Donc, c’est ce qu’elle appelle “faire la connaissance de Mme Haines”
Some interesting programming in Avignon next season.
Recent Stories
It’s not easy being Greek
Sergey Taneyev, pupil of Tchaikovsky and teacher of Scriabin and Rachmaninov, composed just one opera, Oresteia, premiered in 1895 when he was 39.
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).
Mary Garden as negative space
The singer refuses point blank to discuss the subject.
Belief in a higher power
The behavioral phenomenon of limerence has been described as “an involuntary potentially inspiring state of adoration and attachment to a limerent object involving intrusive and obsessive thoughts, feelings and behaviors from euphoria to despair, contingent on perceived emotional reciprocation.”
Ich sah das Kind
La Cieca hears that Dame Gwyneth Jones has added yet another “role” to hear already vast repertoire, that of grandmother.
A habit with me
Lyric Opera of Chicago’s general director Anthony Freud announced today that two internationally acclaimed opera singers, American sopranos Christine Brewer and Elizabeth Futral, have been cast for the new production and company premiere of The Sound of Music, to be presented next spring.
Two out of two fussbudgets agree…
“Anna Netrebko must state her position on gay rights in Russia”
Hoop dreams
Arrange your crinolines in a flattering pattern, cher public, as you settle in to discuss off-topic and general interest subjects.
Yet here’s a canard
The part of Lady Macbeth is different from any other role Verdi wrote because the composer insisted that the interpreter must have a harsh, ugly voice.
Sail away
Opening the 2013 Bayreuth Festival today, Der Fliegende Holländer conducted by Christian Thielemann (not pictured).
Get your kicks on Route Sechsundsechzig
Revealed: first images of Frank Castorf‘s production of the Ring, launching Friday at Bayreuth.
Exactly what it says on the tin
Florida Grand Opera to Honor Deborah Voigt with SMOKE & MIRRORS Celebration
Those “Das-is-ein-fideles-Gefängnis-da-werd-ma-einen-kleinen-Schligowitz-ein-schalten-net” Blues
Broadway actor Danny Burstein will make his Metropolitan Opera debut in the non-singing role of Frosch in this season’s performances of Die Fledermaus.
Agrees with critics that she is creator, not a singer
Mary Garden wondered last night what would have happened to her if, instead of coming to America with her parents, she had gone to a little town in Scotland, married and settled down.
In a jamb
Due to a household accident that has resulted in a severe concussion, Andris Nelsons will not be able to conduct the Verdi Requiem at Tanglewood on July 27.
Autumn leaves
It may have taken most of Verdi’s canon to do it, but the “Tutto Verdi” collection finally manages to do justice to Verdi in his last two operas.
Unmasked
It is quite unusual to stage a new indoor production in the middle of summer in Italy when so many outdoor venues are open, but general manager of La Scala Stéphane Lissner – who will leave next year – decided to close the first half of this Verdi-Wagner year with a beloved hit of il cigno di Busseto.
Happy birthday, Licia Albanese
The legendary verista and Verdian celebrates the (official) 100th anniversary of her birth today.
Eschorcher
Giuseppe and I have always had a complicated relationship.
Joys in the Attic
Taneev was quite a high-minded fellow, so it’s not altogether surprising that nothing less than Aeschylus (and the whole of his Oresteia!) would suffice as a libretto for his first and only opera.
With the air of an empress
La Cieca leaves her loge, though not “in disgust,” to join democratically among the plebian members of the cher public.
Les amours de Carmen ne durent pas six mois
With the well-known guitar player Milos Karadaglic, celebrating the decission of working together on a new, surprising and innovative project.
Canard à la mode
When people talk about an opera “production,” they tend to mean “the sets and costumes,” that is, the physical production.