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As the most powerful Chinese leader in generations, Xi Jinping rarely bothers to glad-hand or to try charming a crowd. His public appearances in China are carefully crafted, with fawning cadres and adoring fans positioned around him. So when Mr. Xi landed in San Francisco this week to meet with President Biden, to try to stabilize a relationship with the United States that has been spiraling downward, it provided a rare opportunity to see the Chinese leader up close and, at times, less filtered than usual. Earlier, the Chinese leader had compared presidential limousines with Mr. Biden as they met on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. And he thanked Mr. Biden for reminding him that his wife, Peng Liyuan, a famous Chinese soprano and folk singer, has a birthday on Monday, as does Mr. Biden.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi, Biden, Mr, Peng Liyuan Organizations: Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Locations: China, San Francisco, United States, Iowa, Hebei

☆ Biden’s Israel Ties Rooted in Long Career: ‘From His Gut to His Heart to His Head’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Peter Baker | More About Peter Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Of all of them, he said Mr. Biden’s ties to Israel appeared strongest. Recalling that day in 2002 when Mr. Biden made a point of showing up during the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, Mr. Ross said, “It was so poignant. But Mr. Biden’s “rock solid and unwavering support” for Israel, as he has described it, is born of a different era of politics. Aides said Mr. Biden’s public embrace of Mr. Netanyahu gives him the ability to influence him in private. But Mr. Biden traces his interest to childhood conversations with his father, who described the horrors of the Holocaust over dinner.

Persons: “, ”, Ross, Biden’s, Biden, Mr, Blinken, Israel —, ” Mr, I’ve, ” Shalom Lipner, Lipner, “ He’s, Benjamin Netanyahu, Rashida Tlaib, Netanyahu, it’s, Jonah Blank, he’s, Tony Soprano, Eddie Jacobson, Harry Truman, Israel “, Valerie Biden Owens Organizations: Mr, Israel, West Bank, Congressional Democrats Locations: Israel, Tel Aviv, Gaza, Michigan, Delaware

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly 10 years after it was first imagined as an opera, “Grounded” is ready to take flight. With music by Jeanine Tesori and a libretto adapted by George Brant from his own play, “Grounded” tells the story of an F-16 fighter pilot who becomes pregnant and leaves the service. The opera has its world premiere at the Washington National Opera on Saturday, with performances continuing through Nov. 13. And next fall it will open the season at the Metropolitan Opera, which commissioned the work. “It’s not a story about, Oh it’s really hard to be a woman in a man’s world,” Cremo said.

Persons: Jeanine Tesori, George Brant, Paul Cremo, It’s, “, Millie ”, Jeanine, we’ve, ” Cremo, it’s, That’s, ” Brant, Cremo, he’d, ”, Tesori, Brant, —, Jess, Eric, Michael Mayer, Mimi Lien, ” Lien, Emily D’Angelo, ” D’Angelo, can’t, Daniela Candillari, ” Candillari, ” Critics, WNO Organizations: WASHINGTON, Washington National Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Dynamics Locations: Nevada, Manhattan, Canadian, Eric’s, Wyoming, “, New York

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Finishing her class at The Julliard School of the arts in New York, Greek opera great Maria Callas gave her students a final word of advice. The City of Athens inaugurated the Maria Callas Museum in the center of the Greek capital Wednesday, marking a century since the birth to Greek parents of the legendary soprano in New York. They might know much about Maria Callas,” museum supervisor Erato Koutsoudaki told The Associated Press. “This is the first museum dedicated to Maria Callas that … combines technology with lived experience,” the mayor said. “We welcome this museum with great joy and deep respect for the great diva."

