A few pretty average shows in recent weeks, but the big news is Stefan Pop. A tenor who was only at Covent Garden once before, playing second fiddle to Roberto Alagna, was wonderful as Cavaradossi. His big number, E lucevan le stelle, one of the two smash hits from Tosca, brought the house down. Angela Gheorghiu, for whom this production was made ins 2006, was more Panda than Lion, to quote Ted Lasso, but still hits the high notes, and Michael Volle was a thoroughly nasty Scorpio. Everyone had a good time, hopefully also Celine Dion, who was in the house and everyone was trying to see where she was sitting. No luck on that front.
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Wow! I am super jealous. This would be on my list of must go to if ever I could.
Haha…I would not be among those who cared where Celine Dion was sitting. Looks very special though.
And, I also caught Willie in 2016! It was totally killer.
Celine Dion won Eurovision in 1988 representing Switzerland and singing in French. Made her a massive star. As French is my wife’s first language, she was a big fan and and we have some of her early CDs, all of which are sung in French. She was not a English speaker. We went to a concert of hers in London in the 1990s - fabulous.
The Colorado Opera is about 45 minutes from Boulder, about the same time it takes me to get to the opera, which is 6 miles away. They have great looking productions with very good singers. I’d go to every one. It is still hugely popular over here, you have no excuse!
Sometimes what seems like an awkward side seat becomes a gem. Seemingly simple jazz drumming is much harder than it looks.
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BREAKING NEWS: The Met in NYC has dumped Anna Netrebko for being quite obviously pro-Putin and having donated to the Donetsk separatists a few years a back.
At Covent Garden she should have been dumped for being a diva and not turning up.
The Met are to replace her with the Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska, born and educated in Kiev and who started at the Ukraine National Opera. She’s very good, seen her in La Forza and Nabucco, here standing in for Absent Anna 6 weeks ago. I’d love to be there when she goes on stage.
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Apologies for the crappy phone photo.
Last night we went to our first ever Beatles tribute band concert. Rolling Stone claims these guys (“1964: The Tribute”) are the best around, and I have to say that other than the fact that they limited their repertoire to early-to-mid period Beatles (in keeping with their name, I guess), they were incredible. Supremely accomplished musical mimics, right down to facial expressions, posture and movement. Even spoken voice. Their between-song banter was worthy of the best impressionists around. Actual physical resemblances were limited, though. “George” was way too short, and as my wife observed, he looked more like Peter Noone. Still, it was tons of fun, and super high energy. 2 sets totaling over 2 hours, with, by my count, 35 songs performed. If you can get over the rather odd conceit of an event that’s the musical equivalent of war re-enactors, I highly recommend them.
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8 part Harmony from Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Thanks to Paul Simon you might have heard of this institution from South Africa
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Talent is talent, but it’s hard for me to get my head around these acts.
It reminds me of when I played in a three chord blues band and all hell broke out with the leader of the band when the bass player and I threw in a 6 2 5 chord progression.
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That’s precisely it. It just feels odd to witness, at least until the observer stops thinking of it as a “band” and starts thinking of it as actors who happen to be performing music.
I find when I think of the performers as enthusiasts for the person they’re impersonating, or the music that person made, it seems a little sad to me, and embarrassing to watch. I have to think of it as acting. An actor doesn’t play Willie Loman because he’s a Willie Loman fan, and wants to perpetuate all things Willie Loman, but because it’s the actor’s job to portray him as part of the larger artistic endeavor of telling the story. An Elvis impersonator who does it simply because he loves Elvis would make me uncomfortable. But I found that if I can reach the point where it’s nothing more than theater, I can sort of forget all the baggage and enjoy what I’m seeing/hearing and appreciate the precision of their craft.
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Great venue. Saw Tangerine Dream there. And the tallest curtains I’ve ever seen.
The Other Favorites, aka Carson McKee and Joshua Lee Turner, close out a 22-city tour at Turner’s alma mater Butler University in Indianapolis tonight:
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