Ashes to ashes Ashes to ashes

Gioachino Rossini’s adorable adaptation of Cinderella famously dispenses with a slipper in favor of a bracelet to lead the Principe Ramiro back to his Cenerentola. If only this performance had benefitted from such a glittering guiding hand.

Guys who sing high (and others) Guys who sing high (and others)

A stack of noteworthy recent baroque vocal CDs on my desk has been staring at me for weeks, so I’m tackling them on Handel’s birthday before the Met roars back into action beginning this weekend.

Love letters Love letters

March 2, 2020 – June 18, 2021: Those 15 months were the longest I’ve gone without attending a live opera performance since high school.

“Le Mozart noir” “Le Mozart noir”

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint George is frequently referred to as “le Mozart noir.” While surely intended as a favorable comparison to Mozart, the sobriquet is diminishing, implying that Bologne’s music was somehow derivative of Mozart’s.

Outsider art Outsider art

The opera titled L’Amant anonyme (“The Anonymous Lover”) is important because it is one of the earliest known operas by a Black composer that still survives in its entirety.