Tag Archives: metropolitan opera

DON CARLO, Metropolitan Opera (Review)

Eddie Pensier* writes: I’ve always had big problems with Verdi’s Don Carlo. It always struck me less as a cohesive music-theatre piece and more of a collection of scenes and arias, rather like a concert program. It never really juggles … Continue reading

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Salve Regina

Eddie Pensier writes: Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites is a strange opera, and not an easy one. It weaves complex themes of devotion, martyrdom, fear, and politics around the storyline of a Carmelite convent during the French Revolution. It’s very talky, … Continue reading

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Aria Du Jour

Eddie Pensier writes: This glorious clip comes from a rare, never-aired 1974 Metropolitan Opera telecast of Jacques Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann. The late and great Joan Sutherland makes an absolute meal of this infamously difficult aria(“Les oiseaux dans la charmille”). She … Continue reading

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