Persons: Maria Callas, Maria, Callas, Manolo Blahnik, ”, Erato Koutsoudaki, Maria Kalogeropoulos, Maria ”, Angelina Jolie, Kostas Bakoyannis, …, “ Organizations: Julliard School, Maria Callas Museum, Julliard, Associated Press, Athens Locations: ATHENS, Greece, New York, Kyrgyzstan, Congo, City, Athens, Paris

☆ Greece opens Maria Callas museum for a glimpse into opera diva's life
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Renee Maltezou | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A woman walks in the museum dedicated to the Greek-American opera diva Maria Callas, during a press preview on the eve of its official opening in Athens, Greece October 25, 2023. "Each item contributes in creating a comprehensive image of this astonishing woman," Kostis Bitzanis, the museum's project director told Reuters. "Maria Callas is one of the biggest brand names world-wide, she is a woman who became a legend," he said. Born Maria Anna Sophie Cecilia Kalogeropoulos in New York in December 1923 to Greek parents, Callas was credited with the almost single-handed revival of the Italian bel canto vocal technique. On the second floor of the museum, visitors can listen to parts of Callas' signature performances, including the aria "Casta Diva" from Bellini's opera "Norma”, and hear her teaching at the Julliard School in New York in 1971-1972.

Persons: Maria Callas, Louisa Gouliamaki, Verdi's, Callas, Manolo Blahnik, Maria Anna Sophie Cecilia Kalogeropoulos, Norma ”, Renee Maltezou, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Milan's La Scala, Maria Callas Greek Society, Reuters, Julliard, Thomson Locations: American, Athens, Greece, Milan's La, New York

☆ The Doyenne of Classical Publicists Takes on a Final Client: Herself
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mary Lou Falcone has lived most of her life away from the spotlight. Fifty years ago, after brief careers as a performer and a teacher, Falcone changed course and became a leading publicist in the world of classical music. Now, for the first time since she was 28, Falcone has put herself center stage to promote a new, personal cause. In early 2019, her husband, the artist Nicholas Zann, was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease. In many ways, she is doing what she has always done: crafting a narrative, then sharing it.

Persons: Mary Lou Falcone, “, ”, Falcone, Renée Fleming, Van Cliburn, Jean, Pierre Rampal, Gustavo Dudamel, Georg Solti, Jaap van Zweden, Nicholas Zann, Lewy Organizations: Café, Lincoln Center, New York Philharmonic Locations: Café Luxembourg, Manhattan

[1/5] Bass-Baritone Gerald Finley and soprano Julia Bullock perform during an opera rehearsal "Antony and Cleopatra" at Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain, October 18, 2023. REUTERS/ Albert Gea Acquire Licensing RightsBARCELONA, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Barcelona's opera house has hired an "intimacy director" to ensure performers are comfortable taking part in passionate scenes, in a first for Spain and a rarity for continental Europe. The role's creation comes after the #MeToo movement rocked the movie industry but also the opera world with sexual harassment accusations. Intimacy director Ita O'Brien will oversee William Shakespeare's adapted play, 'Antony and Cleopatra', which opens at Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house on Oct. 28. Lesca said there should be an intimacy director in every opera.

Persons: Gerald Finley, Julia Bullock, Antony, Cleopatra, Albert Gea, Ita O'Brien, William Shakespeare's, O'Brien, Adriana Bignagni Lesca, Charmian, Lesca, Luis Rubiales, Placido Domingo, Joan Faus, Aislinn Laing, Deborah Kyvrikosaios Organizations: Gran Teatre del Liceu, REUTERS, Rights, Gran Teatre del, HBO, Netflix, Thomson Locations: Gran, Barcelona, Spain, Rights BARCELONA, Europe, Gran Teatre del Liceu, United States, Britain, Spanish

☆ After 47 Years, the Emerson Quartet Has One More Weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | More About Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“The sound, the gravitas, the way they treat each other is so beautiful,” the soprano Barbara Hannigan, an Emerson collaborator, said in an interview. I’ve never seen any tension between them. Listening to the Guarneri Quartet, younger but already august, the Emerson took on a polished, burnished, sheerly beautiful tone. (For certain listeners, on certain nights, that beauty could tip into blandness.) “But there was the greatness of the repertoire for string quartet.

