Ivy Lin
Ivy Lin teaches science as her day job, and in her spare time reviews dance for Bachtrack. She also obsesses over her 20-year-old cat Pumpkin. Ivy is excited to be back in this wonderful, vibrant opera community after a long hiatus. If she were singing opera, she'd still be cast as Despina until she was in a wheelchair. You can follow Ivy on insta as poisonivy326. Although she's mellowed from her "poisonivy" days she still had a discussion recently with her editor about being "too harsh" in her reviews.
About this evening: the opera we saw was Arabella, written by a gentleman named Mr. Richard Strauss.
La bohème is such a popular romantic opera that hardly anyone ever notices that Mimì and Rodolfo undergo what in modern terms would be called speed dating.
When Norman Lebrecht is declaring on an almost daily basis that classical music is dead, it’s perhaps heartening that four of today’s prominent tenors have recently released what might be called fluff/vanity albums.
This afternoon at the Met, Grigolo sold his performance like the rent was due tomorrow and he was down to his last penny.
It’s been a bitterly cold winter in NY. When it’s bitterly cold, the air is dry.
Life is not fair. There are rules that apply to Jonas Kaufmann, and rules that apply to everyone else.
The legend of the mermaid is ancient, and recently scientists have theorized that these legends might have arisen when humans encountered marine mammals such as whales, seals, or sea lions.
Outdoor arena opera always seems faintly ridiculous.
f you like opera to look like a museum, the Arena di Verona’s latest video of Aida should jump to the top of your wish list.
The Jesi foundation continues its tireless quest of making Pergolesi operas available on video.
This DVD
of a Diana Damrau recital (accompanied only by the harpist Xavier de Maistre) is sure to please her legions of fans.
In August 1845 Alexandre Dumas fils ended his brief but passionate affair with Parisian courtesan Marie Duplessis. He sent her a bitter letter that is often quoted in program notes about La Traviata.
This cozy video of Il Barbiere di Siviglia was recently re-released and will be of interest to those who are only familiar with Cecilia Bartoli‘s work after she became an international star.
Those Romans! How decadent, how corrupt, how much fun!
La Salustia was Giovanni Batista Pergolesi’s first opera, composed at the tender age of 21. In structure and storyline it’s a conventional baroque opera seria.
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s best known opera is La Serva Padrona, but the Neapolitan composer also composed several other works, which are now lovingly presented on video by the Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini at Jesi.
I’ve always had a certain affection for Roberto Alagna.
Natalie Dessay coyly bares a breast on the cover of Virgin Classics’ new Giulio Cesare.
The performance at the Metropolitan Opera last night proved that yes, it is possible to kill this opera. I don’t know how they managed it, but they did.
This Hans Neuenfels staging for the Bayreuth Festival caused quite a stir at its 2010 premiere, but now, with time and distance, how radical is the production?
This year, I attended one of Natalie Dessay‘s only fully-sung Traviatas at the Met.
Rusalka and her sisters are huddled in the flooded basement.
L’elisir d’amore, Donizetti’s evergreen comedy about young love, returned to the Met last night with a strong cast, a high energy level from all the performers, and last but not least, a very full house.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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