Murmurs It’s rare for charitable groups to make political contributions—federal law discourages them from converting donations (deductible to the giver) into political cash. But a couple of local 50   More

Performance Like the movie Memento, the play Betrayal and the musical Merrily We Roll Along, Portland Opera’s new production of Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei proceeds backward in time. Directed by Kevin Newbu   More

Arts & Books The brilliance of The Marriage of Figaro lies in its cheery dramatization of serious political conflicts in the guise of a Shakespearean bedroom farce. In Portland Opera's production of Mozart and da Ponte’s proto-feminist classic, when the bed is front and center, cheeky sex comedy hijinks dominate. Suitors skulk in, under and around it. When the action shifts elsewhere, class and gender issues ...   More

Arts & Books Spring is the season of renewal, and this one has brought a fresh wave of youthful artistic energy to Portland stages in what’s paradoxically one of the most old fashioned artistic forms—opera. ---The first blossoms appeared at the Newmark Theater, where Portland Opera’s annual Studio Artists show represents the culmination of a nine-month training program for 20-something singers from some of ...   More

Arts & Books Not widely publicized outside the niche worlds of Portland's comic drawing and opera going communities, every time Portland Opera debuts a new show, the company invites local cartoonists to one of the final dress rehearsals to sketch the performance. It's a bit of a gimmick, but hey: opera comics! And much of the work is very good, offering a fresh perspective on an art not typically known for ...   More

Arts & Books Yoking vastly different operas on a single playbill was a gamble, but it paid off. For its annual studio production, Portland Opera has programmed a show in two halves. Before intermission: Monteverdi. After: Bernstein. Wait. What? That's right. No typo. Monteverdi, get up, stretch your legs, Bernstein. Just to give you some idea how big a stretch that is: Monteverdi wrote Renaissance madrigals ...   More

Arts & Books Murderous clowns never sounded so good. The curtain goes up. Onstage, in bright lights, lie two dead or nearly dead bodies, a woman in clown paint and a young man in plain clothes. Nearby sits the jealous husband who has stabbed them. The townspeople are poised to apprehend him, but at this moment, for some reason, they are frozen like a photograph, a tableau of horror and outrage. All at once, ...   More

News The contracts aren't yet signed, and the legal beagles have yet to complete their sniffing and gnawing, but it seems highly probable that Portland Opera is about to make its first-ever recording -- and it's a big one. At an interview this morning, Opera spokeswoman Julia Sheridan and composer Philip Glass announced plans for Glass's record label, Orange Mountain Music, to release the first recording ...   More

News Of the six Philip Glass operas I've seen live, 1993's Orphée is the most conventional in structure, in part because Glass derived the story from Jean Cocteau's screenplay for his celebrated 1949 film. Most of Glass' other stage work, especially the legendary Einstein on the Beach and other operas with director/genius Robert Wilson, have eschewed straight narrative for more abstract or suggestive ...   More

News Don Alfonso: What palaver. I thought I was in an opera. A pair of Albanian princes with fake mustaches slink onstage toward the apprehensive young ladies. Wearing embroidered silk smoking jackets in a riot of Oriental colors, they recall SNL's Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd, just a couple of wild and crazy guys, crooning come-ons as they creep closer, crotch first. Ferrando (Ryan MacPherson) ...   More