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lingin
Huntingdon Valley PA
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Biden-Gillebrand? I'll kill myself.I can't think of a worse possible pairing.
It's Joe
Posted Saturday morning, April 6, 2019. From the Departments of Like I Would Know and God, I Hope Not!: It’s Biden. It’s Biden the way it was Trump. People know him. They like him. What’s more they think he knows them. In Trump’s case they liked the “Donald Trump” they knew from “The Apprentic...
There is only one book that is worth reading regarding the Clinton presidency and that is "The Hunting of the President" by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons, the only journalists I would trust on the subject.
President Newt and the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
Adapted from the Twitter feed, Friday, November 17, 2017. Posted Saturday morning, November 18. From August 1998: First Lady Hillary Clinton looks on as President Bill Clinton finally admits that he did in fact “have sexual relations with that woman” Monica Lewinsky. AP photo courtesy of the ...
The writer David Gerrold has been repeatedly posting FB rants against the Eriksons of the world. Gerrold emphasizes the dignity of all work. Those who denigrate the so-called "menial" workers are quickly given the boot.
Anyway, there is no such thing as unskilled work. Whatever the job is, it requires some sort of ability. I refuse to use the term.
Life is sorrow, struggle, and pain, and all of us fail at it somewhere along the line
Other day, up at Ken’s college, waiting for him to finish class, I was sitting in the student center taking advantage of the Wifi and a comfortable chair to do some work online, because you can do this if you aren’t failing at life working a minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant, when an ad...
A bit of trivia. One of my favorite films, Robert Redford's QUIZ SHOW, features Darin's "Mack the Knife" over the opening credits and Lyle Lovett singing the "Moritat" over the closing ones.
"Oh, the line forms on the right, babe..."
We were talking about Bertolt Brecht and The Threepenny Opera in Potter's Avatars today, so I thought it the professorially responsible thing to do to show the students this. For some reason, it never seems to swing like this in any actual productions of Threepenny. I'm not sure by which I've d...
Chenowith was accepted at Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts but on her way to Philly, she stopped in NYC, auditioned and won a part in a musical and decided that was the direction she wanted to go.
Everything's Coming Up Chenoweth
While gearing-up for a May 3rd Carnegie Hall concert, the singer-actress stopped by Conan recently for voice lessons. Watch the classically-trained soprano teach Conan how to go deep, low, and open up the voice with a Schicchi 'O mio babbino caro' (which comes out as 'O mia bambino cara')! Heat...
Just as long as Sir Simon keep making his yearly appearances with the Philadelphians. It's been his one consistent commitment for a good long while.
Rattle for LSO
It appears that the first round of conductor bingo is in the bag. Sir Simon Rattle "is understood to have accepted the post of principal conductor of the LSO. According to industry sources, Rattle, who is married to Magdalena Kozená, the Czech soprano, will succeed the Russian-born Valery Ger...
Don Carlos' "puffy shorts" and Violetta's sausage curls: let's just dispose of both of them because they don't flatter anyone.
Trouser trouble for Kaufmann's Don Carlo
Costume designer Annamaria Heinreich tells the Salzburger Nachrichten why puffy shorts are out for Peter Stein's new Salzburg Don Carlo. Stein has set his production at the time of the story, when Blackadder-style horsehair-stuffed bloomers were all the rage. Heinrich says these are unflatter...
I believe the Metropolitan Opera is a co-producer and also participating are the Finnish National Opera, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.
Elektra from Aix
Thanks to Arte, you can watch Friday's recording of Elektra from the Aix festival for the next two months. Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Patrice Chéreau's new production features Evelyn Herlitzius (Elektra), Waltraud Meier (Klytaemnestra), Adrianne Pieczonka (Chrysothemis), Mikhail Pe...
There is a difference between someone who designs costume for the theater, opera, etc, and a "fashion" designer. My friend Mara Blumenfeld designed the Met productions of LUCIA and SONNAMBULA. (Yeah, I know some of you hated the Zimmerman productions). For SONNAMBULA the chorus members had to wear regular clothing. Mara met with each of the chorus members for the production to ask them what they liked to wear, what made them look good and how comfortable it was for them. She didn't make any restrictions regarding weight. She also had to clothe the prompter, Carrie-Ann Matheson, who gets pulled up out of the prompter's box and onto the stage.
Opera Chic & Sinfini Music: From Couture to Costume to Couture
"I cannot clothe them! I need models!" --> Miuccia Prada's famous battle cry aimed at The Metropolitan Opera's supernumeraries in the run up to a starry Verdi Attila that bowed in February, 2010. In her opera costumier debut, the Italian fashion designer was (apparently) horrified at the dis...
