parterre box

244 comments

• zinka says:

  Dear buddies,

  On the ancient Met standee line, we would make up crazy things that could happen in opera to distract us from the fact that it was FREEEEEZING out there (unlike those “babies” who now get to stand indoors…..). Now, I hear that the coming Met Rigoletto, updated to the 1960′s will present the Duke as “Frank Sinatra.” ( I already wrote Beczala and asked him if he had blue eyes).
  So you see…we were way before our time onthat line, but we still could not believe what would eventually befall opera. Yes, on “some level’ it is “fun” to see toilet bowls in Ballo or a tenor’s ass in Parsifal…but now it is getting out of hand!!!!
  A soprano I know just returned from Germany after refusing to “die six times” as Mimi…..and much more that makes me SICK. I think that the world of opera is gradually crumbling before our eyes. Imagine this scenario:

  “Mme.Milanov..when you sing the high B flat ppp in Gioconda Act One, we want you to do it riding in a Gondola with Kurt Baum nude.”

  “Vell…change it to Corelli and I vill do it.”

  I enjoy some of these nutty productions..but more like i enjoy Dracula films…..escapist entertainment…..but like Dracula, it really sucks!

  Lovingly,
  Calisto Handelieto.

  on February 24, 2012 at 10:39 PM
• zinka says:

  Born 2/26/ 1877…Mr.Gelb would say,”OH NO..NO CHEST!!!”

  Great lady..a forgotten art….

  on February 24, 2012 at 11:33 PM
• louannd says:

  Peter Mattei talks about Don Giovanni, Michael Haneke, learning to sing via Schubert lieder, that good directors are harder to find than good conductors, and a few other intelligent things, in a recent interview: http://www.altamusica.com/entretiens/document.php?action=MoreDocument&DocRef=3318&DossierRef=2957

  on February 25, 2012 at 1:16 AM
• zinka says:

  You will get more of Diana on her March 19 birthday..TELL ME..Is there ANYONE out there like this??>????????

  on February 25, 2012 at 1:42 AM
• WindyCityOperaman says:

  Born on this day in 1873 tenor Enrico Caruso
  

  Happy 72nd birthday conductor Jose Lopez Cobos
  

  Happy 64th birthday tenor Dennis O’Neill
  

  on February 25, 2012 at 10:06 AM
• zinka says:

  Nothing to say….Just to thrill to the GOD of opera..Born 2/23/1873

  on February 25, 2012 at 2:37 PM
• zinka says:

  Born Feb.27, 1888. This Lehmann recording for me is one of my 5 greatest commercial reordings…It makes me CRAZY!!!!

  on February 25, 2012 at 8:48 PM
• zinka says:

  On Dennis O’Neill’s AND Boito’s birthday….Here is dear Sam in the Mefistofele Epilogue….Did I dream 40 years ago Sam would become an ICON???????

  on February 25, 2012 at 9:04 PM
• brooklynpunk says:

  Once again, what looked absolutley DREADFUL, live on the MET stage, doesn’t look nearly as bad on my ancient small-screened television…

  Watching “Don Giovanni” now on Channel 13/NYC… and .. once again. it is clear (to me….) that the “new” productions we have been getting , since the begining of the Gelb regime, are intended to be seen more on a small(er) screen then in the House…which makes me very very unhappy……!

  on February 26, 2012 at 1:08 PM
• brooklynpunk says:

  TWO “head’s up’s” for broadcasts occuring on European radio, right now….!
  —————————————

  GMT 1830/EST 1:30PM
  RADIO ÖSTERREICH INTERNATIONAL
  Vienna, AUSTRIA

  1830
  1:30PM
  SPECIAL PROGRAM: Aus dem Konzertsaal
  Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor; Helmut Deutsch, Klavier.
  Franz Liszt: Vergiftet sind meine Lieder; Im Rhein, im schönen Strome; Freudvoll und leidvoll; Der König in Thule; Die Glocken von Marling; Die drei Zigeuner
  Gustav Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
  Henri Duparc: L’invitation au voyage; Phidylé; Le manoir de Rosemonde; Chanson triste; La vie antérieure
  Richard Strauss: Schlechtes Wetter, op. 69/5; Schön sind, doch kalt die Himmelssterne, op. 19/3; Befreit, op. 39/4; Junggesellenschwur; Wie sollten wir geheim sie halten, op. 19/4
  (aufgenommen am 13. Februar im Großen Musikvereinssaal in Wien). (2 hrs.)
  :—————————————————————
  GMT 1900/EST 2:00PM

  MUSIQ3
  Brussels, BELGIUM

  1900
  2:00PM
  Opéra: Kurt Weil (livret de Bertold Brecht) : Grandeur et décadence de la ville de Mahagony
  Opéra de Vienne Kurt Weill : Grandeur et décadence de la ville de Mahagony Sur un livret de Bertolt Brecht
  Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
  Direction : Ingo Metzmacher
  Elisabeth Kulman, mezzo-soprano, Leocadia Begbick, a fugitive
  Tomasz Konieczny, baritone, Dreieinigkeitsmoses (Trinity Moses)
  Herwig Pecoraro, tenor, Fatty der Prokurist (Fatty, The Bookkeeper)
  Christopher Ventris, tenor, Jimmy Mahoney (Jimmy MacIntyre)
  Clemens Unterreiner, baritone, Sparbüchsen Billy (Bank Account Billy)
  Norbert Ernst, tenor, Jacob Schmidt (Jack O’Brien) Jimmy’s friend
  Il Hong, bass, Alaska Wolf Joe, Jimmy’s friend
  Angelika Kirchschlager, soprano, Jenny Smith, a prostitute
  Wolfram Igor Derntl, tenor, Toby Higgin

  on February 26, 2012 at 2:04 PM