It doesn't feel right to review a free commemorative event like Thursday's Verdi Requiem, so I'll just say this: it was an affecting thing, if not one to efface memories of April 2001. The performers too seemed afterwards quite moved.
But the shiny black ties on the chorus men have to go.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The Met season ahead, part II -- the women
(Part I)
Most of this blog's readers probably already know whom they want to see and hear onstage, and therefore the multiple appearances of (say) Susan Graham in the 2008-2009 season will be self-recommending (or the opposite). Peter Gelb's star-driven casting policy -- by which each of his favored stars seem set for at least two lead roles -- is meant to encourage this sort of easy decision.
For those who aren't so sure, a full advance examination of each leading singer is unfortunately beyond the scope of this blog. Still, a glance at the roster should be fruitful.
Repeat offenders
Of the women featured in more than one show of the 2008-2009 season, Renee Fleming is probably most prominent. She headlines opening night -- three acts from three productions, each featuring her soprano instrument -- as well as one new production (Thaïs) and one revival (Rusalka). All the parts would seem to suit her, except for the bit of Capriccio (her temperament's as far from the Strauss heroine's poise as can be) opening night: the essentially undramatic Rusalka, in particular, is one of Fleming's better -- and, perhaps because the Song to the Moon was her worst part last time, more underappreciated -- vehicles.
Karita Mattila starts the season proper with one of her previous triumphs, Salome, before returning early next year as Tatyana in Onegin. All of her appearances this past decade have been events, but given the conducting issues of the former show (Patrick Summers is now conducting all performances, in place of scheduled debutant Mikko Franck) and the importance of Gergiev's nervous intensity in its original run, the latter revival might be the better bet this season.
Also reprising recent success is Olga Borodina in La Gioconda (as Laura), which per Maury may be changed more than a little by Ewa Podles being this time included. Borodina returns in February in Adriana Lecouvreur.
The first week of the season concludes (after Opening Night, two Salomes, and two Giocondas) with the appearance of another dual-role pillar of the current Met: mezzo Susan Graham, last seen bringing the house down as Sesto in Clemenza. This time, in Marthe Keller's disappointing production of Don Giovanni, Graham makes a house role debut in the more soprano-associated part of Donna Elvira. (Unfortunately, this superior early-season pairing of women -- Krassimira Stoyanova is Anna -- is marred by unbearable ham Erwin Schrott in the title role. More on this in Part III.) In November she returns as Marguerite in a Damnation of Faust that may be the most promising new production of the season.
The following weeks bring yet more double appearances. Diana Damrau's cool virtuosity tries to deal with the vulnerabilities of Lucia and Gilda (in Rigoletto); unsubtle soprano Maria Guleghina sings in Russian for the Queen of Spades (most notable, on the female side, for Felicity Palmer's Countess) and veristic Italian as Adriana Lecouvreur; spotlight-hogger Angela Gheorghiu brings her touring La Rondine and reprises her surprisingly affecting -- at least, it was so nine years ago -- Adina (in Elisir); and mezzo Stephanie Blythe brings a major voice to Gluck's Orfeo and Rusalka's Ježibaba. (Nicole Cabell also sings twice: see below.)
Finally, substitutions have, since the season announcement, put two more women into this category and taken one out. The erratic Andrea Gruber, scheduled to sing Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, was replaced by two already-scheduled mezzos: the great Waltraud Meier (who sang Santuzza's part in the Volpe Gala performance of the Easter Hymn), also appearing as Sieglinde in Ring Cycle 1; and Ildikó Komlósi, last seen as a too-light-voiced Preziosilla, who'll first appear as Herodias in Salome.
The absence, of course, is Anna Netrebko, who was originally supposed to sing all the season's Lucias and a full run of (Massenet's) Manon. When she became pregnant, Manon was replaced by Boheme and Netrebko was replaced by Damrau for the first Lucias and Maija Kovalevska for the first Bohemes. Now Netrebko is out of Boheme entirely, and her only Met appearances will be in a bel canto test not unlike the one she recently bombed. This is partly to be regretted: in Romantic parts her singing's really effective, and the irresistible narcissism of Manon would've been a natural fit. But Kovalevska began here as a natural Mimi, and if her recent Micaela is any sign, she may now be near-ideal. No one should avoid Boheme because Netrebko is out -- quite the opposite.
