Gentlemen, start your engines!
“Era of the ‘Fat Lady’ is Over, Says American Soprano Danielle de Niese“
Recent Stories
Bottom line
“Revenue for performances in the [Metropolitan] opera house ended up at 69% of total potential box office revenue in the 2012?2013 season (79% of seats were purchased, including discounts).”
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).
Oh say can you view
“Tune in to ABC… at 11:00 am EST, when Renée joins the ladies of The View and guest co-host Jay Mohr to talk about her upcoming performance of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.”
Mary Garden brings another novelty
“Such a costume! A dream in purple!”
What we read
A quick review of statistics for 2013 reveals your top ten favorite parterre pages for the year, cher public.
Butt of the joke
“The deep stirrings that open Brokeback Mountain, the opera, rise up from the bowels of the orchestra…. And those tones are gripping.”
You’ll sometimes walk alone
“Carousel – New Production/Lyric Opera Premiere. Denyce Graves; remaining cast TBA. Rob Fisher/conductor, Rob Ashford/director; remaining creative team TBA.”
Songs for a maestro
Our Own Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin offers a program in tribute to the late maestro Claudio Abbado.
Disguise and dolls
While many performing arts organizations have been reducing their schedules or even closing, Opera Lafayette, a Washington DC-based group dedicated primarily to 17th and 18th century opera, has proven remarkably prosperous.
Ice box
Avoid the seasonal chill, cher public: there’s plenty of discussion of off-topic and general interest subject to keep you warm here at parterre box.
Male fraud
Has Los Angeles Opera mentioned lately that Billy Budd has an all-male cast?
Destination moon
The legend of the mermaid is ancient, and recently scientists have theorized that these legends might have arisen when humans encountered marine mammals such as whales, seals, or sea lions.
Britannia rule the bayou!
Wow, English National Opera sure is offering an amazing home-grown season this year… oh, wait.
Mike Richter meets Claudio Abbado
La Cieca assumes, or at least hopes, such an encounter is currently taking place on some other plane. In slightly more mundane terms, though, Mike Richter did “meet” Claudio Abbado, though not in the context of his celebrated CD-ROM series.
B. F. deal
Tenors Bryan Hymel (pictured) and Joseph Calleja redeem otherwise routine Puccini revivals at the Met, says Our Own JJ in the New York Observer.
“I felt the hand of Death”
Oddly enough, Eva Marton‘s interpretation of the Kostelnicka (pictured) goes unmentioned in Issue #38.
Dead European white males once again in jeopardy
Our old friend Heather Mac Donald (not pictured) is back, ostensibly to mourn the loss of ‘Petrarchan intimacy with the past’ in the study of the humanities, but, reliably enough, she can’t help taking a swipe at Regietheater while she’s at it.
Dear Penthouse Forum
“Oh yes, and there were seven naked men on the ground around her.”
Lake, placid
Having recently reviewed Glass’s The Perfect American on this site and participated in spirited discussions about the film Saving Mr. Banks, it is perhaps not surprising that Walt Disney should spring to my mind as I watched the Unitel Classica video
of Die Zauberflote from the floating stage of the Bregenzer Festspiele.
Habit, forming
I’ve always had a fondness for Giacomo Puccini’s Suor Angelica and apparently so did he since he often referred to it as, “among the finest of my children.”
Mary Garden is in love
“Her sweetheart dresses in blue and has big feet.”
Tales of the planet Htrae
“If Maria Callas remains the prototype of the stormy operatic diva, then Renée Fleming is the anti-Callas.”