Persons: Barbara Hannigan, Emerson, “, I’ve, Guarneri, ” Drucker, Dutton, David Finckel, Finckel, Paul Watkins Organizations: Juilliard Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Locations: blandness

☆ Auction features items from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ Jackie Kennedy, British royals
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Alicia Powell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

“They're very rare,” said David Lowenherz, the owner of Lion Heart Autographs, the collectors running this auction. “They are virtually unheard of in any kind of...private collection,” he said of the printed scores that were using during the production of the 1939 classic. The auction, the largest Lion Heart Autographs has held and due to run until Nov. 1, includes other memorabilia. A holiday card issued by the royal family in 1980 and signed by the Queen Mother shows her standing beside her daughters, Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret. Another item is a 1987 letter by Jackie Kennedy, wife of former President John F. Kennedy, on plans for Pennsylvania Avenue and signed, “affectionately, Jackie.”The auction also features a letter signed by Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, who founded the modern state of Israel in 1948.

Persons: Oz, ”, Jackie Kennedy, Queen Mother, Ray Bolger, They’re, “, David Lowenherz, Lion, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, John F, Kennedy, Jackie, Israel’s, David Ben, Gurion, Giuseppe Verdi, English, Anna Bishop, Claude Monet, Napoleon Bonaparte’s, Alicia Powell, Christina Anagnostopoulos, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Pennsylvania, Neapolitan Press, Thomson Locations: Oz, Israel, Italian, Russia

NEW YORK (AP) — Sister Helen Prejean remembered when she first spoke with Jake Heggie about adapting her book “Dead Man Walking.”“I don’t know boo-scat about opera,” she told him. It’s established in a lot of these abolitionist countries that there is no death penalty — the government, we don’t kill people for their crimes. The Met and Carnegie Hall plan to present excerpts at Sing Sing on Sept. 28 with DiDonato, Sister Helen as the narrator and inmates as the chorus. There have been 1,575 executions in the U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to be reinstated in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Twenty-four states have death penalty laws, 23 do not and three have governor-imposed moratoriums, the center said.

Persons: Helen Prejean, Jake Heggie, ”, “, you’re, Tony, Olivier, Ivo van Hove, Joyce DiDonato, Helen, ” Heggie, it’s, It’s, ” Prejean, Saint Joseph of Medaille, Prejean, Jason Epstein, Knopf Doubleday, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Heggie, Frederica von Stade, Lotfi Mansouri, Terrence McNally, Mansouri, ” McNally, ” “ Sondheim, Stephen Sondheim's, Robbins, McNally, Joe Mantello, Susan Graham, von, ” Joshua Kosman, ” DiDonato, DiDonato, “ I’ve, ” Von Hove, Graham, de, I’ve Organizations: Metropolitan Opera, Knopf, UCLA, UCLA's Center, Art, Cal, San Francisco Opera, Opera House, von Stade, San Francisco Chronicle, New York City Opera, Houston, City Opera, Sing, Illinois Youth Center, Carnegie Hall Locations: New Orleans, New York, New, Madrid, Francisco’s, Ossining , New York, Chicago, U.S

☆ Opera Philadelphia Cuts Its Budget, but Not Its Ambition
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Joshua Barone | More About Joshua Barone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

And opera needs works like “10 Days,” which treats the medium with affection and respect while also chafing at its tropes throughout history. For this is an opera that jerks between beauty and terror — seamlessly under the baton of Daniela Candillari, leading an ensemble of about a dozen instrumentalists. The patients (members of Opera Philadelphia Chorus, led by Elizabeth Braden) can sing the same hymn with serenity in one scene and chaotic dissonance in the next, with few indications of which is the truer rendition. The most tragic of the patients is Lizzie (the mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, who sings with a lush and moving elegance that would make her ideal for mid-20th century American opera). Her repetitive ramblings come into logical focus with a long, crushing aria about the death of her daughter.

Persons: Nellie Bly’s, —, Bly, Daniela Candillari, Elizabeth Braden, Josiah Blackwell, Will Liverman, Joanna Settle’s, Andrew Lieberman, Kiera Duffy, Lauren Pearl, Raehann Bryce, Davis, Lizzie doesn’t, She’s Organizations: Opera Philadelphia, Academy of Music Locations: Roosevelt

“The idea of the hysterical woman trope really does persist today,” the soprano said ahead of Thursday night’s premiere of Rene Orth’s musical adaptation at Opera Philadelphia. An all-woman creative team was commissioned to develop the work by Opera Philadelphia and Toronto’s Tapestry Opera. “I have a lot to say about women’s rights being taken away and how women are treated,” director Joanna Settle explained. Bryce-Davis views Roosevelt Island quite differently following her immersion in the traumatic story. “My sister lives on Roosevelt Island and so whenever I’m in New York, that’s where I am,” she said.

