Balls to the wall
Five fatal Swedish/Bostonian love triangles
Recent Stories
Amelia goes to the ball
On this day in 1991 soprano Deborah Voigt made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Amelia.
Unicorn tapestry
The Hunt’s strongest argument for the possibility of growth, connection, and agency even under adverse and restrictive circumstances lay, of course, in its music, in which three individual voices were able to combine and transform into something infinitely rich and strange.
Hearts were made to be broken
Born on this day in 1962 baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Barging in
On this day in 1976 soprano Hildegard Behrens made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Giorgetta!
Picture a day like this
George Benjamin and Martin Crimp‘s latest opera from London conducted by Corinna Neymeyer and starring Ema Nikolovska, Jacquelyn Stucker, Beate Mordal, and Cameron Shahbazii
Pyramid scheme
On this day in 1964 Metropolitan Opera’s Opening Night was the then-new Nathaniel Merrill production of Aida.
Dreamers with empty hands
It’s autumn in New York, baby.
Venuta al richiamo d’amor
On this day in 1965 soprano Renata Scotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cio-Cio San
Aging of aquarius
Wanna feel old? Hair, “The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” as it styled itself, has its 56th birthday this month.
Good treble
Born on this day in 1935 tenor Luciano Pavarotti
Ace of bass
On February 10 of this year was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great Italian basso Cesare Siepi. I found that this milestone was scarcely noted in the opera press.
Folle journée
On this day in 1967 the Metropolitan Opera debuts of mezzo Teresa Berganza as Cherubino and baritone Tom Krause as Count Almaviva
La bohème
Carlo Rizzi conducts Federica Lombardi, Matthew Polenzani, Adam Plachetka, Olga Kulchynska, and Christian Van Horn in a broadcast from New York
Special handeling
A veritable festival of baroque vocal music featuring two of Handel’s English works, Israel in Egypt and L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, as well as Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie.
Swan of Busseto
Born on this day in 1813 composer Giuseppe Verdi
Inside of you there are two Marias
“The first two images of Angelina Jolie as famed diva Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s upcoming biopic Maria have been revealed”
They’re projecting
I love it, truly, just not that much.
Baritonal shift
On this day in 1986 baritone Thomas Hampson made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Count Almaviva.
Sloe-eyed vampa
On this day in 1988 Dolora Zajick made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Azucena
Il trittico
Philippe Jordan conducts Michael Volle, Joshua Guerrero, Anja Kampe, Eleonora Burrato, Michaela Schuster, Ambrogio Maestri, and Serena Sáenz in Tatjana Gürbaca‘s new production from Vienna.
An experience in musical drama
On this day in 1965 mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Eboli
Son can you play me a memory?
It’s a warning that could strike fear in even the heartiest theatergoer.
Licht und Tag
Born on this day in 1887 soprano Maria Jeritza