Recent Stories
La Cieca just received a package of pdf files the sender says is a copy of James Levine‘s lawsuit against the Met.
Happy birthday to a brace of perennial divas: Christa Ludwig (pictured), age 90, and Teresa Berganza, age 83!
James Levine is both a floor wax and a dessert topping!
That’s how they’re going to do it tonight, starting at 7:25 PM.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Giulio Cesare in Egitto featuring the artist formerly known as Alexandrina Pendatchanska in the title role.
Two very different Broadway musical dramas opened on this date: Menotti’s The Consul in 1950 and Lerner and Lowe’s My Fair Lady in 1956.
“The background chorus characters in the Broadway show I saw tonight unobtrusively included a gay couple, and jaded though I sometimes am I think that’s really neat.”
Tell us: What’s your favorite Verdi performance?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Nailin’ the coughin’
Nailin’ the coughin’
Rosa Feola, still scheduled for a run of performances as Violetta in New York this spring, is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Rosa Feola, still scheduled for a run of performances as Violetta in New York this spring, is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Landing the plane
Landing the plane
With Nixon, Klinghoffer, and Andris Nelsons on the mind, Parterre Box offers a recording of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recent John Adams outing.
With Nixon, Klinghoffer, and Andris Nelsons on the mind, Parterre Box offers a recording of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s recent John Adams outing.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Le galant tireur
Le galant tireur
American tenor Charles Castronovo performs a bit of Weber’s Der Freischütz ahead of the opportunity to hear Berlioz‘s take on the score at Carnegie Hall next week.
American tenor Charles Castronovo performs a bit of Weber’s Der Freischütz ahead of the opportunity to hear Berlioz‘s take on the score at Carnegie Hall next week.
Neumeier adapted the story close to home, making Orpheus a choreographer and his wife a star ballerina.
On this day in 1847 Verdi’s Macbeth premiered at the Teatro della Pergola in Firenze.
On this day in 1997 Robert Carsen made his Met debut with a new production of Eugene Onegin.
The Metropolitan Opera fired James Levine this evening.
Sabine Hogrefe will perform the title role in Strauss’s Elektra at tonight’s performance at the Met, replacing Christine Goerke who is ill.
They all wished, for reasons at once superstitious and deeply misguided, to avoid over-rehearsing the sextet.
On this day in 1979 soprano Marisa Galvany made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Norma, replacing Shirley Verrett with only four hours notice.
On this day in 1985 Giuseppe Sinopoli made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Tosca.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Mister Snow
A favorite Verdi performance from Mister Snow
Nothing prepared me for the Soviero experience
Nothing prepared me for the Soviero experience
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Tildy Diva
A favorite Verdi performance from Tildy Diva
A well-known Met Aïda with a starry cast from 1967 is TildyDiva’s Favorite Verdi Performance
A well-known Met Aïda with a starry cast from 1967 is TildyDiva’s Favorite Verdi Performance
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Arrigo
A favorite Verdi performance from Arrigo
My favorite Verdi performance is Claudio Abbado Don Carlo opening of the Scala.
My favorite Verdi performance is Claudio Abbado Don Carlo opening of the Scala.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Peter Russell
A favorite Verdi performance from Peter Russell
The purely musical performance preserved here is thrilling, ratcheted to a higher intensity than the Deutsche Grammophon studio recording
The purely musical performance preserved here is thrilling, ratcheted to a higher intensity than the Deutsche Grammophon studio recording
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from TC
A favorite Verdi performance from TC
Victoria de los Ángeles has always been my Violetta of choice, a portrayal that never ceases to move me.
Victoria de los Ángeles has always been my Violetta of choice, a portrayal that never ceases to move me.
The Talk of the Town
A favorite Verdi performance from Anna Netrebko
A favorite Verdi performance from Anna Netrebko
I feel that the best years of Maria Callas’s vocalità, when we hear such a unique freedom and generosity in her singing, were captured in her early recordings.
I feel that the best years of Maria Callas’s vocalità, when we hear such a unique freedom and generosity in her singing, were captured in her early recordings.
Make an Assyrian of yourself!
The third installment of my 50th anniversary tribute to Edita Gruberova was impossible to narrow down to one selection.
>Verdi’s marvelous yet neglected Luisa Miller finally returns to the Met later this month after an absence of a dozen years so “Trove Thursday” provides a preview.
Born on this day in 1892 soprano Dame Eva Turner.
On this day in 1987 tenor Jerry Hadley made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Des Grieux in Manon
The production is at all times visually arresting, but it’s also extremely distracting.
On this day in 1964 the Metropolitan Opera presented the debuts of Leonard Bernstein, Franco Zeffirelli and Franco Zeffirelli in a new production of Verdi’s Falstaff.
On this day in 1959 Alban Berg’s Wozzeck had its Metropolitan Opera premiere (in English translation.)
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