“The easiest job in the world”
Born on this day in 1911 actor Robert Taylor.
Recent Stories
‘Cesare,’ condensed
I felt that the whole performance at West Edge Opera on Sunday was greater the sum of its parts, particularly due to the dedication of the whole cast and crew amidst all adversities.
Sweet home Ithaca
Monteverdi’s late Homeric masterpiece Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria isn’t often performed in the United States.
The Queens gambit
Born on this day in 1910 actress Anita Page.
Festal joy triumphant
The July-August timeframe in the San Francisco Bay Area is always exciting time in terms of opera.
“A woman must be soignée”
Born on this day in 1904 actress Dolores del Rio.
My dinner with Aeschylus
Having had many memorable encounters with these characters before, I had been looking forward to encountering them again in an ambitious contemporary Oresteia, but I left the Armory feeling that writer-director Robert Icke just didn’t get it.
Women and children first!
Born on this day in 1905 actress Myrna Loy.
Die Walküre
The second say of Der Ring des Nibelungen, live from the Bayreuth Festival.
Creative differences
Beverly Sills and Renée Fleming (not pictured) rightly crown the list of most-read parterre box articles for August 2022.
“I tried to show that fashion is an art”
Born on this day in 1936 fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Das Rheingold
A live broadcast as the Bayreuth Festival launches a new Ring cycle.
“I am a stone”
Happy 83rd birthday to actress France Nuyen.
Moïse et Pharaon
Recorded July 14 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Silent treatment
It is perhaps a misperception to suggest that Die Schweigsame Frau is stronger in the uncut version.
‘It’ had to be you
Born on this day in 1905 actress Clara Bow.
Nothing to sneeze at
This week’s Trove Thursday—Kodály’s Háry János in a 1955 RAI broadcast in Italian led by famed Hungarian conductor Ferenc Fricsay—may be a bit brief as C-19 finally arrived last week chez CC.
A fat lady and a duck
Born on this day in 1948 actress Georgia Engel.
Les girls
The celebrated episode of The Carol Burnett Show featuring divas Eileen Farrell and Marilyn Horne will be broadcast tonight.
My heroine
Born on this day in 1909 actress and singer Vivian Vance.
Patience and fortitude
Gregory Spears’ latest opera Castor and Patience, with a libretto by former US Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy K. Smith, was commissioned by Cincinnati Opera to celebrate its centennial season in 2020.
Tristan und Isolde
Opening performance of the 2022 Bayreuth Festival, broadcast live.