Persons: — Kiera Duffy, Nellie Bly, Rene Orth’s, “, you’re, ” Siobhan Duffy Gaffney’s, Bly, Joanna Settle, Britney Spears, Orth, ‘ ” Orth, Hannah Moscovitch, Moscovitch, David Devan, Harold Pinter’s, ”, ” Moscovitch, ” Duffy, Bess, Missy Mazzoli’s, Lars von Trier, “ I’m, Susannas, Mozart, Donizetti, Judith Blegen, Kathleen, I’m, Will Liverman, Josiah Blackwell, Raehann Bryce, Davis, Lizzie, Anthony Davis ’, Malcolm X, ” Soprano Laurel Pearl, Ratched, Daniela Candillari, Jeanine Tesori’s, Liverman, ” Liverman, ” Candillari, Andrew Leiberman, Bryce, Roosevelt Organizations: PHILADELPHIA, Opera Philadelphia, New York, Toronto’s, Philadelphia, Metropolitan Opera, Opera, Washington National Opera, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Wilma Theater Locations: New York, Vegas, Roosevelt, that’s

☆ Don’t Stop Believin’? Considering a TV Golden Age, 10 Years Later
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Marc Tracy | More About Marc Tracy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Was there one show that provoked you to write the book? It felt extremely daring in being one of the first shows where 9/11 was being treated in a fully rounded way. Have any of the shows in the book not stood up as much as you expected? Quite the opposite: The shows you think might have been dated have proven riveting in ways they maybe weren’t even when they were on. Not surprisingly, because the book ends making the point that one doesn’t have to be that difficult to create these wonderful shows.

Persons: ”, Tony Soprano, Walter White, Vince Gilligan Organizations: Teamsters, HBO Locations: America

☆ Review: In Berlin, Opera Scales Up to Fill an Airport Hangar
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Zachary Woolfe | More About Zachary Woolfe | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Benches come together to form the raft and are occasionally detached to use as platforms around the pool. As the shipwrecked passengers first scramble en masse toward the raft, splashing violently in the water, the sight is powerful. But near the end, the hangar’s tremendous door, near the side of the pool opposite the orchestra, slowly slides open. The survivors emerge from the pool and walk out toward the dark, vast expanse of Tempelhof Field, led by an emergency van. The Raft of the MedusaThrough Oct. 3 at Tempelhof Airport, Berlin; komische-oper-berlin.de.

Persons: Jean, Charles, Günter, Gloria Rehm, Idunnu Münch, It’s Organizations: Tempelhof Field, Tempelhof Airport Locations: Tempelhof, Berlin, komische

☆ Vogue World: Stars flock to Britain’s answer to the Met Gala
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Nicole Mowbray | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

London, UK CNN —It was billed as Britain’s answer to the Met Gala, and last night’s inaugural “Vogue World” at the Theatre Royal on London’s Drury Lane didn’t disappoint. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/APActress and singer Dove Cameron went back to the future in a shiny silver suit and matching bikini top. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/Vianney Le Caer/Invision/APThe late Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter, Princess Eugenie, looked elegant in an emerald silk dress by Fendi. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/APKate Winslet went for casual chic in a loose-fit two-piece white suit with a beige bustier underneath. Vianney Le Caer/Invision/APRita Ora arrived in a black Alaïa mermaid gown sourced from eBay.

