An American master premieres at City Opera An interview with Charles Wuorinen 10/26/2004 The world premiere of Haroun and the Sea of Stories features an inspired cross-section of artists among…
Category: Commentary
Biographical Note: Angela M. Brown
For a Fill-In Aida, a Triumph Long in Coming By ANNE MIDGETTE [NY Times] Angela M. Brown grew up singing gospel music in her grandfather’s Baptist church in Indianapolis, but…
Appearing at the Met: Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani
Dubious History – Miraculous Music By John Yohalem [Playbill Arts] November 1, 2004 I Vespri Siciliani, a collaboration between Verdi and librettist Eugène Scribe, produced some astounding music–but historical fact…
A New Series on the History of Opera
Signifying Nothing: On the Aesthetics of Pure Voice in Early Venetian Opera Mauro Calcagno[1] Operas written in Venice in the 1640s feature surprisingly long melismas often setting seemingly insignificant words,…
Dario Volonté: A Biographical Note
by Miguel A. DeVirgilio Dario Volonté was born on September 1, 1963, in Buenos Aires, although his family came from a humble household some 250 miles north of the capital,…
An Interview with Ewa Podles
Contralto taking on fresh challenge in ‘Il Trovatore’ By TOM STRINI Journal Sentinel music critic Posted: Nov. 1, 2004 Ewa Podles, a leading international concert and opera contralto, will make…
Peter Gelb and the Met
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Heidi Waleson opines on the future of the Met under Peter Gelb’s leadership. She maintains that, given his background with Sony, this is a radical…
Obstacles to Celebrity
*Brownlee lends voice to the subject of race* By Richard Dyer, Globe Staff | October 31, 2004 African-American divas have swept triumphantly across the international operatic stage for decades, and…
Octavio Roca on Carmen
*Carmen Forever* By Octavio Roca October 19, 2004 Bizet’s legendary heroine still inspires artists and opera lovers. The woman is fascinating, no question about it. Little by little, we are…
Lebrecht on Gelb
How the Met was fixed By Norman Lebrecht / November 11, 2004 The Metropolitan Opera House in New York regards itself, with some justice, as the world’s greatest. In America,…