Who’s Afraid of Grand Opera?

I know that sometimes opera is a little hard to understand and appreciate.  It is usually sung in a foreign language, the plots are often so convoluted that it is difficult to follow, and you still haven’t figured out why someone  usually dies  in the last act. Yet for all its challenges, the music can [...]

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Opening Night of “La Bohème” Brings Tears and Smiles

Thank you, Melissa Hart for this wonderful report!  Originally posted on the Register Guard blog. During my stint as an opera major at UC Santa Cruz, I studied with the formidably talented music lecturer Patrice Maginnis.  Visually impaired, she nevertheless hammered me for my unprofessional presentation as a sophomore in her repertoire class.  “If I [...]

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Shirley Verrett, Roger Ebert, and Miracles

I respect people who blog at great length (well, most of them) because I find it difficult to put some experiences into words.  Writing about Shirley Verrett is one of those experiences.    She has just passed away after a long illness at age 79 at her home in Ann Arbor MI.  We’ve posted her obituary [...]

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Joan Sutherland: Citius, Altius, Fortius

I’ve posted two obituaries below; one, from the New York Times, is a good summary of her career from the American viewpoint. The second, from the Guardian, is written by someone who knew well her first-class work in the decade before she became La Stupenda, a title which I suspect will forever be hers and [...]

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Licia Albanese and the “Field of Dreams” Effect

In a recent post, I cited Rise Stevens as being “possibly the only major singer left from the glorious days of the Old Met.”  I was wrong;  Licia Albanese celebrated  her 97th birthday yesterday.   [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licia_Albanese] She reached the highest level of our profession within two years of her debut and she remained there  until [...]

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Cesare Siepi

The great Italian bass Cesare Siepi has passed away at the age of 87.  His obituary from The New York Times follows.  I’m very aware of the relief Rudolf Bing felt in 1951 when Mr. Siepi was available to take Boris Christoff’s place in “Don Carlo!”  (More on that in a later post.)  I draw [...]

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John Reed February 13th 1916 – February 13th 2010

A little noticed recent death has cut a vital link in the English-speaking theatrical world. John Reed, who was the last major exponent of the “Patter roles” (or “Grossmith roles”) for the D’oyly Carte opera company has passed away at the age of 94. Read about his life and art here. The D’oyly Carte company [...]

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Happy Birthday, Madama Butterfly

Today is the 106th anniversary of the premiere of Puccini’s MADAMA BUTTERFLY, the most performed opera in the US. For all its popularity, it had a difficult time of it at first; you can read all about it here. Whenever I’ve seen or performed this opera (in both the “standard” and “Brescia” versions) I’ve marveled [...]

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Valentine’s Day Opera-tunity!

by Brooke Cagno Love is in the air with Valentine’s Day approaching.  Are you tired of giving the same old standby of chocolates and flowers? Why not forgo the trite and often marked-up floral arrangements and saccharin sentiments of greeting cards in exchange for a GRAND gesture of your love? The gift of French Grand [...]

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La Boheme

Today is the 114th birthday of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” the second-most performed opera in America.  (“Madama Butterfly” is the first.)  You can learn a bit about it here: The Teatro Regio Torino (Turin), the theater of its debut, no longer exists in the form it had then.  It burned in 1937, and was rebuilt years [...]

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