BEYOND THE GOLD CURTAIN.(Brief Article)

"Today the proudest brevet which any artist can claim is `of the Metropolitan Opera Company.'... It could not be other than a feather in the cap of the Metropolitan that its title is spread across the United States and beyond the sea as synonymous with the highest standards of operatic production." (Behind the Gold Curtain: The Story of the Metropolitan Opera: 1883 to 1950) Written fifty years ago by my predecessor, Mary Ellis Peltz, that orotund encomium still holds true. It is a distinction to sing at the Met, which is why some performers who rarely put on a costume still will tailor their schedule to include a stop at Lincoln Center. Just last month, for example, Luciano Pavarotti programmed a break from his concert routine for a handful of Aidas at the Met. Why? A simple recognition of the power of the brand.

This issue of OPERA NEWS is full of articles about singers who can boast Mrs. Peltz's "proudest brevet," yet we are writing about them not because of their doings at the Met but because what they are doing elsewhere is noteworthy. This is partly attributable to the fact that the Met is a national company: its artists are at the top of their profession and make news wherever they appear. Another factor is that, thanks in part to the Met and the Texaco--Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts, opera is thriving nationwide as never before. One consequence is that any magazine claiming to cover opera must have a national focus.

This month we roam farther afield than usual. Our cover subject, Cecilia Bartoli, was supposed to sing at the Met's Pension Fund concert in October last year but was forced by illness to cancel. Her only New York appearances, however, seem bound to make news: two Carnegie Hall dates, including a recital in which she will be partnered by the redoubtable Daniel Barenboim. Voice aficionado and playwright Albert Innaurato tracked Bartoli down at a hard-to-find apartment in Zurich last spring. His report on their dinner together begins on page 22. Aprile Millo, a Met artist for seventeen years, is slated to sing just a few performances of Tosca during the company's parks season in the spring; but she appeared in the same opera with Connecticut Grand Opera last ...