• Frenchman named music director of Washington National Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gdhKCZC28XIrQjg0gJ5tSwntXa4g?docId=CNG.6f90940f6d9bb44d73f1c586d3a44fbb.d41

  • Bieito's Muted 'Carmen' Brings a Fresh Vision

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703843804575533923300530594.html#

  • Wagner for a Song

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/opinion/26ross.html

  • Macbeth, Lyric Opera of Chicago

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/85cb3132-d229-11df-8fbe-00144feabdc0.html

  • Faust by ENO

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Perhaps because the rather stolidly Victorian character of both its music and its morality, Gounod’ Faust has been out of fashion in the UK in recent decades, and owes a debt to David McVicar and his darkly Gothic production for the Royal Opera in 2004 (now, at last, available on DVD) for the restoration of its footing in the standard repertoire.

  • Technicolour Radamisto at ENO

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Handel’ Radamisto came to the ENO at the Coliseum in glorious technicolour.

  • Robert LePage brings Wagner to New York

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/music/robert-lepage-brings-wagner-to-new-york/article1723458/

  • Washington National Opera's edgy new 'Salome'

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/curtain-up/2010/oct/9/washington-national-operas-edgy-new-salome/

  • Tristan und Isolde at Royal Festival Hall

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Almost irrespective of the results, it was quite a statement to open the Philharmonia’ London concert season with a performance of Nietzsche’ ‘pus metaphysicum of all true art,’Tristan und Isolde.

  • Anonymous 4: The Cherry Tree

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    In the popular view, the modern celebration of Christmas seems to have begun with Charles Dickens’ revivifying A Christmas Carol (1843).

  • Schumann: The Complete Symphonies, Mahler Edition

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Mahler’s well-known revisions of music he conducted include the four symphonies by Robert Schumann, and while these Retuschen have been performed from time to time, a recording of all four of them is now available from Decca.

  • Placido Domingo Departs Washington National Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2010/09/27/130164195/placido-domingo-departs-washington-national-opera

  • Rossini’s Otello at Rossini in Wildbad Festival, 2008

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    As good a performance of Rossini’s opera as this disc provides, for some equal entertainment value may potentially arise from the booklet essay by one Bernd-Rüdiger Kern (as translated into English by David Stevens).

  • Gustav Mahler: Symphony no. 5

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Based on performances given on 18 and 21 October 2008 and 16 and 17 January 2009, this recording of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra offers its latest release of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work associated with the group since the composer’s lifetime.

  • El Gato con Botas: Gotham Chamber Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Haven’ you always secretly felt that singers who reach for high notes (and make them) ought to levitate and maintain themselves in mid-air when they do it?

  • Los Angeles Opera revives 'Marriage of Figaro'

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/09/opera-review-los-angeles-opera-revives-marriage-of-figaro-.html

  • Niobe, Regina di Tebe, Royal Opera House

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8023332/Niobe-Regina-di-Tebe-Royal-Opera-House-review.html

  • Orpheo ed Eurydice in Minnesota

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Minnesota Opera pulled out all the stops for its 2010-2011 season with its production of Gluck’ Orpheo ed Eurydice.

  • Bizet Les Pêcheurs de Perles - Royal Opera House

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles is notoriously hard to stage. Because the plot’s so grandiose, the imagination works overtime, dwarfing the music, making it seem puny in comparison. There’s a lot to be said in favour of concert performances because they shift the balance back to Bizet.

  • Das Rheingold, Metropolitan Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    It will be no surprise to me, a year or five from now, when someone falls to her or his death from the guy-wires that configure so much of Robert Lepage’ new state-of-the-art (ah! But which art?) production of Der Ring des Nibelung.

  • Plácido Domingo, Gustavo Dudamel together for the first time

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-dudamel-domingo-20101011,0,3004423.story

  • Wexford Festival Opera, Ireland

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/b6012056-db97-11df-a1df-00144feabdc0.html

  • Piotr Beczala: Roméo et Juliette, Royal Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Charles Gounod’ Roméo et Juliette is almost more musical than opera. Everyone knows the story, and it would be hard to compete with Shakespeare. Gounod wisely focused on music, rather than drama.

  • Rigoletto at Covent Garden

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Dame Joan Sutherland, ‘a Stupenda’ sang her first Gilda at Covent Garden in 1957 under the baton of Sir Edward Downes, and sang the role many times and to great acclaim on the ROH stage.

  • Promised End, Linbury Theatre, London

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/40e8b2fe-d541-11df-ad3a-00144feabdc0.html

  • Jerry Springer, The Opera in San Francisco

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    The fall opera season in San Francisco has been dealt a wild card — Jerry Springer, The Opera! Not exactly material for SF’s august opera company . . .

