Season Closes with 1st Performances of Jennifer Higdon & Jerre Dye’s Take on a Real-life Art Heist, with three Alternate Endings By GEORGE B. PAROUS Saturday evening, the crowd that filled Pittsburgh Opera’s Bitz Studio in the Strip heard the… Read More ›
Mark Trawka
‘Madama Butterfly’ Opens at Pittsburgh Opera
Huge Crowd on Hand for First Night of “Virtual Reality” Take on Puccini Classic By George B. Parous Whether it was a love of Puccini’s music, curiosity about the new production, or both, something drew the biggest opening night audience… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Opera – Joseph Haydn’s “Armida”
“Baroque” Rarity is Being Presented With Powerful Vocal Cast in Effective Staging By George B. Parous Pittsburgh Opera gave the second performance of Joseph Hadyn’s Armida last evening, at the CAPA auditorium, and it was an outstanding example of the… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘Cav/Pag’ Revival a Mixed Bag of Delights
Grand Performances by Singers, Orchestra, Chorus, Acrobats and More By GEORGE B PAROUS A good-sized crowd was on hand at the Benedum last night, when Pittsburgh Opera gave the first performance of their Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci double-header production. Both… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Opera Launches 2024-25 Season With a Production of ‘Tosca’
Outstanding Performance of Tried and True Standard by Giacomo Puccini Shows the Composer and Company at Their Best By GEORGE B. PAROUS Pittsburgh Opera opened their new season last night at the Benedum, with a performance of Puccini’s Tosca that… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Opera’s “The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson”
Dramady with Operatic Interludes Opens at the Byham By George B. Parous The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson, as is widely known by now, is a play rather than an opera. There certainly is piano-accompanied singing, but about two thirds… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Opera’s ‘La Traviata’ Another Win For the Company
Singers, Orchestra, Chorus and Staging as Good as It Gets By GEORGE B. PAROUS It was a grand and large audience that heard and saw a spectacular performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata last evening at the Benedum. The time-worn… Read More ›
Review: Pittsburgh Opera Adds ‘Proving Up’ to its List of Season’s Successes
By GEORGE B. PAROUS Last evening Pittsburgh Opera continued their season with the first night of Missy Mazzoli’s chamber opera, Proving Up. With a libretto by Royce Vavrek, adapted from a short story by Karen Russell, the 2018 opera has… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Opera’s Fran Daniel Laucerica on ‘Proving Up’
Resident Artist Tenor Speaks of Upcoming Production Next Saturday, February 17, 2024, marks the first production by Pittsburgh Opera of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Proving Up, a work which has been called “Harrowing…powerful… a true opera of our time”… Read More ›
Rare Taste of Wagner’s Early Success Staged by Pittsburgh Opera in Brilliant Performance
The Briney Sea Tale of ‘The Flying Dutchman’ Appears to Be All That Pittsburgh Audiences Will Hear of Richard Wagner; the Gloom of the ‘Dutchman’ For the First Time in Two Decades By George B. Parous Last evening, Pittsburgh Opera… Read More ›
