Opera News articles from March 1998

Opera News archives from March 1998

Burning bright.(Deborah Voigt feels that her rise to fame took longer than it appears)(Cover Story)
March 14, 1998... To, many her rise seems meteoric. To her, it seems that it took years. But Deborah Voigt is indisputably one of today's most important stars It's a pretty safe bet that Deborah Voigt, Elsa von Brabant in the Metropolitan Opera's new Robert...

Lohengrin's line: is Wagner's opera a bel canto work in disguise?(some 19th century critics thought that bel cantists were better at performing Wagner's music)
March 14, 1998... "[Adelina] Patti continued her new departure into Wagnerland by singing Elisabeth's prayer from Tannhauser," wrote George Bernard Shaw on July 18, 1894. "Now, if I express some scepticism as to whether Patti cares a snap of her fingers for...

A natural artifice.(Robert Wilson's "Lohengrin" is his debut production with the Metropolitan Opera)
March 14, 1998... In 1976, when Robert Wilson brought Einstein on the Beach to the Met, he had to rent the space himself -- and took a personal loss of more than $100,000. In 1998, things are a little different. No longer known "just" as a creator of...

Her brother's keeper; the bond between Gottfried and Elsa is the heart of "Lohengrin."(the relationship between brother and sister, Gottfried and Elsa, is explored)
March 14, 1998... About fathers and daughters, Wagner has much to tell us, about fathers and sons, much less. Sons who have lost their mothers have a fierce hold on his imagination. But the bond of brother and sister leaves him mostly indifferent. What about...

Wieland's way.(the 1960s stagings of Wieland Wagner)
March 14, 1998... As Robert Wilson's new Lohengrin is unveiled at the met, David McKee recalls another, legendary avant-garde staging from the 1960s One of the great "almost but not quite" episodes in Metropolitan Opera history was its near-brush with Wieland...

Meister builder.(Heinz Fricke directs the Washington Opera)
March 14, 1998... At Washington Opera, the arrival of Placido Domingo last season as artistic director generated a wave of euphoria and a promise of new horizons. In a recent interview, Domingo cited the central aspects of his vision for bringing Washington...

"L'elisir d'amore.(Broadcast of March 14, 1998)(includes another article with another view)(Cover Story)
March 14, 1998... The cast (in order of vocal appearance) Giannetta soprano, Anita Johnson Nemorino tenor, Lucino Pavarotti Adina soprano, Ruth Ann Swenson Sgt. Belcore baritone, Roberto de Candia Dulcamara bass, Paul Plishka...

"Lohengrin."(Broadcast of March 21, 1998)(includes another article giving another view)(Cover Story)
March 14, 1998... THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Herald baritone, Eike Wilm Schulte Heinrich bass, Eric Eric Halfvarson Telramund baritone, Ekkehard Wlaschiha Elsa soprano, Deborah Voigt Lohengrin tenor, Ben Heppner...

Sight and sound: maverick speakers. (loudspeakers)(Evaluation)
March 14, 1998... Some loudspeakers are superb, and nowadays even lesser models are astoundingly good. But so far, none has closed the gap between reproduced music and the real thing. That's why a small bevy of quixotic engineers keeps reinventing the...

Telemann: Orpheus.(Dorothea Roschmann, Ruth Ziesak, Roman Trekel, Werner Gura, Hanno Muller-Brachmann, Berlin Academy of Ancient Music, Rene Jacobs)
March 14, 1998... Roschmann, Ziesak, Kiehr, Poulenard; Trekel, Gura, Kohler, Muller-Brachmann; Berlin Academy of Ancient Music, Jacobs. Libretto & translation. Harmonia Mundi 901618/19 (2) Accepted wisdom holds Georg Philipp Telemann to have been enormously...

Telemann: Damon.(Ann Monoyios, Camille van Lunen, Michael Schopper, Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider)
March 14, 1998... Monoyios, Van Lunen; Gebhardt, Schopper; Stagione Frankfurt, Schneider Libretto & translation. CPO 999429 (3) Georg Philipp Telemann called this a "merry operetta," and it's a romp from start to finish. The full title, Der Neumodische...

Dupuy: Ungdom og Galskab.(Djina Mai-Mai, Peter Gronlund, Poul Elming, Ulrik Cold, Copenhagen Collegium Musicum, Michael Schonwandt)
March 14, 1998... Mai-Mai; Gronlund, Harbo, Elming, Cold, Paevatalu. Copenhagen Collegium Musicum, Schonwandt. Libretto & translation. Marco Polo 8-224066/67 (2) Edouard Dupuy (177-1822) was one of those early-nineteenth-century European composers (in his...