  • Haendel: Water Music; Music for The Royal Fireworks

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    The “popular” Handel is firmly entrenched in the collective culture with a handful of pieces: the Christmas portion of Messiah, the “Largo” from Serse (in fact, “Larghetto,” but collective culture is hard to convince), and instrumental suites of the Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks come immediately to mind.

  • Gilbert and Sullivan opens Arizona Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    On 16 October 2010 in Tucson, Arizona Opera opened it’ 2010-2011 season with an operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.

  • Dame Joan Sutherland, Diva Who Sang Mad Lucia, Dies in Switzerland at 83

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-11/dame-joan-sutherland-diva-who-sang-mad-lucia-dies-in-switzerland-at-83.html

  • Kafka at the Opera: Bartlett Sher’ Production of Hoffmann at the Met

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    We all come to the opera for different things. To escape, to elevate, to laugh, to cry, or perhaps because someone else bought the tickets.

  • La Bohème, ENO

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    ENO clearly expect high returns from Jonathan Miller’s La Bohème.

  • Rameau’ Zéphyre, New York

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    In sports they say, “Winning isn’ the most important thing—it’ the only thing.” In the theater, getting the show on the boards out front is the key.

  • Jephtha, New York

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Jephtha was Handel’ last work — he went blind while composing it, noting this on the manuscript, and though he lived another seven years, did not deign to dictate new music.

  • Divas and Divos Concert, Manitoba

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    It’ every opera director’ nightmare.

  • Kirsten Flagstad sings Wagner & Strauss

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    Kirsten Flagstad’s voice remains connected to the music of Richard Wagner through the recordings that continue to bring her performances to new audiences.

  • The Other ‘arriage of Figaro’

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    The opening night of Rossini’ The Barber of Seville, in Rome in 1816, was violently disrupted by vociferous protests from supporters loyal to Paisiello, whose own comic interpretation of Beaumarchais’politically-charged play had appeared in 1782.

  • Boris Godunov, Metropolitan Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    The last curtain call at the opera usually goes to the title character, the star of the work just performed. At the end of the Met’ new Boris Godunov, the calls begin with a solo call for the title character, René Pape as Boris, and conclude with one for the Metropolitan Opera Chorus all by themselves.

  • Il Postino at Los Angeles Opera

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    An American opera house premieres a new work by a Mexico-born composer, to his own libretto in Spanish based on a film in Italian by an English director about an unlikely friendship the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda found when in exile on a small Italian island.

  • Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder, Preludes and Overtures

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    A great vintage Mercury album of Antal Dorati conducting Wagner overtures and preludes featured as a cover a close-up of a medieval chalice, undoubtedly meant to reference the Parsifal excerpt on the enclosed disc.

  • Madama Butterfly in San Francisco

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    “One of the most beautiful sets I have ever seen,” crows San Francisco Opera general director David Gockley over the airwaves, “directed by Broadway legend Hal Prince.”

  • Verdi’ Macbeth in a New Production at Lyric Opera of Chicago

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    A successful production of Verdi’ Macbeth relies not only on incisive vocal characterization as projected by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth but also on the interaction of these lead figures in order to vivify their descent into a world of destruction.

  • The Metropolitan Opera Gala 1991

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    The 50th anniversary of the Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center is just a few years away, so, with something less than dispatch, a DVD of the 25th anniversary Gala appears.

  • New York Festival of Song

    Updated: 2010-10-31 16:09:12
    “Don’ I have the coolest job in the world?” said Steven Blier.

  • Halloween Classics

    Updated: 2010-10-30 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 30falseRightfalseBoo What are your favorite spooky classical pieces? We broadcast several of my favorites on Thursday and Friday, and several requests mean that we’ll be finding a few lingering ghosts, including that of the Flying Dutchman, during

  • Made in the USA Voting Closed

    Updated: 2010-10-28 21:39:08
    Voting for the 2011/12 “Made in the USA” opera closed on Friday, October 15th. We are happy to announce that The Ballad of Baby Doe won by a wide margin, and will appear on Opera Idaho’s 2011/12 season! Thank you to all who voted!

  • Leonard Slatkin (interview)

    Updated: 2010-10-28 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 28falseCenterfalseLeonard Slatkin was recently in West Virginia to conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in Morgantown.  Slatkin has been the Principal Guest Conductor of the PSO since .  We spoke about Dvorak, Rachmaninoff, and Joan Tower’s music, also

  • 10/11 Master Classes Announced!

    Updated: 2010-10-28 00:01:13
    Opera Idaho is continuing is Resident Company continuing education opportunities by offering a series of Master Classes this year. Please click here to see the full schedule of dates and presenters for this year’s master classes!

