Close

Alignment is key. Whether it’s about car wheels, shakras, or humor, it’s essential that elements designed to work together be arranged so that they complement and build upon individual virtues and needs, rather than clash in opposition. The humor in Minnesota Opera’s The Italian Straw Hat does not align with what I want as an audience person. My ed...

1139

A seductive love story, political drama and a mix of historical figures will all come together 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1-2 and 8-9 in the Musical Arts Center’s first opera of the semester, “Giulio Cesare.” This Italian opera, set in 48 B.C. ancient Egypt, tells the story of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar.  Caesar is attempting to add Egypt to the Roman Empire....

837

When: Thursday, February 14, 2019 at 6pm - Where: Italian Cultural Institute, 500 N Michigan Ave, Suite 1450 Musicologist Jesse Rosenberg, Northwestern University, will lead this discussion, presented on the occasion of Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, February 16 - March 22, 2019.

847

Following November’s well-received production of “Hansel and Gretel,” Regina Opera is preparing a fully-staged production of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” one of the most poignant love stories ever written. It’s a tender vignette of youth, romance and grief among the impoverished artists of mid-19th century Paris. In the opera, the poet Rodolfo falls in l...

565

Italian music abroad is often reduced to old Neapolitan songs and the great lyrical tradition embodied by famous singers such as Luciano Pavarotti and, more recently, Andrea Bocelli. What many don’t know about is how rich and varied Italian music is today. Italy also has a long history of creative singer-songwriters who have shaped the country’s mu...

2626

While working on “Otello” and “Falstaff,” his final two operas, the composer Giuseppe Verdi tucked dozens of pages of musical drafts and sketches into folders, scribbling on their covers: “Burn these papers.” Fortunately, his heirs never carried out those orders. But for years, scholars have complained that for all the access they had to them, thos...

731

Patricia McBride Lousada, who was a founding member of New York City Ballet and interpreter of some of George Balanchine’s seminal early works and who later became a noted cookbook author, died on Jan. 8 in London. She was 89. The cause was a heart attack she had while riding her bicycle, her daughter Carla Capalbo said. Ms. Lousada danced under th...

1417

Frank Sinatra’s 1954 Oscar, one of the Rat Pack ringleader’s most cherished possessions, has gone home. After a 10-year stay at Encore in Las Vegas, the gold statuette has been returned to his family. It no longer greets diners at a Steve Wynn-created restaurant named after Sinatra. Wynn acquired it as part of a rare loan arrangement with the singi...

1024

Opera’s most tempestuous tale of love, deception and political intrigue—“Tosca”—comes alive in Madison on Sunday, February 24th as New Jersey Festival Orchestra and award winning soloists perform Puccini’s passionate and beautiful music in its full glory. Puccini’s irresistible lyric genius has long made Tosca one of opera’s most breathtaking maste...

784

Alvise Casellati is president and music director of “Opera Italiana is in the Air,” a new concept for free, outdoor opera concerts in select U.S. cities. With the series underway in New York’s Central Park, Casellati is bringing a performance to Miami’s Regatta Park this April, casting Miami professionals in plumb first roles. The repertoire will f...

1089