Questo e Quello
“New York is great. Opera is great. They deserve each other. So what can we do to get them together? Who can show us how it’s done? We need to ask the Germans.”
On this day in 2015 it was announced that Cecilia Bartoli would sing the role of Maria in West Side Story at the 2016 Salzburg Pfingstfestspiele, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, no less!
The results are in for the 2015 Pubie Awards, cher public, and may La Cieca just say that you could knocked her over with featheras some of the results!
Now here’s a competition for a parterrian: the Bayerische Staatsoper is looking for a drag performer to lip sync the final scene from Salome!
On this day in 1959 Gypsy opened at the Broadway Theater, to run 702 performances.
On this day in 1347, Cola di Rienzo, a Roman commoner, declared himself Emperor of Rome in response to years of baronial power-struggles.
Fans of the “context-free laundry list” school of opera criticism will be happy to know that “the world’s preeminent philosopher in the field of aesthetics,” Roger Scruton, has now shouldered the white man’s burden of rescuing opera from interpretation.
On this day in 1568 Queen Elizabeth I of England arrested Queen Mary of Scotland.
Celebrating Simon Keenlyside, the most popular artist on your alte Jungfer’s Mixcloud Web site.
On this day in 1926, evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson vanished while visiting a beach in Venice, CA. She reappeared a month later with the claim that she had been kidnapped.
On this day in 2015, parterre.com was offline for almost five hours due to a server error.
As is happening increasingly in opera productions today (e.g., the Rosenkavalier in Stuttgart), the action of Moses und Aron at the Komische Oper begins some minutes before the music does.
On this day in 1711 Alexander Pope‘s “An Essay on Criticism” was published anonymously.
Your doyenne peers into the future, or, to be more accurate, into the Future Met Wiki, to reveal the latest rumors on casting and repertoire.
Alice Coote talks about her life as a man. (No, really.)
Born on this day in 1933 Welsh actress Siân Phillips.
The Berlin Komische Oper was the scene of one of my greatest opera experiences five years ago, so I particularly looked forward to a return to this theater.
Born on this day in 1907 English author Daphne du Maurier.
Swedish actress Noomi Rapace has been named as star of a film biography of Maria Callas to be directed by Niki Caro, reports Variety.
Yes, it’s that time of year again, cher public. Which artists will win the treasure of a 2015 parterre box “Pubie” Award? Just follow the trail after the jump for your chance to vote!
Töt erst sein Weib!” shrieks Anja Kampe as Leonore during the very first moments of Andreas Homoki’s ingenious production of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, at Opernhaus Zürich.
The legendary diva failed to show up in court this morning for settlement of her tax fraud case.
Aribert Reimann’s 1978 opera Lear, based of course on Shakespeare’s titanic tragedy King Lear, is a major achievement in modern operatic scoring.
On this day in 1832 Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore premiered in Milan.
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
