Ambroise Thomas (1811-1896)

Francophilia makes a New York comeback

BY MARION LIGNANA ROSENBERG [Newsday, 11 Apr 05]

Once upon a time, Freedom Fries didn't exist, no one made apologies for charm and grace, and operas like Ambroise Thomas' "Mignon" (1866, revised 1870) ruled the boards.

As it happens, April 2005 is a throwback to those innocent days of musical Francophilia in New York. The Philharmonic just performed "Damnation of Faust" by Berlioz; a new staging of Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers" opened yesterday at New York City Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera presents Gounod's once-ubiquitous "Faust" with a promising cast later this month.

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A Lucky Experience

BY JAY NORDLINGER [NY Sun, 11 Apr 05]
April 11, 2005
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/12027

Last week at Carnegie Hall, the Opera Orchestra of New York presented a rarity that used not to be a rarity: Ambroise Thomas's "Mignon." A few arias have always been familiar - "Connaistu le pays," for one, and "Jesuis Titania," for another - but the opera itself has fallen into disuse. Thomas's "other" opera, "Hamlet," has also become a rarity. But the Opera Orchestra of New York, under its founder-conductor Eve Queler, is always unearthing rarities, and giving us doses of the familiar, too. This is a valuable institution.

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