Biographies
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Benvenuto Franci
Benvenuto Franci born on July 1st 1891 in Pienza (Siena), was another pupil of the Accademia Santa Cecilia in Rome (Antonio Cotogni and Enrico Rosati were his teachers). In 1918 his debut in opera took place at Rome`s Teatro Costanzi in the role of Gianetto in …
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Else Gentner-Fischer
Else Gentner-Fischer was born on September 5th 1883 in Frankfurt am Main where she also began and finished her vocal studies. At the local Opera House she made her operatic debut in 1905 and in the same year married the tenor, Karl Gentner (1876-1922) who, like …
Articles, Interviews & Memories
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Sitting down with San Diego Opera’s David Bennett
In early 2014, San Diego Opera surprised everyone with an announcement that the company was closing at the end of that season. In the past, the opera had featured stars like Joan Sutherland
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Reflections on the greatness of Enrico Caruso
Enrico Caruso was a unique great tenor, without any doubt. I included him in my personal choice of the XX century “avant guard” group of great tenors. The group comprises the Italians Caruso,
Focus Feature
Le Postillon de Lonjumeau
The history of opera is littered with shipwrecks which sail with great success when first launched only to sink into oblivion for one reason or another. Some are lost forever and some are re-floated only to sail out briefly before returning to dry-dock. It seems that ‘Le Postillon de Lonjumeau’ has become something of a pleasure boat which is only given the odd cruise in its home waters of France, kept afloat almost solely by its famous tenor aria of the same title. It is an aria full of verve, humour, melody requiring great vocal skill.
Blog
The opera house in literature
I visit the opera house to listen to the music and watch what happens onstage. But if you judged the opera house based on its …
The mysterious magic of operatic disguises
I recently brought a group of friends to a production of Pietro-Andrea Ziani’s La Circe. (Side note: in the vanishingly unlikely event that this opera is performed …
Selected Content
Jonas Kaufmann’s First Andrea Chénier in London
On January 20 The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden mounted its first new production in 30 years of Giordano’s opera Andrea Chénier. The reason for …
If only there were an opera based on…
Some opera fans love opera in spite of the plots. They accept that most opera plots are absurd and overdrawn, but make excuses for the …
Sun, Moon, and Stars
We’re in the dog days of summer over in the Western hemisphere. All things considered, it’s been a pretty good season, weather-wise. Though summer has …
