Il fascino di una voce
Happy 89th birthday soprano Rosanna Carteri!
Recent Stories
Sitting Pretti
The Metropolitan Opera today announces two cast changes for its forthcoming production of Verdi’s La Traviata, opening January 10, 2020.
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).
Diary of the dead
Joyce DiDonato’s take on Winterreise is a conceptual misstep that, song after song, frustratingly dilutes and distracts from an often rewarding musical performance.
Immortal beloved
Trove Thursday presents a 2002 broadcast of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Camilla Nylund, Iris Vermillion, Jonas Kaufmann and Franz-Josef Selig.
Debutante
Fifty years ago on this day, Jessye Norman made her professional debut as Wagner’s Elisabeth at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin.
Perseverance
Happy 88th birthday actress and singer Rita Moreno.
Calling the shots
Heartbeat Opera has set Der Freischütz in a contemporary era, in a rural locale where gun culture reigns supreme and bullying is natural.
True West
On this day in 1910 Puccini’s La fanciulla del West had its world premiere at the Met.
Veiled threat
On this day in 1905 Richard Strauss’s Salome premiered in Dresden.
Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar
On this day in 1949 the Jule Styne musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre, making a star of Carol Channing and running 740 performances.
Give me libertine
Ryan McKinny’s Don is subtler, slyer, smoother, with a sharp wit and sense of dark humor that gives added dimension to the role.
Tosca
The opening night of La Scala features a new production of Tosca featuring Anna Netrebko, Francesco Meli and Luca Salsi.
The mauve decadent
Born on this day in 1900 actress Agnes Moorehead.
Baton passed
Eun Sun Kim has been appointed the Caroline H. Hume Music Director of San Francisco Opera, effective August 1, 2021.
The Queen of Spades
A second broadcast of the Met’s winter sleeper hit!
Grigolo gone
Star tenor Vittorio Grigolo has been dismissed from the Met.
Body and soul
Trove Thursday offers Haydn’s L’Anima del filosofo ossia Orfeo ed Euridice with Joan Sutherland, Nicolai Gedda and Spiro Malas.
Beauty! Terrible Beauty!
On this day in 1890 the first complete performance of Les Troyens was given in Karlsruhe.
Howards, endless
It’s not difficult to make an audience weep uncontrollably. But because it’s so easy, I think artists have a responsibility to not overuse that power.
Heathers
On this day in 1893 soprano Nellie Melba made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Lucia.
Cecilia goes to Monte Carlo
Cecilia Bartoli has been named director of the Monte-Carlo Opera, with her incumbency to begin in 2023.