Tag Archives: Metropolitan Opera
Il Trovatore in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 30th April 2011Verdi’s Il Trovatore is the transcendental Italian opera of the first half of the 19th century. It is the culmination of that style of operatic writing introduced by Rossini and further advanced by Bellini and most importantly for Verdi’s development Donizetti. That Verdi was moving in a new direction was shown by Rigoletto (1851). That…
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Don Carlo in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 12th December 2010Verdi’s flawed, but towering, masterpiece Don Carlo was presented in HD Saturday December 11. There is no definitive version of the opera. Verdi authorized so many different variations on his original that it’s up to each company to choose how they’ll mount the work. Five acts, four acts, French, Italian, a ballet, no ballet, a very long list…
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Don Pasquale in HD Redux
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd December 2010As I was out of the country when Don Pasquale was broadcast live I had to settle for the rerun on December 1. This opera is a gem. What would any opera lover give for a composer who could turn out the wealth of great tunes that fill this work? It was one of the…
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Cesare Siepi 1923-2010
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th July 2010The great bass died in Atlanta on July 5. He came to prominence in the US at the age of 27 when he appeared in Rudolf Bing’s first production as General manager of the Met. He portrayed Phillip II in Verdi’s Don Carlo. This performance (November 6, 1950) opened the season and was telecast. His…
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Zimmerman Booed at the Met
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 2nd March 2009Bellini’s La Sonnambula received its first performance tonight in Mary Zimmerman’s new staging. Much has been made of her decision to move the opera’s locale from a Swiss village to a New York rehearsal hall. Considering her assault on Donizetti’s Lucia Di Lammermoor it seemed foolish to bring her back for another shot at a…
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Ettore Bastianini
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 5th January 2009Ettore Bastianini was born and died in Sienna (1922 – 1967). From 1945 to 1951 he sang as a bass. He was good enough to sing at La Scala. But by ’51 he was convinced that he was a baritone. He reworked his technique and debuted as a baritone in 1952 without a lot of…
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La Damnation de Faust: Berlioz and Video Projection
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd November 2008The Met’s new production of Berlioz’s I don’t know what to call it but it’s a masterpiece La Damnation de Faust was broadcast in HD on Saturday Nov 22, 2008. Robert Lepage directed the show making extensive use of computerized video images. Though Berlioz intended the piece to be a concert work, it has been…
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Doctor Atomic in HD
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th November 2008Doctor Atomic John Adams’ 2005 opera was broadcast today (Nov 8, 2008) in HD. The opera depicts the first atomic explosion in Los Alamos NM in 1945. The libretto by Peter Sellars is a pastiche (crazy quilt might be more accurate) of material written by the opera’s protagonists, Baudelaire, Muriel Rukeyser, John Donne, excerpts from…
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Cesare Valletti
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th October 2008Born in Rome in 1922, Cesare Valletti was the leading tenore di grazia of the 1950’s. A while back Malley Keelan asked me to post something about the late Roman tenor; this is it. Valletti’s tenure at the Met coincided with those of some of the 20th century’s greatest tenors. In 1956, for example, Björling,…
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La Boheme in HD – April 5, 2008
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 7th April 2008How many times can one watch La Boheme without being bored? Apparently it is impossible to be bored by any halfway competent performance of Puccini’s masterpiece. Saturday’s HD performance of Zeffirelli’s venerable staging from the Met was better than the minimum level necessary to ward off ennui. It’s been performed so many times at the…
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