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☆ A New Production of a Verdi Opera Tightens Family Ties
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-20 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Fathers and history loom large, both onstage and off, in the new La Scala staging of the Verdi opera “Simon Boccanegra,” running in Milan for seven performances from Feb. 1 to 24. For the director and conductor, it is an opportunity to embrace the opera professionally after a lifetime of personal connection. The director, Daniele Abbado, 66, is taking on his first “Simon Boccanegra” (he is also a designer, with Angelo Linzalata, in a production he describes as modern and abstract). Mr. Abbado attended the now-famous 1971 staging, which was conducted by his father, the prolific Claudio Abbado, who died in 2014. That staging helped make the opera a hit at La Scala — 90 years after its debut at the house.

Persons: Verdi, “ Simon Boccanegra, Daniele Abbado, Simon Boccanegra ”, Angelo Linzalata, Abbado, Claudio Abbado Organizations: Scala, Scala — Locations: Milan

☆ Shopping at a Souk, Then a ‘Smart City’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Doha’s bustling century-old souk and the Msheireb Downtown Doha, a new environmentally friendly development just a 10-minute walk away, are an old-meets-new contrast — and a real reprieve from the sprawling malls that have come to define the colossal boom that has transformed the Persian Gulf region since the 1950s. “You can find everything you need in one trip to the souk, and Msheireb offers a more modern and posh approach to the same idea,” said Maha Al Shebani, who lives in Doha, Qatar’s capital city, and often visits the area. “And now we have the option to do both at the same time.”Souk Waqif, built in the early 20th century as a Bedouin trading post when Doha was little more than a village, was renovated in 2008, but in a way that retained much of its charm, restoring some early buildings and tearing down some modern parts to create a more authentic look. Its grand two-level stone buildings — with exposed timber beams, shuttered windows and glowing Arabian lamps dangling throughout — house dozens of stalls selling color-splashed glass lanterns, spices, clothing, tapestries and souvenirs amid the ever-present fragrance of burning frankincense.

Persons: ”, Maha Al Shebani Organizations: Downtown, Msheireb Locations: souk, Downtown Doha, Persian, Doha, Qatar’s, Souk

☆ In Oman, Frankincense Still Tops Gift Lists
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For Maryam Belhaf, her frankincense products business, called Alshoala, is about sharing her family’s connection with the resin, which dates back at least five generations. “My grandmother and other ladies used to get the frankincense from the trees when they went out with their goats, and then traded it for food from local merchants,” she said. Ms. Belhaf now has 15 employees (and several family members still help extract resin from the trees). She sells frankincense as chunks mixed with lavender, which is burned for its scent; as a perfume mixed with rose and musk; and as various scented lotions and skin toners (from eight to 25 Omani rial, or $21 to $65). It also offers silver incense burners handmade in the region (about 45 rial).

Persons: Maryam Belhaf, “, ”, Belhaf Locations: Aden, Yemen, India, Europe, ”, Salalah, Dhofar

☆ To One Watchmaker, Gears and Pinions Are the Interesting Bits
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Some watch designers are inspired by the grand beauty and rich history of mechanical watches. But for Jiro Katayama, a Tokyo-based watch designer, it is all about the gears and pinions, elements of the industrial world where he began his career. That influence — from growing up in car-crazy Japan of the 1980s to the instruments he encountered in automotive design school and his jobs with Lexus and other Japanese automakers — helped Mr. Katayama create Otsuka Lotec watches in 2000 as part of a design business, pivoting to just watch production in 2012. During the next 10 years he made 400 watches by himself — the internal mechanisms, cases, hands and dials — but customers had to wait as long as two years for delivery.

Persons: Jiro Katayama, —, Katayama, Otsuka Organizations: Lexus Locations: Tokyo, Japan

☆ Thailand Gets Ready to Sparkle
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Thailand’s history is rich with gemstones, beginning in the 1400s when its mines first produced the sapphires and rubies that adorned the crowns, swords and even the footwear of the country’s royalty. And as recently as May, jewelry fans took note of the glittering sapphire and diamond necklace and earring set that Queen Suthida of Thailand wore at King Charles III’s coronation in London. But since the 1970s, Thailand has mostly been known as a global hub for cutting, polishing, heating and trading stones, doing business with its gem-rich neighbors Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, along with countries far beyond. The event offers “a lot of opportunities for local businesses to be exposed to overseas buyers,” said Sumed Prasongpongchai, chief executive of the Gem & Jewelry Institute of Thailand (G.I.T. “We promote the fair heavily in the Middle East, Europe and America.”

Persons: Suthida, King Charles III’s, ”, Sumed Prasongpongchai Organizations: & Jewelry Institute of Thailand, Ministry of Commerce Locations: Thailand, London, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Bangkok, East, Europe, America

☆ In Opera, Clocks Take the Spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“At times I get up in the middle of the night and stop all the clocks. All of them,” an aging princess sings in “Der Rosenkavalier,” Richard Strauss’s sprawling opera of love, devotion and loss. But this year several productions around the world have been using clocks in their set designs, either as a subtle background item or so central that the timepiece seems like a character itself. Perhaps the opera most connected with clocks is “L’heure espagnole” (“Spanish Time”), Maurice Ravel’s one-act farce about a neurotic clockmaker and his unfaithful wife. It is being staged Aug. 22-26 at the Grimeborn Opera Festival in East London — with a twist.

Persons: “ Der, ” Richard Strauss’s, ”, “ Boris Godunov, Maurice Ravel’s Organizations: East London — Locations: “, East London

☆ The Women of ‘Don Carlo’ Portray a Moment in History
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Across the monumental, hourslong opera “Don Carlo,” two female characters take a journey unparalleled in Verdi’s canon of 28 operas. Just two real-life characters from history caught in a love triangle that rocked 16th-century Spain. For her and Yulia Matochkina, a Russian mezzo-soprano, it’s a chance to delve into two of Verdi’s most complicated and fully realized female characters. It portrays a real-life Spanish prince, Don Carlo, and Elisabeth of Valois, a French princess, who are secretly in love, although she is betrothed to his father, King Philip II of Spain. But for many, it’s the women who move the story forward and offer perhaps the richest characterizations in Verdi’s repertoire.

Persons: Don Carlo, ”, Nicholas Hytner’s, Lise Davidsen, Elisabeth of Valois, Yulia Matochkina, it’s, “ Don Carlo ”, Friedrich Schiller, King Philip II of Spain, Princess Eboli, Carlo, Rodrigo Organizations: Royal Locations: Spain, Norwegian, Russian

☆ Exploring Rock Hudson’s Legacy Through a New Lens
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( David Belcher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rock Hudson was the ultimate midcentury movie star, turning heads and breaking hearts as the camera lit his chiseled face and rugged frame. The double life he led as a gay man — and his death from AIDS-related causes at 59 in 1985 — have sealed him in Hollywood lore, but he is largely unknown to new generations of film fans. For Stephen Kijak, the director of the HBO documentary “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed,” premiering Sunday at the Tribeca Festival (and streaming on Max on June 28), the actor was a fascinating figure to explore, both as a quintessential midcentury movie star and a gay icon. Mr. Kijak, who has directed several L.G.B.T.Q.-themed films, spoke recently from his Los Angeles home about the legacy of and enduring fascination with a movie star who lived a gay life almost out in the open and who, in a true act of openness as one of the first celebrities — if not the first — to go public about his illness, changed the course of how the world responded to the AIDS epidemic. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Persons: Hudson, —, Stephen Kijak, Kijak Organizations: HBO, Tribeca, Max Locations: Hollywood, Los Angeles

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