Non son l’umile ancella Non son l’umile ancella

“[W]omen are interesting and important in real life. They are not an afterthought of nature, they are not secondary players in human destiny, and every society has always known that.” — Margaret Atwood, February 2017

I had too much to dream last night I had too much to dream last night

Trove Thursday previews next week’s BBC Proms presentation of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with a 2008 broadcast conducted by Colin Davis with Sarah Connolly, Ben Heppner and Gerald Finley.

Lady first Lady first

This revival of Phyllida Lloyd’s 2002 Macbeth production was probably the most anticipated event of the Royal Opera House 2017/2018 season, due mostly to Anna Netrebko’s return to Covent Garden after a three-year absence.

Out here in the dark Out here in the dark

This is the tenth season of the Met’s HD broadcasts, not that I would know it.

There will have been blood There will have been blood

There’s nothing like a good performance of Verdi’s Macbeth and here is proof positive because this dvd is (almost) nothing like a good performance.

Oh, the pain, the pain!

It looks like La Cieca spoke too soon. Dr. Jonathan Miller‘s 2004 announcement of his farewell to opera direction has turned out to be, like so much the good doctor says, a load of bullshit. “England is obsessed with the cutting edge, the new thing, and if you’re as old as I am, you’re assumed…