It’s complicated
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is a problematic opera—or, rather, it is an opera that has, in the last century or so, become problematic.
our own jj
Rossini crescendo
Sooner or later, Our Own JJ gets around to discussing the Met’s Barbiere di Siviglia and Juilliard’s Turco in Italia in this week’s New York Observer.
Rolling along
Show Boat continues to communicate, even in the less than perfect circumstances of this latest revival.
Mourning in America
“Taken by itself, the St. Matthew Passion felt a little mundane. But compared to Zauberflöte, it could have been the Second Coming.”
Wedding bell blues
“So it’s twice as disappointing that Monday night’s performance of the Mozart masterpiece turned into a four-hour fizzle.”
Chorus of the exiled protesters
“I applaud the Klinghoffer protesters for voicing their opinions, but that doesn’t stop me from saying that I find those opinions ill-informed, inept and downright dangerous.”
Tiara in the aisles
Our Own JJ (pictured) is off to cover the Met’s opening night.
And all the rest is talk
“Labor! Oh, the problem of labor at the Met is gargantuan,” Our Own JJ (not pictured) would have said, had he thought of it.
The secret of nymph
Mark Morris’ staging of Acis and Galatea at Lincoln Center is everything good about summer condensed into two hours.
Contrariwise
“The dark clouds hovering over Mr. Gelb should not obscure his very real achievements.”
Campus radical
“Mr. Burden did his best to wrestle with what looked like a disused Dale Chihuly chandelier, but…”
Clash by day
Our Own JJ (not pictured) debates Tim Smith, classical music critic of the Baltimore Sun, on the topic of the Met’s cancellation of the HD telecast of The Death of Klinghoffer.
La regina d’Inghilterra ho veduto cantar
“At Carnegie Hall last Thursday, a capacity crowd witnessed what might be the final official act of a monarch who has reigned for more than four decades.”
Raven review
The NY Phil Biennial, a new music festival that is dedicated to new music, kicked off its first season at a drowsy time on the performing arts calendar, the week after Memorial Day.
Faites vos jeux, Messieurs!
The Met may be missing an angle calculated to appeal to the more adventurous attendee: opera as game of chance.
“Senza rancor”
The winds of change sweep across the first post-9/11 issue of parterre box, the queer opera zine.
The girl on the moon
“In Kristine Opolais, who gave her first Met performance in the title role on Friday night, the company has a Butterfly with the soaring voice and penetrating theatrical presence to meet Minghella’s elegant dramaturgy head on.”
“The Met’s Andrea Chénier: less exciting than it looks in this photo”
The sad fact, though, is that the Met is not doing a great job or, in most cases, even a competent job at this core task.
Liebestraum
“Opera can, in fact, be something beautiful and moving even when all a performance has going for it is some really excellent singing.”
After the thaw
Our Own JJ (not pictured) offers his recommendations for 10 opera and classical music events worth hearing this spring.
Less than Zarah
In a slight detour from the usual all-opera-all-the-time format of parterre box, the queer opera zine, issue #44 centers on Ben Letzler‘s superb appreciation of film and cabaret diva Zarah Leander.
Blood types
“The finale of Sweeney Todd left the stage of Avery Fisher Hall littered with corpses, but the evening, for all its flaws, felt vibrantly alive.”
Writers’ block
The last place you’d expect to find opera at all, let alone good, exciting opera, is in still-scrappy Bushwick, Brooklyn.
Slavas of New York
Even when the opera performed is a masterpiece, a truly superb opera performance is exceedingly rare.
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).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
