Getting ready with Dr. Nic last week for a TV interview he came up with five tidbits about La boheme to be used on air. Live TV being what live TV is, not all of them made it onto the show, but I thought they were interesting enough to be recycled here on the blog. Besides, I'm busy hammering away at the 2011 press release so pressed for time today. 2011 press release you say? You betcha. But, faithful readers, here's a tidbit: a certain married couple returns to us next season in another opera by Gounod. Without further ado, five things about La boheme you'll be glad to know 1) Giacomo Puccini’s opera La boheme is one of the three most popular operas ever written but it wasn ’t always that way. It was not an immediate success. An opera by a rival Italian composer, Ruggiero Leoncavallo, on the same subject (and also named Le bohème ) premiered about a year after Puccini’s and was quite successful. It’s possible that, in fact, Puccini actually stole the idea ...
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Last time I saw Idomeneo was in 1999 with, are you ready Smorg?, Kasarova as Idamante and Netrebko as Ilia. Vaness was Elettra, but it was a little past her Mozartean prime, but, oh ,what a fantastic Donna Anna she used to be.
All that said, I am SUPER excited to see SDO put on Peter Grimes. Copley should bring special insight to the production thanks to his history with the piece.
I do have the air-check of Idomeneo from, I think the same year, the LOC with Kasarova and Vaness. She was a heck of an Elettra indeed. :o)
And kudos to Mr Campbell for getting Peter Grimes on the schedule, too. What good timing with all the rave reviews from its last run in New York! :o)