Ainadamar in Cincinnati
Last week I had the fortunate opportunity to see both the dress rehearsal and the opening performance of the Cincinnati Opera's production of Ainadamar, a 90-minute opera written by Osvaldo Golijov with librettist David Henry Hwang (best known for his play M. Butterfly). (N.B. Did you know that the person who inspired the M. Butterfly character died earlier this month?)
Anyway, I digress. I have heard quite a bit about this opera for some time now. I read the Alex Ross review of its initial Tanglewood performance in the New Yorker. And I have heard a couple of friends of mine rave about the opera. So, out of curiosity, I did check out the recording from my local music library. I wanted to hear this opera, but probably more importantly, I wanted to hear a college friend of mine sing on the recording.
Okay, now that I have my biases out of the way (actually I don't, so I don't know if I could technically do a proper review of this particular performance), I will list what I liked and disl…
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