Questo e Quello
“Trove Thursday” salutes the Czech soprano Gabriela Benacková with a rare broadcast of Robert Schumann’s only opera Genoveva in which she sings the title role.
On this day in 1977 the Strouse and Charnin musical Annie opened at the Alvin Theater, to run for 2,377 performances.
On this day in 1904 the Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened in St Louis.
I was, to my astonishment, quite bored.
Happy 51st birthday soprano Natalie Dessay.
Can it all be true? She did what? He said what?
On this day in 1906 the San Francisco earthquake and fire killed nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city.
Born on this day in 1912 soprano Marta Eggerth.
Here’s an extended clip of what the recent concert tour by Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov sounded like.
On this day in 1922 Annie Oakley set a women’s record by breaking 100 clay targets in a row.
Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette, and a slew of their members of court are hanging out in the afterlife…
The haunted Mycenae of Patrice Chéreau’s enthralling production of Richard Strauss’s Elektra had seized its viewers in an unrelenting vise that never relaxed even at its quietly shattering conclusion.
On this say in 1971 70, Girls, 70 opened at the Broadhurst Theater to run 35 performances.
Welcome, cher public, to the real-time chat for this evening’s Met broadcast of Elektra, starting at 7:55 PM.
La Cieca will go out on limb and predict that the Met’s new music director will be Yannick Nezet-Seguin.
“Maestro James Levine, the Met’s Music Director since 1976, announced that after 40 years in the position, he will retire at the end of the current season, for health reasons,” says the Met press office.
“Trove Thursday” continues its mini Shakespeare festival with a delightful performance by the New York City Opera of Die Lüstigen Weiber von Windsor.
Happy 58th birthday soprano Aprile Millo.
Born on this day in 1852 Frank W. Woolworth, creator of the five and ten cent store.
“I will never sing the role again. It was frightful. We were a set of madwomen…There is nothing beyond Elektra. We have lived and reached the furthest boundaries in dramatic writing for the voice with Wagner. But Richard Strauss goes beyond him. His singing voices are lost. We have come to a full stop.”
On this day in 1932 the film Grand Hotel premiered at the Astor Theatre in New York City.
Othello in the Seraglio is the rather unfortunate title bestowed by the ensemble Dünya on its “coffeehouse opera,” ossia The Tragedy of Sümbül the Black Eunuch.
Where were you in 1975?
On this day in 1914, George Bernard Shaw‘s play Pygmalion premiered at His Majesty’s Theatre in London.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
