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“God knows some day I hope to love a man,” says actress Mary Garden.
Smoldering Vesselina Kasarova is Carmen in a 2009 live performance from the Wiener Staatsoper, this week’s offering from Jungfer Marianne Leizmetzerin.
Take advantage of this brief interval, cher public, to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
With all due respect to Meryl Streep, there is only one actress currently active in film qualified to play Maria Callas.
Jaw-breaking soprano Tamar Iveri is trying to walk back her recent homophobic rant by saying she has “many gay friends.”
Our Own JJ (not pictured) debates Tim Smith, classical music critic of the Baltimore Sun, on the topic of the Met’s cancellation of the HD telecast of The Death of Klinghoffer.
“The award-winning MET Orchestra’s global reputation as a top-tier ensemble is critical to New York City’s tourism and cultural economy.”
I avoided visiting any waxworks establishment until On Site Opera’s lively production of Rameau’s one-act Pygmalion summoned me Tuesday evening to Madame Tussauds just off New York City’s Times Square.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Goodnight, Irene
Goodnight, Irene
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Grand Tier Grab Bag features the American Zwischenfach mezzo Irene Roberts ahead of an eclectic season of Wagner.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Poetic license
Poetic license
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Parterre Box shines a light on Liparit Avetisyan, who made his Met debut as Alfredo earlier this spring.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Frau Miina-Liisa will es werde Nacht
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Parterre Box features soprano Miina-Liisa Värelä, making her title role debut in Die Walküre in Munich next week, in a performance of Tristan und Isolde from 2021.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Lux aeterna luceat eis
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag this week honors the late Limmie Pulliam with a bit of his Verdi Requiem.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Kathryn the great
Kathryn the great
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Parterre Box previews Kathryn Lewek‘s upcoming Salome with clips of her as another unhinged lady of antiquity.
Grand Tier Grab Bag
Count your blessings
Count your blessings
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
Fast-rising Verdi baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbataar is the subject of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
It had to happen sooner or later: Meryl Streep will play Maria Callas.
Bowing to pressure from “the Anti-Defamation League, representing the wishes of the Klinghoffer daughters,” the Met has canceled its scheduled HD telecast of The Death of Klinghoffer next season.
The Hartford Wagner Festival’s production of Das Rheingold has been canceled.
For those of you still queasy after Mary Zimmerman’s sophomoric snarknado attack on Bellini’s La Sonnambula, the new DVD of the Stuttgart Opera production should provide a bracing restorative.
The Salzburg Festival has long had the image of this place where for a little over a month, the very best singers are brought together with the very best conductors and the very best directors to create the very best productions the opera world has to offer.
Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin offers something a little different for this week’s curtain raiser: a performance of Dido and Aeneas by Les Arts Florissants under the direction of William Christie.
Please forgive La Cieca’s tardiness this week, cher public, but she had a major snafu with her toilette.
La Cieca hears that the Met’s planned production of West Side Story in the 2017-2018 season has been shelved.
Talk of the Town
The Talk of the Town
Patrizia Ciofi should have made it to the Met
Patrizia Ciofi should have made it to the Met
The artist who I feel should have made it to the Met is Patrizia Ciofi.
The artist who I feel should have made it to the Met is Patrizia Ciofi.
The Talk of the Town
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never made it to the Met
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
Giannina Arangi-Lombardi never sang at the Met.
The Talk of the Town
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo should have made it to the Met
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
This Mireille duet unites Andrée Esposito and Alain Vanzo and shows the timbral and stylistic qualities that made them exemplary.
The Talk of the Town
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Ebe Stignani and Anita Cerquetti should have made it to the Met
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
Subtlety is for cowards, say the blazing Anita Cerquetti and the blaring Ebe Stignani.
The Talk of the Town
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac should have made it to the Met
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
Sena Jurinac, a celebrated Mozart and Strauss singer here as the Composer, a signature role.
The Talk of the Town
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
Janet Baker should have made it to the Met
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
The divine Dame Janet Baker never sang at the Metropolitan, sadly for American audiences.
“But,” he added, “I find it distressing to be threatened by other artists.”
Ever on the avant-garde, Lyric Opera of Chicago has embraced the cutting-edge technology of “phonography” as part of their effort to attract young audiences.
Vienna never really forgave Erich Wolfgang Korngold for going to work in the movies.
“Kiwi opera singer Teddy Tahu Rhodes is reportedly involved in a sex tape scandal involving an unknown woman.”
“At Carnegie Hall last Thursday, a capacity crowd witnessed what might be the final official act of a monarch who has reigned for more than four decades.”
“Because, science tells us, the expression centres in their brains take up all the blood supply, and the poor little higher, inhibitory centres are starved.”
In celebretion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Richard Strauss on June 11, Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leizmetzerin offers a very special performance of Der Rosenkavalier.
“Is that dear Mr. Plotkin I see?” queries a doyenne.
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