“Of all creatures that can feel and think, we women are the worst treated things alive”
Sonya Yoncheva dons the mantle of Cherubini’s Medée this afternoon at 1:05 PM.
Recent Stories
“Distinctly an individual”
On this day in 1965 soprano Renata Scotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cio-Cio-San.
Is American cultural criticism doomed?
La Cieca made up her mind she really must try refute Terry Teachout‘s rant against contemporary opera at the Met.
Automaton poem
With only a few weeks left to slice up our pumpkins and track down the perfect Luigi for our Mario, the timing seems right for a pair of Gothic operas set in a crypt.
Broadcast: La fanciulla del West
Before the advent of Jonas Kaufmann next week, Yusif Eyvazov sings his final (scheduled) Dick Johnson of the Met season tonight,streaming live starting at 7:25.
Another opening, another Jonas
The seventh season of STAATSOPER.TV’s free live streams begins Sunday, December 2 with Otello from the Bayerische Staatsoper featuring Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros and Gerald Finley.
Missus Sally Adams requests the pleasure of your company
On this day in 1950 Irving Berlin‘s musical Call Me Madam opened on Broadway.
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!
Happy National Coming Out Day
“Love is love,” tweets tenor Michael Fabiano.
Sixteen Handels make a lovely light
For the second annual edition of “Handel rarities for my birthday” three early Italian cantatas on this week’s “Trove Thursday.”
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).
Serial duchess
Kathleen Turner will join the cast of Donizetti’s comedy La Fille du Régiment at the Metropolitan Opera February 7–March 2.
Front page
On this day in 1967 the Metropolitan Opera debuts of mezzo Teresa Berganza as Cherubino and baritone Tom Krause as Count Almaviva.
“Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere”
I mean, maybe I’ve just seen Vertigo too many times, but it really creeps me out how much Aleksandra Kurzak is styled to look like Angela Gheorghiu.
Old friends
Now, if there’s one thing I know about authorial intentions, it is that Verdi totally wanted the first act of La traviata to look like a dinner dance reunion for the class of 1988.
A night at the museum
“Due to previous commitments, the corpse of Licia Albanese has withdrawn from the jury.”
Green energy
Born on this day composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813) and soprano Leyla Gencer (circa 1924).
Job action in Chicago
The Chicago Federation of Musicians (CFM) Local #10-208 is striking against Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Vicious hack defiles corpse
Venomous fishwife Norman Lebrecht has gleefully seized upon the death of beloved diva Montserrat Caballé to use her scarcely-cold cadaver as a club to attack (who else) Peter Gelb.
The young and the restless
On this day in 1986 baritone Thomas Hampson made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Count Almaviva.
Trouble in paradise
Although Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti is always categorized as an opera, the piece certainly has one foot planted firmly in his jazzy musical-theater style.
Magnificent seven
Even for a medium that often trades in high-impact visuals, The Mile-Long Opera is dazzling to look at.
Another Hun bites the dust
Verdi’s Attila is hardly a rarity in Italy the way it is in the United States.
The unusual suspects
Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera in America provides ample fodder for the legions of amateur opera sleuths seeking to confirm their theory of “Who Killed City Opera?”