  • Composer of the Week – Niccolò Paganini

    Updated: 2010-10-27 23:31:28
    Happy birthday to that celebrated rock star of the violin world, Niccolò Paganini, who was born today in 1782. Paganini started playing the violin at age 7 (that seems late by today's child prodigy standards, doesn't it?), and by the time he was 18, his income came from his violin playing. Eventually ...

  • Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ Album Songs List Unveiled

    Updated: 2010-10-26 14:24:59
    more images NEW YORK (GaeaTimes.com) — The Grammy award winning singer Taylor Swift’s latest album ‘Speak Now’ is stealing all the attention of music industry these days. The new album contains list of singles that also depict some personal experiences of the renowned singer. Rumor suggests that the album describes singer’s relationship with John Mayer. The audio release .... Original article on Gaea Times at   Taylor Swift’s ‘Speak Now’ Album Songs List Unveiled.

  • Daniel Harding conducts the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra

    Updated: 2010-10-26 00:01:00
    : The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera SF Opera's Cyrano Media Round-Up Main Il Trovatore at the Met October 25, 2010 Daniel Harding conducts the Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra Notes Daniel Harding conducted the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden in a program of Schumann , Beethoven , and Brahms in San Francisco on Sunday evening . The performance started with the Manfred Overture . Harding gave many cues , all far in advance of when they were acted upon . The playing was focused , the brass lucid , and the flute sweet . Rudolf Buchbinder joined the orchestra as soloist for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No . 4 in G Major . The Allegro moderato was began gently , but still

  • Monday’s Visit to the Scene Shop

    Updated: 2010-10-25 23:53:40
    The scenery shop is hard at work, but they aren't getting ready for the next opera, yet. They're creating some beautiful drops for a production of The Nutcracker! Check these out: And this beautiful Christmas tree:

  • SF Opera's Cyrano de Bergerac

    Updated: 2010-10-25 01:00:00
    : The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera SF Opera's Cyrano Media Round-Up Main October 25, 2010 SF Opera's Cyrano de Bergerac Notes Sunday's matinée of San Francisco Opera's Cyrano de Bergerac opened a run of seven performances . Petrika Ionesco's production , from Théâtre du Châtelet , is attractive , but does not make for the most elegant set changes . There was much delightful spectacle , and the staging was not entirely old-fashioned either , despite looking fairly . traditional The orchestra sounded lushly chaotic under Patrick Fournillier , it was unclear if this was because of Alfano's music or because of the playing . In fact , I had a fairly difficult time getting

  • SF Opera's Cyrano Media Round-Up

    Updated: 2010-10-23 14:05:15

  • James Conlon & Joshua Bell at SFS

    Updated: 2010-10-22 18:33:38
    : The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Leah Crocetto's Salon at the Rex Main October 22, 2010 James Conlon Joshua Bell at SFS Notes James Conlon Los Angeles Opera s music director , is conducting San Francisco Symphony a program of Wagner , Bruch , and Dvořák this week . Yesterday's performance began with the Prelude to Act I of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg which was lovely . The trumpet and trombone were particularly strong , and the orchestra sounded cohesive . This was followed by Bruch's Violin Concerto No . 1 in G minor , played by the gifted soloist Joshua Bell pictured left , photograph by Timothy White The Allegro moderato was rather moderate , and was not

  • Five Minutes ‘Till Curtain!

    Updated: 2010-10-21 21:59:06
    “Five minutes ‘till curtain; Fünf Minuten zum Vorhang.” These exhilarating words were part of the familiar sounds of a childhood spent growing up in the theatre. As the daughters of one of the “house” tenors (Glade Peterson, Utah Opera founder) of the Zurich Opera House in Switzerland, we had ample opportunity ...

  • Leah Crocetto's Salon at the Rex

    Updated: 2010-10-21 20:52:17
    : The Opera Tattler Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Plácido Domingo's SF Opera Press Event Main October 21, 2010 Leah Crocetto's Salon at the Rex Notes Soprano Leah Crocetto gave a recital of her favorite songs with pianist Tamara Sanikidze for the Salons at the Rex series yesterday evening . Crocetto began with Ain't it a pretty night from Carlisle Floyd's Susannah She learnt this piece at the age of 18, and it sounded very natural for her . This was followed by 3 Rachmaninoff songs , 2 from the Opus 21 Song Cycle and the Vocalise Op . 34, No . 14 Sanikidze milked Richard Strauss' lovely Morgen , quot Crocetto sounded pure and clear . Her O mio babbino caro was spine-tingling . The

  • Composer of the Week – Charles Ives.

    Updated: 2010-10-20 18:02:40
    Happy Birthday to American composer, Charles Ives, who was born on this day in 1874. Ives' father was a band leader, and encouraged him to explore the the possibilities of new modern music styles. He worked as a church organist until his 30's, and had a very lucrative and famous career ...

