Exhibitionist (Free subscription) | 4 hours ago
The Music Critics Association of North America has apparently sent a letter to several newspapers. It is linked here....
On An Overgrown Path (Free subscription) | 07/07/2008
There has been surprisingly little discussion of how the credit crunch will impact on classical music. So, as food and fuel prices soar and pensions become the plaything of accountants here are my personal strategies for coping with the credit crunch. * Go to more live music performances and buy less CDs. Recordings can be always be bought in the future, live performances can't. * Support record labels,...
France24 (Free subscription) | yesterday
This year's opera festival in the French city of Aix en Provence presents Mozart's renowned "Così fan tutte". Its director is Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, whose "The taste of cherries" won the 2007 Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival.
My Digital Life (Free subscription) | 07/07/2008
Classical music lovers now has a chance to add more MP3s into the favorite music collection, for free. Amazon is giving away full complete “Very Best of Naxos Early Music” album for free download in MP3 format without any payment. “Very Best of Naxos Early Music” is a compilation album released by Naxos Records, one [...] [ This is a content summary only. Visit My Digital Life or Tip and Trick for...
Opera Today (Free subscription) | 07/07/2008
London’s musical life shuts down for eight weeks while the Proms reign supreme, and no wonder !
Opera Today (Free subscription) | 07/07/2008
My visit to two rarely mounted pieces at the Opera Festival of St. Louis brought to mind the little girl with the curl, for when it was good, it was very very good and when it was bad, it was, um. . .er. . .
Opera Today (Free subscription) | 8 hours ago
John Simon [Bloomberg.com, 8 July 2008] July 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Park Avenue Armory is the site of ``Die Soldaten,'' Bernd Alois Zimmermann's 1965 12-tone opera in a gargantuan production imported to Manhattan from Germany for the Lincoln Center Festival. It fills out what used to be the Drill Hall of the elite Seventh Regiment, whose drills may have been more musical than Zimmermann's opera.
Opera Today (Free subscription) | 8 hours ago
By ALLAN KOZINN [NY Times, 8 July 2008] LENOX, Mass. — James Levine opened the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer season at Tanglewood here exactly as he closed its formal season at Symphony Hall in Boston, with a concert performance of Berlioz’s biggest, meatiest and most hair-raisingly passionate score, the opera “Les Troyens.” As a concession to its five-hour duration, he adopted a time-honored...
Opera Today (Free subscription) | 8 hours ago
By Richard Fairman [Financial Times, 8 July 2008] Did a more intellectual pair ever come together to write an opera than Igor Stravinsky and W.H. Auden? They gave The Rake’s Progress so many reference points to art, music and literature through the ages that Tom Rakewell’s story really does come across as a parable for all time.
The Washington Times (Free subscription) | yesterday
First staged as a Broadway show in 1956, Leonard Bernstein's operetta "Candide" was critically panned and died quickly.
Mrs. Mo's New Jersey, Baby! (Free subscription) | yesterday
When we feed Maddy, we usually have one of our baby classical music compilations running on repeat on iTunes. Now I've added some rocking new baby tunes to the list! There is a series of baby music called Rockabye Baby which has remastered popular rock groups into lullabies. From Coldplay to U2 to Metallica and Queens of the Stoneage, there is something for every future rock star. My favorite is Clocks...
Opera Chic (Free subscription) | yesterday
We were smitten last April when we went to see Bellini's Norma at Teatro Comunale di Bologna. American mezzo-soprano, Kate Aldrich, won over the cynical been-there/done-that audience with a stellar performance of Adalgisa, and left us reeling over our post-opera...
New York Times (Free subscription) | yesterday
James Levine opened the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer season at Tanglewood with a concert performance of Berlioz’s biggest, meatiest and most hair-raisingly passionate score, the opera “Les Troyens.”
Comments for edroso - HaloScan.com (Free subscription) | 07/07/2008
"UPDATE. A dissenting opinion from the Washington Post. "The vocal level was that of a respectable regional production" -- wicked burn! Clearly I have a ways to go before I know classical music well enough to be snobby about it; having fond memories of the days when I was that much of a n00b about everything, I will cherish every moment." Roy, I wouldn't worry about it too much. As any self-re
Civic Center (Free subscription) | 07/07/2008
Opera is very much an acquired taste, and within that genre, early 18th-century Handel operas are an even further acquired taste since they are long, repetitive, and all the music sounds the same on first hearing. Most of the interesting plot action happens offstage, and what little does occur onstage is in the form of recitative with harpsichord accompaniment, which gives way to arias for mostly soprano...