Having just done a Shostakovich marathon (Jerusalem Quartet and all the Shostakovich String Quartets in 4 cycles at Alice Tully Hall) I am so pre-ordering this CD. (Are classical music lovers the last bastion of CD buyers as the world continues to download music?) Thanks, OC!
Opera Chic & Grazia.it: Leonard Elschenbroich, Case Closed
(credit:Felix Broede) Who had his room plastered with Shostakovich posters when he was twelve? That guy! *Leonard Elschenbroich flashes a smile & points his thumbs to his chest*. Who recorded Shostakovich's Viola Sonata transcribed for cello for his upcoming disc? That guy! Who thinks it’s mo...
Bingo! You came to the Met from Europe, you stayed for several months. You crossed the ocean by ship. You traveled by train in Europe. "Enforced rest" is exactly it.
And if you're the same Oroveso I have encountered on another blog, hello!
Sir Tony slams "don't care" cancellers
Antonio Pappano had a fierce word or three for singers who pull out of productions at today's Royal Opera House press conference. Reuters reports: "It happens a lot," he told reporters, referring to cancellations. "It happens more and more. There's something about this generation of singers,...
Interesting in that you saw it as aloof whereas I saw it as a warm portrayal. I like that people have different responses to a performance. I don't have the musical or historical background that you do so it does give me cause to think. But I have seen Mattei's Don a number of times, both in person and on video, so I've come to my view through his evolution of the part.
And just in case anyone wants a look at him offstage:
http://tinyurl.com/cws2ov6
Alagna Being Frank
Singers aren't bashful about naming their heroes and gatekeepers of the past, especially not Roberto Alagna, who toasts Frank Sinatra in mauve velvet.
Well, he's certainly the changed the perception of Amfortas which has been generally sung by older (and aging) bass-baritones and basses. (Not to mention he, being a lyric baritone, had a different coloring in his voice.) Gerald Finley takes on the role next year at ROH and I hope that is streamed by Covent Garden; I'd be interested in seeing his take on the role.
Alagna Being Frank
Singers aren't bashful about naming their heroes and gatekeepers of the past, especially not Roberto Alagna, who toasts Frank Sinatra in mauve velvet.
OC, Mattei was part of the Singer's Studio interviews at the Met a few weeks ago which I attended and I asked him about that DG. Right before the Scala opening he had to jump into the Met's production for an injured Marius Kwieczen and had very little rehearsal time so no time to develop a characterization in sync with the production. Then onto La Scala where his Don was one of the sweeter portrayals (particularly in recent years in which very dark Dons seem to be the norm) and then a couple of months later he was in Paris for the second revival of the Haneke production which is as far from the Carsen Don as you can get. He said that he was happy to help the Met but personally wasn't satisfied in that he had to concentrate on remembering the staging. He loved the Carsen staging (I think it suits his essentially sunny personality); he said this Don was like air; everyone wanted him but he couldn't be contained. I asked him if he had difficulty making the transition back to Haneke but he said no. In fact, Scala helped him to return to Paris - he has been the only one to sing the Don in that staging - it took him to a very dark place).
Incidentally, Mattei has worked with some amazing directors: Ingmar Bergmann, Peter Brook, Michael Haneke.
Alagna Being Frank
Singers aren't bashful about naming their heroes and gatekeepers of the past, especially not Roberto Alagna, who toasts Frank Sinatra in mauve velvet.
Mattei is my favorite singer so I'm biased. I think that he plays with the lyrics as much as he can for someone who speaks English as a (second, third?) language. He is charming and disarming. There's a whole bunch of these videos on YouTube from a Paris concert he had done with Anne-Sophie von Otter several years ago.
Alagna Being Frank
Singers aren't bashful about naming their heroes and gatekeepers of the past, especially not Roberto Alagna, who toasts Frank Sinatra in mauve velvet.
And for my favorite take on an opera/lieder singer channelling Sinatra:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDhg6-D4VZM
Alagna Being Frank
Singers aren't bashful about naming their heroes and gatekeepers of the past, especially not Roberto Alagna, who toasts Frank Sinatra in mauve velvet.
Thank you OC! And a melancholy note. The three great post-Pears Britten tenors are not here to celebrate this centenary: my beloved Philip Langridge, Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Robert Tear. It's always lovely to hear each successive generation and I'm looking forward to them but a sadness that the above three gentlemen are not with us to join in.
Benjamming with Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival
Wanna tell the whole Wagner/Verdi 2013 bicentennial onslaught to suck it? Then head to the Suffolk Coast this summer for the 66th edition of Benjamin Britten's Aldeburgh Festival. On June 7, Britten's centenary will commence with sixteen days of concerts and performances, like Peter Grimes an...