Debutantes
The number of new faces scheduled in major roles this season is quite small: only two women, in fact, unless one counts Victoria Vizin (unknown to me) as Maddalena. Met Council Finals winner Susanna Phillips is Musetta in a terrifically-cast Boheme, while Cardiff winner Nicole Cabell actually appears twice, first as Pamina in the kids' Magic Flute, and later as the second-cast Adina in Elisir, though only she gets to sing with Joseph Calleja in that show.
Other Notables
Of course one could talk about almost all the other sopranos, mezzos, and contraltos as notable. Some (Podles, Palmer) have already been mentioned. Others (e.g. Petra-Maria Schnitzer and Isabel Leonard in Don Giovanni, Sasha Cooke in Doctor Atomic, Elīna Garanča in Cenerentola) are recent debutantes making important return appearances (with Garanča's seemingly wedged into the schedule at more or less the last minute, perhaps signaling the house's favor).
But to my own personal taste, the most notable (in advance) single appearances of this coming season are, among the women, Anja Harteros as Violetta (La Traviata), Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora (Il Trovatore), and (of course) Natalie Dessay as Amina (La Sonnambula). All are, more or less, new here (Radvanovsky's previous Leonora was nearly a decade back, when she was fresh out of the Lindemann Young Artists Program). Each of the singers has shown glimpses of what we might hear, Harteros in (of all things) Figaro, Radvanovsky in recent Ernanis and a mind-boggling 2005 "D'amor sull'ali rosee", and Dessay... well, see for yourself.
The Missing
One could also go on at endless length about all the singers not, for whatever reason, singing at the Met this season. But of those who've sung here recently, the most glaring absences may be lyric soprano Dorothea Röschmann and mezzo Joyce DiDonato. Röschmann, who doesn't appear in the future seasons rumors and whose only New York appearances appear to be in Carnegie Hall's May Mahler cycle, seems elsewhere to be signing the sort of heavier roles that might not work for her at the Met -- though she'd be a terrific Eva when Meistersinger next comes around. Her ever-communicated spirit and depth of feeling will be missed while she's absent.
DiDonato isn't quite so absent, set for numerous big parts in upcoming years and starring in January's Met Orchestra concert (along with other New York events). But I do wonder why that Cenerentola isn't hers.
Most of this blog's readers probably already know whom they want to see and hear onstage, and therefore the multiple appearances of (say) Susan Graham in the 2008-2009 season will be self-recommending (or the opposite). Peter Gelb's star-driven casting policy -- by which each of his favored stars seem set for at least two lead roles -- is meant to encourage this sort of easy decision.
For those who aren't so sure, a full advance examination of each leading singer is unfortunately beyond the scope of this blog. Still, a glance at the roster should be fruitful.
Repeat offenders
Of the women featured in more than one show of the 2008-2009 season, Renee Fleming is probably most prominent. She headlines opening night -- three acts from three productions, each featuring her soprano instrument -- as well as one new production (Thaïs) and one revival (Rusalka). All the parts would seem to suit her, except for the bit of Capriccio (her temperament's as far from the Strauss heroine's poise as can be) opening night: the essentially undramatic Rusalka, in particular, is one of Fleming's better -- and, perhaps because the Song to the Moon was her worst part last time, more underappreciated -- vehicles.
Karita Mattila starts the season proper with one of her previous triumphs, Salome, before returning early next year as Tatyana in Onegin. All of her appearances this past decade have been events, but given the conducting issues of the former show (Patrick Summers is now conducting all performances, in place of scheduled debutant Mikko Franck) and the importance of Gergiev's nervous intensity in its original run, the latter revival might be the better bet this season.
Also reprising recent success is Olga Borodina in La Gioconda (as Laura), which per Maury may be changed more than a little by Ewa Podles being this time included. Borodina returns in February in Adriana Lecouvreur.