Blumfield: Seasons in Hell.(Randall Gremillion, Phillip Mark Horst, Chad Smith, Cincinnati College of Music, Gerhard Samuel)
March 14, 1998... Kures, Lindell, Saunders; Gremillion, Horts, Smith; Cincinnati College of Music Philharmonia, Samuel. Libretto. Albany 262 (2) Composer Harold Blumenfeld clearly has a thing for Rimbaud: his opera Seasons in Hell is just one of several of...

Mussorgsky: Khovanshchina.(Alexandrina Milcheva, Maria Dimchevska, Dimiter Petkov, Lyubomir Bodurov, Nicola Ghiuselev, Sofia National Opera, Atanas Margaritov)
March 14, 1998... Milcheva, Dimchevska, Dobrianova; Petkov, Kostov, Bodurov, Ghiuselev; Sofia National Opera, Margaritov (1978). No libretto. Capriccio 10789/91 (3) Any opera that sets out, in two and a half hours, to dramatize a subject as broad and complex...

Rimsky-Korsakov: May Night.(Tatyana Erastova, Vladimir Bogachov, Alexander Lazarev)
March 14, 1998... Brilova, Erastova, Borisova; Bogachov, Kudriachov, Mikhailov, Matorin, Krutikov; Cologne Radio, Lazarev. No libretto. Capriccio 10-792/93 (2) May Night (1880), Rimsky-Korsakov's second complete opera and one of his most ingratiating, is...

Gounod: Faust.(Pierrette Alarie, Liliane Berton, Suze Leal, Leopold Simoneau, Paul Bicos, Heinz Rehfuss, Vienna Opera, Festival Orchestra, Gianfanco Rivoli)
March 14, 1998... Alarie, Berton, Leal; Simoneau:, Bicos, Rehfuss; Vienna Opera Chorus, Festival Orchestra, Rivoli (1957). No libretto. VAI Audio 1143 (3) The Canadian tenor Leopold Simoneau, with his full-bodied lyric voice and French-schooled, head-based...

Strauss, J.: Die Fledermaus.(Emile Herzog, Marie Dietrich, Ida von Scheele-Muller, Robert Philipp, Julius Lieban, Berlin Court Opera)
March 14, 1998... Herzog, Dietrich, Scheele-Muller; Philipp, Lieban, Begemann; Berlin Court Opera, Seidler-Winkler (1907). No libretto. Preiser LV-89970 (2) Lacking only the overture and taking only minor cuts, mainly in Act I, this is a virtually complete...

The American Opera Singer.
March 14, 1998... ARIAS & DUETS. No texts. RCA 09026-68921 (2) This companion album to Peter G. Davis' recent book of the same title manages to convey more objective information about its featured singers than does the 626-page book. Though limited to...

Fussell: Being Music/Specimen Days. (Sanford Sylvan, Lydian Quartet, Cantata Singers)
March 14, 1998... Sylvan, Lydian Quartet, Cantata Singers, Hoose. Texts. Koch 3-7338-2 The poetry of Walt Whitman has inspired both of these substantial new works for baritone. Being Music, for baritone and string quartet, is a true piece of chamber music,...

Recordings (1908-19).(Paul Payan)
March 14, 1998... RECORDINGS (1908-19). No notes or texts. Minerva A-59 Despite the age of these acoustic recordings, the depth and majesty of Paul Payan's bass comes through with vivid presence. It's a voice of interesting color, with a solid core yet more...

Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore.(Eisenhower Theater, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.)
March 14, 1998... Washington Opera's staging of L'Elisir d'Amore, a coproduction with L. A. Opera and the Grand Theatre de Geneve, had sets and costumes by Johan Engel, who conceived the action in and around a large barn. Though director Stephen Lawless subtly...

Strauss, R.: Agyptische Helena.(Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York, New York)
March 14, 1998... In Agyptische Helena, Hugo von Hofmannsthal's odd sequel to the Trojan War, the cuckolded Menelas is led to believe that Helena's magical body double, not the real Helena, ran off with Paris. When this alibi backfires, Helena and her husband...

