When someone you know is crowned Miss America, that pretty much dwarfs every other headline for the week- but for me a close second in that week’s list of thrills was when I attended a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. I like this opera, but I’ve seen it
Last Saturday, best friend Marshall Anderson and I took in the most recent Metropolitan Opera simulcast (Rossin’s Le Comte Ory) and in one of the intermissions, hostess Renee Fleming reminded the viewing audience that two of last year’s simulcast performances- Verdi’s Aida and Puccini’s Turandot- could be purchased on DVD exclusively at Target stores and
Here are a few highlights from this weekend, which by my quick calculations had about two weeks worth of excitement packed into it. Friday, October 8th. . . I spent two happy hours on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, teaching my opera class to A.L.L. - Adventures in Lifelong Learning. The task at
I am grappling for the right words to describe an absolutely astonishing turn of events which overtook me this afternoon. Strangely, the first words that come to mind are “a house fell on me today” - which doesn’t sound all that pleasant - but honestly that’s kind of how it felt. That’s how shocking and
I am well aware that most people go running in the other direction at the mere mention of the word “opera” - and if the opera at hand happens to be by Richard Wagner, their running is apt to be accompanied by desperate screaming. That’s because the operas of Wagner are among the longest and
In the midst of this unbelievably busy spring break (which at least is filled to the brim with cool and interesting things- just way too many of them piled on top of each other) the closest thing to R&R was yesterday when I headed down to Chicago with Marshall for our last opera of this
Why are these four young people smiling so broadly? Isn’t it obvious? Because they’ve been watching Giuseppe Verdi’s magnificent opera “Aida” in a high definition simulcast from the Metropolitan Opera. (The large tub of popcorn is a bit of a giveaway that we weren’t at any opera house- but rather at our local movie theater.)
Saturday afternoon I read an email from Carthage’s business manager which caused me to tap dance with glee: my studio, which is about to be repainted and re-carpeted, does not need to be cleared until a week from today. (Originally, I thought it was today.) And because of Honky Tonk craziness and other distractions, there
I have a lot of catching up to do, but I have to begin with something I just experienced last night, because I can scarcely think of anything else right now. I’m talking about last night’s simulcast from the Metropolitan Opera of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. This was actually the repeat simulcast- the live simulcast
I had quite a busy day yesterday, between prospective student auditions at Carthage, two rehearsals at Kenosha’s choral festival, and a Musici Amici rehearsal. . . but I spent every spare moment I could listening to something truly extraordinary on the radio. . . a Metropolitan Opera live broadcast of Cilea’s Adrianna Lecouvreur with a
