The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Painfully Absurd
-
Renée Fleming and Pink Floyd have won this year's Polar Prize in Stockholm, Sweden. AP Article | Polar Music Prize Official Site
-
Last week an email, in which mezzo-soprano Fiona Janes called Opera Australia "an abyss of mediocrity," was leaked. She met with board members of Opera Australia yesterday to discuss her concerns. Singer swipes at Opera| Opera Australia hears singer's 'mediocrity' complaints
-
The firms Arkitema and Arkþing are to create the new opera house for Icelandic Opera near the Kópavogskirkja on Borgarholt hill. Based on folklore about the home of the elves, the designs can be seen on the Arkþing site (under Projects, Culture & Sports, Operahouse in Kópavogur). Press Release (In Icelandic) | BD Article (In English) | Icelandic Opera's…
-
Welsh National Opera is targeting young men between the ages of 14 and 25 with a film entitled Surf Tailz. Baritone and surfer Craig Yates is working on the project and one can read about it on WNO's official site. The South Wales Echo has a rather misleadingly titled article on the endeavor as well,…
-
I knew my months of monitoring Entertainment Weekly would eventually provide us with something utterly hilarious. Yes, it really is the Swedish Chef, Beaker, and Animal singing the "Habenera," at least, after a fashion.
-
Woody Allen started working on Los Angeles Opera's production of Gianni Schicchi yesterday, according to this contactmusic.com article. Choice quotes from Allen include "The opera is unlike the movies; they boo. I've been disliked but from a distance, but this is different." Il Trittico at LA Opera| contactmusic.com Article| Guardian UK Article
-
Opening night tickets for Don Giovanni at Covent Garden will be only available to readers of The Sun. BBC Article | Royal Opera House | The Sun
-
Composer Keith Burstein declared bankruptcy after running up legal fees of £67,000. Burstein attempted to sue the London Evening Standard because of an unfavorable review of his opera Manifest Destiny (Soprano Bernadette Lord as Leila pictured left in a production photo). Having read Veronica Lee’s 142-word review from August 15, 2005 (it is in the PDF below), I did…
-
Wind-powered opera is forthcoming, as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears has approved Glyndebourne’s wind turbine. Press Statement | Official Site | Article in the Guardian UK
-
John McWhorter makes an argument for translated operas in this New York Sun article. Personally, I don’t particularly like supertitles either, especially ones in English for operas in English, but I do like hearing operas in the original language. To be fair, I do have the advantage of having studied German, Latin, and Spanish, though…
The Opera Tattler 