About a boy
These days a cadre of voluble opera-goers regularly issues dire warnings that anyone about to attend this or that production at the Met should close her eyes and just listen rather than witness yet another Peter Gelb regie “atrocity.”
Questo e Quello
What is a youth?
Here’s our beloved Juan Diego Flórez last week, continuing his voyage into heavier repertoire as the titular love-sick teenager in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette.
Last of the castratos
On this day in 1824 Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera Il Crociato in Egitto premiered in Venice.
Vertigo
On this day in 1831 Vincenzo Bellini‘s La Sonnambula premiered in Milan.
Chat: Manon Lescaut (plus HD)
Welcome, cher public, to the real-time chat for this afternoon’s Met performance of Manon Lescaut, starting at 1:00 PM ET.
Sparks descending
On this day in 1856 the second Royal Opera House Covent Garden theatre was destroyed by fire.
Chat: Don Pasquale
Here’s your place to chat, cher public, during tonight’s Met broadcast of Don Pasquale, beginning at 7:30 PM.
Love actually
On this day in 1830 Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi premiered in Venice.
Two and only
Anna Netrebko and Latonia Moore (pictured) rekindle “The Grand Opera Buzz.”
Everybody loves to make a vow
The operas of Saverio Mercadante are often said to be among those 19th century Italian works most worthy of revival.
Le cirque des étoiles
Of all films to be adapted into operas, 1967’s Berserk! seems a most unlikely choice.
She was a gypsy woman
On this day in 1875 Bizet’s Carmen had its disastrous premiere at the Opera Comique in Paris.
This happy breed
“Lyric’s November staging of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck is the only American contender in the new-production category, conducted by Lyric Music Director Sir Andrew Davis and directed by Sir David McVicar.”
An ordinary couple
On this day in 1965 The Sound of Music, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, was released.
Midway through my season
The most popular postings for the month follow the jump.
And now a word from our sponsor
La Cieca and the whole gang down at parterre HQ would like to give a tip of the hat and a rousing Double Maxie Ford Pullback to our advertisers, who this month are a very numerous group indeed!
Everyone’s an expert
“No hitting? They got hitting! They got no defense!”
Final curtain
On this day in 1957 Ziegfeld Follies of 1957 opened at the Winter Garden, to run 123 performances.
La regina d’Inghilterra ho veduto lagrimar
Which queen wore it better, Rufus Wainwright or Sondra Radvanovsky?
Winter afternoon’s dream
It took the better part of a decade—including two high-profile cancelations—or New York to finally hear Anna Netrebko in recital.
If I were king
We have a major discovery (well, to me at least) of a spectacular talent: American tenor Michael Spyres.
St. Bart’s
On this day in 1836 Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots opened in Paris.
High on a hill was a lonely goatherd
“Revised version of Brokeback Mountain debuts in Salzburg”
Neither was there any such spice as the Queen of Sheba gave King Solomon
On this day in 1862 Gounod’s La Reine de Saba premiered in Paris.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).