Opera – Page 10

Daniel Barenboim, a Towering Maestro Held Back by Illness

The pianist and conductor turns 80 soon, but deteriorating health has kept him from the celebrations he had long planned.

The work-in-progress “Song of the Ambassadors” got a test run at Alice Tully Hall — with Lincoln Center’s artistic director lending her brain.

A renowned mezzo-soprano, she grew up alongside her younger sisters, Carly and Lucy, both of whom became singer-songwriters.

Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s work at San Diego Opera puts the story of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in the context of the Day of the Dead.

All four parts of Wagner’s epic were presented within a week, in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov inspired by the work’s experimental roots.