Dan Soda (Windy City Operaman) is a Chicago native whose first visit to opera was at age 17 and Massenet’s Werther with Troyanos and Kraus. Nothing was ever the same. Opera and concert performances, recordings and video are an obsession. He prepares Parterre Box’s daily birthday and anniversary tributes. He also enjoys concerts, live theater and movies.
Born on this day in 1912 soprano/mezzo-soprano Martha Mödl. Read more »
On this day in 1975 the Metropolitan Opera completed its first integral Ring cycle since 1962. Read more »
Director Ivo van Hove, in collaboration with Flemish opera company Muziektheater Transparant, brings his trademark physicality and stripped-down aesthetic to bear on Leoš Janáček‘s “pathbreaking, emotionally raw song cycle” (The New York Times) Diary of One Who Disappeared. Featuring bravura performances by tenor Andrew Dickinson and mezzo-soprano Marie Hamard and additional music by composer Annelies Van Parys, BAM presents the US Premiere of this contemporary update April 4—6 at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House.
In 1917, Czech composer Janáček became obsessed with a married woman 40 years his junior. In the throes of despair, he penned more than 700 love letters and a haunting 22-part song cycle, about a village boy who falls in love with a Romany girl. Van Hove’s contemporary reimagining of Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared paints a deeply affecting portrait of identity, infatuation, and ultimately, alienation. Read more »
Born on this day in 1890 two legendary tenors. Read more »
On this day in 1977 Alban Berg’s Lulu premiered at the Metropolitan Opera.
On this day in 1951 soprano Victoria de los Angeles made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Marguerite.
On this day in 1991 soprano Renée Fleming made her impromptu Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Countess Almaviva.
On this day in 1956 Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, to run 2,717 performances.
Cher Public