Questo e Quello
Happy birthday to mean, moody, magnificent mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham.
Not Verdi but Elton John. Oops!
“The antagonistic themes of Aida seem to have spilled into the wings after a student production of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera was cancelled amid a row over suggestions of ‘cultural appropriation’.”
In tonight’s performance of L’Italiana in Algeri, surely any shipwrecks will be confined to the plot.
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2016-17 season got off to an exciting start on Saturday night with Wagner’s Das Rheingold.
Like Orest, I return to this house.
Born on this day in 1880 journalist and writer Damon Runyon.
Jonny spielt auf, the second opera by 26-year-old composer Ernest K?enek, was such a huge success after its 1927 Leipzig premiere that in the following season it was performed 491 times in Germany alone.
On this day in 1962 the Leslie Bricuse–Anthony Newley musical Stop the World I Want to Get Off opened on Broadway.
On this day in 1955 Alfred Hitchcock Presents premiered.
Theater Basel offers its first livestream ever, of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s rarely performed Donnerstag aus Licht.
On this day in 1941 the Hugh Martin–Ralph Blane musical Best Foot Forward opened on Broadway.
“Jonas Kaufmann est contraint de se retirer de la production des Contes d’Hoffmann à l’Opéra Bastille.”
On this day in 1791 Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte premiered in Vienna.
How Verdi’s opera might address this particular nightmare was unclear.
Born on this day in 1942 singer and actress Madeline Kahn.
On this day in 1945 Mildred Price opened at the Strand Theatre in New York City.
A big chunk of the last act of Norma.
Mariusz Trelinski unveiled a rather gloomy, though musically satisfying, Tristan und Isolde.
I offer an alternative to those who aren’t fans of Wagner: Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito from the house where it premiered.
Happy 59th birthday opera director Peter Sellars.
Missy Mazzoli, a 36-year-old composer from Brooklyn, has created the most startling and moving new American opera in memory.
“In this offbeat production, Guglielmo and Ferrando disguise themselves as Van Johnson and Van Heflin, respectively.”
As afternoon fades into evening, confide in each other, cher public, in La Casa della Cieca.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
