Parsifal

More on the Met’s Problems

August 14, 2026

In this post and the one to follow, I will discuss two problems that are characteristic of the difficulties that have accumulated to the point where the continued existence of one of America’s cultural treasures is threatened or at least seriously challenged. One, the subject of this discussion, is beyond the control of the company. […]

Klaus Florian Vogt

February 3, 2018

Klaus Florian Vogt is a German 47 year old tenor who is about to take the title role in Wagner’s Parsifal during the Met’s upcoming run of the opera. The subject of a feature article in this month’s Opera News, Vogt started his musical life as a horn player in the Hamburg Philharmonic (1988-97). After […]

Marilyn Horne’s Birthday

January 16, 2013

The great American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne was born this day in 1934. To mark the occasion here are five photos of this outstanding artist taken by Robert Cahen.

Das Rheingold in HD

October 10, 2010

On Saturday October 9 the Metropolitan Opera presented its first HD telecast of the 2010-11 season with its new production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the opera that opened the Met’s current season. Robert Lepage’s production which uses computerized projections, shifting platforms, and flashy lighting has attracted much attention. The set which is little more than […]

The Ghost in the Machine – A Cautionary Tale

July 5, 2010

It all started a couple of years ago on a Saturday afternoon. I turned on the radio to listen to the weekly Metropolitan Opera broadcast, forgetting that Parsifal was scheduled. Being comfortably settled in a stuffed reclining chair, I was too lazy to turn the radio off. Besides, nothing can put you to sleep faster […]

Parsifal Redux

January 14, 2008

Some years ago I wrote about my bout with Parsifal. I had become Parsifal positive. I was only exposed once. Most people can listen to Parsifal many times without becoming positive. What bad luck. After years of treatment, I licked it and have been Parsifal negative for more than five years. Obviously, I am not […]