The rumored surge in popular demand for yet another opera blog having failed to materialize, a few words about what can be expected here may be in order. That word “critical,” I’d say, is the key. In my dictionary, the first definition of “criticism” reads, “The act of making judgments; analysis of qualities and evaluations Continue reading…
Voice: The “Triune Balance.” Plus: A Note on the “Stauprinzip.”
Today’s article will doubtlessly be of keenest interest to voice professionals—singers, teachers, coaches—but I hope it will also be of use to devotees who may have had little or no vocal training, but who listen closely with an ear cocked toward connoisseurship. I’m always writing about voice in these posts, usually in the context of Continue reading…
Minipost: An Announcement.
My next post in this series will be published a week from today, on Friday, Mar. 6. It will be on aspects of vocal technique, a more refined version of things I’ve written about in the past, and will be entitled Voice: the Triune Balance. Plus: A Note on the “Stauprinzip.” Exactly what these terms mean Continue reading…
Minipost: An Update for “The Puritans.”
Dear devotees, In discussing singers of the baritone role, Riccardo, I somehow neglected to insert the name of Mattia Battistini in the opening, leaving readers to connect the widely space dots farther down. This has now been corrected. My apologies for the confusion this must have caused for many readers. CLO
A Standard for “The Puritans?”
In the Met’s new production of Vincenzo Bellini and Carlo Pepoli’s I Puritani, the signs of trouble for both eye and ear came early, the first arriving with a glance at the program’s list of characters, which revealed the presence of three non-singing figures not to be found in the score’s list of personaggi: a Young Continue reading…
Trying to Get Close to “Arabella”
Arabella, with music by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, returned to the repertory of the Metropolitan Opera this fall in the production directed by Otto Schenk and designed by Günther Schneider-Siemssen (sets) and Milena Canonero (costumes), last seen eleven years ago. It was conducted by Nicholas Carter; the revival stage director Continue reading…