The English soprano, famed for her interpretations of twentieth-century composers like Strauss, Britten, and Poulenc, as well as Mozart and operetta, died yesterday only a few days after announcing that she had a terminal cancer.
I listen to about as much art song as I do opera and could have filled every day of April with favorite selections.
“When there’s so much to get right, unsurprisingly a lot can and, as we all know, does go wrong.”
Offenbach‘s Robinson Crusoé is salvaged from obscurity.
I came to The Rake’s Progress with a huge “Show Me” chip on my shoulder.
Les Brigands at the Paris Opera is an expensive joke that never lands
Krzysztof Warlikowski‘s Der Rosenkavalier at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées surpasses even Nigel Wilkinson‘s high ‘WTF threshhold’
Some of my blog‘s habitués (they do exist) will know that I sometimes quote the people around me at the opera.
The new Opera News section of OPERA magazine already seems to be getting smaller, but the March issue features a long interview with Carol Vaness about Donna Anna.
On this day in 1946 the Metropolitan Opera presented La Gioconda on tour in Chicago.
To celebrate Valerie Masterson‘s turning 85 tomorrow, Trove Thursday offers a second annual birthday salute to the English soprano.
Today is Mozart’s 266th birthday and I had already planned a Trove Thursday celebration when I learned that Maria Ewing had died on January 9.
In the month and a half leading to Bernard Haitink’s passing on October 21, my AirPods constantly channeled a musical festival of sorts centered on the Dutch giant’s expansive discography.
American soprano Gianna Rolandi died Sunday morning, according to a number of her friends and colleagues. She was 68.
Trove Thursday goes mini-epic with Gustave Charpentier’s naturalistic slice-of-life of fin-de-siêcle Paris in a rare 1999 Renée Fleming performance of Louise co-starring Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey and Felicity Palmer.
Tuesday the Met unveils its sixth new production of La Traviata since moving to Lincoln Center.
Stefan Herheim productions may be many things, but they’re always theatrical.
Trove Thursday wades into the murky musicological waters of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann..
Our selected Rosenkavalier video overview closes out the 20th-century selections, crosses the millennial mark, and includes the first of our performances to depart from the opera’s prescribed 18th-century setting.
For better or worse, Decca’s new Norma recording
will ultimately be embraced—or dismissed—by those reacting directly to Cecilia Bartoli’s controversial portrayal.
British soprano Dame Felicity Lott and her frequent partner, the pianist Graham Johnson, have collaborated on a new recital disc for Champs Hill Records, “Call Me Flott.” Do we really have to?
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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