Boulder’s DAILY CAMERA:
“[A]ll around superb … everything one could hope for in a new opera. … Mason’s adaptation … is astoundingly brilliant … Director Beth Greenberg, who has collaborated with Mason and Laitman from the outset, provides a stark, riveting frame … Laitman has grown and nurtured a score that already seems to belong to the standard repertoire the first time one hears it … [M]odern, but eminently operatic, taking close consideration of the singers and listeners.”
Full review here.
DENVER POST:
Laitman’s music and librettist David Mason’s words … spin one of the best-known pieces of literature into a whole new form adding sensible and sensitive dimensions that shed new light on the story. … What Laitman and Mason understand, and respect, is … that audiences want to be challenged but also entertained. And that difficult work can come in agreeable packages and maintain a high-quality. … [Laitman’s] composing voice is clear and confident, impassioned and likeable. … Mason … deconstructs Hawthorne’s thick prose with his own sure hand. … [A]ccessible , compelling and audience-pleasing …”
Full review here.
EXAMINER.COM
“A brilliant new addition to the opera world … The singing, the staging, the story—it all adds up to a grand night of opera.”
Full review here.
The opera was also featured on the PBS Newshour with links to Colorado Public Radio’s stories about the opera. Please click here.
Video Excerpts:
WATCH:
See Dominic Armstrong and pianist Keun-A Lee perform Dimmesdale’s aria “Our Nights” at the Colorado Public Radio offices by clicking here.
See Malcolm MacKenzie and pianist Keun-A Lee perform an excerpt from Chillingworth’s Lament: “Now Truly Know Me” by clicking here.
Click here for 3 minutes of excerpts from the piano rehearsal.
Click here for 3 minutes of excerpts from the orchestra dress rehearsal.