Argento: Postcard from Morocco.(Manhattan School of Music, New York, New York)
March 14, 1998... Dominick Argento's Postcard from Morocco is a treasure of contemporary American opera. Ideal for conservatories, this one-act marvel gives young performers and musicians an opportunity to work on a complex, entertaining modern piece. Manhattan...

Vaughn Williams: Hugh the Drover.(John Jay College Theater, New York, New York)
March 14, 1998... The Bronx Opera began its thirtieth season in January with four performances of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Hugh the Drover. Seen January 16 at Manhattan's John Jay College Theater, this was a staging of considerable integrity, showing the company...

Boieldieu: La Dame Blanche.(Patricia Corbett Theater, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Cincinnati, Ohio)
March 14, 1998... Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's revival of Francois-Adrien Boieldieu's rarely heard La Dame Blanche was both a shock and a marvelous treat as presented at the Patricia Corbett Theater on January 9, 10, 11. A clever new translation by...

Puccini: Tosca.(Des Moines Civic Center, Des Moines, Iowa)
March 14, 1998... Des Moines Metro Opera accomplished much with its Tosca, handsomely staged in the Des Moines Civic Center on January 16 and 17 as a capstone to its twenty-fifth year of producing opera in its intimate summer-festival theater in nearby Indianola....

Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore.(Seattle, Washington)
March 14, 1998... Seattle Opera's L'Elisir d'Amore (Jan. 10) was dedicated to the memory of Margaret Harshaw, whose pupil Vinson Cole carried the show. His Nemorino was sung with the tenor's customary dulcet tones and crystal-clear communication of the text and...

Puccini: La Boheme.(Costa Mesa, California)
March 14, 1998... A solid cast straightforward production values hardly seem the stuff of great opera, yet those were the chief virtues of Opera Pacific's recent (Jan. 6-11) La Boheme. In a staging that borrowed sets from San Francisco and costumes from Seattle,...

Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander.(Tarrant County Convention Center, Fort Worth, Texas)
March 14, 1998... Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander provided perhaps the most satisfying evening yet of William Walker's six years as general director. Staged January 9, 11 against cleverly lit, masked and patched sets from a fussy old New Orleans Opera production,...

Rota: Il Cappello di Paglia di Firenze.(Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Italy)
March 14, 1998... The Italian composer Nino Rota (1911-79) is best known for his soundtracks of films by Fellini, Visconti and Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather), with their memorably naive melodies. He also composed a number of operas, of which Il Cappello di...

Wagner: Die Feen.(Teatro Comunale, Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy)
March 14, 1998... Wagner's Die Feen (The Fairies), composed when he was barely twenty and never performed during his lifetime, has been staged only sporadically since. Cagliari's season-opening production at the recently built Teatro Comunale was the first ever in...

The Venice Adriana.
March 14, 1998... by Ethan Mordden St. Martin's Press, 294 pp. $23.95 Is there a contemporary writer more prolific than Ethan Mordden? His latest novel, The Venice Adriana, puts his total book output at twenty-six. Is he surgically attached to that word...

Strauss, R. Salome.(Catherine Malfitano, Anja Silja, Kenneth Riegel, Bryn Terfel, Royal Opera, Christoph von Dohnanyi)
March 14, 1998... Malfitano, Silja; Riegel, Terfel; Royal Opera (Covent Garden); Dohnanyi. London VHS 074 205-3, 109 mins. In German, subtitled (also available on CD 444 178-2) Veils are everywhere in French director Luc Bondy's famous Salzburg Salome,...

Does beauty matter?(priorities in opera have changed from the early 20th century regarding beauty or opera singers)
March 14, 1998... Leafing through the first two volumes of Michael Scott's The Record of Singing the other day, I was struck by the comparatively low incidence of pretty faces among golden-age singers. Most of the attractive women singers from the first part of...

Viewpoint: Diamond Ned Rorem.(Rorem premiered his new work of 36 songs for four voices under commission of the New York Festival of Song and the Library of Congress)(Editorial)
March 28, 1998... Ned Rorem has earned many laurels throughout his long career as a composer, but it is ironic that his Pulitzer Prize, in 1976, was given for an orchestral work, Air Music. It is on his enormous body of song literature that Rorem's reputation...

Return engagement.(Joan Sutherland revisits New York after writing autobiography)(Interview)
March 28, 1998... It was 1982, and Joan Sutherland had just returned to the Metropolitan Opera in Lucia di Lammermoor after an absence of far too long. It seemed that everyone I knew was racing to every performance of Lucia. The year after that, it was La Fille du...

