Antique sonority
On this day in 1926 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with La vestale with Rosa Ponselle in the title role.
New York
He plays the violin
The pandemic had different effects on different people.
“The work by which I stand or fall”
Dame Ethel Smyth’s third opera, The Wreckers, opened at Houston Grand Opera on October 28 and runs through November 11.
“Dynamic, highly charged, tigerish”
On this day in 1956 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with Maria Callas in Norma.
An unholy decadence
On this day in 1966 the Metropolitan Opera presented a new production of Elektra.
On a par with tuberculosis
Come back, Big Clock! We need you more than ever!
“Prima inter pares”
On this day in September 27, 1988, the Metropolitan opera presented the company premiere of Giulio Cesare, starring Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos.
Leaner, meaner and tighter
Why did Ted Sperling and MasterVoices choose to perform an old warhorse like Carmen which has been produced almost continuously over decades just up the street at Lincoln Center?
Her favorite roles
Edita Gruberova considered her greatest pride and loves not her career but her daughters Klaudia and Barbara and grandchildren Cris, Denis, and Alyssa.
The prodigal
Philippe Jaroussky mentioned introducing his encores that he has not appeared in New York in 12 years.
Tour de force
On this day in 1973 the Metropolitan Opera presented the company premiere of Les Troyens.
Quiet please, there’s a lady on stage
On this day in 2008 Anja Harteros sang her first Metropolitan Opera Violetta.
A study in simplicity and profundity
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays” – Soren Kierkegaard
The clue whose meaning we avoid
We watch Peter Grimes being made into a deviant— a process that can take place through the mechanism of the law, but often happens outside of it through social processes.
This is a gala day for you
On October 14, 1979 I spent my birthday attending my first all-star opera gala, thrilled at the chance to hear some of the great singers I’d only experienced on LPs, broadcasts or via my pirate reel-to-reel tapes.
“So much for traditional sweetness and charm”
On this day in 1998 the Metropolitan Opera presented a new production of Le nozze di Figaro featuring Cecilia Bartoli as Susanna.
Tableau vivant
On this day in 1964 the Metropolitan Opera opened its season with a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor.
Take the long way Rome
David McVicar’s 2017 production of Tosca returned to the Met on Tuesday night, with an able and watchable, if not transcendent cast.
Ocean, thou mighty monster
Michael Spyres’s nobly moving Idomeneo wasn’t just a bravura triumph: singing strongly throughout, he brought more colors to his portrayal of the tortured king than I had experienced from others in the Ponnelle production.
So damn bored
It’s nasty world, Shostakovich seems to say, where life alternates between boring and terrifying.
How do you solve a problem like ‘Medea’?
Sondra Radvanovsky has an unconventional voice that is suited to unconventional characters and is best used in rangy, difficult music. The lack of lush beauty was no deficit in depicting Medea’s jealousy and vengeful rage.
Rachmaninoff three ways
A troika of operas by Rachmaninoff: Aleko , The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini , courtesy of Odyssey Opera.
Love me or leaf me
Robert Carsen‘s legendary production of Eugene Onegin finally arrives in San Francisco.
Ceaselessly beautiful
With the phenomenal cast that stacked Paris Opera’s production of I Capuleti e i Montecchi , it was easy to overlook the quirks of Bellini’s opera and get lost in the pleasures of glorious bel canto singing.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).