A most extraordinary story is arriving from Japan where The Royal Opera is currently on tour. Tenor Vittorio Grigolo was substituted for the final performance of the opera Faust after being accused of groping a colleague on stage during the curtain call – in front of the audience. A statement from The Royal Opera […]
Faust
Interview with Juan Diego Flórez who debuts in Ricciardo e Zoraide at Pesaro tonight
Twenty-two years ago, Juan Diego Flórez arrived like a meteorite across the opera firmament. A couple of weeks before his career launching performance, I’d met the young tenor in Milan. He’d flown over from Peru with a work visa just for a handful of days, and was heading to Pesaro to make his Italian debut. […]
Olga Peretyatko – the generous and gifted artist in recital at La Scala
Olga Peretyatko was in glorious voice for her captivating recital at La Scala. Beautiful on both the eye and the ear she charmed throughout her highly demanding and lengthy programme, bewitching the audience for more than two hours – people headed toward the exits at 10.40pm after an 8pm start. A mixed programme offered three […]
Mark S Doss answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition
Q&A When did you start singing? I was in the 5th grade when the music teacher, Mrs Mapson, asked me to sing the Wells Fargo Wagon song from Music Man. She heard me sing it back to her and then exclaimed, “Wow, that’s beautiful! You could go to New York right now and make a […]
Opera singer Wendy White in hospital after an eight-foot fall during the Met’s Faust
Mezzo-soprano Wendy White fell from a platform eight feet above the stage during a performance of Gounod’s “Faust” at the Metropolitan Opera yesterday. She was rushed to hospital. The Met have said, however, that she did not appear to be seriously injured and was in stable condition. During Act III White was walking onto a […]
Angela Gheorghiu: The Rolling Stones have a big sound. You know why? Because they are plugged in!
Angela Gheorghiu is in London to promote a season of Royal Opera House filmed performances, three starring herself. The Royal Opera House is striving to build up opera and ballet audiences by piping 10 productions, five of them live, into 700 cinemas worldwide. The season opener was last night’s live broadcast of Gounod’s “Faust,” with Gheorghiu. Her […]
Roberto Alagna tells his version of the Bastille walk out to Le Figaro
After being accused provoking the departure of conductor Alain Lombard from the production of Faust at the Bastille, Roberto Alagna gave his version of what happened in an interview with Le Figaro. I am very sad. I don’t understand the reaction of the press and the blogs which carry on without knowing the facts… precisely nothing happened! […]