Questo e Quello
The Met’s cobranding efforts are really beginning to pay off.
Veteran maroon Norman Lebrecht does it again.
On this day in 1896 the six-ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier opera house in Paris fell on the crowd.
“Trove Thursday” presents Sena Jurinac‘s radiant portrayal of Janacek’s Jenufa opposite the implacable Kostelnicka of Martha Mödl.
Born on this day in 1861 soprano Nellie Melba.
The grand illusion is that we know it all. From four hundred years of opera, we’ve distilled the worthy survivors.
Happy 57th birthday soprano Lauren Flanigan.
Cher public, you knew La Cieca would come through for you, didn’t you? So hurry past the jump and give a listen.
Los Angeles saw the first U.S. performance of Giacomo Puccini’s snow-dusted weeper in 1897 just a year after the young Toscanini led the prima in Turin.
On this day in 1890 Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana premiered in Rome.
Regina Opera almost completely fulfilled its mission Saturday afternoon with their production of Manon Lescaut.
Happy 67th birthday bass Ferruccio Furlanetto.
Too often I allow my memories of great singers to be dulled by late career behavior, delving into unsuitable roles or just plain laziness.
An early bird special chat: the premiere of Die Meistersinger from the Bayerische Staatsoper, featuring DJ Jummy Jonas.
Can it really be 40 (Four, oh!) years since La Cieca was born?
What we really need, some seem to believe, is fuller representation of the 19th century.
Born on this day in 1567 composer Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi.
Happy 91st birthday soprano Patrice Munsel.
In how many operas does the heroine drink poison and then go lengthily mad?
Born on this day in 1842 composer Arthur Sullivan.
While D.C. Wagnerians wait for Nina Stemme’s Brünnhilde to arrive next week, “Trove Thursday” presents the erstwhile Valkyrie of another compelling diva: Anna Caterina Antonacci as Brunehild, the heroine of Ernest Reyer’s Sigurd, a French grand opera also based on the Nibelungenlied.
On this day in 1988 Carrie-The Musical opened on Broadway, to run five performances.
On this day in 1959 the musical Once Upon a Mattress opened off-Broadway.
Washington National Opera followed up Monday’s lavishly praised Die Walküre with a Siegfried that, if not quite rising to the summit of the previous installment, delivered a musically committed and eminently watchable version of this complicated work.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