  • Supporting Classical Music

    Updated: 2010-10-20 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 20falseCenterfalseIf you've been listening to the radio, you've probably heard that right now, it is the "Connecting Communities" fund drive. We're asking listeners (and our online reader listeners) to support West Virginia Public Radio with a donation,

  • Plácido Domingo's SF Opera Press Event

    Updated: 2010-10-20 03:07:36

  • We’re holding auditions…

    Updated: 2010-10-19 19:27:40
    We will be holding auditions for our 2011-2012 Young Artist Program in November 2010.  Interested singers can find additional information here:  http://pbopera.org/about_us_c.asp?mn=3&au=4

  • The Second Cast of SF Opera's Figaro

    Updated: 2010-10-19 02:24:00

  • Costume Shop Visit – Musetta’s Christmas Eve Dress.

    Updated: 2010-10-18 23:26:00
    La Bohème has many important costume pieces, including Mimì's pink bonnet and Colline's overcoat. One of the more flamboyant costume pieces is usually Musetta's Christmas Eve dress. Have you ever wondered how a dress like this progresses from idea to the stage? Here you go! Susan Memmott-Allred, Utah Opera's Costume Designer, ...

  • Olga Kern & Rachmaninov in Morgantown

    Updated: 2010-10-18 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 18falseCenterfalseOn Sunday, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will perform in Morgantown, with guest conductor Leonard Slatkin. Pianist Olga Kern will perform Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto with the PSO. Kern spoke with me over the phone about her connections

  • Lars Ulrik Mortensen conducts Bach

    Updated: 2010-10-17 23:14:00

  • Alex Ross at Cal Performances

    Updated: 2010-10-16 22:19:00

  • Jerry Springer: The Opera at RoL Theatre

    Updated: 2010-10-15 21:27:46

  • Valentina Weekend

    Updated: 2010-10-15 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 15falseCenterfalseAlas that I can't make it to the West Virginia Symphony concert with pianist Valentina Lisitsa this weekend If you're going, I'm sure it will be wonderful (she's playing Prokofiev ). If not, you can join me

  • SF Opera's Butterfly Media Round-Up

    Updated: 2010-10-14 17:48:00

  • Composer of the Week – Giuseppe Verdi

    Updated: 2010-10-13 22:43:39
    Happy late birthday to Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, who was born October 10th (or possibly 9th), 1813. Although Verdi composed some beautiful works for symphony and chorus, we know him primarily as an opera composer, having written 28 in his very popular career. Not only are his operas still some ...

  • What’s your Favorite Scene from La Bohème?

    Updated: 2010-10-13 22:43:38
    Members of the cast and crew describe their favorite scene from La Bohème... what's yours?

  • SF Opera's Madama Butterfly

    Updated: 2010-10-13 07:00:00
    : The Opera Tattler About Subscribe to this blog's feed West Coast Opera Companies Los Angeles Opera Portland Opera San Diego Opera San Francisco Opera Seattle Opera Boris Godunov at the Met Main October 13, 2010 SF Opera's Madama Butterfly Notes Harold Prince's production of Madama Butterfly opened last night at San Francisco Opera The revolving set , designed by Clarke Dunham , is pretty , effective , and sure to delight most . Director José Maria Condemi certainly was presented a challenge of getting people on , off , and around this . set Maestro Luisotti conducted the orchestra with verve , the playing was sweeping and beautiful . The chorus also made strong contributions . Both the Adlers looked and sounded appropriate for Kate Pinkerton Sara Gartland and Prince Yamadori Austin Kness

  • Monday’s Visit to the…Scene Shop?

    Updated: 2010-10-12 14:39:11
    Well, the costumes made the short, but crowded trip over to the theatre today, so there are no costumes to visit. Now you'll just have to come see them in action on stage! I do have a couple of pictures of the set, as they were putting it together. Not a bad ...

  • Overdue Introductions

    Updated: 2010-10-11 23:02:40

  • Dame Joan Sutherland, In Memoriam

    Updated: 2010-10-11 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 11falseCenterfalseI was very sad to just read of opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland’s passing. The New York Times reports that she died this morning at the age of 83.   I first heard her voice when I

  • Chamber Orchestra Kremlin

    Updated: 2010-10-08 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 08falseCenterfalseOur neighbors in Ironton, Ohio will be welcoming the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin from Moscow to Ohio University Southern for a concert on October 11th.Pat McCoy (a professor at Ohio University Southern and the communications director for the

  • Wagner Weekend

    Updated: 2010-10-06 14:54:00
    Mona Seghatoleslami2010 10 06falseCenterfalseThe Metropolitan Opera hits movie theaters this weekend with the first of this season's Live in HD broadcasts, Wagner's Das Rheingold. In West Virginia, the Met can be seen in theaters in Barboursville (Huntington Mall) and Granville

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