Persons: Lane didn’t, Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful —, Sienna Miller, Miller, Beatrice, Eugenie, Richard Quinn, Fendi, Yui Mok, Sadiq Khan, Baz Luhrmann, Kate Winslet, Jared Leto, Jodie Turner Smith, Maisie Williams, Stella McCartney, Christopher Kane, Victoria Beckham, Olivier, Stephen Daldry, John Galliano, Kate Moss, Hongni Wu, Rambert, Stormzy, Sophie Okonedo, Damien Lewis, Cush Jumbo, James Corden, Damian Lewis, James McAvoy, “, Annie Lennox, Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Mike Marsland, AJ Odudu, Robert Wun, Vianney Le Caer, Dove Cameron, Queen Elizabeth II's, Princess Eugenie, Fendi . Vianney Le Caer, Princess Beatrice, David M, Alison Mosshart, Alexa Chung, Nicklas Skovgaard, Anna Shaffer, David Fisher, Carrie Mulligan, Henry Nicholls, Jenna Coleman, Peter Pan, May Jagger, Jerry Hall, Mick Jagger, Vivienne Westwood, Tom Daley, Gemma Chan, Louis Vuitton, Rita Ora, Hollie Adams Organizations: UK CNN, Theatre Royal, US, British Vogue, London, London’s, BAFTA, National Theatre, Royal Opera House, Royal Ballet, Southbank Sinfonia, Rambert, Getty, Rodarte’s, MTV, Model, eBay, Reuters Locations: London, UK, British, Invision, AFP

“Threats don’t matter, and sometimes people do those things because of personal things and that’s all fine,” McCarthy told reporters. “Whether or not McCarthy faces a motion to vacate is within his own hands. Alex Wong/Getty ImagesMcCarthy-Gaetz showdown takes center stage againThis is not the first time that McCarthy and Gaetz have squared off. As part of his deal to become speaker, McCarthy gave any single member the power to call for a floor vote on removing him. But after McCarthy cut a deal with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling this summer, the trust and communication between Gaetz and McCarthy broke down – and the rhetoric has gotten personal.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, don’t, –, McCarthy, ”, ” McCarthy, “, I’ll, “ I’m, Matt Gaetz, Joe Biden, Gaetz, Eli Crane of, Dan Bishop of, Bob Good, Matt Rosendale, Ralph Norman of, Chip Roy, McCarthy’s speakership, “ We’ve, ” Good, Hakeem Jeffries, Gerry Connolly, Alex Wong, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Jim Jordan, Jordan, ” Jordan, Dusty Johnson, ” Johnson, he’s, Tim Burchett, Tony Soprano, Hunter Biden, Matt, I’m, ” Gaetz, Ken Buck, Ken Buck of Colorado, Norman, Andy Biggs, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Anna Moneymaker, wouldn’t, McCarthy’s, Roy, ” Greene, Greene, didn’t Organizations: CNN, ”, GOP, Caucus, Democrat, Republican Conference, Republican, Virginia Democrat, Florida Republican, U.S, Capitol, Biden, Ohio Republican, Tennessee Republican, McCarthy As, Senate, Freedom Caucus, Main, Democratic Locations: Florida, Eli Crane of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Virginia, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Texas, Washington , DC, McCarthy’s, Ohio, South Dakota, Gaetz, Ken Buck of, Arizona, Georgia, ”, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia

☆ Review: A Soprano’s Recital Captures Her Brilliant Sincerity
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Joshua Barone | More About Joshua Barone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What the soprano Julia Bullock loves about Kurt Weill’s music, she said during her recital at the Park Avenue Armory on Monday, is how it spins the personal into the universal. Even in her selection of this composer’s work: Weill, an exile artist whose sound exemplified Weimar Berlin before helping to shape Broadway’s golden age, was split between two countries. On the one hand, the evening was quintessentially her, in vocal character and preoccupations with historical and musical connections. The Board of Officers Room at the Armory, one of the most intimate and ideal spaces for vocal recitals, is also particularly well-suited to Bullock’s specific sound. At its fullest, her instrument can engulf an auditorium, but she keeps those moments in reserve; her performances are not defined by their size.

Persons: Julia Bullock, Kurt Weill’s, Weill, Bullock, John Arida Organizations: Armory Locations: Weimar Berlin, Germany

NEW YORK (AP) — A Ukrainian composer has been commissioned to write an opera about mothers from that country going into Russia to rescue their forcibly detained children. The Metropolitan Opera and Lincoln Center Theater said Monday that 42-year-old Maxim Kolomiiets will compose the work to a libretto by George Brant, whose “Grounded” with composer Jeanine Tesori premieres at the Washington National Opera on Oct. 28 and travels to the Met in the autumn of 2024. Met general manager Peter Gelb hopes the company can present the new work by 2027 or '28. A piano-vocal score and libretto will be written in the next year or two and a workshop prepared. “It's my hope it will end up as a full-blown opera and hopefully on our stage,” Gelb said.

