Voce di donna o diavolo Voce di donna o diavolo

Larry Wolff continues his musings on Verdi’s varied career, this time over Giovanna d’Arco at the Teatro Regio in Parma

By February 21, 2025 at 9:00 AM
25 comments
‘Don’ or dinner party ‘Don’ or dinner party

A revival of Peter Konwitschny’s rightly legendary Don Carlos and Dmitri Tcherniakov’s confounding new Salome: both turned out to be unforgettable!

By November 30, 2023 at 9:00 AM
31 comments
Diver gent Diver gent

Georges Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles has been knocking steadily at the door of the standard repertoire now in this country for quite some time.

By October 09, 2017 at 9:30 AM
48 comments
Snow business Snow business

Los Angeles saw the first U.S. performance of Giacomo Puccini’s snow-dusted weeper in 1897 just a year after the young Toscanini led the prima in Turin.

By May 17, 2016 at 2:33 PM
16 comments
Jest the way you are Jest the way you are

I’m happy to report that Rigoletto from the 30 DVD Tutto Verdi set from the Teatro Regio di Parma is a blockbuster.

By July 18, 2013 at 12:02 PM
18 comments
Six flags over Verona Six flags over Verona

Those of you who have longed to see a theme-park production of Gounod’s simple, romantic opera Romeo et Juliette, rejoice!

By August 28, 2012 at 8:20 AM
10 comments
Beach, beach, beach Beach, beach, beach

Here’s the thing about puns, Betsy: summer going to enjoy them and summer not.

By July 14, 2012 at 8:34 AM
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Not enough, too soon

While major stars like René Pape and Piotr Beczala had to wait until they were over 40 to record a solo aria CD, Julia Lezhneva has just done her first—and she’s only twenty-one!  After a drought, CD companies are issuing a surprising number of debut recitals; Nino Machaidze, Olga Peretyatko, Mojca Erdmann, and Aleksandra Kurzak…

By July 19, 2011 at 3:32 PM
70 comments
Cross purposes

It was while attending a performance of Fédora in Naples in 1885 that eighteen year-old Umberto Giordano fell in love with Sardou’s then immensely popular play; the protagonist was none other than Sarah Bernhardt, the creator of the title role. He immediately asked the French dramatist to sell him the rights, a request Sardou did…

By February 11, 2011 at 10:08 AM
123 comments
Critical addition

Very few things intrigue me as much as analyzing belcanto operas, comparing their several versions and examining the composers’ second thoughts, modifications and revisions that, willingly or unwillingly, they made to their scores. I was already salivating when I heard that the Teatro Comunale di Bologna was going to perform Vincenzo Bellini’s I Puritani in…

By November 21, 2010 at 7:41 PM
84 comments