Biographies
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Alexander Davidov
Born Israel Levinson on 4 September 1872 in Poltawa, Russian tenor Alexander Davydov had some vocal lessons c1890, but his debut at Dnepropetrovsk was so heavily criticized that he moved into smaller roles. He moved to the Maryinski Theatre in 1900 where he sang the …
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Fritzi Jokl
Fritzi Jokl was born in Vienna on March 23rd 1895. She studied with Mrs. Rosenthal-Ranner and made her debut in 1917 at the Opera House of Frankfurt am Main where she continued to appear regularly until 1922. Engagements at the Landestheater of Darmstadt (1922-23), the …
Articles, Interviews & Memories
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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,
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Sitting Down with tenor Javier Camarena
Tenor Javier Camarena is appearing in Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at the Los Angeles Opera from October 7 to October 28. Camarena sings the tenor role of Nadir, Nino Machaidze sings Leila, Alfredo Daza is Zurga, and Nicholas Brownlee is Nourabad. Plácido Domingo and …
Focus Feature
Five Operas Worth Re-Discovering
Quality certainly isn’t the only criterion that decides whether a work of art survives or not: luck and a few other rather aleatory factors seem to play a major role. In today’s standard repertoires we can find works that should not have survived the decade …
Selected Blog posts
Best Recordings of La Forza del Destino
Last week I presented the best recordings of Le Nozze di Figaro. Mozart’s masterpiece is a perfect, flawless opera. For me, the natural comparison point is …
Strange uses of opera in movies and TV
You’re enjoying your favorite television show when a dreaded commercial break hits. The ad shows pasta twirling alluringly around a fork in an elegant, candle-lit Italian …
Recordings That Make a Crier Out of Me
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a crier. But, I have to admit, that there are a few opera recordings that, on the …
A brief history of opera etiquette
The etiquette of attending the opera can seem convoluted. Dress up, but how much up varies by the house and your seats and whether it’s an …
Opera in (and after) school
My first opera experience was The Magic Flute at Portland Opera. I was a freshman in high school at the time, and a friend of mine was …
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 …
What happens after the opera?
The opera social media world has been buzzing in the past few weeks about Anthony Tommasini’s New York Times article “Liberating the Librettos”, in which he speculates …
Lauri-Volpi’s debut as Manrico
The troubadour is the most aristocratic, lyrical and romantic figure of the Middle Ages. It captivated the young Lauri-Volpi in his salad days at La …
Singers’ private lives
We live in a culture that ruthlessly devours news from celebrities’ private lives. We want to know what famous people are eating and wearing and …
