zerbinetta

I can only find Bartoli's schedule through June 2007 & she will not be in the US during this time period, I will try to get more info through personal contacts.

These two did a Don Q pas at a dance collaboration in Santa Fe last September. They were charming but a bit shaky. I decided no one had told them about the 7000' altitude as they are both much stronger dancers than they appeared that night. They dance together a lot & look good together.

Actually I was just coming on to change that very thing myself, hoping no one had caught it. So nice to know public errors are picked up & corrected so quickly, eh? 6 years of Latin goes out of mind rather easily.

In vino non sum veritas? What a surprise!

Sub tickets arrived yesterday; Kyra tickets today. Not quite as late as usual.

Oh, bart, what I wouldn't give for some of your stolid, silent types, having endured two consecutive MetOpera performances at which the well-dressed gentlemen next to me each seemed to be experiencing an onslaught of fleas.

Cope never had a proper farewell, did he? So this is a double "goodbye"?

I wish I could be happy over this announcement but, selfishly, I'm despondent. Nikolai has been dancing lately like such a god. His Square Dance last season was the first time I've REALLY been dazzled by the male solo since Bart Cook days. Very different from Bart but mesmerizing. The entire theater seemed to hold it's breath. I loved Boal in this role but the Cook comparison was still in my head. I thought of no one but Hubbe when he was on. I suppose, considering his age, we wouldn't have had him too much longer & this is a great move for him and for RDB ... BUT ...

I'm in total agreement here with Mashinka. Artist: have you listened to any of Handel's operas? Some of those arias can break your heart. Some would make you laugh. Most are meltingly beautiful. Maybe you might give Handel another chance.

bart: re the Old Met - it's been a long time & I was rather a mini-person last time I was there but wasn't the footprint larger than the New Met? I remember it as a more European style of theater, the parterre boxes were certainly closer (or maybe my eyesight was better?), the layout more aesthetically pleasing & the upper tiers more comfortable. The only time I did Standing Room I was about 4 years of age & the protective grille (which was beautiful) was perfect for sticking skinny 4-year-old legs through to dangle so I could sit through Don Carlo. The New Met, which I have to love because I spend so much time there, is taller & bulkier & has a larger seating capacity but somehow seems less spacious & gracious. Or perhaps the passage of time has lent a glamor which may be partly imagination. & yes, carbro, that staircase does go somewhere. 4mrdncr: I've been in the Wang a few times & it certainly never reminded me of the Palais Garnier. The Palais Loew, perhaps. This sounds like a bit of Boston hyperbole to me.

This looks to be a rather better line-up than we got in NY.

Perhaps it has something to do with the first music one hears at a tender age when music makes us want to move? For me it was Mozart.

Well, not to be pushy, but the Sunday matinee, which starts at 3PM, ends with Esplanade ...

I'm with carbro. Concerto Barocco is probably my favorite ballet & I adore Esplanade. It's too different to make a comparison. Only some of the music is the same. In fact, if they did a program of CB & Esplanade every night for the rest of time, I'd be there every night for the rest of time.

I've seen a lot of opera at the Civic Opera House but never dance. I would steer away from close orxhestra because you would get heads in the way. The rear half of the orchestra is better raked than the front orchestra. The tiers are raked pretty well.

Not any more!

Wicked, witty, wonderful Weese "bland"? Gottlieb needs an eye check.

A very prestigious name for the #2 opera company. Mortier will inherit a large debt so he'd best get up to speed on fundraising. It will be fun to see how this plays out.

They are not the same orchestra. There is a good deal of rehearsal overlap between seasons, so it is not feasible. Many of the NYCO's musicians play in the ABT orchestra after the opera closes.

Vipa: the old (former) production of Onegin had Balanchine's choreography in both the birthday party scene & the Gremin ball. When this new production premiered (about ten years ago), the choreography also was new, which is always the case for opera productions .. unfortunately in this instance.

Not sure I agree with the premise. The Golijov festival at the Rose Theater was a sell-out last spring. The First Emperor was a sell-out at the Met. Grendel was a sell-out at Lincoln Center Festival last summer and in LA before that. Messiaen's St. Francis (if that can be considered "new") was a sell-out in San Francisco. Dr. Atomic was a sell-out .. Most of these are operas but contemporary music nonetheless.

Here's hoping what Peter M whispered in Miranda's ear after presenting the flowers was "If you change your mind, you can always come back".

I enjoy pleasant surprises and had two of them tonight - Gergiev's excellent ballet conducting and, like drb, the first time ever I've enjoyed Jeu de Cartes. I doubt Circus Polka, Walpurgisnacht or Jeu de Cartes are staples in Gergiev's repertory (the ballet is usually cut from performances of Faust) so was not surprised he had his head in the score for the first three ballets. Firebird I've heard him conduct before and, to the extent the NYCB musicians are able, it was wonderfully played. Gergiev did not expand or throttle any tempi here but played it as written. He understands that huge does not have to be loud and communicated that to the orchestra, who were remarkably alert to the maestro. (He does not always conduct without baton, BTW, but I'm not sure what his criterion for that is.) Jeu de Cartes tonight seemed a Martins tribute to Ashton, even the costumes looked delightful. The four principals are ideally cast and "get" the piece as no other in my experience with a ballet I usually sit out. Mearns lushness and musicality make her a perfect fit for Walpurgisnacht; she seemed to have fun with it, remarkable for a debut. She was also the Best Princess Ever in Firebird, gracious and sweet and lyrical and loving. Quite a night for her. Bouder's wonderfully bossy little Firebird was enchanting in all respects. The thing that sticks in mind several hours later is the risk-taking on the parts of Hyltin, Mearns, Stafford and Bouder at the end of an exhausting season. Well done, ladies!

Although Peter O'Toole was raised mostly in England, he was born in Galway, which is part of the Republic of Ireland. Therefore he is Irish not British. A common and iirritating error. Unless I read the article too quickly, I noticed no mention of Forest Whitaker, a subtle, insightful and often brilliant actor. He studied music and apparently wanted to become an opera singer. Opera's loss is cinema's gain.

Not exactly a wardrobe malfunction, perhaps more of a dancer malfunction: Kevin McKenzir in the last scene of a Romeo & Juliet at ABT schlepping Juliet about while still wearing his tatty pale blue wooly long legwarmers. I could see the pills from 15th row orchestra. This was captured for all time as the performance was filmed. Richard Schaefer once came out in his shorter red warmers for his variation as the bullfigher in Don Q.