La Rondine
Angela Gheorghiu is Magda de Civry at the San Francisco Opera, 2007.
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Carmen
With Anita Rachvelishvili, Piotr Beczala, Erwin Schrott, Vera-Lotte Boecker. Musical Direction: Andrés Orozco-Estrada. Production: Calixto Bieito.
Pretty in pink
Born on this day in 1953 Broadway diva Christine Ebersole.
Carmen
Starring Angela Gheorghiu, Waltraud Meier, Plácido Domingo, and Sergei Leiferkus, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From March 25, 1997.
Salome
Live from La Scala with Elena Stikhina, Wolfgang Koch, Gerhard Siegel and Linda Watson. Zubin Mehta Riccardo Chailly conducts.
Go west
On this day in 2020 a restudied production of West Side Story opened on Broadway.
Don Giovanni
Starring Carol Vaness, Karita Mattila, Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Kurt Moll, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 1990.
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!
Young Toscanini
For your afternoon delight: the campy 1988 Franco Zeffirelli biopic starring C. Thomas Howell, Elizabeth Taylor and the decidedly un-campy singing of Aprile Millo.
Three by three
I’ve got some new software and messing around with it today I had the insane notion that a vocal ID quiz featuring the Rosenkavalier trio might be fun.
To love and be loved
Born on this day in 1911 or so actress Merle Oberon.
Das Wunder der Heliane
Conductor: Marc Albrecht; Director: Christof Loy – With Sara Jakubiak, Josef Wagner, Brian Jagde, Okka von der Damerau, Derek Welton, Burkhard Ulrich, Gideon Poppe; Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
Aida
At the Opéra Bastille, Verdi’s masterpiece is directed by Lotte de Beer and performed by Sondra Radvanovsky, Ksenia Dudnikova, Jonas Kaufmann and Ludovic Tézier. Conducted by Michele Mariotti.
Ann-thology
Many New Yorkers think it’s the best bagel, but this week H&H names Trove Thursday’s bounteous anthology featuring the splendid long-running association between George Frideric Handel and Ann Hallenberg, his prime 21st century acolyte.
Grandeur
Born on this day in 1926 mezzo-soprano Rita Gorr.
Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci
Starring Tatiana Troyanos, Jean Kraft, Plácido Domingo, and Vern Shinall; Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes, and Allan Monk, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 1978.
“Growls, shouts, groans, laughter, giggling”
On this day in 1904 Puccini’s Madama Butterfly had its disastrous premiere in Milan. Three years later, though…
Falstaff
Starring Mirella Freni, Barbara Bonney, Marilyn Horne, Bruno Pola, and Paul Plishka, conducted by James Levine. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From October 10, 1992.
Lucky star
Born on this day in 1908 ur-belter Ethel Merman.
La Bohème
Starring Angela Gheorghiu, Ainhoa Arteta, Ramón Vargas, Ludovic Tézier, and Oren Gradus, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Production by Franco Zeffirelli. From April 5, 2008.
Insult to injury
Just when you think opera has reached its peak and has nowhere else left to go, here is Anna Netrebko stabbing Scarpia in the dick with a crucifix.
Peyton Place on the Riviera
If The Night of the Iguana is not exactly a day at the beach, it’s not really the dark night of the soul it should be, either.
Golden wings
On this day in 588 BC Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem under Zedekiah’s reign.
Die Walküre
Starring Hildegard Behrens, Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, Gary Lakes, James Morris, and Kurt Moll, conducted by James Levine. Production by Otto Schenk. From April 8, 1989.