He was old and foolish, Predicaments not inextricably conjoined. His friends for reasons linked to gain But writ in friendship’s tawdry advertisements Put him on a skewer and turned him hot For a delicacy twixt food and sleep. His pain is Indies spice for sluggish Palates that dine on grief And those that smirk at…
I’ve admired the artistry of Ute Lemper for more than three decades, but always from afar. Last night I got to hear her live for the first time. Her performance at Texas Tech’s Hemmle Recital Hall was underwritten by the Texas Tech Center for Global Communication; it was open to the public at no charge….
The American Psychological Association released its guidelines for psychological practice with boys and men in August of 2018. It seems to have taken a while for these guidelines to trickle down to the lay press. Since the document (it’s below this piece) is more of a political statement than a therapeutic one it’s had the predictable…
I used to watch sports on TV. But doing so is another activity the internet has rendered unnecessary. The three to four hours spent watching a series of commercials interspersed with a few minute of football is time that could be spent in a useful endeavor like a long nap. You could record the game…
The second act of Rigoletto ends with perhaps the most furious music in all opera. The hunchback jester’s daughter, Gilda, has just been raped by the Duke whom she had fallen in love with thinking he was a poor student until reality intruded with awful suddenness. And worse, she still loves him. The Duke having…
Exceptional talent by definition arises infrequently. The young (34) Georgian mezzo-soprano, the subject of this piece, fits into this tight niche. Though she has sung 53 performances at the Met since her debut there in 2011, her recognition as an operatic super nova has come this season the result of appearances as Amneris and the…
OK, I’m guilty. I confess. I really like Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur provided it’s performed by great singers as it was today. No qualifiers like some critics who try to disguise their taste for Adriana as if it were a sugary drink. So what if Cilea repeats a lot of his tunes. They’re all very good….
There are many great entrances in opera. But none seems as compelling, informative, and brief as that of the title character in Verdi’s Otello. Only 12 bars long, it lasts barely more than half a minute yet it defines Otello’s persona with a force and directness that is without peer. Julian Budden in his exegesis…
In my post on the 10 Best Sopranos of the 20th Century I failed to include Renata Tebaldi (1922-2004). Inadvertance is the only reason I can offer for her omission. She came to prominence in the years following the second World War. Toscanini hired her to perform in the reopening of La Scala and her…