The first week of the season concludes (after Opening Night, two Salomes, and two Giocondas) with the appearance of another dual-role pillar of the current Met: mezzo Susan Graham, last seen bringing the house down as Sesto in Clemenza. This time, in Marthe Keller's disappointing production of Don Giovanni, Graham makes a house role debut in the more soprano-associated part of Donna Elvira. (Unfortunately, this superior early-season pairing of women -- Krassimira Stoyanova is Anna -- is marred by unbearable ham Erwin Schrott in the title role. More on this in Part III.) In November she returns as Marguerite in a Damnation of Faust that may be the most promising new production of the season.
The following weeks bring yet more double appearances. Diana Damrau's cool virtuosity tries to deal with the vulnerabilities of Lucia and Gilda (in Rigoletto); unsubtle soprano Maria Guleghina sings in Russian for the Queen of Spades (most notable, on the female side, for Felicity Palmer's Countess) and veristic Italian as Adriana Lecouvreur; spotlight-hogger Angela Gheorghiu brings her touring La Rondine and reprises her surprisingly affecting -- at least, it was so nine years ago -- Adina (in Elisir); and mezzo Stephanie Blythe brings a major voice to Gluck's Orfeo and Rusalka's Ježibaba. (Nicole Cabell also sings twice: see below.)
Finally, substitutions have, since the season announcement, put two more women into this category and taken one out. The erratic Andrea Gruber, scheduled to sing Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, was replaced by two already-scheduled mezzos: the great Waltraud Meier (who sang Santuzza's part in the Volpe Gala performance of the Easter Hymn), also appearing as Sieglinde in Ring Cycle 1; and Ildikó Komlósi, last seen as a too-light-voiced Preziosilla, who'll first appear as Herodias in Salome.
The absence, of course, is Anna Netrebko, who was originally supposed to sing all the season's Lucias and a full run of (Massenet's) Manon. When she became pregnant, Manon was replaced by Boheme and Netrebko was replaced by Damrau for the first Lucias and Maija Kovalevska for the first Bohemes. Now Netrebko is out of Boheme entirely, and her only Met appearances will be in a bel canto test not unlike the one she recently bombed. This is partly to be regretted: in Romantic parts her singing's really effective, and the irresistible narcissism of Manon would've been a natural fit. But Kovalevska began here as a natural Mimi, and if her recent Micaela is any sign, she may now be near-ideal. No one should avoid Boheme because Netrebko is out -- quite the opposite.
Debutantes
The number of new faces scheduled in major roles this season is quite small: only two women, in fact, unless one counts Victoria Vizin (unknown to me) as Maddalena. Met Council Finals winner Susanna Phillips is Musetta in a terrifically-cast Boheme, while Cardiff winner Nicole Cabell actually appears twice, first as Pamina in the kids' Magic Flute, and later as the second-cast Adina in Elisir, though only she gets to sing with Joseph Calleja in that show.
Other Notables
Of course one could talk about almost all the other sopranos, mezzos, and contraltos as notable. Some (Podles, Palmer) have already been mentioned. Others (e.g. Petra-Maria Schnitzer and Isabel Leonard in Don Giovanni, Sasha Cooke in Doctor Atomic, Elīna Garanča in Cenerentola) are recent debutantes making important return appearances (with Garanča's seemingly wedged into the schedule at more or less the last minute, perhaps signaling the house's favor).
But to my own personal taste, the most notable (in advance) single appearances of this coming season are, among the women, Anja Harteros as Violetta (La Traviata), Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora (Il Trovatore), and (of course) Natalie Dessay as Amina (La Sonnambula). All are, more or less, new here (Radvanovsky's previous Leonora was nearly a decade back, when she was fresh out of the Lindemann Young Artists Program). Each of the singers has shown glimpses of what we might hear, Harteros in (of all things) Figaro, Radvanovsky in recent Ernanis and a mind-boggling 2005 "D'amor sull'ali rosee", and Dessay... well, see for yourself.
