Wednesday, September 26, 2007
On a lighter note, the opening performance was a new production of the Bel Canto opera “Lucia di lammermore”. It’s not my favorite opera, per se, because it's all about – as its name implies – beautiful singing, which means the music is, perhaps, more in the service of the singer than sweeping you into a story. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the opera: it is famed for its soprano-crushing mad scene and difficult passages. At worst, it can be simply a singer’s showpiece, which is always fun.
For what it’s worth, the Met really had something to open the season with. The production was nothing special, but the singers were excellent. And with the light coloratura soprano, Natalie Dessay, kicking some serious ass, I’d heard one of the longest ovations at the Met in while. High notes will always bring a house down and Dessay tossed them into the rafters without a problem, and without being swallowed by the Met’s 4k seat auditorium. At the end of the performance she got her time in the sun – a reminder that the Met is, above all, a singer’s house, and its audience expects it. Read about it in the New York Times (A Grand Opening at the Opera and Falling Leaves, Stars on the Red Carpet: It’s Opera Season ).
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I’m gearing up for the new opera season, which for me is kicked off with the Met’s opening night on Monday. A new production of "Lucia di Lammermoor" is the chosen event and stars the coloratura soprano, Natalie Dessay.
I’m hoping Dessay tears it up. . . . Last year’s Madama Butterfly, while wonderful, lacked the awe that, say, Renee Fleming had a few years back when she did her first Traviata. There was no diva element. Nonetheless, I will certainly LOVE to hear the opera’s mad scene, where Dessay must convince the audience she is crazy enough to kill her bridegroom and stumble around in the town square with a bloody dress (waving a knife) while singing a duet with a flute.
But the rest of the season is chalk full of diva-dom. What am I going to see??? Glad you asked. Renee Flemming brings her “Traviata” back to us (thank GOD!!!); Angela Brown, virtually unknown to the opera world until she filled in as Aida, makes her company debut as, you guessed it, “Aida” and also sings “Un Ballo in Maschera;” Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” and “Die Entführung aus dem Serail” (which I’ve never seen) are on my subscription; Mom and her friend Paula coming in before the holidays to see “War & Peace”, “Romeo et Juliet” and “Ballo” with me. Mom returns in February to see a set of operas I’m EXTERMELY excited about: “Otello” and “Die Walkure” – both have dream team casts, and are operas that --in my opinion-- contain some of the best music ever written. We are also seeing Barbiere, which will be difficult to top last year’s, but we had an evening to kill. Other notable things is a new production of “Hansel un Gretel” that looks pretty cool and “Ernani,” which is not performed too often these days.
Of course, these operas are only about 1/3 of what the Met stages, and you know I can always be counted on seeing La Boheme, and some of the other staples. There’s also three other new productions I’d like to check out there.
Bring it on!!
Monday, September 17, 2007
For all the years I’ve heard the term “Bridge and Tunnel” used in this city it’s never been in a nice way. You see, paying an astronomical amount of rent comes with certain rights: I live in the city and so and so is bridge and tunnel. In short, this means, I can afford roughly twice the amount of rent, don’t talk funny, am cultured, have cooler friends and pay more for designer clothing that comes shredded and worn out. Thank God I never used that term in that context because, starting Saturday, that would be what literary types call poetic justice.
As readers (reader??) of this blog know, recent rent increase have sickened me to the extent that I’ve decided to move out to Brooklyn. And no, not “cool” Brooklyn, with its views of lower Manhattan where artists and other bohemian-types live, I am talking cut-my-rent-in-half, hour-plus-subway-rides-into-Manhattan, lawn-furniture-and-ceramic-geese, way-the-fuck-out-there, near-the-Atlantic-Ocean Brooklyn.
I have to say there’s a liberating feeling after the move. For the time being, it means a real income boost that should allow me to save a hell of a lot more money, a good excuse not to do things with friends during the week, and to go in instead of staying out late. I’ve not look at the bright side only because I’d been pretty stressed out about details of the move: not having a deadbolt key, signing the lease, retaining movers, packing, etc., etc., etc.
Finally that dreaded day came over the weekend where I could have been locked out, had movers that never came, have rained cats and dogs, not have had enough boxes, movers getting lost to Bay Ridge, etc., etc., etc. To my suprise tt came, and, instead, it went off quietly, without any problems, went on-time, and ultimately under budget.
More about Brooklyn, and other things, to come. . .
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Missing our new friends, but like troopers, we carried on that weekend. And the weekend came and along with it, primma donna absoluta, Rob’s new b/f. Suffice it to say that they had issues, and there was a considerable amount of tension in the house. So I headed out to a bar (where else) to escape the wrath of Rob. And what would seem like a blemish on the perfect weekend was actually opportunity knocking – a romance of my own rose from the ashes there. (I’m being vague on purpose.)
Friday, September 07, 2007
Luciano Pavarotti, Dies at 71
He was one of the best tenors of recorded history, and did much for his art. The death of Sills and him are a one-two punch for the opera. The New York Times comments:
"Like Enrico Caruso and Jenny Lind before him, Mr. Pavarotti extended his presence far beyond the limits of Italian opera. He became a titan of pop culture. Millions saw him on television and found in his expansive personality, childlike charm and generous figure a link to an art form with which many had only a glancing familiarity."