Wheel of fortune: the revolving fates of "Stiffelio" and "Romeo et Juliette."(the operas were not being performed forty years ago)
March 28, 1998... The two broadcast operas featured in this issue of OPERA NEWS enjoy some prominence in today's international repertory. But think back to forty years ago. Gounod's Romeo et Juliette was in the middle of a twenty-year absence from the Met, a...

That's Italian?(a study of classic singing traditions remaining in Italy)(Cover Story)
March 28, 1998... Italian opera is a genre that thrives as much on nostalgia as on a desire for novelty, and it tends to attribute an aura of legend to the interprets of the past. This myth-making process invariably feeds on discontent with contemporary...

Bad boy makes good.(George Antheil's opera "Transatlantic" produced)
March 28, 1998... Yes, folks, it's yet another political docu-opera, with a contemporary setting, telling a story as fresh as the headlines. A presidential campaign has sunk into a quagmire of corruption. A millionaire oft baron is buying electoral victory; by...

The real Salieri.(Antonio Salieri's opera "Falstaff" is being revived in Italy)
March 28, 1998... Trivia question: what opera inaugurated the Teatro alla Scala? Answer: Europa Riconosciuta, libretto by Mattia Verazi, music by Antonio Salieri. Although La Scala's traditional season opening has always been December 7 (the feast day of Sant'...

In a week, maybe two, they'll make you a star.(Irene Dalis trains singers at the Opera San Jose)
March 28, 1998... Two decades after retiring from the Metropolitan Opera stage, Irene Dalis retains the commanding presence and ringing tones of a diva. But the formidable energies that made Dalis one of the world's leading mezzos are nowadays devoted to her...

Romeo et Juliette.(Broadcast of March 28, 1998)(includes related article another view of the story)(Cover Story)
March 28, 1998... THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Tybalt tenor, William Burden Paris baritone, Jung-Hack Seo Capulet bass, Alan Held Juliette soprano, Angela Gheorghiu Mercutio baritone, Russell...

Stiffelio.(Broadcast of April 4, 1998)(includes related article presenting another view)
March 28, 1998... THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Jorg bass, Paul Plishka Stiffelio tenor, Placido Domingo Stankar baritone, Vladimir Chernov Dorotea soprano, Sondra Radvanovsky Raffaele tenor, Martin Thompson Federico ...

Strauss, R.: Die Frau ohne Schatten.(Deborah Voigt, Sabine Hass, Hanna Schwarz, Ben Heppner, Franz Grundheber, Dresden State Opera, Giuseppe Sinopoli)
March 28, 1998... Voigt, Hass, Schwarz; Heppner, Grundheber; Dresden State Opera, Sinopoli. Libretto & translation. Teldec 0630-13156 (3) The drastic abridgment of Strauss' score made familiar in Karl Bohm's later readings is heard in this Teldec album,...

Janacek: Kat'a Kabonova.(Gabriela Benackova, Eva Randova, Dagmar Peckova, Peter Straka, Jozef Kundlak, Ludek Vele, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras)
March 28, 1998... Benackova, Randova, Peckova; Straka, Kopp, Kundlak, Vele; Czech Philharmonic, Mackerras. Libretto & translation. Supraphon 3291-632 (2) Two decades ago, with Elisabeth Soderstrom in the title role, Charles Mackerras recorded this opera for...

Catan: La Hija de Rappaccini.(Olivia Gorra, Brandon Jovanovich, Eduardo Diazmunoz)
March 28, 1998... Gorra, Levin; Jovanovich, Marshall, Rebolledo; Manhattan School Opera Orchestra, Diazmunoz. Libretto & translation. Newport Classic 85623 (2) Nathaniel Hawthorne's Gothic tale Rappaecini's Daughter seems a natural for operatic treatment....

Cherubini: Medee.(Phyllis Treigle, D'Anna Fortunato, Carl Halvorson, David Arnold, Chorus Quotannis, Brewer Chamber Orchestra, Bart Flose)
March 28, 1998... P. Treigle, Fortunato, St. Julien Halvorson, Arnold; Chorus Quotannis Brewer Chamber Orchestra, Folse. Libretto & translation. Newport Classic 85622 (2) Most know this mighty opera in its Italian version, shorn of many of its tragedie...

