Miss Bobolink will be unable to do the weekly breakdown, as she is having her pique fitted. Taking up the slack is a quintet of Chat Room regulars — Desi Bell, Milka Turtle, Lawrence TwoBits, B. Sammy Mucho, and Tony Dangle.
11:00-2:00 LRT KLASIKA: ERNANI from Bologna — Absolutely one of my favorite operas. And with Ferruccio Furlanetto ! I’m so excited, I could just melt.
12:00 – 4:00 ESPACE MUSIQUE: PELLEAS ET MELISANDE from Paris, 2011 — Calm down Desi, we’ve got a long list to go. This one has Natalie Dessay and Simon Keenleyside and is rather good, from all reports.
12:20-2:30 SVERIGES P2: LA BOHEME from Oslo – Youth! Passions erupting, seething. Groping in dark Parisian alleyways.
1:00-4:30 WFMT American Opera Network: ARIADNE AUF NAXOS — Okay, let’s see. This is that Strauss thing from Chicago, with soprano Amber Wagner as the Prima Donna, and tenor Alex Coote as the Composer.
1:00-5:00 BBC 3: RIGOLETTO from Covent Garden — A handsome, passionate Latin man sharing himself with as many women as he can. This could be my biography.
1:00-5:00 CBC Two: LA CENERENTOLA from Canadian Opera. Oh my God, Lawrence Brownlee. I’m such a fan!
1:00-4:00 DEUTSCHLANDRADIO KULTUR: MANON. Dessay as a passionate Parisian teenager, desperately seeking a Latin man to satisfy her. Her Desi, you wanna have my baby? I show you how.
1:00-5:00 FRANCE MUSIQUE: Tchaikovsky’s VOYEVODA. I’ve never even heard of this thing. Set in the Swiss Alps, I think. It hasn’t been done at The Met since 1937.
1:00-5:00 KBYU: BORIS GODUNOV from Chicago. Oooh, more Furlanetto. Oh God, oh God, oh God.
1:00-4:30 NPR World of Opera: I MASNADIERI from Montpellier. Written for Jenny Lind, it has lately attracted arrivistes like Sutherland and — case in point – Mykytenko ! WHO ? ! ?
1:00-5:00 LATVIA RADIO KLASIKA: RUSLAN AND LUDMILA — Are you guys leaving me all the crap pieces? Eddie Johnson would never let something like this into the rep. What’s that game where every time a soprano sings, you take a drink?
1:00-4:00 NRK KLASIKA: ROBERTO DEVEREUX –from Vienna. Oooohhh, Gruberova ! I’m such a fan.
1:00-5:00 RADIO 4 NETHERLANDS: Schweitzer’s ROSAMUNDE — throbbing, pulsing, erupting in violent passion.
1:00-5:00 RADIO CLASICA DE ESPANA: LE DUC D’ALBE — the French version left unfinished by Donizetti, completed with stylistic variations by John Philip Sousa.
1:00-5:00 RTP ANTENA 2: KATYA KABANOVA from Vienna. This one makes me so sad. I just wish they could all just go off happily together
1:00-4:00 WCNY, WQXR, WQED: DIE ZAUBERFLOTE from Chicago. Speaking of going off, Desi, I got a Magic Flute. Ya wanna see it?
1:00-4:00 WRR; IL TURCO IN ITALIA — Hot shit! Another soprano. Skoal ! Oops, sorry, it’s Bartoli.
1:30-5:00 BARTOK RADIO: FAUST from Covent Garden. You’re such a card, Sam. I never know when to take you seriously. This one has Rene Pape, which is almost as good as Ferruccio Furlanetto.
1:30-4:00 RADIO OESTERREICH: Massenet’s CLEOPATRE from Salzburg, 2012. A Massenet rarity with Sophie Koch.
2:00-4:30 CESKY ROZHLAS VLTAVA: GIANNI DI PARIGI from Wexford You like Koch, Milka? What’s your sign? Me, I’m Capricorn.
2:00-6:00 ESPACE 2: ORLANDO from Brussels. This ain’t opera. It’s just froodle-toodle. Hooo-kay, another soprano !
2:00-5:00 HR2 KULTUR: DIE JACOBIN from Prague. You’re barking up the wrong elm tree, Mucho, capisce?
2;00-6:00 KLARA: Martin Y Soler’s IL BURBERO DI BUON CUORE — Oh God, I just love it when they quote Martin Y Soler in “Don Giovanni.” I just laugh and laugh.
1:00-6:00 LYRIC FM: MAHAGONNY from Vienna — Hey Larry, you’re supposed to do this one.
I think he’s “asleep.”
I feel like I’m in the road company of Three Faces of Eve.
2:00-6:00 RADIO STEPHANSDOM: SIEGFRIED from ROH, 1957. Oh my God, Birgit Nilsson. I’m such a fan ! And Hans Hotter !
2:00-5:30 RADIO TRE: LA CLEMENZA DI TITO. I show you some hands make you hotter. Hoo boy !
2:00-5:00 AUDITORIUM: DIE SCHOPFUNG — Is this that Strauss thing from Chicago again? Are they doing it twice? WTF?
4:25-6:00 CESKY ROZHLAS D-DUR: Gubajdulina’s PASSION OF ST. JOHN. Throbbing, pulsing passion.
The chat, as always, kicks into high gear at La Casa della Cieca beginning noonish.
