Oralia fixation
Born on this day in 1925 mezzo soprano Oralia Dominguez
Recent Stories
Fear itself
Lately I’ve been preoccupied with Verdi and Il trovatore in particular anticipating the opera’s return to the Met later this month for the first time since 2018, this unusual deep-dive Chris’s Cache (on my birthday) is the result.
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).
Electric slide
Born on this day in 1952 composer Kaija Saariaho
Long heard about but never heard in
On this day in 1965 soprano Renata Scotto made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Cio-Cio San
Idomeneo
David Bates conducts a live performance featuring Attilio Glaser, Emily Sierra, Jeanine De Bique, Elena Tsallagova, and Ya-Chung Huang from Vienna’s Theater an der Wien
Tears dry on their own
Born on this day in 1935 tenor Luciano Pavarotti
Tosca
Xian Zhang conducts Aleksandra Kurzak, SeokJong Baek, and George Gagnidze in a live broadcast from New York
Peter Grimes
Michele Mariotti conducts Allan Clayton, Sophie Bevan, Simon Keenlyside, Clive Bayley, Jacques Imbrailo, and Catherine Wyn-Rogers in a live broadcast from Rome
The flip side of filth
To the extent that singers should be considered stewards of their repertoire, equating bad singing to whatever “verismo” is will only be to the detriment of verismo.
Cabinet drama
On this day in 1967 the Metropolitan Opera debuts of mezzo Teresa Berganza as Cherubino and baritone Tom Krause as Count Almaviva
But joys all want eternity
Maximalism was on the menu last weekend at the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Throat GOAT
Born on this day in 1924 soprano Leyla Gencer
Grounded
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Emily D’Angelo, Ellie Dehn, Ben Bliss, and Greer Grimsley in an opening night broadcast of Jeanine Tesori and George Brant‘s new opera from the Met
Nosedive
It’s not so much that I hated the Met Opera’s Grounded. I’m just not convinced that it should have been an opera.
Count him in
On this day in 1986 baritone Thomas Hampson made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Count Almaviva
Easter vigilantes
Chris’s Cache celebrates an “Easter in October” gala with five special pirate recordings of Cavalleria Rusticana from the Met featuring four prima donnas whose Santuzze never got a Saturday broadcast and one whose did: Giulietta Simionato, Fiorenza Cossotto, Régine Crespin, Rita Hunter and Mignon Dunn.
Spento il figlio di Dolora
On this day in 1988 Dolora Zajick made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Azucena
Veni vidi vici
Mahler’s 8th Symphony is an enormous and enigmatic work.
It’s raining Mennonites
The music was at every point dramatically compelling, without seeming cheap or manipulative.
You see the corner of her eye twist like a crooked pin
On this day in 1965 mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Eboli
That I might climb the golden chair
Following cancelled debuts in New York, London, and Vienna, Anna Netrebko has finally made her debut as Abigaille in Berlin last week
Endowed by their creator
Born on this day in 1887 soprano Maria Jeritza
Don Carlo
Philippe Jordan conducts Joshua Guerrero, Roberto Tagliavini, Asmik Grigorian, Eve-Maud Hubeaux, Étienne Dupuis, and Dmitry Ulyanov in a broadcast of a recent performance from Vienna