"My diva, a common waitress!"

As was perhaps inevitable, Anna Netrebko is on the cusp of the Mildred Pierce phase of her career. The soprano talks about her plans to open a restaurant, her reasons for retiring Violetta from her repertoire, and her distaste for inflated ticket prices in an interview appearing in the German magazine Stern.

Speaking of restaurants, which music writer’s brother seemed a good fit to manage a top-stratum eatery in one of New York’s cultural centers — until he was blackballed by said venue’s top honcho, who has his own family connections at the scribe’s publication?