Mage of all work
Utopia Opera is fond of the less well known branches of the Savoy repertory (as the company name suggests), and is currently (through next weekend) doing a job on an early and rare bird of the flock, The Sorcerer.
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Nella bruna la costanza
On this day in 1966 soprano Pilar Lorengar made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Donna Elvira.
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).
“Who I am is the best I can be”
A joyous 92nd birthday to Miss Mary Violet Leontyne Price.
Follow her lead
Barbara Hannigan‘s electrifying performance with the Juilliard Orchestra on Friday night proves that she is as much a force to be reckoned with on the podium as she is onstage.
Broadcast: Iolanta / Bluebeard’s Castle
The Met’s creepy double bill is broadcast this afternoon starting at 12:30 PM.
Exactly the kind of boy he had always wanted to be
UrbanArias’ recording of Paul’s Case is an antidote to the intellectual pretensions that regularly drag contemporary opera performance toward tediousness and boredom.
Love in the afternoon
On this day in 1974 soprano Kiri Te Kanawa made an “emergency” Met debut as Desdemona.
Can you ‘Fille’ the love tonight
La Fille du Régiment, Donizetti’s half-spoken ode to La France about a girl raised by a division of daddies, is at once infamous and beloved for the string of nine high C’s capping act one.
Maid in Manhattan
On this day in 1996 mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli made her Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Despina.
Broadcast: La Fille du régiment
The Donizetti comedy returns to the Met tonight starting at 7:30 PM.
This means war
Considering the size and the logistics for staging Les Troyens, every new production of Berlioz’s epic masterpiece is a special event.
Tales as old as time
The Paris Opera continued their 350th anniversary celebration January 26 with a brand new production of Alessandro Scarlatti’s 1707 oratorio Il Primo Omicidio ovvero Caino.
Halcyon days
“Trove Thursday” offers a broadcast of the French baroque tragédie en musique Alcyone by Marin Marais.
Moore is less
On this day in 1928 soprano Grace Moore made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Mimi.
Ohne Meiden, ohne Scheiden
Yusif Eyvazov just let slip what we must assume is a very long-term project indeed for himself and Anna Netrebko: the title roles in Tristan und Isolde.
Cult of personality
She makes it into a mash-up of Cours-la-Reine and “A Great Lady Has An Interview.”
All is full of Renée
In what will surely be a fever dream for critics and diacritics alike, Renée Fleming sings Björk with the New York Philharmonic next season.
Fantasia
On this day in 1968 mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Amneris.
Lady be good
On this day in 1959 soprano Leonie Rysanek made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Lady Macbeth.
The octogenarian muse
Helga Dernesch is the singer whom I largely credit for rekindling my love for opera.
The amazing race
“I think some things should be cast with certain physical types, and the role of Otello is one of them.”
Boy meets world
A beautiful concert of 18th century sacred music arrived at Weill Recital Hall performed by the soulful Polish Wunderkind Jakub Jósef Orlinski.
Revenge served cold
Of course, Stemme had the character’s frenzied fury at her father’s murderers in hand, but she had far more nuance—at times this Elektra was seductive, sympathetic, loving, even humorous in her bitterness.