parterre box

46 comments

• whatever says:

  i agree lyric’s new season is a yawner … thank god the windy city has chicago opera theater, or there’d never be a reason to visit!

  on January 28, 2009 at 5:08 PM
• jatm2063 says:

  all this hype over Medea. It’s a yawn. And no, it isn’t that damn hard unless you sing it like Wagner, which would completely have APALLED Cherubini. If he had heard Callas’s version, he would have been horrified. NOTHING classical about it. Sung like romantic music from start to finish, which it ISN”T.

  on January 28, 2009 at 7:08 PM
• Nerva Nelli says:

  Well, Lopardo was not a “tattle tale” but he was called as a witness in a professional hearing about Battle, no? He was certainly targeted by Gelb.

  He would have sung and acted a better Pinkerton than Roberto Aronica, no?

  on January 28, 2009 at 7:46 PM
• operaddict says:

  The bad news is that Aprile Millo will not get the opportunity to sing Medea. Equally bad news is that her cover, Barbara Quintiliani, will not get the opportunity to sing Medea. Either way with either diva, it would have been quite a show.

  on January 28, 2009 at 8:16 PM
• Ann Arbor says:

  This was the first year in 30 years that I didn’t purchase Lyric Opera tickets. The offerings have gotten steadily less appealing, with more reliance on their home grown artists for a greater share of the roles. Mason is no Ardis Krainik by a long shot. She made sure during the 90s that there was a 20th century work AND an American work each season. She’s also the one who initiated the contract with Bill Bolcom for McTeague, A Room with a View, and A Wedding. There was a fourth opera scheduled, which I’m guessing Mason has scuttled for another revival of Butterfly or Barber of Seville, both of which are done steadily, in the same old productions. Ardis understood that “playing it safe” also involved bringing new artists, new operas, and sometimes edgy productions into the mix. “Playing it safe” meant giving each segment of the local audience something to come for AND keeping Chicago viable within the artistic community–giving Chicagoans something to be proud of. Mason has just sapped all of the interest out of Ardis’s company, turning it into some accountant’s success story but not a company that Krainik would have found very interesting. The Katya and Damnation de Faust look like possibilities for next year but it’s hard picking overall.

  on January 28, 2009 at 8:16 PM
• In the know says:

  They are postponing, Cieca darling, the I Rienzi till next year, and the Medea will open in 2010 the 40th anniversary of the company. They are restructering office space, which is sucking money out with a Hoover, and looking to downsize the office and library.

  Postponing until next year, 2010. Fall of 2010 for the Medea.
  An announcement to the full season for next year and the 40th anniversary will lightly fall with the end of the week or Monday.

  on January 28, 2009 at 11:36 PM
• Hans Lick says:

  Who wants Rienzi anyway? What a CRASHING bore, to Wagnerians and non-Wagnerians alike. (And since when is it “I Rienzi,” In the know? There’s only one of him, old Cola on the rocks with a twist.)

  on January 29, 2009 at 1:32 AM
• Wotan says:

  What about Caramoor? Are they still on for this summer season?

  on January 29, 2009 at 1:46 AM
• In the know says:

  sorry Lick, you are absolutely right….typo. Rienzi.

  on January 29, 2009 at 2:18 AM
• paddypig says:

  read Millo’s blog for her views on opera in general right now, she really slams regie productions and the current marketing of opera. I know she can be a bit nuts but I have to say i agree wholeheartedly with her views on the state of opera today. My favorite line is “who ever paid to hear a director sing?” worth reading, also talks about Medea and Adriana. comments on singers singing Puccini like Verdi like Wagner like Bellini are right on.

  on January 29, 2009 at 12:31 PM