Category Archives: Opera
Verdi’s Macbeth Opens Met Season
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd September 2026A new production of Verdi’s first Shakespeare based opera opened the 26-27 season last night. The cast was headed by Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen. Obviously I’ll have to wait until Oct 17 to see the production as it is the second opera of this season’s Met in HD series. The performance was broadcast on…
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French Operas By Italian Composers
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 13th September 2026Paris was the center of Western Culture in the 19th century. It was for this reason that Italian composers were eager to write new works for the city’s major theaters. Many of the important composers of that era were fluent in French making the task of writing a “French” opera relatively easy. Here are four…
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The Verdi Requiem – 2026
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th September 2026The Lubbock Symphony Orchestra will perform the Verdi Requiem at the Buddy Holly Hall on Oct 15. Tickets may be purchased here. Below are the program notes I wrote for the concert. Pianse ed amò per tutti (He wept and loved for everyone)Gabriele D’AnnunzioOn the occasion of Verdi’s death D’Annunzio (a poet and playwright) understood…
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The Metropolitan Opera Archives
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 16th August 2026The performance history (1883-1985) of the Met was compiled in print and released in the massive Annals of the Metropolitan Opera in 1989. It was published in two volumes. The first was Chronology 1883-1985, while the second was Tables 1883-1985. I had a copy of the print edition that I used frequently. In 2005 the…
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Samuel Ramey
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 8th August 2026Samuel Ramey occupies a special place among American opera singers. While he’s appeared in several posts on this site, I have not yet devoted an entire article to his exceptional career. At a time when international operatic stardom was still largely associated with tenors and sopranos, he became one of the rare basses whose name…
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Fifteen One-Aria Operas
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th July 2026My subject is operas that are known almost entirely because of one hit aria. Without the tune, they would be virtually invisible. Below are 15 arias that I think fit the description just given. Catalani’s Ebben? Ne andrò lontana from the first act of La Wally is probably the supreme example of the one-aria opera….
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The AIs and I – We Answer the Same Question
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 11th July 2026I asked two AIs – ChatGPT and Gemini – the same question: In the pantheon of great Italian artists of all kinds, who are the four greatest? First, the answer I came up with and a brief reason for my choice. Here’s what ChatGPT said when asked the above question: (Notice the first person singular…
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Five Preludes
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd June 2026The prelude to the beginning of an opera or to one of its acts differs from an overture in several ways. A prelude is usually, though not always, shorter. It is not a compendium of the work’s hit tunes. It tends to be less formal and more atmospheric. It typically runs directly into the action…
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On the Future of the Metropolitan Opera
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th June 2026I’ve touched on this topic several times before, but as the Met’s future becomes more uncertain every year, I thought a revisit would be worth a few minutes. Basically, there are only two types of problems that confront mankind and his institutions – money and craziness. Of course, the two are often joined as tightly…
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Jerome Hines
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 22nd May 2026Jerome Hines was one of the towering figures of twentieth-century American opera – literally and artistically. Standing more than six and a half feet tall, with a sonorous bass voice of exceptional power and clarity, Hines enjoyed one of the longest and most distinguished careers in the history of the Metropolitan Opera. Yet he was…
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