Where have all the flowers gone?
On this day in 1991, a new production of Wagner’s Parsifal premiered at the Metropolitan Opera.
Questo e Quello
It takes a woman
Suddenly in the middle of March 2019 the Metropolitan Opera realized that perhaps a few of the company’s multitudes of stagehands and technicians might be of the feminine persuasion.
Grande dame
Happy 90th birthday mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias.
Turning over an old leaf
Is there any opera that can take more of a beating while still making an impact than Eugene Onegin?
Lend me a druid
With four hours’ notice and no stage rehearsal, soprano Marisa Galvany went on, making her Met debut as Norma.
Al passato, ben vedete, ora è inutile pensar
Jonas Kaufmann demonstrates his current work ethic.
They love a piano
It’s difficult to reconcile what Schlather writes with what we see onstage, which is a jumble not only of pianos, but of periods and concepts.
Take the long way Rome
On this day in 1985 Giuseppe Sinopoli made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Tosca.
Domino theory
The Metropolitan Opera delivers on the promise of Wagner’s Gesamtkunswerk in a revival of Robert Lepage’s Ring.
It takes a long pull to get there
On this day in 1953 a revival of Porgy and Bess opened a 305-performance run at the Ziegfeld Theatre.
Cryptic
Hearing Lucas Meachem perform Kindertotenlieder in the crypt of Harlem’s Church of the Intercession was a heart-warming, and ultimately uplifting experience.
Where the boys are
Born on this day in composer Samuel Barber (1910) and conductor Thomas Schippers (1930).
That’s how they’ve done it
Così fan tutte, Mozart’s final Italian comedy with Lorenzo Da Ponte, is this season’s heaviest lift for Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA).
Hot pants explosion
On this day in 1976 mezzo-soprano Tatiana Troyanos made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Octavian.
Broadcast: Aida
Let’s all sing “O terra addio” to the those crumbly styrofoam pharaoh toes.
In the baroque midwinter
It’s been a rough winter in Chicago, and an especially rough one for lead singers at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Once in love with Amy
“Trove Thursday” leaps to the end of the cycle with a slightly abridged Götterdämmerung featuring Amy Shuard as Brünnhilde.
She’s the top
Happy 88th birthday soprano Mady Mesplé!
Born to be wild
Happy 75th birthday soprano Kiri Te Kanawa.
Take the long way Rome
Russell Thomas’s opening aria, “Del piu sublime soglio” displayed an intense attention to the text and some surprisingly beautiful piano phrasing that I’ve never heard risked before and it brought wonder and gooseflesh.
Tone police
Sixty years ago today, Berg’s Wozzeck was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera.
Broadcast: Joyce DiDonato sings opera, jazz and tango!
Joyce DiDonato and her band fuse Italian Baroque bel canto classics, jazz ballads, and tunes from the Great American Songbook into one illuminating musical program.
Have not saints lips?
On this day in 1830 Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi premiered in Venice.
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
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).