Questo e Quello
On this day in 1914 Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini premiered in Turin.
“Mr. Eyre’s production… was just another in a series of ugly, gargantuan stagings signaling the Met’s endemic lack of imagination or artistic ambition.”
On her 90th birthday “Trove Thursday” presents the late great Belgian mezzo Rita Gorr parenting Régine Crespin in Massenet’s Hérodiade.
This was a Rosenkavalier that aspired to excellence and almost achieved it.
The revival of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Music Center downtown, last seen at LA Opera in 2013, is reason for jubilation for everyone except perhaps the singers engaged.
On this day in 1902 Le jongleur de Notre-Dame by Jules Massenet was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Monte Carlo.
“The Met also said a new production of Bellini’s Norma with Anna Netrebko and Joyce DiDonato will open the 2017-18 season.”
The Met’s 2016-2017 season opens on September 26 with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
“In opera, voice is everything.”
On this day the Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2016-2017 schedule.
Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson’s 1949 musicalization of Alan Paton’s Cry, the Beloved Country has found a tentative home on the opera stage.
On this date in 1892 Massenet’s Werther premiered in Vienna.
Nixon in China is one of several titles that when I tell people that it’s on my Top Ten Favorite list of operas, I get strange looks.
Nico Muhly‘s Valley of the Dolls will receive its world premiere with an all-star cast!
The Manon Lescaut identification quiz, which La Cieca thought would be pretty much a cakewalk, turned out vastly more challenging than she imagined.
On this day in 1686 Jean Baptiste Lully‘s opera Armide premiered in Paris.
On this day in 1895 Oscar Wilde‘s The Importance of Being Earnest premiered at the St. James’s Theatre in London.
“…they hoped he would soon take on an emeritus position that would keep him involved in the company as part of a graceful exit.:
Sir Richard Eyre’s new Manon Lescaut at the Met Friday night demonstrated no particular aptitude for opera.
Welcome, cher public, to the real-time chat for the Saturday afternoon broadcast of Il Trovatore, starting at 1:00 PM ET.
Happy 47th birthday mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.
“James Levine, the longtime Metropolitan Opera music director whose health struggles recently brought him to the verge of retirement from that position, has canceled a series of concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra next week.”
Welcome, cher public, to the real-time chat (or at least commentary) for tonight’s Met premiere of Manon Lescaut, starting at 7:55 PM ET on Listen Live.
With February 14th falling on a Sunday, there will be no Valentine’s Day Met performance this year.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
