Manca la diva
With Sonya Yoncheva canceling the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performances of Tosca, who do you, the cher public, think will take her place?
Recent Stories
Unfair ‘Lady’
A revival of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center makes a muddle of the show’s thoughtful elements and isn’t particularly funny either.
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).
And now a word from our sponsors
Let’s hear it for our parterre advertisers!
Spring breakers
Surely no one can be surprised that the focus of attention among the cher pubic in April was Anna Netrebko‘s first Tosca.
Heilige Ehre
On this day 1990 mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig celebrated her 30th anniversary Metropolitan Opera performance as Fricka.
The finale countdown
Our Own JJ catches up with the tail end of the Met season.
Lovedeath in swingtime
I broke up with my first lover over the phone and while watching TV. I’m not proud of this.
Jesus hopped the L train
Just a few years back it would have been seen as ridiculous to put “Lyric Opera of Chicago” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” in the same sentence.
The human show
On this day in 1902 Debussy’s Pelleas et Mellisande premiered in Paris.
Happy Maestro Day!
A very happy 82nd birthday maestro Zubin Mehta!
28 Donizettis Later
La Cieca begins to think that this whole “zombie” fad has gone too far.
Thank you for smoking
How do you like your Carmen? Mezzo or soprano? Flirtatious? Confrontational? Smolderingly sexy?
Broadcast: Cendrillon
This afternoon’s broadcast, for your discussion and delight.
Super-artistry
On this day in 1928, the Metropolitan Opera on tour in Ohio presented La Gioconda with Rosa Ponselle, Marion Telva and Giacomo Lauri-Volpi.
BASTA: Altro sangue scorrerà!
For tonight’s distinguished premiere of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Algonquin Opera, there would in fact be far more blue hairs in the audience than blue collars.
Madness on the moors!
The new cast at the Met suggested an alliterative retitling of Lucia di Lammermoor was needed—perhaps Lost Loonies in Love or its Italian equivalent?
There’s a queen waiting there with a silvery crown
On this day in 1996 the 25th Anniversary Gala for conductor James Levine (not pictured) took place at the Met.
Songs of disappointment
b>Lawrence Brownlee, star tenor of stage and NFL games is a real “pillar of the community.”
“It all depends on whose ox is being gored”
One thing Norman Lebrecht does better than anyone in the business: whipping up a racist frenzy.
Broadcast: Tosca
Tonight at 7:55 PM, perhaps the most eagerly awaited broadcast of the season: Anna Netrebko, Yusif Eyvazov and the rest in Tosca from the Met.
The queen’s throat
“Trove Thursday ” presents Heinrich Marschner’s Hans Heiling in a 2001 performance from Berlin featuring Alessandra Marc as the title character’s mom, the Queen of the Elves.
Bless this day
On this day in 2007: the Metropolitan Opera debut of tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Almaviva.
Speaking ill of the dead
Plácido Domingo’s conducting reduced the score’s urgency to the lethargy of a jellyfish.