Mezzos don’t cry
Alice Coote talks about her life as a man. (No, really.)
Recent Stories
Where is style? Where is skill?
Born on this day in 1933 Welsh actress Siân Phillips.
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).
Macaronic and cheese
The Berlin Komische Oper was the scene of one of my greatest opera experiences five years ago, so I particularly looked forward to a return to this theater.
Women want love to be a novel
Born on this day in 1907 English author Daphne du Maurier.
The girl with the Onassis tattoo
Swedish actress Noomi Rapace has been named as star of a film biography of Maria Callas to be directed by Niki Caro, reports Variety.
Beltway outsiders
Yes, it’s that time of year again, cher public. Which artists will win the treasure of a 2015 parterre box “Pubie” Award? Just follow the trail after the jump for your chance to vote!
I wake up screaming
Töt erst sein Weib!” shrieks Anja Kampe as Leonore during the very first moments of Andreas Homoki’s ingenious production of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio, at Opernhaus Zürich.
Where in the World Is Montserrat Caballé?
The legendary diva failed to show up in court this morning for settlement of her tax fraud case.
Between the dragon and his wrath
Aribert Reimann’s 1978 opera Lear, based of course on Shakespeare’s titanic tragedy King Lear, is a major achievement in modern operatic scoring.
L’odontalgico mirabile liquore
On this day in 1832 Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore premiered in Milan.
Not a quiet thing
On this day in 1965 the musical Flora, the Red Menace opened at the Alvin Theater in New York.
Pli Ceylon pli
Theater an der Wien did justice to Bizet earlier this season with a cast starring Diana Damrau, Dmitry Korchak, and Nathan Gunn.
Crowned heads
On this day in 1774 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette became King and Queen of France.
The bough friend
The Deutsche Opera an Rhein production of Handel’s Xerxes (which is shared with the Berlin Komische Oper), though I saw it three nights ago, has taken a while to settle down in my brain.
Splitsville
On this day in 1868 the city of Reno, Nevada was founded.
Getting to know jews, getting to know all about jews
The creation of Kurt Weill’s The Eternal Road and its lately remodeled avatar, The Road of Promise, boiled down and premiered at Carnegie Hall Wednesday night by the Collegiate Chorale and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, was an intricate process, far more interesting than the work itself.
Il neofito
Happy 31st birthday tenor Michael Fabiano!
(Mighty real)
A problem with scheduling an opera-intensive trip is that you don’t always hear and see the shows in optimum order.
Care forgot
On this day in 1718 the city of New Orleans was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.
Bum’s rush
Our Own JJ reviews Orlando and Early Shaker Spirituals in the Observer.
No tea, all shade
On this day La Cieca and faithful sidekick Dawn Fatale have arrived in Düsseldorf to hear Valer Sabadus sing Xerxes in a production by Stefan Herheim.
The blue dream
It will come to no surprise to followers of the direction of Stefan Herheim (or to readers of La Cieca’s gushing fangirl appreciations of his work) that his Stuttgart production of Der Rosenkavalier was as “delightfully busy” as we have come to expect.
Gold coasting
Mahagonny is one of my two favorite operas (care to guess the other?), but it’s damned hard to find a well-sung performance (with opera singers, not Broadway divas) without cuts.