The Missing
One could also go on at endless length about all the singers not, for whatever reason, singing at the Met this season. But of those who've sung here recently, the most glaring absences may be lyric soprano Dorothea Röschmann and mezzo Joyce DiDonato. Röschmann, who doesn't appear in the future seasons rumors and whose only New York appearances appear to be in Carnegie Hall's May Mahler cycle, seems elsewhere to be signing the sort of heavier roles that might not work for her at the Met -- though she'd be a terrific Eva when Meistersinger next comes around. Her ever-communicated spirit and depth of feeling will be missed while she's absent.
DiDonato isn't quite so absent, set for numerous big parts in upcoming years and starring in January's Met Orchestra concert (along with other New York events). But I do wonder why that Cenerentola isn't hers.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Lights out? -- addendum
I don't intend to follow the NY Sun in printing stories each day about its own importance and how unfortunate its demise would be, but this letter from Rachel Moore, Executive Director of ABT, seemed noteworthy.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
What lies beneath
Beneath the patina of stability and safety that allows us to live are the facts of change (good and bad), violence, death, evil, and not least heroism.
Lest we forget:
And next time...?
UPDATE: Via Editor & Publisher's blog, a full (and otherwise unreleased here) documentary on that day, and the wish to tidy our memories thereof: The Falling Man.
Lest we forget:
And next time...?
UPDATE: Via Editor & Publisher's blog, a full (and otherwise unreleased here) documentary on that day, and the wish to tidy our memories thereof: The Falling Man.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Burying the lede
Ronald Blum's review of Woody Allen's opera directing debut -- in LA Opera's Gianni Schicchi -- is full of praise, leaving this key fact about the "hilarious and memorable" production hidden in the middle:
As for the rest of Trittico, I'm impressed: Los Angeles -- with Mark Delavan as Michele, Sondra Radvanovsky as Angelica, and Thomas Allen as Schicci -- got a much better cast than we did.
An unexpected ending is added when Buoso's cousin Zita (Jill Grove) returns to the stage and stabs Schicchi as he sings his final notesWhat!? Was no one at the company able to warn Allen that changing the ending like this is a cheap, tired trick?
As for the rest of Trittico, I'm impressed: Los Angeles -- with Mark Delavan as Michele, Sondra Radvanovsky as Angelica, and Thomas Allen as Schicci -- got a much better cast than we did.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Lights out?
Today's New York Sun leads with a story that should depress anyone interested in high culture in the city and elsewhere: the paper itself may go under in a month unless it can find additional financial backers.
Although perhaps not the concentrated blow to opera coverage that was Peter Davis' firing by New York Magazine last summer, the Sun's end would be a dismal result. Its Arts+ section has, on the whole, the best cultural coverage in the city (and probably the country) -- a context that adds value to each individual piece. Its attempt to buck the trend of less high-cultural content rather than more is wholly commendable.
So if any of you happen to know any centimillionaires interested in supporting this sort of thing...
Although perhaps not the concentrated blow to opera coverage that was Peter Davis' firing by New York Magazine last summer, the Sun's end would be a dismal result. Its Arts+ section has, on the whole, the best cultural coverage in the city (and probably the country) -- a context that adds value to each individual piece. Its attempt to buck the trend of less high-cultural content rather than more is wholly commendable.
So if any of you happen to know any centimillionaires interested in supporting this sort of thing...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Met season ahead, part I -- the conductors
Perhaps the greatest performance -- operatic or not -- of the James Levine era here was the Met Orchestra concert of April 29, 2001. Renee Fleming, Olga Borodina, Marcello Giordani, and Rene Pape were soloists that afternoon in an account of Verdi's Requiem still ringing in the ears of those who were there. (All those I've talked to, anyway.) As previously mentioned, Levine, not long upon his own brush with mortality, will lead another performance of that piece next month, with a lesser cast but more specific occasion -- the commemoration of Pavarotti's death.
Tickets to this event will be assigned by a drawing; entries are being accepted now through next week. Despite the early (5PM) start, it should be something.
