Star and garters
No amount of scholarly diligence has kept Les contes d’Hoffmann from being the messiest of all standard-repertory messes.
No amount of scholarly diligence has kept Les contes d’Hoffmann from being the messiest of all standard-repertory messes.
Happy 68th birthday filmmaker Pedro Almodovar.
Born on this day in 1927 tenor Alfredo Kraus.
This black-box recital was an aggressively Gallic affair
In a classic live performance from more then 50 years ago, Montserrat Caballé is Desdemona to the Otello of James McCracken.
Born on this day in 1907 soprano Jarmila Novotná.
Born on this day in 1894 soprano Elisabeth Rethberg.
Ali Baba ou Les Quarantes Voleurs continues straight-tone September with Teresa Stich-Randall as its heroine while Alfredo Kraus scales the heights with another Nadir.
Happy 65th birthday baritone Alessandro Corbelli.
In this Sunday’s New York Times, Our Own JJ (not pictured except in spirit) examines why Bellini’s Norma should be considered “the Everest of Opera.”
Tchaikovsky’s Orleánskaia Djeva (The Maid of Orleans) kicked off Odyssey’s Opera’s fifth season
Happy 83rd birthday actress Sophia Loren.
Born on this day in 1918 mezzo-soprano Blanche Thebom (some sources say 1915.)
Happy 46th birthday soprano Anna Netrebko.
Born on this day in 1925 actress singer and Leonie Rysanek doppelgänger Dorothy Loudon.
An exciting performance and a legendary feud.
On this day 51 years ago the new Metropolitan Opera House opened in Lincoln Center.
This year’s Richard Tucker Music Foundation’s annual gala concert at Carnegie Hall is marginally less starry than last year’s.
The second half of Warner Classics’ Maria Callas Live Remastered set represents the years 1954 to 1964 in the career of La Divina.
Happy 72nd birthday soprano Jessye Norman.
“Aleksandrs Antonenko will sing Calàf in Puccini’s Turandot from October 12 to November 16 replacing Marcelo Álvarez, who is ill.”
“Trove Thursday” presents a performance from 40 years ago: an inspired Renata Scotto as Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur.
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