Spring breakers

Surely no one can be surprised that the focus of attention among the cher public in April was Anna Netrebko‘s first Tosca. The list of our top ten stories for the month follows the jump.

Quantum leap: Like Julius Caesar before her, Anna Netrebko can rightly proclaim “Veni vidi vici” about her decisive Roman victory at the Metropolitan Opera where she took on her first-ever Tosca.

Modern family: Yusif Eyvazov will sing the role of Cavaradossi in the first four performances of the spring run of Puccini’s Tosca, replacing Marcelo Álvarez.

They live by night: Despite three other buzzworthy opera premieres simultaneously occurring elsewhere on the Upper West Side, a heady audience had instead months ago paid top price to pack Carnegie Hall Thursday for just 80 minutes of unstaged Wagner.

They just want to be loved: Happy 58th birthday soprano Jane Eaglen.

Cabal me by your name: It’s fortunate that the Met’s production of Luisa Miller featured the incomparable Piotr Beczala in the role of Rodolfo. Otherwise it would’ve been difficult to engage with such an unlikable protagonist.

Devil may care: On this day in 2005, the Met opened a new production of Faust.

The priestess with the mostest: You may find this difficult to believe, but Bellini’s Norma didn’t initially make a significant impression on me back in the early 1980s when I first started listening to, and collecting complete operas on LP and later, video.

Madness on the moors: The new cast at the Met suggested an alliterative retitling of Lucia di Lammermoor was needed—perhaps Lost Loonies in Love or its Italian equivalent?

Lady first: This revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s 2002 Macbeth production was probably the most anticipated event of the Royal Opera House 2017/2018 season, due mostly to Anna Netrebko’s return to Covent Garden.

There’s queen waiting there with a silvery crown: On this day in 1996 the 25th Anniversary Gala for conductor James Levine took place at the Met. Ah the memories!