Critic’s Choice

By Lawrence Budmen

"Bluebeard's Secret Chamber," painting by Matt Mahurin.

The New World Symphony offers a rare opportunity to hear Bela Bartok’s opera Bluebeard’s Castle in two performances this weekend. This Expressionist masterpiece, which premiered in 1917, is a dialogue between the infamous Bluebeard and his bride Judith on their wedding night as she seeks to find out the secret behind the seven doors in his dark castle.

Bluebeard’s Castle calls for two first-rate singing actors. In this multimedia production, bass Eric Halfvarson portrays Bluebeard and mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung is the naive Judith. Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Bartok’s dramatic and colorful orchestral score. The opera will be preceded by a performance of Bartok’s String Quartet No. 6, his final work in the genre.

The New World Symphony presents Bluebeard’s Castle 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the New World Center in Miami Beach. nws.edu; 305-673-3331.

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Thu Apr 26, 2012
at 12:47 pm
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