Mathieu Duplay 🌈

I wish I knew when this was filmed. I probably should recognise the conductor, but don't.

Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen.

I love my breakfast cereals.

YouTube video by IVIGLIA Channel Rossini, Il viaggio a Reims, Gran pezzo concertato a 14 voci, Teatro alla Scala

I think this one is my absolute favourite.

Fingers crossed. I know what you mean.

My Iranian friend is overjoyed to hear that Khamenei may have been killed. I totally understand why, I would be too. I just hope Iranians don't end up being worse off than they were before once the dust settles.

Carolann Page, the original Pat Nixon, was 37 when she first sang the role back in 1987.

The real Pat was 60 when she went to China, but of course the operatic version is rather different and much more whimsical, so why can't she be younger too? A Straussian in her forties would be great, a Marschallin (like Fleming twenty years ago) or an Ariadne.

She played the role for laughs, whereas Fleming brings to it a kind of goofy charm. I love her as Pat Nixon, but I don't want this to become a late-career, aging-diva role, no matter how well it's sung. The same goes for Nixon. Hampson and Fleming are both great, but a bit long in the tooth by now.

(I am always surprised - I really shouldn't be - when the coloratura steals the show, even when she clearly doesn't deserve it. Last night's Madame Mao was so-so and no match for Sumi Jo, for instance.)

Now the Opéra should do Klinghoffer, but I doubt that they will risk it anytime soon.

The quality of the orchestral playing is very variable at the Opéra. The technical polish is always there, but the choice of conductors is not always felicitous, and I wish similar care had been given to Wagner, for instance. Star singers aren't enough, especially in modern/contemporary opera.

The hit-and-miss production is unchanged since 2023. Much of Act 2 is confusing and messy, and the film lecture on the evils of the Cultural Revolution is a well-intentioned distraction, but everyone loves the dragon.

Thomas Hampson's voice is a shadow of what it once was, but his dramatically impressive, emotionally complex Nixon is very touching. Renée Fleming is her usual superb self despite notable strain in the upper range. Kent Nagano knows the score inside out and conducts it brilliantly.

Opera programme : Nixon in China by John Adams and Alice Goodman.

This is prophetic!

Ethel Merman, yes, exactly. Quite apart from any vocal issues, she gets the genre wrong. She makes Bizet sound like bad Cole Porter.

Quite. I draw the line at Maria di Rohan. :)

The latest polls say that the Lucille Bluth clone is likely to win by a narrow margin. The Hitlerjugend fan is on 21%. I need a drink, where's the bar.

I wish they'd chosen him to conduct the Paris Siegfried.

I liked her. It's a very difficult role, probably the most demanding of all three Brünnhildes. Her Ewig war ich is very touching, and she trills!

I bought my first bicycle when I was living in the UK! I used it everywhere, I loved it. I would have loved it even more if there had been more bike lanes.

Problème de même nature pour certaines candidatures (dites) de gauche, hélas.

Carmen should be done in smaller houses (not the Opéra Bastille! not the Met!) with spoken dialogues and voices on the lighter side (think Supervia, think Berganza). It's essentially a comedy gone wrong. She makes it sound like it's about stealing all the neon signs from Times Square.

YouTube video by Marx 7811 Rosa Ponselle's last Carmen(1937)

This is a fascinating document as it is Ponselle's last performance before her unexpected retirement, but the truth is that Carmen is the only role in which I do not admire her unconditionally. Too veristic, too coarse, too much like Santuzza. Too much belting. Did anyone say chest voice?

Thank you so much for this. It is exactly what I needed to read today.

And before ours begins, which may be sooner than everyone expects!

A small painted figurine of a bent‑over servant placing several rounded beer jars into a woven basket, standing on an oblong base against a dark museum display background.

Beer for the afterlife!
An #Egyptian figurine of a servant with a basket full of #beer jars.
Figurine of servants were deposited in tombs to ensure that the deceased would enjoy the products and services represented.
Beer was a dietary staple in #Egypt, so it’s not surprising to ...🧵1/2

📷 me