Rimsky-Korsakov: Boyarinya Vera Sheloga.(Stefka Evstaatieva, Alexandrina Milcheva, Stefka Mineva, Peter Bakardzhiev, Dimiter Stanchev, Bulgarian Radio Symphony, Stoyan Angelov)
March 28, 1998... Evstatieva, Milcheva, Mineva; Bakardzhiev, Stanchev. Bulgarian Radio Symphony, Angelov. No libretto. Capriccio 10762 Boyarinya Vera Sheloga is a one-act orphan, originally the prologue to Pskovityanka (The Maid of Pskov), separated out of...

Stanford: Requiem/Veiled Prophet.(Frances Lucey, Colette McGahon, Peter Kerr, Nigel Leeson-Williams, RTE Choir, National Symphony of Ireland, Adrian Leaper, Colman Pearce)
March 28, 1998... Lucey, McGahon; Kerr, Leeson-Williams; RTE Choir, National Symphony of Ireland, Leaper/Pearce. Texts & translations. Marco Polo 8-223580 (2) Dublin-born Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), a contemporary of Elgar, shared the latter's...

Gounod: Requiem/Ave Maria.(Francis Bardot)
March 28, 1998... Vitale, Deny; Bardot. Forlane 16759 (with Marche Solennelle) Thanks to Charles Gounod's lifelong preoccupation with liturgical music, he produced at least as many sacred as secular compositions. Indeed, during the last twelve years of his...

Mozart: Requiem.(Philippe Herreweghe)
March 28, 1998... Rubens, Markert; Bostridge, Muller-Brachmann; Herreweghe. Harmonia Mundi 901620 Thanks to Charles Gounod's lifelong preoccupation with liturgical music, he produced at least as many sacred as secular compositions. Indeed, during the last...

Falla: El AMor Brujo.(Esperanza Fernandez, Andalusian Youth Orchestra)
March 28, 1998... Fernandez; Mendoza, P. Dominguez, Vargas; Andalusian Youth Orchestra, Udaeta. Text & translation. Also Noches en los Jardines de Espana (Rodriguez Laiz, piano). Almaviva 0120 Those who know El Amor Brujo from discs by opera singers will be...

Gounod: Gallia.(Yolanda Auyanet, Cailla Davidica Chorus, Maurizio Carnelli)
March 28, 1998... Also misc. sacred arias. Auyanet; Capilla Davidica Chorus (Minorca), Barcelo; Reynes (organ), Carnelli (piano). Latin texts only. Kicco 1396 Those who know El Amor Brujo from discs by opera singers will be startled by the vehement, unlovely...

Gounod: Gallia/Tobia.(Cecile Perrin, Marc Duguay, Sorbonne Chorus and Orchestra, Jacques Grimbert)
March 28, 1998... Perrin, Haidan; Duguay, Bernardi; Sorbonne Chorus & Orchestra (Paris), Grimbert. Texts & translations. Marco Polo 8-223892 Those who know El Amor Brujo from discs by opera singers will be startled by the vehement, unlovely but riveting...

Rorem: Women's Voices; Hennessy: Songs.(Heidi Skok, Martin Hennessy)
March 28, 1998... Skok; Hennessy (piano). Texts. Newport Classic 85613 One of the secrets of Ned Rorem's success as a songwriter has been his instinct for picking appropriate poetry. In this cycle of texts by women writers, Rorem adds his own artistic skill...

Songs.(Barbara Bonney)
March 28, 1998... By Argento, Barber, Copland Previn. Previn. London 289455511 The principal thing about Barbara Bonney, besides the resonant beauty of her soprano, is her natural, instinctive sense of singing. There is never a hint of routine or of...

The Acoustic Recordings.(Hedwig Francillo-Kaufmann)
March 28, 1998... No notes or texts. Minerva A-60 This Austrian soprano (1878-1948) was popular in the first three decades of this century as a partner to Caruso and an early Zerbinetta in Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. Her recording of the Ariadne aria in its...

79 Arias and Songs.(Giovanni Manurita)
March 28, 1998... Notes; no texts. Bongiovanni 1147/50 (4) Giovanni Manurita (1895-1984) was a tenore di grazia whose teachers included Emilio Piccoli, one of the teachers of Tito Schipa. There are similarities between the two tenors; while Manurita never...

Schubert: Die Schone Mullerin.(Walther Ludwig)
March 28, 1998... Bohle (piano). No texts. Berlin Classics 0092872 Walther Ludwig made this recording at fifty-five, with a distinguished opera career in Berlin (before WWII) and Vienna (post-war) behind him. Some of the beauty of his robust lyric tenor...

