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How Glucky can you get?
I braved the alarming and majestically colorful wall-graffiti-art of Bushwick to attend Bullfight Boylesque, which runs to October 28.
On Tuesday we got one of the Met’s inveterate classics, which meant yet another opportunity to gaze upon the old accessories: Donkey cart! Teal shawl! Fugly plaid slacks!
“Fricka is on fucking vacation.”
Born on this day in 1898 composer George Gershwin.
For opening night 2018, the Met offered the creaky but appealing biblical epic Samson et Dalila, presumably as a vehicle for Elina Garanca and Roberto Alagna.
On this day in 1985 baritone Giuseppe Taddei made his belated Metropolitan Opera debut as Falstaff.
Where will the elite meet? Why, at the Met for the opening night premiere of Samson et Dalila, of course!
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Kathryn the great
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Count your blessings
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
One man’s Junker
One man’s Junker
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Handel’s Deidamia — and one of its current champions, soprano Sophie Junker — are the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Don’t cry because it’s over
Don’t cry because it’s over
Grand Tier Grab Bag hearkens back to the days when Sondra Radvanovsky — who is singing no Verdi at all next season — seemed like the Verdi soprano of reference.
Grand Tier Grab Bag hearkens back to the days when Sondra Radvanovsky — who is singing no Verdi at all next season — seemed like the Verdi soprano of reference.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Rizzin’ to the occasion
Rizzin’ to the occasion
Parterre Box features the Met’s current Eugene Onegin, Iurii Samoilov, in a performance of Rossini ahead of a return to Pesaro this summer.
Parterre Box features the Met’s current Eugene Onegin, Iurii Samoilov, in a performance of Rossini ahead of a return to Pesaro this summer.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
When they go low
When they go low
Nostalgic for bass month, Parterre Box offers excerpts from two young basses to watch: Giorgi Manoshvili and Patrick Guetti.
Nostalgic for bass month, Parterre Box offers excerpts from two young basses to watch: Giorgi Manoshvili and Patrick Guetti.
What do the cher public want to hear this fall? According to last week’s polls, Samson et Dalila and Jonas Kaufmann.
Odyssey Opera in Boston, which loves to open its season with a concert performance of some forgotten work, gave La Reine de Saba in Jordan Hall Saturday night.
Imagine you are at Disneyland, and there’s an Anthony Roth Costanzo ride.
For opening night of the new LA Opera season Placido Domingo decided to return to one of his best Verdi showcases, Don Carlo, only this time as the baritone, Rodrigo the Marquis di Posa, instead of the title character.
Those who want a rethought Lucia to allow the heroine more sense of agency will be especially confounded at Laurent Pelly’s reading.
Born on this day Cornell MacNeil and Ettore Bastianini (both in 1922) and Pablo Elvira (in 1938).
This Sony Classical set of live performances covers a golden quarter century in the singing and staging of Wagner. Birgit Nilsson shared it with many other legends, and many of them appear on these discs.
Soprano Patricia Racette is superb in La Voix Humaine, a work that she makes absolutely her own.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Maria Kanyova should make it to the Met
Maria Kanyova should make it to the Met
I’m surprised that American soprano Maria Kanyova has never performed at the Met, even though she has loads of high-profile U.S. opera credits.
I’m surprised that American soprano Maria Kanyova has never performed at the Met, even though she has loads of high-profile U.S. opera credits.
The Talk of the Town
Barbara Hannigan should make it to the Met
Barbara Hannigan should make it to the Met
The fact that Barbara Hannigan has never performed at The Metropolitan Opera is just plain dumb.
The fact that Barbara Hannigan has never performed at The Metropolitan Opera is just plain dumb.
The Talk of the Town
Robert Rounseville should have made it to the Met
Robert Rounseville should have made it to the Met
From one Mister Snow to another, I salute him.
From one Mister Snow to another, I salute him.
The Talk of the Town
Denise Duval should have made it to the Met
Denise Duval should have made it to the Met
I decided I’d take ‘never made it to the Met’ as an excuse to submit a post about why French soprano Denise Duval (1921-2015) is special to me.
I decided I’d take ‘never made it to the Met’ as an excuse to submit a post about why French soprano Denise Duval (1921-2015) is special to me.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Eli Jacobson
A favorite Verdi performance from Eli Jacobson
The immortal Renata Tebaldi, just about 29 years old as Saint Joan in a RAI broadcast of Giovanna d’Arco from 1951.
The immortal Renata Tebaldi, just about 29 years old as Saint Joan in a RAI broadcast of Giovanna d’Arco from 1951.
Born on this day in 1907 soprano Jarmila Novotná.
Legendary diva Joan Sutherland in her “breakthrough” year of 1961: a live performance of I puritani from Palermo in 1961.
Soprano Ashley Marie Robillard and mezzo Siena Licht Miller evoke a journey to Paris, Venice, Berlin, and London.
“To be fair I think it was only on one screen. . . . And more importantly I’ve seen it and it’s terrible.”
A “spy” unaffiliated with parterre box whispers to La Cieca that yesterday’s dress rehearsal of Samson et Dalila at the Met was sung by Nancy Fabiola Herrera.
It would be hard to imagine a more apt and poignant metaphor for the ambitious O18 Festival than the world premiere of Lembit Beecher and Hannah Moscovitch’s Sky on Swings.
On this day in 1968 mezzo-soprano Shirley Verrett made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Carmen.
Celebrating its third anniversary and next week’s Met opening, “Trove Thursday” offers a sumptuous banquet of the third and final chapter of divas in the “wrong language.”
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