Tag Archives: Metropolitan Opera

a tale Godunov to share–the Chevy Chase of basses?

Tonight, I went to opening night at Berks Jazz Fest. At the gala before the show, I was talking with a veteran local musician, now a senior citizen, who had seen Boris Godunov at the Met decades ago. “It starred a Finnish bass,” … Continue reading

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Filed under North American Opera, opera anecdotes, Performers

retro Met? (don’t quote me)

  The one thing I hate at the Met is the note in the program that the public is requested not to interrupt the music with applause. That should be destroyed. What we need is to be encouraged to applaud. –Plácido Domingo  … Continue reading

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Filed under North American Opera, opera quotes

Moses und Aron — an anniversary glance

 Today marks the anniversary of the premiere of Arnold Schoenberg‘s Moses und Aron  in Hamburg, Germany, in 1954.    Moses und Aron is an important operatic work if not a popular one. This, despite the fact that the libretto, also written by Schoenberg, mirrors the exile … Continue reading

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Filed under anniversary, Modern opera, North American Opera, Premieres

Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, roles to be heard and seen

At the press conference last week to announce the Metropolitan Opera’s new season, I met someone from Philadelphia who has already reviewed the Opera Company of Philadelphia‘s production of Romeo and Juliet at the Academy of Music that I will … Continue reading

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Filed under Classic Opera, North American Opera

next Met season a tale of two Anna’s

Want to know what the Met’s 2011-12 season is about? Ask the words. I loaded copy from all the coverage of their new season announcement available on the Internet into the Wordle word-cloud engine.  This is what it spit out: … Continue reading

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Filed under 21st Century Opera