The Met’s current production of Verdi’s La Traviata is something of a mixed bag.
Mortality is ugly—it smells, it makes uncomfortable noises, it takes its time; and then there is the overwhelming sense of dread and helplessness.
Operatic history can be cruel where multiple works with the same subject are concerned
The UK’s first-ever production of Poliuto, now available from Opus Arte on DVD, set the lions of Rome among the lambs of Glyndebourne.
That little place just two hours from the city is on the list of things I shall never understand, like the plot of Parsifal.
Just when you thought it was safe to return to Rossini and Verdi—blam!
There is a self-effacing quality to Jonas Kaufmann’s concert film An Evening with Puccini.
I grew up with the Anna Moffo recording of Luisa Miller, so it was fortuitous that the Met gave the premiere of a new production in 1968, around the time RCA released the album.
Angela Gheorghiu‘ s idiosyncratically alluring, sometimes maddening, always fascinating Floria Tosca inevitably became the evening’s unmissable raison d’être.
Gala this; gala that; who knew rich people wore clothes so badly?
New York City isn’t a bad place to live, operatically-speaking.
2014 was a year of lemons into lemonade.
I would love to contribute a top ten list but I didn’t even go to ten things this year.
One of the major complaints about the five year casting system (as well as the shared productions by different companies) is that operatic events are rarely surprises anymore.
Imagine the good fortune of attending La Bohème with someone who’s never seen it!
You will be happy to hear that Michael Fabiano was the unrivaled star of the Richard Tucker Foundation Gala tonight.
Coming as Peter Gelb did from the music industry, opera lovers hoped that he would display a more distinctive knack for casting and an improved talent pipeline than Joe Volpe offered during the waning years of his tenure.
I think we’re all aware by now of the wicked libel that the French dramatist Victor Hugo concocted about the fair Lucrezia Borgia with his depiction of her as a murderous virago.
Either tonight’s concert performance of I Lombardi by Opera Orchestra of New York was a “star is born” moment for Michael Fabiano, or else there is no such thing as a “star is born” moment any more.
It may seem quixotic that La Cieca subscribes to Opera News, and the print version at that, but, after all, the dear people there were kind enough to interview Our Own JJ last summer on the subject of this very cum-blog, so, well, noblesse oblige and all that, you know. Since the mag is showing…
A funny thing happened to me yesterday. I was desperate to go to Aprile Millo’s long awaited recital but it simply wasn’t in the budget. La Cieca sent a posting mentioning she would give her extra ticket to the first one who e-mails her. I sent it, I got it, and the rest is history…
Attached you will find the song lineup for last night’s Aprile Millo recital, though as the saying goes, there were some changes to the printed program. The first half went more or less as planned, though after the R. Strauss a man exiting the auditorium tripped and fell in the aisle, hit his head on…
They want it. The career. They want it really bad. So we learn from Susan Froemke’s Metropolitan Opera-commissioned documentary about the participants in the final round of the 2007 MetNational Council Auditions, which is out on DVD this month. Our own doyenne reviewed the film when it was screened as an HD theatrical event, and…
La Cieca just returned from the HD of The Audition, a documentary about the 2007 Met National Council Auditions. The film puts her in an optimistic mood about the future of opera performance, or at any rate opera performers. Focus is on three young tenors who (spoiler) all end up winning the competition.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
×
Sign up for Parterre’s free newsletter.
Exclusive opera reviews, commentary, and top reads
delivered to your email weekly…ish.