Singingscholar

LATEST ARTICLES ( 293 )

• Pari Siamo: Rigoletto and the Rat Pack

  

  Saturday's matinee of Rigoletto confirmed that a pretty solid performance of this Verdi masterpiece makes for an above average night (or afternoon) at the opera. Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• A Quite Unloseable Game? Powder Her Face at New York City Opera

  

  Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll Photo courtesy of National Portrait Gallery Poet Philip Larkin famously identified 1963 as the year sex was discovered,... Read more

  Posted on 17 February 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Nostalgia with Grit: Charles Castronovo's Neapolitan Songs

  

  Even the cover art of Charles Castronovo's "Dolce Napoli" album sets it apart from the sun-flooded, pizza parlor kitsch that threatens to swamp such... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Belle Époque, Beau Soir: Fleming and Graham at Carnegie Hall

  

  A recital by either Renée Fleming or Susan Graham is invariably an eagerly anticipated event; the Carnegie Hall recital which the two divas gave jointly was an... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• La Rondine: Il Cor Non Ha Difesa

  

  Silk and daydreams: La Rondine, Act I (Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera) I'd seen La Rondine when the Met's current production opened four years ago, but caught th... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Jonas Kaufmann & Helmut Deutsch: Die Schöne Müllerin

  

  Unlike the miller of Schubert's cycle, I asked no one what path I should take before heading to Princeton to hear Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch perform Die... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• La Gazza Ladra: Che Giorno Beato Dobbiamo Passar

  

  A tragic history repeats itself as an irony-laced tragicomedy on the operatic stage: Rossini's 1817 La Gazza Ladra, although bookended with joyous choruses,... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Reading List: Incidental Music

  

  Language. History. Love. Sex. Opera. The narratives of Incidental Music, Lydia Perović's debut novel, are concerned with all these things, and intertwine t... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Andrea Chenier: e Forse Per Questo Solo V'amo

  

  Not only do I like Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chenier, but I will defend it as a barely-guilty pleasure. The libretto by Luigi Illica boasts fairly... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Maria Stuarda: La Vittima Regia

  

  A tale of two queens: Van den Heever and DiDonato in Maria Stuarda Donizetti's Maria Stuarda is unabashedly a one-issue opera. Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2013 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Nights at the Opera: 2012

  I imagined, Gentle Readers, that compiling this year's retrospective of opera-going would present fairly few challenges. Folly! Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Michael Spyres: A Fool for Love

  The title of Michael Spyres' first recital album, A Fool for Love, demonstrates a pleasing degree of self-awareness about the fate and faiblesse of many... Read more

  Posted on 28 December 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Ta Faiblesse Et Ta Gloire: Les Troyens

  I love Virgil's Aeneid. Even moderate attention will reveal its rich imagery, and the exciting rhythms of its language. Closer attention reveals the brilliant... Read more

  Posted on 21 December 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Oh Come Un Gran Contento: Clemenza Di Tito

  

  The Emperor debates clemency: Filianoti as Tito (Photo (c) Ken Howard/Met Opera) The vox populi is correct: the Met's revival of Clemenza di Tito is not only... Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Se Amar Non Puo, Rispettami: Beatrice Di Tenda

  

  Orombello e Beatrice, Pelagio Palagi, 1845/50 At Beatrice di Tenda's Venetian premiere in 1833, the audience was vociferous in expressing their resentment of... Read more

  Posted on 06 December 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Three Singers, a Piano, and a Peacock: Replenished Repertoire

  

  On Saturday evening I had the opportunity to go to the National Opera Center for the first time (it's lovely!) to hear an evening of staged opera scenes. Read more

  Posted on 02 December 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Su! Del Nilo Al Sacro Lido: Aida

  

  Monumental verisimilitude is the hallmark of the Met's Aida, designed by Sonja Frisell on a deliberately grand scale. Those who like an Aida production to be... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Un Ballo in Maschera: Nell'ombre Si Matura

  

  The recklessness of frivolity: David Alden's dark Ballo (Act I) Although the visuals of David Alden's new Ballo in Maschera for the Met may be more impressive... Read more

  Posted on 25 November 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Er Läuft Wie Ein Offenes Messer Durch Die Welt: Salonen Leads Wozzeck at...

  

  Twentieth-century trauma: Simon Keenlyside as Wozzeck Photo (c) Lincoln Center/Stephanie Berger The performance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck given by Esa-Pekka... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA

• Drama Queen(s): Joyce DiDonato at Carnegie Hall

  

  My deep affection for mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato is one of this blog's most open secrets. I wasn't sure, however, what to expect of her voice in the baroque... Read more

  Posted on 19 November 2012 CULTURE, THEATRE & OPERA