranda and garden of Ivanov’s estate was evoked by a broad, semi-circular platform with minimal props on stage, with paths leading off in various directions. It was elegant, simple, and natural-looking, and flexibly accommodated the play’s multiple scenes and unfolding action.
For any production of Ivanov to succeed, the actor playing the lead must be spot on. And, fortunately, Alexander Slavskiy, as Ivanov, had his complex character down pat. He doesn’t overplay anything but let Chekhov’s language take hold. Slavskiy’s did much of his acting through his facial expressions. His Ivanov had a vacant look in his eyes and a pervasive torpor in his physical movements. As you followed his self-castigating character through the play’s four acts, you would hardly consider him as a potential guest for your next dinner party, but you would be able to understand his dilemma. Ivanov is that intellectual who, like Shakespeare’s melancholy prince, “loses the name of action.” Given different surroundings, this Russian rogue might grab life by the horns and makesomething of himself. However, living in Central Russia, and the victim of gossip-mongers, Ivanov is somebody whose early promise is never realized.
This was not a one-man show. There was some strong acting from Svetlana Salakhutdinova, who played opposite Slavskiy as his stage wife Sarra Ivanova. Salakhutdinova has been the leading actress of the Gorky theatre since 1984. Little wonder that she looked so polished on stage. Other fine performances came from Olga Nalitova as the flirty Sasha and Nikolai Timoshenko as Borkin who blended his character’s pessimism with arrogance. In many ways, his character neatly sums up the world of the play when he observes: “This life of ours . . . Human life is like a posy, growing gloriously in a meadow, a goat comes
along, eats it, end of posy.”
…
That said, what New York theatergoers need is more exposure to seeing Chekhov done by first-rate Russian companies. There’s no doubt that English subtitles would have made the production more accessible, and enjoyable, to those audience members who don’t understand Russian. Still, it was a rare opportunity for New Yorkers to experience Chekhov with an authentic Russian flavor.
LA BOHEME, Puccini
“Beautiful voices, Outstanding ensemble, coherence and stability”
Washington Post
When LA BOHEME receives the kind of truly warm, glowing and knowing performance that it did last night at the Auditorium Center, then it at least seems like history’s greatest opera. Such a performance is no small feat. Theodore Mann, who directed last night’s performance, showed us a La Boheme that was much more than a soap opera. He called on singers to deliver highly nuanced, flesh and blood performances, and they heeded his command. Christopher Pucci (Rodolfo) and Yunah Lee (Mimi) gave standout performances. Lee’s Mimi was full of convincing innocence and touching vulnerability, and her Act I aria “Mi chiamano Mimi” was breathtaking. Pucci was a thoroughly satisfying Rodolfo, whose performance was notable for its easy lyricism and emotional intensity. Amy Cofield’s Musetta was brimming with animal spiritedness, and her utterly sensuous and seductive delivery of the Act II “Musetta’s Waltz” was one of the highlights of the evening. Daniel Cole as Colline gave the most tender performance of the night while Lee Gregory as Marcello and Peter Clark, Schaunard, both gave elegant, thoughtful performances. Mikhail Kalinovski brought considerable humor and nuance to the characters of Benoit and Alcindoro. There was much to admire in the extraordinary sweep and vigor that Conductor Bergman brought to the score, and the members of the Opera Rochester Chorus and the Cathedral School Choir likewise did a splendid job.
– Rochester Democrat and Chronicle,
John Pritcher
IOLANTA, Tchaikovski
“A moving performance, gleaming voices, gently rendered.”
Washington Post
“Once the music started and the accomplished voices soared, the audience was enraptured.”
Washington Times
“The opera and the evening were smashing successes.”
Washington Social News
“The voices were excellent – Diana Corto won praise for her producing skill.”
Palm Beach Daily News
