Browse: Blu-Ray Video, Carlos Álvarez (baritone)
New, Puccini: Madama Butterfly
María José Siri (Butterfly), Bryan Hymel (Pinkerton), Carlos Álvarez (Sharpless), Annalisa Stroppa (Suzuki)
Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Chailly
There are undoubtedly passages of juvenile stylistic autopilot here that Puccini was right to cut…But it’s genuinely fascinating to hear what the first-night audience would have heard…The superb... — More…
Awards:
Verdi: Giovanna d'Arco
Anna Netrebko (Giovanna), Francesco Meli (Carlo VII), Carlos Álvarez (Giacomo), Michele Mauro (Delil) & Dmitry Beloselskiy (Talbot)
Coro e Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Chailly
Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s production was the 2015-16 season-opener at La Scala…It’s as camp as a row of tents, but visually striking all the same…Netrebko is in magnificent voice, especially... — More…
Verdi: Otello
Recommended
Aleksandrs Antonenko (Otello), Marina Poplavskaya (Desdemona), Carlos Àlvarez (Iago), Barbara Di Castri (Emilia), Stephen Costello (Cassio), Antonello Ceron (Roderigo), Mikhail Petrenko (Lodovico)
Wiener Philharmoniker & Wiener Staatsopernchor, Riccardo Muti
Otello is played by Aleksandrs Antonenko, who is tremendous in all respects. His Desdemona is the lovely Marina Poplavskaya...an expert in suffering. Carlos Àlvarez's Iago and Stephen Costello's... — More…
Awards:
Verdi: Otello
José Cura (Otello), Dorothea Röschmann (Desdemona), Carlos Álvarez (Iago), Benjamin Bernheim (Cassio), Christa Mayer (Emilia), Georg Zeppenfeld (Lodovico), Csaba Szegedi (Montano), Gordon Bintner (Herald)
Staatskapelle Dresden, Christian Thielemann
Cura’s Otello is in pretty good shape – he’s been singing the role for nearly two decades now – and his tenor can still deliver plenty of thrills…[Röschmann’s] is a moving, unusually feisty account... — More…
Verdi: Otello
Recommended
Aleksandrs Antonenko (Otello), Marina Poplavskaya (Desdemona), Carlos Àlvarez (Iago), Barbara Di Castri (Emilia), Stephen Costello (Cassio)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Riccardo Muti (conductor) & Stephen Langridge (stage director)
Otello is played by Aleksandrs Antonenko, who is tremendous in all respects. His Desdemona is the lovely Marina Poplavskaya...an expert in suffering. Carlos Àlvarez's Iago and Stephen Costello's... — More…
Awards:
Verdi: Rigoletto
Marcelo Álvarez (Il Duca), Carlos Álvarez (Rigoletto), Inva Mula (Gilda), Julian Konstantinov (Sparafucile), Nino Surguladze (Maddalena), Mercé Obiol (Giovanna), Stanislav Shvets (Monterone), Joan Martin-Royo (Marullo), on Plazaola (Borsa)
Gran Teatre del Liceu, Jesus-Lopez Cobos (conductor)...
Verdi: La forza del destino
Nina Stemme (Leonora), Salvatore Licitra (Alvaro), Carlos Alvarez (Carlos), Alastair Miles (Marchese and Fra Guardiano), Nadia Krasteva (Preziosilla)
Orchestera of the Vienna State Opera & Chor of the Vienna State Opera, Zubin Mehta
Pountney's unfussily direct handling of the tragic side of the drama plays to his cast's strengths. Compared to his colleagues here, the late Salvatore Licitra may not have been the stage's most... — More…
Verdi: La forza del destino
Carlos Álvarez (Don Carlo), Nina Stemme (Leonora), Salvatore Licitra (Don Alvaro), Nadia Krasteva (Preziosilla), Alastair Miles (Padre Guardiano), Fra Melitone (Tiziano Bracci), Elisabeta Marin (Curra)
Wiener Staatsoper, Zubin Mehta, David Pountney
Tenor Salvatore Licitra as Don Alvaro in La forza del destino, caught in Vienna 10 years ago- his singing is admirably clean, his tone noble. Alongside him, Nina Stemme is a gutsy Leonora, assiduously... — More…
Bizet: Carmen
Ekaterina Semenchuk (Carmen), Irina Lungu (Micaëla), Carlo Ventre (Don José), Carlos Álvarez (Escamillo), Francesca Micarelli (Frasquita), Cristina Melis (Mercédès), Federico Longhi (Le Dancaïre), Paolo Antognetti (Le Remendado), Seung Pil Choi (Zuniga)
Verona Arena, Henrik Nánási
Mozart: Don Giovanni, K527
Carlos Álvarez (Don Giovanni), Lorenzo Regazzo (Leporello), María Bayo (Donna Anna), José Bros (Don Ottavio), Sonia Ganassi (Donna Elvira), José Antonio López (Masetto), María José Moreno (Zerlina), Alfred Reiter (Commendatore)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Teatro Real (Madrid Symphony Orchestra...
Updating is more or less de rigueur in today's operatic circles and Madrid once again comes up with the goods in a wholly plausible re-siting of Giovanni to 1940s Spain. The transfer of the various... — More…