* * *
Levine also conducts what looks to be the event of the 2008-2009 season: the 125th Anniversary Gala recreating legendary productions of the past. He will also lead part of Opening Night -- less than a month from now -- and some or all performances of just three other things: Damnation of Faust, Gluck's Orfeo, and of course the Ring, which I suppose puts him up to six productions plus galas and three Carnegie Hall concerts. Regrettably, no Mozart operas.
* * *
Other welcome returns are led by Jiři Bělohlávek, whose 2007 Jenůfa was (after some initial roughness) intoxicatingly vital, the most memorable guest-conducting stint I've heard since Christian Thielemann's work on Die Frau ohne Schatten. (Incidentally, the next season's highlight may much depend on whether Fabio Luisi has the pull to get not only Strauss' music but Wernicke's production for Frau revived uncut.) This time Bělohlávek both teams up again with Karita Mattila for Onegin and leads another Czech piece -- Rusalka -- with Renee Fleming. Neither should be missed.
Two others are back in multiple engagements (not counting Opening Night). Marco Armiliato's in Lucia, La Rondine, and Adriana Lecouvreur, and Maurizio Benini in Elisir and Cenerentola. Both Italians are familiar to Met audiences: the former rarely inspiring but always professional, the latter poor to start but showing better in recent years.
* * *
But the season's most notable podium news is its spate of debuts. Scheduled, in order, are Mikko Franck (Salome), Daniele Callegari (Gioconda), Alan Gilbert (Doctor Atomic), Paolo Carignani (Traviata), Daniel Barenboim (Tristan), Lothar Koenigs (Don Giovanni), Riccardo Frizza (Rigoletto and Trovatore), and Pietro Rizzo (Cav/Pag). Apart from old eminence Barenboim (whom I've never much liked in anything but Wagner) and the New York Philharmonic's boss-in-waiting Gilbert, the debutants are relatively young and unknown here. How this new blood does will determine much of the season's success.
Given the uncertainty, it's hard to say how much other, unused conductors will be missed. Among the returnees, I do think Asher Fisch remains as underappreciated as ever, engaged only for the kids' Magic Flute, while the only real disappointment -- Frédéric Chaslin, often dull but blessed with a terrific cast in Boheme -- might have been better-fit for the opera originally scheduled in that spot, Manon (it became Boheme when Netrebko's pregnancy forced her cancellation).
And who's not happy that Placido Domingo's now singing, not conducting in Adriana Lecouvreur? He remains as fine onstage as he is amateurish in the pit.
Tickets to this event will be assigned by a drawing; entries are being accepted now through next week. Despite the early (5PM) start, it should be something.
Levine also conducts what looks to be the event of the 2008-2009 season: the 125th Anniversary Gala recreating legendary productions of the past. He will also lead part of Opening Night -- less than a month from now -- and some or all performances of just three other things: Damnation of Faust, Gluck's Orfeo, and of course the Ring, which I suppose puts him up to six productions plus galas and three Carnegie Hall concerts. Regrettably, no Mozart operas.
Other welcome returns are led by Jiři Bělohlávek, whose 2007 Jenůfa was (after some initial roughness) intoxicatingly vital, the most memorable guest-conducting stint I've heard since Christian Thielemann's work on Die Frau ohne Schatten. (Incidentally, the next season's highlight may much depend on whether Fabio Luisi has the pull to get not only Strauss' music but Wernicke's production for Frau revived uncut.) This time Bělohlávek both teams up again with Karita Mattila for Onegin and leads another Czech piece -- Rusalka -- with Renee Fleming. Neither should be missed.
Two others are back in multiple engagements (not counting Opening Night). Marco Armiliato's in Lucia, La Rondine, and Adriana Lecouvreur, and Maurizio Benini in Elisir and Cenerentola. Both Italians are familiar to Met audiences: the former rarely inspiring but always professional, the latter poor to start but showing better in recent years.