Persons: Maxim Kolomiiets, George Brant, Jeanine Tesori, Peter Gelb, Vladimir Putin, Maria Lvova, Gelb, Olena, Kolomiiets, Met dramaturg Paul Cremo, ” Gelb, Anna Netrebko, Keri, Lynn Wilson, “ Organizations: Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, Washington National Opera, Met, Orchestra, Lynn Wilson . Works Locations: Ukrainian, Russia, Ukraine, The Hague, Russian, New York

☆ Lviv's hottest ticket: a concert hall resurrecting Ukraine's repertoire
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Andrea Januta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Ivan Ostapovych, Lviv Organ Hall's co-director and conductor, rehearses with musicians of the Luhansk Philharmonic before a premiere of the opera Zorya at the Lviv Organ Hall, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine August 9, 2023. Performing during the war means tighter budgets, longer hours and quadruple the effort, said the hall's co-director Taras Demko. In early July when 10 people were killed in a Russian missile strike on a residential building in Lviv, the Organ Hall cancelled that night's choral concert. The hall spotlights Ukrainian music, including new compositions and little-known works. It was given its professional world premier at the Organ Hall earlier this year.

Persons: Ivan Ostapovych, Hall's, Alina Smutko, Taras Demko, Demko, Sievierodonetsk, Igor Shapovalov, Shapovalov, Mozart, Viktor Kosenko, Ihor Sonevytsky, Ostapovych, Andrea Januta Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Catholic Church, Performing, Reuters, Luhansk Philharmonic, Orchestra, YouTube, Communist Party, Thomson Locations: Lviv, Luhansk, Ukraine, Rights LVIV, Russia, Sievierodonetsk, Russian, Soviet Union

☆ The Soprano Ailyn Pérez Doesn’t Feel Like a Beginner Anymore
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Joshua Barone | More About Joshua Barone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It helped — a lot — that by then she had met Soloman Howard. In 2016, Pérez starred as Juliette in “Roméo,” and her colleagues included Howard, a bass-baritone, as the duke. At one point, Santa Fe Opera asked Pérez to tape herself singing “Song to the Moon” from “Rusalka,” and Howard said, “‘We are going to make a video,’” she recalled. She doesn’t really remember that night — “I was out of my body” — but others do. Gelb, who said, “You can’t fake Verdi,” remembered her sounding “absolutely magnificent.” Nézet-Séguin, called it “a performance for the ages.”

Persons: Peter Gelb, ”, Pérez, “ Simon Boccanegra ”, Soloman Howard, Juliette, “, Howard, Ball, ’ ”, Gelb, Verdi Organizations: Met, Vienna, Santa Fe Opera, Goods Locations: Santa Fe, Chicago, Santa, “

☆ Did Gérard Grisey’s Music Predict His Own Death?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Jeffrey Arlo Brown | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And in the final two movements, the singer, inhabiting the character of Gilgamesh, describes the myth’s apocalyptic flood and its aftermath. In the fifth and final piece, not a complete song but a short “Lullaby,” a crystalline, pulsing texture is there one second and gone the next. On the early morning of Nov. 10, 1998, Grisey returned from Milan to the Paris apartment he shared with his partner, the mezzo-soprano Mireille Deguy. Deguy returned to their apartment in the evening. Deguy remembers that Grisey removed his watch and asked her to do the same before he collapsed from a brain aneurysm.

