parterre box

70 comments

• WindyCityOperaman says:

  Also, Happy 62nd Birthday diva!

  on April 21, 2011 at 9:11 AM
  • willym says:

    Dear god I wish someone would do that at the opera here -- saw the end of Act 1 of Abduction last week in a strobe light effect from the couple in the palco opposite’s camera flash. Have they not realized that the flash does nothing at that distance other than distract the audience and the singers?????

    on April 22, 2011 at 10:07 AM
• tannengrin says:

  it’s such a lovely tune, done right, but, oh dear god, I didn’t know this existed:

  on April 21, 2011 at 10:24 AM
  • Harry says:

    Oh! The Proms. Where they then start up with that nationalistic campy- cringe producing..’Land of Hope and Glory’.

    on April 21, 2011 at 4:07 PM
    • armerjacquino says:

      In one concert out of over a hundred.

      on April 21, 2011 at 4:19 PM
      • armerjacquino says:

        Speaking of the Proms, Pappano conducting the Santa Cecilia forces in William Tell is quite exciting, although the cast (Pertusi, Osborn, Bystrom) is less so. Same applies to Gardiner conducting the Berlioz version of Der Freischutz- smashing idea, less-than-thrilling cast.

        on April 21, 2011 at 4:33 PM
        • armerjacquino says:

          Poplavskaya, Ganassi, Calleja and Furlanetto in the Verdi Requiem under Bychkov, on the other hand…

          on April 21, 2011 at 4:37 PM
        • Nerva Nelli says:

          “Poplavskaya, Ganassi, Calleja and Furlanetto in the Verdi Requiem …”

          Three outta four ain’t bad…

          (note early Sharon Sweet appearance)

          on April 21, 2011 at 4:48 PM
        • MontyNostry says:

          armer -- most of that cast appears on the forthcoming EMI release of Guillaume Tell. Malin is clearly Tony P’s new soprano flavour of the month.

          on April 21, 2011 at 5:00 PM
        • MontyNostry says:

          … and Nerva, that was what I thought too.

          on April 21, 2011 at 5:01 PM
    • brooklynpunk says:

      Harry..

      I always thought “Land of Hope and Glory” was --ON THE lLAST NIGHT of the Proms--

      AND..

      as much of an ultra left-wing Yank that I am.. IT STILL gives me a bit of a lump in my throat..as does the whole of the Royal Albert Hall sing-a-long of “Rule , Brittania” and “Jerusalem”

      I LIVE FOR EACH SUMMER’S PROM BROADCASTS.. on Auntie Beeb, and your smarmy diss of them is pretty “cringe-producing”……

      on April 22, 2011 at 11:51 AM
  • La Cieca says:

    Not a patch on

    on April 21, 2011 at 5:12 PM
    • peter says:

      Brava Gwyneth! I’m afraid this Yankee got goose pimples.

      on April 21, 2011 at 5:42 PM
      • MontyNostry says:

        Famously, Gwynnie had the words written on the back of her shield. Watch her eyes.

        on April 21, 2011 at 6:11 PM
    • Cocky Kurwenal says:

      Quite! Dame Gwyneth essayed ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ with harp accompaniment that same evening. The intimacy of the Royal Albert Hall appeared to suit her -- the harp accompaniment, less so.

      One of her best ever Immolations Scenes too, IMO, which is sort of a surprise given that she isn’t in the first flush of youth.

      on April 21, 2011 at 5:43 PM
      • peter says:

        1991 was a great year for Gwyneth. She sang Elektra in San Francisco that year and she was in stupendous (and tremendous) voice.

        on April 21, 2011 at 5:51 PM
        • Cocky Kurwenal says:

          Isn’t is the same year as her famous Orange Elektras too? Which I guess she must have come to London more or less straight from, give or take a couple of weeks.

          on April 21, 2011 at 5:59 PM
        • peter says:

          Yes, the Elektra in Orange was in 1991:

          on April 21, 2011 at 6:37 PM
        • MontyNostry says:

          By the way, just noticed, unless I am missing a subtle verbal gag, isn’t there a misspelling in the headline of this post: Brittania (sic). Or is it something to do with Britt Ekland?

          on April 22, 2011 at 10:48 AM
        • phoenix says:

          Monty, that is an interesting observation on the title of this article. I hardly remember Britt (she was, believe it or not, actually older than I am… if you can imagine such is even remotely possible).
          -- I don’t know much about her, but in her very early studies it appears that she was considering the diva roles in Donna del lago or Rusalka, but I don’t know whether either one actually materialized. By the time I got around to her, she was doing the Siegfried Brunnhilde (in a performance at Grande Metropole de Ipswich with Siegfried Jerusalemn as Siegried):

          [img]http://parterre.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/britt.jpg[/img]

          on April 22, 2011 at 12:29 PM
        • ianw2 says:

          Gwyneth was still sounding pretty impressive in 2006′s fabulous Alice in Wonderland.

          on April 22, 2011 at 12:42 PM
        • MontyNostry says:

          Britt’s finest vocal performance was undoubtedly as Salce in that bel canto classic L’uomo di paglia
          

          on April 22, 2011 at 12:43 PM
• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  Unlike some who hide in the mountains of Italy, Freud may be one of the first openly gay general directors of an opera company in the USA. If you say that abbreviation aloud in German (GGD) that makes him a Gay Gay Dee.

  on April 22, 2011 at 10:17 AM
  • ianw2 says:

    Matthew Epstein was hardly in the closet.

    on April 22, 2011 at 12:40 PM
    • Indiana Loiterer III says:

      Yes, but what American opera company was he general director of? (Wales is not in America.)

      on April 22, 2011 at 12:52 PM
      • ianw2 says:

        Chicago, no? Or does ‘artistic director’ not count? I don’t really care but find it hard to believe that Freud was the first.

        on April 22, 2011 at 12:54 PM
  • Quanto Painy Fakor says:

    And does this mean that Lyric Opera is obliged to hire Freud’s lover as they did in Houston, where he was appointed dramaturg? Nice work if you can get it.

    on April 22, 2011 at 7:16 PM