But the season's most notable podium news is its spate of debuts. Scheduled, in order, are Mikko Franck (Salome), Daniele Callegari (Gioconda), Alan Gilbert (Doctor Atomic), Paolo Carignani (Traviata), Daniel Barenboim (Tristan), Lothar Koenigs (Don Giovanni), Riccardo Frizza (Rigoletto and Trovatore), and Pietro Rizzo (Cav/Pag). Apart from old eminence Barenboim (whom I've never much liked in anything but Wagner) and the New York Philharmonic's boss-in-waiting Gilbert, the debutants are relatively young and unknown here. How this new blood does will determine much of the season's success.
Given the uncertainty, it's hard to say how much other, unused conductors will be missed. Among the returnees, I do think Asher Fisch remains as underappreciated as ever, engaged only for the kids' Magic Flute, while the only real disappointment -- Frédéric Chaslin, often dull but blessed with a terrific cast in Boheme -- might have been better-fit for the opera originally scheduled in that spot, Manon (it became Boheme when Netrebko's pregnancy forced her cancellation).
And who's not happy that Placido Domingo's now singing, not conducting in Adriana Lecouvreur? He remains as fine onstage as he is amateurish in the pit.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thumb in the eye
In its own little way, perhaps this bit of propagandizing is as much demonstrative muscle-flexing as the rape of Georgia itself. For as Europe's dependence on Russian petroleum has convinced Putin of his local invincibility, so perhaps arts organizations' reliance on Russian talent, attendance, and support will keep them from responding to this grossly -- and offensively -- political gesture.
Gergiev no longer has any official position at the Met (his tenure as Principal Guest Conductor ended with a concert this spring) and as far as I can see has not been engaged for any of this upcoming season's performances. But it will be interesting to see what, if anything, other companies do.
(It will also be interesting to see if the Russophile trolls that have flooded blogs since this war started will leave their droppings in the comments here.)
UPDATE (8/26): As for what actually happened...
Gergiev no longer has any official position at the Met (his tenure as Principal Guest Conductor ended with a concert this spring) and as far as I can see has not been engaged for any of this upcoming season's performances. But it will be interesting to see what, if anything, other companies do.
(It will also be interesting to see if the Russophile trolls that have flooded blogs since this war started will leave their droppings in the comments here.)
UPDATE (8/26): As for what actually happened...
Monday, August 18, 2008
Hidden price increase
Last week's news of the rebounding dollar and its cause -- imminent recession in Europe, while the US continues in a mere slowdown -- has, of course, the side effect of making transatlantic opera tourism more expensive.
Whether the Met will be noticeably hurt by this reversal of one of the Gelb tenure's favorable winds remains to be seen.
Whether the Met will be noticeably hurt by this reversal of one of the Gelb tenure's favorable winds remains to be seen.
Friday, August 01, 2008
RSS-flavored sidebar
Blogger doesn't make things easy (all sorts of undeclared and undocumented styling of certain elements), but it does make them do-able. Each blog in the sidebar now shows -- and is sorted by -- the time of its most recent post. This does take away a bit of the site's repose, but convenience carries the day for now.
(Though I was able to massage the extra whitespace out of the BlogList widget, some still remains in the Archive list. If anyone knows what Blogger is covertly styling therein, please email or leave a comment.)
(Though I was able to massage the extra whitespace out of the BlogList widget, some still remains in the Archive list. If anyone knows what Blogger is covertly styling therein, please email or leave a comment.)
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Under construction
The Sun -- whose front page today bore this striking photo -- has an article on the work at Lincoln Center, but this post is really a warning about the blog: the sidebar here may look funny over the next few days as I try to adapt the Blog List widget's code to my stylesheet setup. Please bear with me.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Met tech news
First, it seems the Sirius-XM merger will happen.
Second, recent Met moviecasts will appear on EMI DVD. This is going technologically backwards: anyone with a HD DVR could already capture (and, with a bit of know-how, burn) a (somewhat compressed-for-broadcast-feed) 1080i HD version of these presentations. To sell just the non-HD 480p version (that is, DVD) without a simultaneous HD offering (that is, Blu-Ray) is at best uninspiring.
