Die Walküre
Arthur Fagen conducts Viktor Antipenko, Greer Grimsley, Laura Wilde, Christine Goerke, and Gretchen Krupp in Tomer Zvulun‘s new production from The Atlanta Opera
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No strings attached
Madama Butterfly is the opera of the moment.
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).
Angel on my shoulder
Happy 40th birthday soprano Angel Blue
Jenufa
Juraj Valcuha conducts Charles Workman, Robert Watson, Karita Mattila, and Cornelia Beskow in a live broadcast from Rome
Hiding in plain sight
An air of discovery pervaded the first New York presentation of La ville morte much the way that it pervades the opera’s plot itself.
Pearl anniversary
On this day mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig celebrated her 30th anniversary Metropolitan Opera performance as Fricka
Madama Butterfly
Asmik Grigorian, in her Met debut run as Cio Cio San, along with Jonathan Tetelman, Lucas Meachem, and Elizabeth DeShong are conducted by Xian Zhang
On the road again
When it premiered at the Opéra Comique in 1875, Carmen shocked audiences with its frank depictions of female sexuality, the proletariat, and violence: subjects that have ensured the piece’s continued relevance and that have inspired numerous retellings and revisions.
Ne me touchez pas!
On this day in 1902 Debussy‘s Pelléas et Mélisande premiered in Paris
Carmen
Diego Matheuz conducts Clémentine Margaine, Michael Fabiano, Ailyn Pérez and Ryan Speedo Green in a broadcast from New York
Tito’s, neat
This Clemenza seemed more or less unconcerned with the opera’s political imagination, content to take Tito at his word that his rule is morally enlightened and the citizens at theirs that a benevolent dictatorship is a wonderful thing indeed.
The voice of spring
“I come, I come! ye have called me long;
I come o’er the mountains, with light and song”
Ship happens
On this day in 1865 Meyerbeer‘s L’Africaine premiered in Paris
Fire Shut Up in My Bones
Evan Rogister conducts Ryan Speedo Green, Latonia Moore, and Brittany Renee in a performance recorded earlier this spring
Temp’ring extremeties with extreme sweet
Happy 81st birthday soprano Judith Blegen
Crying ‘Uncle’
Surely it was lightning in a bottle. The announcement that Steve Carell would appear at Lincoln Center’s Beaumont Theater playing the titular Uncle Vanya in Anton Chekhov’s classic play would, of course, be a box office windfall.
“I just sing whatever I can get my throat around”
Rachel Willis-Sørensen might be the greatest American soprano right now who doesn’t sing much in America.
In comes company
On this day in 2007 the Metropolitan Opera Debut of tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Almaviva
ARC de triomphe
Opera Philadelphia confirms reports that countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo will serve as its next General Director and President, taking the place of the dearly departing David Devan.
Miracle on 64th Street
Only connect! So sayeth E.M. Forster (via Margaret Wilcox) in Howard’s End.
Gong with the wind
On this day in 1926 Puccini‘s opera Turandot premiered in Milan