I hereby deputize you to attend the ENO performance in my place.
And if I recall correctly, that Warner staging (with Bostridge) was supposed to be part of Gerard Mortier's aborted first season at NYCO.
Obviously, As You Know, Wagner + Dresden
Over the past years of OC’s Milan residency, she’s blazed Halley’s Comet-sized trails across the Lambrusco-soaked, spalla cotta-splattered Verdi country – Parma, Roncole Verdi, Busseto – and all the precious Emilia-Romagna farmlands obscured in fog, set to a soundtrack of Bergonzi and Nucci. W...
Funny you should mention Venice. My favorite singer is (and I will always refer to him in the present tense) Philip Langridge and von Aschenbach was his final Britten triumph. But I never got the chance to see/hear him in the role (thanks partly to the Met audience who seem to dislike Britten) and I don't think I could bear to see anyone else without having first seen Philip.
Obviously, As You Know, Wagner + Dresden
Over the past years of OC’s Milan residency, she’s blazed Halley’s Comet-sized trails across the Lambrusco-soaked, spalla cotta-splattered Verdi country – Parma, Roncole Verdi, Busseto – and all the precious Emilia-Romagna farmlands obscured in fog, set to a soundtrack of Bergonzi and Nucci. W...
The whole world will be concentrating on Verdi and Wagner that, except for the UK, I'm afraid Britten might get lost.
Obviously, As You Know, Wagner + Dresden
Over the past years of OC’s Milan residency, she’s blazed Halley’s Comet-sized trails across the Lambrusco-soaked, spalla cotta-splattered Verdi country – Parma, Roncole Verdi, Busseto – and all the precious Emilia-Romagna farmlands obscured in fog, set to a soundtrack of Bergonzi and Nucci. W...
I salute these towering geniuses but I'm concentrating on the Benjamin Britten centenary myself.
Obviously, As You Know, Wagner + Dresden
Over the past years of OC’s Milan residency, she’s blazed Halley’s Comet-sized trails across the Lambrusco-soaked, spalla cotta-splattered Verdi country – Parma, Roncole Verdi, Busseto – and all the precious Emilia-Romagna farmlands obscured in fog, set to a soundtrack of Bergonzi and Nucci. W...
Wow, James Frain really was the right casting for Maestro Danny in HILARY AND JACKIE. And good for Germany (but boo for they're insistence on fiscal austerity in the EU).
Daniel Barenboim scores a €20m birthday present
The news that the German government are to fund the maestro to the tune of 20 million euros comes just a few days before his 70th birthday. But he can't blow it all on ping pong and cigars. Instead, the cash, spread over four years, will support the activities of Barenboim's West-Eastern Div...
Sheila, three years ago I sent a letter in English to the Festival requesting a ticket form. The form came in late August of that year and the form had to be at Bayreuth by the end of October. Last year they sent the form but also included codes for online ordering. This year they sent the form again along with the codes and now with an option to receive the Festival's brochure via email. Since I live in the US it makes it much easier to order this way since I don't have to worry about the length of time it takes the mail to get to Germany. Haven't received tickets yet but knew I needed to start ordering in order to get in the queue. Once you order you automatically receive the form the next year.
System error cocks up Bayreuth ticket sales
Were you one of those hopefuls who tried (and failed) to buy tickets for the open-to-all Bayreuth Rheingold that went on sale on 10 October? Then you will be infuriated to learn that you may have missed out purely because of a system balls-up of Covent Garden proportions. According to the ...
OC, I thought of you immediately when I saw the notice (via the Royal Philharmonic Society). Opera Company of Philadelphia staged the American premiere of PHAEDRA and then the next year performed ELEGY FOR YOUNG LOVERS as part of the Curtis/OCP series. They were extraordinary productions (although I think the Curtis artists were too young to give the full intensity of the characterizations). I've been saying that a small blessing is that Herr Henze was alert and active to the end of his productive and remarkable life.
Hans Werner Henze, 1926 - 2012
Hans Werner Henze, possibly the greatest composer of the post-WWII years, a true gentleman (and a dog lover) passed away today at the age of 86. The sense of loss is just too overwhelming, as of now, to add much more -- Opera Chic was lucky enough to meet the great man in Florence at the "P...
This piece and Paul Krugman's regarding the Republicans disdain for workers are pretty much anyone needs to know about the Romney/Ryan ticket and the current Republican party.
“The working poor haven’t abdicated responsibility for their lives. They’re drowning in it…”
The quotable Ezra Klein on Romney and the 47 percent: Still, for my money, the worst of Romney’s comments were these: “My job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” When he said this, Romney didn’t ju...
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