Lorin Maazel

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Arial; min-height: 16.0px} Britten's chamber operas, most of them written for the intimate setting of the Aldeburgh Festival, are conceived in a spirit of utter transparency. The instrumental writing is spare, the text-setting crisp and the dramaturgy - whether in a serious or comic vein - swift and direct.   That...

The presenters at Cal Performances don't often delve into the world of fully staged opera, which is an expensive and unwieldy undertaking in the best of circumstances. But this weekend brings a promising new endeavor, the first local appearance by the fledging Castleton Festival Opera. Founded and run by conductor Lorin Maazel, 81, and his wife, actress Dietlinde Turban, the summer festival is a two-month training ground for singers, ...

It really has been a lifetime since an 11-year-old Lorin Maazel stood up to conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1941, but he hasn't forgotten those who guided him from being a child prodigy to becoming one of the world's most prolific and respected conductors. Maazel went so far as to build his own youth-oriented summer music festival at Castleton Farms, his personal retreat in the quiet, rolling Virginia countryside southwest of ...

When Lorin Maazel stepped down as music director of the New York Philharmonic, he could have done what most retirees do — travel, play a little golf, take it easy. Instead, he started an opera company. And he decided to house it in his own backyard. The company is Castleton Festival Opera, and it’s one of a kind. Launched in 2009 by Maazel and his wife, Dietlinde Turban-Maazel, it has become a premier attraction for oper...