Mozart: Die Zauberflote.(Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, New York, New York)
March 28, 1998... The revival of Die Zauberflote at the Met (seen Jan. 28) brought house debuts by Edo de Waart, who conducted, and Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, the Papageno. Both quickly proved strong assets, but as usual with good performances of this opera,...

Puccini: Madama Butterfly.(Houston, Texas)
March 28, 1998... Director Francesca Zambello was in charge of Houston Grand Opera's winter pair of works. For her first-ever Madama Butterfly, on January 23, she placed as much of the action as possible in Sharpless' office, reverting to Cio-Cio-San's house only...

Britten: Billy Budd.(Houston, Texas)
March 28, 1998... Director Francesca Zambello was in charge of Houston Grand Opera's winter pair of works. For her first-ever Madama Butterfly, on January 23, she placed as much of the action as possible in Sharpless' office, reverting to Cio-Cio-San's house only...

Strauss, R.: Salome.(Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, Los Angeles, California)
March 28, 1998... Maybe absence really does make the heart grow fonder, even when it comes to Richard Strauss' lurid Salome. It's been almost a decade since Peter Hall's creepy staging was last seen at L. A. Opera, but as a recent revival proved, it remains...

Vives: Dona Francisquita.(Washington, D.C.)
March 28, 1998... On January 17 (seen 23), Washington Opera presented Dona Francisquita, its second zarzuela since Placido Domingo took over as artistic director in 1996, with an entire cast of newcomers to the company. Soprano Isabel Monar's experience in the...

Mercadante: Elena da Feltre.(Wexford, Ireland)
March 28, 1998... Wexford in 1997, one of the least engaging festivals here in a long time, confirmed a growing impression that director Luigi Ferrari's artistic policy is heavily slanted toward Italian repertory and singers, with Russian and other Slavic works...

Dargomyzhsky: Rusalka.(Wexford, Ireland)
March 28, 1998... Dargomyzhsky's Rusalka (Oct. 29) -- an unsophisticated Marschner-type fairy story, with good lyrical numbers and peasant atmosphere -- is similar in plot to Dvorak's version. Director Dimitri Bertman and designer Igor Nezny called for a single...

Respighi: La Fiamma.(Wexford, Ireland)
March 28, 1998... Judging by its generous budget, Respighi's La Fiamma (Oct. 30), a 1935 historical romance, whose music occasionally evokes Verklarte Nacht, with B-movie-type scenes of witchcraft, persecution and illicit love, seemed to be Ferrari's main...

Wagner: Der Fliegende Hollander.(Maryinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, Russia)
March 28, 1998... With the success of its first-ever Parsifal last May, the Kirov Opera lost little time in turning to another Wagner work, Der Fliegende Hollander, which was seen for a single performance in St. Petersburg on January 20, before touring to Lisbon....

Richard Cassilly.(Obituary)
March 28, 1998... Washington, D.C., December 14, 1927--Boston, Massachusetts, January 30, 1998 The tenor studied at the Peabody Conservatory and with Rosa Ponselle. His opera debut, in 1955, as Michele in Menotti's Saint of Bleecker Street on Broadway, signaled...

Mozart: Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.(Stuttgart State Opera, Stuttgart, Germany)
March 28, 1998... At fifty-seven, Hans Neuenfels, notorious director of Frankfurt's controversial Aida, Berlin's Il Trovatore and Stuttgart's Die Meistersinger, can no longer claim membership among the enfants terribles of German Musiktheater. Though now an homme...

Bel Canto: The Tenors of the 78 Era.(Enrico Caruso, Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Richard Tauber, Leo Slezak, Joseph Schmidt, Jussi Bjoerling, Lauritz Melchior, Georges Thill)
March 28, 1998... Vol. 1: Caruso, Gigli, Schipa; Vol. 2: Tauber, Slezak, Schmidt; Vol. 3: Bjoerling, Rosvaenge, Melchior; Vol. 4: Thill, Kozlovsky, "The Gramophone." 90 mins. each B&W, Kultur VHS 0094, 0095, 0096, 0097 What a hearthreaking, wasted series of...

Pitch problems.(opera company's are beginning to to use more sexually provocative marketing to reach baby boomers and Gen Xers)
March 28, 1998... Sex sells. It's been moving automobiles and toothpaste for decades, but opera's marketing departments are just discovering it. Why the long wait? From Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea to Berg's Lulu, the best operas have generally...