News & Blog
"Before Night Falls" in Fort Worth
Date: 6/28/2010 By Anne Midgette (posted by FWO)
From The Classical Beat - a blog by Anne Midgette
"Before Night Falls" in Fort Worth
I can’t review “Before Night Falls,” the opera based on Reinaldo Arenas’s memoir that had its world premiere at the Fort Worth Opera on May 29, because its composer, Jorge Martin, is a friend of mine. I have heard parts of the opera in workshop performances over the years; in fact, I feel our friendship was sealed when I heard its lush opening in a Manhattan performance space several years ago, and thrilled to the uprush of music. Hearing it played by full orchestra as the curtain rose in Fort Worth on May 29, I had the same sense of exhilaration, as well as the satisfaction of getting to experience the realization of what the work was supposed to be all along.
So my judgment is tainted because of my bias and involvement. Or is it? For one thing, every critic comes to the table with some bias. For another thing, my sense of involvement mirrored that of the patrons of the Fort Worth Opera who felt a proprietary air about “their” new work, or of the Seagle Colony where “Before Night Falls” had the final workshop at which Darren Woods, Fort Worth’s general director, decided to put it on. About 40 members of that original Seagle workshop audience flew to Fort Worth for the premiere, Woods said. “They felt they’d given birth to the baby.” READ MORE HERE.
Date: 6/28/2010 By Anne Midgette (posted by FWO)
From The Classical Beat - a blog by Anne Midgette
"Before Night Falls" in Fort Worth
I can’t review “Before Night Falls,” the opera based on Reinaldo Arenas’s memoir that had its world premiere at the Fort Worth Opera on May 29, because its composer, Jorge Martin, is a friend of mine. I have heard parts of the opera in workshop performances over the years; in fact, I feel our friendship was sealed when I heard its lush opening in a Manhattan performance space several years ago, and thrilled to the uprush of music. Hearing it played by full orchestra as the curtain rose in Fort Worth on May 29, I had the same sense of exhilaration, as well as the satisfaction of getting to experience the realization of what the work was supposed to be all along.
So my judgment is tainted because of my bias and involvement. Or is it? For one thing, every critic comes to the table with some bias. For another thing, my sense of involvement mirrored that of the patrons of the Fort Worth Opera who felt a proprietary air about “their” new work, or of the Seagle Colony where “Before Night Falls” had the final workshop at which Darren Woods, Fort Worth’s general director, decided to put it on. About 40 members of that original Seagle workshop audience flew to Fort Worth for the premiere, Woods said. “They felt they’d given birth to the baby.” READ MORE HERE.