Sometimes the house recognizes it has a tech-forward audience, and sometimes it doesn't.
UPDATE (7/30): A commenter indicates that Blu-Ray versions of the moviecasts may arrive in September as well. Budget for that Playstation now...
Second, recent Met moviecasts will appear on EMI DVD. This is going technologically backwards: anyone with a HD DVR could already capture (and, with a bit of know-how, burn) a (somewhat compressed-for-broadcast-feed) 1080i HD version of these presentations. To sell just the non-HD 480p version (that is, DVD) without a simultaneous HD offering (that is, Blu-Ray) is at best uninspiring.
Sometimes the house recognizes it has a tech-forward audience, and sometimes it doesn't.
UPDATE (7/30): A commenter indicates that Blu-Ray versions of the moviecasts may arrive in September as well. Budget for that Playstation now...
Monday, July 21, 2008
The unquietest months
My plan to post more varied, less event-focused commentary this New York offseason has, I'm afraid, to this point run aground on a perhaps-not-foreseeable thing: the relative dearth of silence. Between extended daylight hours, air conditioners, the school break, and increased liveliness by all, city summer's din all-too-often blunts both music and discursive thoughts thereon.
More important, though, is the absent silence of the opera house itself, which despite frequent complaints is a remarkable thing. Indeed, it's occurred to me that this blog may simply have collected the alternate forms that appear in my head before such pregnant moments turn again into the sound that's written.
Maybe not. In any case, more posts will follow.
More important, though, is the absent silence of the opera house itself, which despite frequent complaints is a remarkable thing. Indeed, it's occurred to me that this blog may simply have collected the alternate forms that appear in my head before such pregnant moments turn again into the sound that's written.
Maybe not. In any case, more posts will follow.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The facelift
Friday's New York Sun explained the construction now consuming Lincoln Center:
The Sun article also includes a rundown of more particular Lincoln Center renovations in the works. Not included are the major (and necessary) Met Opera overhauls -- most notably to the stage turntable -- whose importance inspired then-GM Joe Volpe to nix the big Lincoln Center plan's original iteration. (Are these dead? Are they going on under some other budget?) Included and promising is a projected re-do of the Harmony Atrium, a space across the avenue from Lincoln Center that's now left to bums and rock climbers.
The so-called 65th Street Project includes [...] streetscape elements such as new lighting and signage (including LEDs and plasma screens) and a transformation of the North Plaza, which will include a restaurant roofed with a sloping lawn, a new grove of trees, and a restored reflecting pool.The latter project looks like an expensive solution to a problem that doesn't exist, but perhaps the restaurant portion of the former could make Maury's wish for a post-opera bar spot happen?
The Promenade Project includes a renovation of Josie Robertson Plaza and of the entrance to Lincoln Center from Columbus Avenue. The service road will be dropped below ground so that, instead of dodging cars, visitors will enter Lincoln Center by ascending a new, 171-foot-wide staircase.
The Sun article also includes a rundown of more particular Lincoln Center renovations in the works. Not included are the major (and necessary) Met Opera overhauls -- most notably to the stage turntable -- whose importance inspired then-GM Joe Volpe to nix the big Lincoln Center plan's original iteration. (Are these dead? Are they going on under some other budget?) Included and promising is a projected re-do of the Harmony Atrium, a space across the avenue from Lincoln Center that's now left to bums and rock climbers.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Coming to a train station near you
New York area readers who admired young tenor Michael Fabiano at last year's Met Council Finals can see him over the next three weekends as Alfredo in Opera New Jersey's production of La Traviata. The venue is a stone's throw from the Dinky stop via NJ Transit.
Although the company (formerly New Jersey Opera Theater) is still doing its shows in the tiny (er, intimate) new Berlind Theatre portion of McCarter, casting standards seem pretty impressive for all this summer season's programs.
Although the company (formerly New Jersey Opera Theater) is still doing its shows in the tiny (er, intimate) new Berlind Theatre portion of McCarter, casting standards seem pretty impressive for all this summer season's programs.
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