Questo e Quello
The last place you’d expect to find opera at all, let alone good, exciting opera, is in still-scrappy Bushwick, Brooklyn.
“I have never driven a car because it always seemed to me a tax on one’s nervous system, and my only time for driving was when I was trying to store, rather than expend, energy.”
On February 29, 1812 (thanks to Pope Gregory’s calendrical reforms), Gioachino Rossini celebrated his fourth birthday.
Since Jonas Kaufmann is so in the news right now, Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin has selected as this week’s listening treat the tenor’s debut performance at the Bayreuth Festival, a July 25, 2010 performance of Lohengrin.
La Cieca hopes you, the cher public, will see your way clear to comment on this week’s off-topic and general interest subjects.
Tenor Michael Fabiano has been named the recipient of the ninth annual Beverly Sills Artist Award for young singers at the Metropolitan Opera.
“Masterpieces are not there to subvert; they are there to explore.”
“Joined by the Collegiate Chorale Singers, Leon Botstein and the ASO perform perhaps the most popular German opera ever to have sunk into obscurity!”
Veteran diva Maria Guleghina “long married to the baritone Mark Guleghin, has found new happiness with Russia’s Olympic state coach of Greco-Roman wrestling…”
“The Metropolitan Opera Guild invites you to join Deborah Voigt on a musical journey to the islands and shores of Croatia and Montenegro.”
“I think a lot of his hallucinations can be compared to ultra-sensitivities and hallucinations of extremely gifted people,” Mr. Hampson said.
Tonight, Opera Company of Brooklyn celebrates Black Awareness Month with a special presentation featuring the work of Afro-French composer and conductor, Joseph de Boulogne, the Chevalier de Saint-George.
A particularly delectable treat from the Mike Richter trove: Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts a 1985 performance of Arabella at the Bayerische Staatsoper, featuring Lucia Popp and Wolfgang Brendel.
With issue #42a, “City of Dreams,” parterre box the queer opera zine returns at least temporarily to a rational numbering system.
La Cieca alerts the cher public to be on the lookout for discounts and downright giveaways for the upcoming Vittorio Grigolo recital at the Met.
As we all agree, Robert Rattray is eminently qualified for his new position as the Met’s assistant general manager for artistic affairs…
“Juliane Banse will make her Met debut as Zdenka in this season’s performances of Strauss’s Arabella, replacing Genia Kühmeier, who has withdrawn for personal reasons.”
Life is not fair. There are rules that apply to Jonas Kaufmann, and rules that apply to everyone else.
“Natalie Dessay de retour dans la Fille du Régiment“
“Robert Rattray, who has long experience in artist management, has been appointed the Met’s next assistant general manager for artistic affairs, replacing Sarah Billinghurst, who will retire at the end of this season after two decades at the Met, the company announced Tuesday.”
“The article was written before Mme. Tetrazzini’s arrival,” continued Miss Garden yesterday.
For your racionative pleasure, cher public, here’s an epistolary quiz in honor of the Met’s new production of Werther: 13 artists share Charlotte’s “Ces lettres! Ces lettres!” scena from Massenet’s opera.
“Unexpected conflicts and complications have occurred in Mr. Hampson’s schedule as he prepares the title role in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Wozzeck.”
Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin (not pictured) takes us back to the turbulent 1970s at the Met for the spectacular company debut of electrifying Elena Obraztsova as Amneris.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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