Alexander Köpeczi, currently plying leading roles in two operas in Santa Fe and, rumor has it, the life of one prominent soprano, is the object of this week’s Grand Tier Grab Bag.
As for complete recordings of Il trovatore, which was discussed at some length last week, there are at least 200 of them, both studio and live.
There were, of course, other Chénier recordings beyond the truly great ones…
Yes, there were other Giocondas if not of quite the same distinction. Chronologically…
Pavarotti and Freni are gone but the Franco Zeffirelli Bohème remains.
It’s back to business as usual at the Met, for better and for worse.
For this revival of Tosca Teatro Real has configured several casts with some of the best singers in the world: Sondra Radvanovsky, Maria Agresta, Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Michael Fabiano, Yusif Eyvazov, Jonas Kaufmann, Carlos Álvarez, Gevorg Hakobyan and Luca Salsi.
This solid if not stellar performance finds our diva in particularly passionate form. Maybe they should have re-titled it Maddalena?
This video recording of Il trovatore is sensational for all the right and wrong reasons simultaneously.
Although the gold glitter cannons detonated at the end of the act were an ostentatious reminder that this was a celebration of the new year, it seemed that the only words on anyone’s lips as the audience filed out of the theater were “Viva Netrebko!”
Yusif Eyvazov dominated Friday’s Met premiere of Pikovaya Dama with a fearless, world-class portrayal that instantly transformed the opera into December’s must-see event.
There were plenty of Turan-do’s and only a few Turandon’ts at the Met’s Turandot Sunday afternoon.
It had something for everyone who loves loud chesty singing and smoky soft-singing: from Tchaikovsky to Rachmaninoff to Strauss…
Isn’t it nice to know a lot? And a little bit not.
It’s surprising to read that, as of this writing, La fanciulla del west has only had 105 performances at the Metropolitan Opera.
Though orchestrally lavish, this “semi-staging” delivers less theater than no staging at all.
In Andrea Chenier an unexpected Canadian star-tenor relishes beheading alongside a far less well-known Italian diva: Jon Vickers and Ilva Ligabue.
“Trove Thursday” offers a belated 55th birthday nod to Dmitri Hvorostovsky with a blazing live performance of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride.
The Broad Stage presented Joseph Calleja in their Celebrity Opera Series May 10 with a concert called A Tribute to Mario Lanza.
W.C. Fields used to have a funny trope about in show business you should never work with children or animals. To that list should perhaps be added the soprano Anna Netrebko.
The 2016 Richard Tucker Award recipient is Tamara Wilson.
Here’s an extended clip of what the recent concert tour by Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov sounded like.
On Thursday evening Jennifer Wilson “finally” made a belated, disappointing Met debut as Turandot.
Would exciting American dramatic soprano Christine Goerke be the next great ice-princess we have been waiting for?
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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