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Comet and find me
I never made it through more than a few chapters of any Tolstoy work. And I never made it through Chapter One, Volume One of War and Peace. Yeah, I know. I suck. Turns out I was just not using the left...
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Must the finals come so soon?
Anna Netrebko once said about her early years: “I was brave, and I had a nice clear ringing voice which was always heard very well. But I was not any kind of artist at all.” This candid assessment of...
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The rules of attraction
Is Manon Lescaut a cold, clinical tale of the splendors and pitfalls of transactional sex, or is it a romantic Italian opera at its most lush and melodic? Actually, it’s both. There’s always been a...
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La farsa del destino
There might be nothing in the world as joyous as a Rossini overture. Il Signor Bruschino is considered one of Rossini’s minor works but about 30 seconds into the overture you are officially in...
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Barton glances
I’m giving my age away here by saying that I am unfortunate enough to remember how Rudy Giuliani would sometimes drop by the Met airwaves and claim he was a “huge” opera fan. The most mild inquiries...
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Slash by night
There aren’t many opera video releases that can be recommended without reservation. There’s always an “on the other hand.” Beautiful, intelligent productions are often hampered by a weak or so-so cast....
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Tanks a lot, but no tanks
Bayreuth’s most recent production of Tannhäuser was set to be retired. So of course they captured the 2014 performances for posterity and released it on video. The DVD has the typical Bayreuth...
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Shave and a haircut
It’s fun to wonder what might have happened if Rossini had never composed Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Would Giovanni Paisiello’s earlier adaptation of the work be a repertory favorite? Or would it have...
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Paris original
Another month, another La Traviata release on video. This performance was culled from the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival and is in many ways the performance of La Traviata that you would get if you took...
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All futures great and small
The Metropolitan Opera yesterday afternoon was an uncommonly cozy place, as the auditorium was packed to the rafters with friends and family members of the nine National Council Audition Finalists. For...
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The devil is in the details
Certain operas are better in theory than practice. Boito’s Mefistofele has some undoubtedly fine tunes, and is perhaps neck-and-neck with Boris Godunov as a top bass star vehicle. But as an opera, it...
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Star, crossed
The key to enjoying Bellini’s I Capuleti e Montechi is to do a hard factory reset and reformat your brain to forget all other works based on Romeo and Juliet. Forget Tchaikovsky’s fantasy overture....
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Table bodied
Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This can be illustrated by two opposing kinds of opera fans: the kind who thinks that if it doesn’t...
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Door to door
The Met’s planned premiere of Iolanta/Bluebeard’s Castle was cancelled due to the Great Blizzard That Wasn’t. All ticket holders were given refunds and exchanges, and the premiere was moved to January...
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A wasted time
Everyone who has ever lived in NYC has encountered a certain type of homeless drunk. This vagabond isn’t pissing his way through subway cars, but is well-put together and charming (or as well put...
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The year in Ivy
2014 was a year of lemons into lemonade. 1. Best example of the lemonading process: the massive Boheme and Traviata cancellations resulted in exciting role debuts (Michael Fabiano! Quinn Kelsey! Sonya...
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Lost and found
I remember when the Willy Decker production of La Traviata was first announced at the Met. There was much pearl-clutching that it would limit casting to sopranos who could fit into the “little red...
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Moon and stars
One of the major complaints about the five year casting system (as well as the shared productions by different companies) is that operatic events are rarely surprises anymore. You thought Diva...
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Snow business
Every year I say I’m not going to another La Bohème because I’ve seen this too many times. And every year I end up going to multiple performances. I always find an excuse. “Oh there’s so-and-so singing...
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Levee duty
If you are of the belief that Show Boat can stand on its own as a classic score and thus doesn’t need the trappings of musical production, you’ll love the New York Philharmonic’s “semi-staged”...
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