Criticultura em Portugal

For some reason, Portugal’s only opera house doesn’t get much attention among classical music discussions here. That’s a shame, since the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos is an architectural gem from the 18 th century and, based on the Verdi Falstaff that I heard on May 13, the musical quality there can be very high. The opera house opened in 1793, replacing a structure destroyed in the devastating Lisbon earthquake of 1755. It’s had a checkered history, ranging from an uber-famous performance of Verdi's La Traviata  in 1958 starting Maria Callas (the “Lisbon Traviata” of recording fame) to its being shuttered for much of the Salazar dictatorship in the mid-20 th century. Now the company performs about 7-8 productions each season. There is international leadership--the principal conductor is Italian Antonio Pirolli, and the artistic director is the Dutch Ivo von Kalmthout. The house’s baroque façade was recently restored..the opera house is hidden away on an enclosed square in do