Persons: Erinna, Gilgamesh, Grisey, Mireille Deguy, ”, “ You’ll, Deguy Organizations: Paris Conservatory Locations: Milan, Paris

☆ Renata Scotto, Opera Diva Who Inhabited Roles, Dies at 89
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Jonathan Kandell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Renata Scotto, the firebrand Italian soprano and Metropolitan Opera favorite who was acclaimed for her acting and insights into opera characters as much as for her voice, died on Wednesday in Savona, Italy. At her best, in roles like Puccini’s Cio-Cio San in “Madama Butterfly” and Mimì in “La Bohème,” Verdi’s Violetta in “La Traviata” and Bellini’s “Norma,” Ms. Scotto achieved a dramatic intensity that electrified audiences and elicited the highest praise from her fellow opera stars. “Renata is the closest I have ever worked with a real singing actress,” the tenor Plácido Domingo said in The New York Times Magazine in 1978. “There is an emphasis, a feeling she puts behind every word she interprets.”Vocally, Ms. Scotto could not match the sensuousness of Renata Tebaldi or the astonishing technique and range of Joan Sutherland. But Ms. Scotto’s charisma and stage presence made critics overlook her shortcomings.

Persons: Renata Scotto, Filippo Anselmi, ” Verdi’s Violetta, Bellini’s “ Norma, ” Ms, Scotto, “ Renata, ”, Plácido Domingo, Renata Tebaldi, Joan Sutherland, Harold C, Schonberg Organizations: firebrand, Metropolitan Opera, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times, Carnegie Hall Locations: Savona, Italy, “, “ La, The

☆ Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn was accused of groping 2 women at an Arizona club in 2021: 'That Tony Soprano looking dude'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Boris Epshteyn, a Trump advisor, was accused of groping and harrassing two women at a club in 2021. One woman said he had a "fat, ugly, like drooping face" and resembled a "fatter Tony Soprano." Epshteyn worked in the Trump White House and helped coordinate the fake elector scheme in 2020. She also described Epshteyn as "that Tony Soprano looking dude," referring to the main protagonist portrayed by James Gandolfini in the hit TV show "The Sopranos." A Republican political consultant, Epshteyn briefly worked in the White House under Trump, later serving as a strategic advisor for his 2020 re-election campaign.

Persons: Boris Epshteyn, groping, Tony Soprano, Epshteyn, Donald Trump, James Gandolfini, White Ralph Lauren Polo, Epshteyn didn't, Trump Organizations: Trump, Trump White House, Service, Arizona Republic . Police, Republican, House, Electoral College, The New York Times Locations: Wall, Silicon, Scottsdale , Arizona, Arizona, Republic, Republic .

☆ AI is a concern for writers. But actors could have even more to fear
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —How many actors does it take to make the movies and shows produced by studios and streaming services? SAG-AFTRA, the actors union that has had 160,000 members on strike since last week, is afraid that artificial intelligence will lead to far fewer employed actors in the future. And winning limits on AI is an issue for the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike against the same studios and streaming services since May 2. The fight over virtual actors and performancesComputer-generated imagery, or CGI, to create virtual actors and extras is somewhat old hat in Hollywood. “The actors and writers, they’re kind of a canary in the coal mine,” said David Gunkel, a communications professor at Northern Illinois University who tracks AI in media and entertainment.

Persons: ”, Fran Drescher, AFTRA, Tom, “, Duncan Crabtree, AMPTP, don’t, Anthony Palomba, wasn’t, Nancy Marchand, Tony Soprano’s, HBO’s, Rowan Curran, Forrester, Joshua Glick, Bard, University of Virginia’s Palomba, “ I’m, Andrea Schneider, Goldman Sachs, David Gunkel Organizations: New, New York CNN, SAG, Writers Guild of America, Alliance, Motion Pictures, Television Producers, University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, University of Virginia’s, Cardozo Law School, Northern Illinois University, UPS Locations: New York, Hollywood, Ireland

☆ London Tours Explore the Worlds of Opera and Classical Music
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Farah Nayeri | More About Farah Nayeri | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the red velvet curtains at the Royal Opera House? London has a rich variety of tours and collections for opera and classical-music enthusiasts. Royal Opera HouseWho were some of the women who made history at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden? It’s a question that the opera house is answering in detail in a tour that runs through Aug. 12. And in a performance as Violetta in “La Traviata,” she wore a custom gown encrusted with 3,700 of her own diamonds.

Persons: ”, Adelina Patti, Violetta Organizations: Royal Opera, Royal Opera House Locations: London, Covent, Italian, New York, “ La

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