• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • DANCE
  • MUSIC & OPERA
  • PHOTOGRAPHY
  • Q&A DANCERS
  • Q&A SINGERS
  • GRAMILANO.PHOTOS
  • CONTACT

Gramilano

- dance, opera, photography...

Anna Bolena

Mariella Devia’s extraordinary three queens at the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo

5 December 2018 by gramilano 1 Comment

Mariella Devia e Sabbatini, photo by Gianfranco Rota, Donizetti Opera 2018

How extraordinary is Mariella Devia. In 2006 she gave her final performances as Lucia di Lammermoor at La Scala, leaving the public astonished that she was saying goodbye to the role after witnessing the perfection of her voice at 58. The day after her 65th birthday she sang Norma for the first time — a role she had said only a few years previously that she would never take on … [Read more...] about Mariella Devia’s extraordinary three queens at the Donizetti Opera Festival in Bergamo

Maria Callas on Stage – a new exhibition at La Scala

14 September 2017 by gramilano 2 Comments

Maria Callas on Stage – the La Scala Years 07

Maria Callas in scena - Gli anni alla Scala (Maria Callas on Stage – the La Scala Years) runs from 15 September to 31 January at La Scala’s museum, which is housed in the same building as the theatre. The Italian theatre designer, Margherita Palli, has overseen the exhibition which contains 14 of La Divina’s costumes, the necklace and earrings worn during the first act … [Read more...] about Maria Callas on Stage – a new exhibition at La Scala

Maria Callas in newly restored photos from the La Scala archive

13 September 2017 by gramilano 2 Comments

Maria Callas at La Scala, recording Il trovatore in 1956

"Silence - Recording in Progress" reads the sign, as Maria Callas arrives at La Scala to record Il trovatore in 1956. More than any other theatre, Callas is linked with the great opera house in Milan. She recorded many of the 'studio' recordings there when the theatre was closed for the summer break, and gave some of her most memorable performances on its famous stage at the … [Read more...] about Maria Callas in newly restored photos from the La Scala archive

A first listen to the new Maria Callas Live: Remastered Live Recordings 1949-1964

10 September 2017 by gramilano 1 Comment

Maria Callas Live

More than a gift to their own coffers, Warner Classics in releasing Maria Callas Live is giving fans of La Divina and lovers of opera a meticulously restored collection of some of her finest performances to treasure. It is timed to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of her death in Paris on 16 September 1977. The 42 CDs contain 20 complete operas, and three Blu-ray discs hold … [Read more...] about A first listen to the new Maria Callas Live: Remastered Live Recordings 1949-1964

Fiorenza Cossotto answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition

1 August 2014 by gramilano 2 Comments

Q&A  in italiano When did you start singing? When I was a girl. Why did you start singing? For my own personal enjoyment. Which singer inspired you most when you were young? No one. Which singer do you most admire? The good ones. What’s your favourite role? More than one... all the masterpieces. What role have you never played but would have … [Read more...] about Fiorenza Cossotto answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition

Anna Netrebko talks after the opening of Anna Bolena: There’s so much hatred!

10 October 2011 by gramilano Leave a Comment

On Anna Bolena "It's like nothing I've ever done before! You're practically shouting in the lower register for half the opera. [Donizetti] wants that nasty, chesty voice — he wants it to sound uncomfortable!" "It's asking so much of the nerves, the body, the emotion. There's so much hatred! I never thought I could be so angry." On "Manca solo a compire il delitto" when she … [Read more...] about Anna Netrebko talks after the opening of Anna Bolena: There’s so much hatred!

Critics Round-up: Anna Netrebko in Anna Bolena

5 October 2011 by gramilano 3 Comments

This was very much Anna Netrebko's Anna Bolena. True, it is the title role, but the other characters have to work quite hard too. Her face was emoting from every review, and so here's a round-up of what the critic's had to say about Anna as Anna at the Met. Anne Midgette's review for The Washington Post loved the voice, but was surprised about our diva's reaction to the … [Read more...] about Critics Round-up: Anna Netrebko in Anna Bolena

Italian theatre designer Luisa Spinatelli is honoured at La Scala

17 May 2011 by gramilano Leave a Comment

Last night in the glamorous foyer of the La Scala Theatre (Ridotto dei Palchi 'Arturo Toscanini') the Amici della Scala awarded an Honorary Membership of the society to Italian theatre designer Luisa Spinatelli. She is one of several Italian designers who, outside of 'la moda', continue to make their mark in theatre and cinema. Spinatelli has long been long associated … [Read more...] about Italian theatre designer Luisa Spinatelli is honoured at La Scala

Primary Sidebar

Follow us

  • 19,203 Fans
  • 268k Followers
  • 17,900 Subscribers
  • 27,665 Followers
  • 2,330 Followers
  • 592 Subscribers
  • 1,053 Subscribers

SEARCH

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in posts
Search in pages

Categories

SUBSCRIBE

Gramilano newsletter 2019

Referred-to-by

Graham Spicer

Writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano’) about dance, opera, music and photography for people who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like.

I was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. My scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times. I write the ‘Danza in Italia’ column for Dancing Times magazine.

You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, or follow my Facebook page.

News

  • Colleagues support Vittorio Grigolo as he replies to being fired by the Royal Opera House and the Met
  • La Scala stages an evening of ballet to raise funds to aid the flooded Teatro Fenice in Venice
  • Karen Kain to Retire as Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada
  • Dancing Times, November 2019 edition – with Gramilano’s Danza in Italia column including Sleeping Beauty at La Scala and Pink Floyd in Verona
  • Rome Opera Ballet names its main dance studio after the late Elisabetta Terabust
  • Alberto Testa – Italian dancer, choreographer, teacher and writer – has died at 96
  • Tenor Marcello Giordani has died at 56
  • David Hallberg becomes Principal Guest Artist of The Royal Ballet in the 2019/2020 Season
  • Vittorio Grigolo comments on recent accusations after a triumphant performance at La Scala
  • La Scala remembers Jessye Norman in words and pictures

Popular Posts

  • Interview with Anna Netrebko on her son, his autism and his abandonment by his father Erwin Schrott
  • Photographer Barbara Luisi brings the mystique of Puglia’s olive trees to New York
  • Unseen photos: Maria Callas at La Scala
  • Tamara Rojo and Isaac Hernández: “a possible conflict of interest”?
  • Alessandra Ferri returns to dance the end of her marriage
  • Jack Devant, ballet photographer: freezing the beauty
  • Renata Scotto on slapping a tenor, the divine Callas, and… Bocelli
  • Overwhelming applause for Gruberova and her queens at La Scala
  • Diana Vishneva 'outraged' by the appointment of Tsiskaridze at the Vaganova Academy
  • Bolshoi Ballet's Italian dancer, Jacopo Tissi, on his first year in Moscow and dancing Diamonds at the Lincoln Center



Copyright © 2019 · Gramilano · All rights reserved

about me · contact me · privacy and cookies