Thoughts on La Gioconda: the opera
Amilcare Ponchielli’s La Gioconda might not be a perfect opera (though I don’t see why not) but it is one of my favorites…
Recent Stories
Madama Butterfly
Aleksandra Kurzak is Cio Cio San opposite Matthew Polenzani, Elizabeth DeShong, and Davide Luciano. Xian Zhang conducts this broadcast from New York
The artist is present
And is this ‘Orpheus’ in the room with us right now?
The real and the ideal
Chris’s Cache offers a Leoncavallo double-bill: Aprile Millo in Zazà and Jon Vickers and Carol Vaness in Pagliacci
Short, sharp shock
On this day in 1885 W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan’s The Mikado premiered in London
Bird brain
Opera at the Kennedy Center has been in hibernation this winter.
Muti point
It would be enough to compare his official studio recording of this work with the recent performances in Turin to confirm that today Riccardo Muti is no longer totally ‘Mutian’
Dianetic sound
Happy 81st birthday soprano Julia Migenes
Lyric Opera of Chicago 2024-25
Windy City audiences can look forward to a a season of classics interspersed with a contemporary work and a world premiere
Ernani
A recorded performance from Bregenz in 2023 starring Saimir Pirgu, Franco Vassallo, Goran Juric, and Guanqun Yu, conducted by Enrique Mazzola
Color me impressed
Bay Area audiences starved for vocal fare during its opera’s winter/spring hiatus recently experienced two exceptional concerts with distinguished singing at the Davies Symphony Hall.
Doge il popol t’acclama!
On this day in 1857 Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra premiered in Venice
A fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes
It’s not hard not to feel jaded about Romeo and Juliet.
Slow and loud and heavy
On this day in 1985 Giuseppe Sinopoli made his Metropolitan Opera debut conducting Tosca
Point of no returner
Born on this day in 1892 soprano Dame Eva Turner
La forza del destino
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Lise Davidsen, Brian Jadge, Judit Kutasi, Igor Golovatenko, Patrick Carfizzi, and Soloman Howard in a live broadcast from New York
Beauty is the hardest gift to shelter
Born on this day in 1910 composer Samuel Barber
The commendatore effect
In an ingenious stroke of double casting, the Met’s new Forza del destino brings back the Marquis of Calatrava—father of the heroine Leonora, unintentionally killed in the opening scene by a bullet from her lover’s pistol—as Padre Guardiano, Father Superior of the monastery that will take her under its protection as a hermit in Act 2.
Rose to the occasion
On this day in 1976 mezzo-soprano Tatiana Troyanos made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Octavian
Roméo et Juliette
Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads Nadine Sierra, Benjamin Bernheim, Samantha Hankey, Frederick Ballentine, and Will Liverman in a broadcast from New York
Garden varieties
Those of us in New York City who relish 17th century Italian vocal music were offered an enticing banquet over the past few weeks.
Salome
Mark Albrecht conducts Lise Lindstrom, John Daszak, Katarina Dalayman, Nicholas Brownlee, and Joel Prieto in a live opening night broadcast from Rome
Hey there Dalila
Happy 60th birthday mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves