Questo e Quello
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith… I am nothing.”
Teatro Grattacielo is New York’s homegrown organization to rescue Verismo operas from oblivion, one per annum, allowing for the occasional double bill.
Purchase of Manhattan was given its world premiere on Thursday evening at the Marble Collegiate Church on Fifth Avenue.
On this day in 534 BC, Thespis of Icaria became the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage.
Put on your Sunday clothes, cher public, in preparation for a nice long discussion of off-topic and general interest subjects.
On this day in 1831, Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable was first produced.
The increasingly protean Jessye Norman intones the classic American anthem “Midnight Special.”
“The soup is hot; the soup is cold; Norman Lebrecht got it wrong again.”
Every year I say I’m not going to another La Bohème because I’ve seen this too many times.
On this day in 1877 Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph.
“In a fiscal year that challenged the nation’s largest performing arts organization to find a more sustainable financial model for the future, the Metropolitan Opera incurred an estimated $22 million budget shortfall for the 2013-14 season.”
The Met has just announced it is revising once again its rush ticket policy, doing away the “lottery” system in place earlier this season and instead going to a “first come, first served” online sale daily.
A production as delectable as the current one (through Sunday) at the Juilliard Opera will make you wonder why Il Turco is not as well known as L’Italiana, Il Barbiere, La Cenerentola, even the odd and occasional Il Viaggio a Rheims.
On this day in 1347, Cola di Rienzo repelled an attack by Roman nobles led by the Orsini and Colonna families.
She hopes to star on Broadway in a production of Living on Love, a farce she performed in this past summer at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts.
On this day in 1620 the Mayflower reached Cape Cod.
On this day in 1307, William Tell shot apple off his son’s head, assuming that actually happened.
A young friend messaged me to ask if I knew Rossini’s Macbeth.
Was it really only seven years ago that Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón were being a Traumpaar in Manon?
On this day in 1558 Elizabeth I ascended the English throne.
Paris can be a lot to handle, but this week it was a lot to Handel.
On this day in 1849, a Russian court sentenced writer Fyodor Dostoevsky to death for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group.
La Cieca invites the cher public (pictured) to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
It’s a Wagner lover’s dream!
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
