As the 2020 edition of the International New York Film Festival comes to a close, an Italian entry stands out called Tides of Memory, inspired by an encounter with William Kentridge and his extraordinary work Triumphs and Laments on the embankment of the River Tiber, a powerful, poetic and bemused reflection on man, time and […]
Metropolitan Opera
The Bolshoi Theatre’s Director on the current closure and the worrying task of reopening
In a plain-speaking interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant, the Bolshoi Theatre’s General Director, Vladimir Urin, talked about the impending challenges for not only his theatre but theatres the world over.
“I very much hope that we will resume operations in the new season. That is the best-case scenario. Considering the way this situation is developing, I am almost sure that no performances will be possible until the end of June; perhaps not even until the end of July.”
And the worst-case scenario?
I don’t want to get into it, because it’s scary even to predict what would happen if we don’t open in September. It could go as far as the destruction of the theatre.
Conductor Nello Santi – who conducted 401 performances at The Met – has died at 88
The conductor Nello Santi has died at 88. He last worked at La Scala in November 2017, when he was 86, conducting Nabucco. He was born in 1931 in Adria in the Veneto region. He was the director of Zurich Opera from 1958 to 1969. In 1960, Santi conducted the Wiener Philharmoniker for Don Carlo […]
Hui He answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Singers’ Edition
When did you start singing? I always loved to sing since I was a child. I sang on every occasion, also during public events at school, where my maths teacher heard me and advised me to take singing lesson with her neighbour who was a voice teacher. He listened me, and he told me that […]
Tenor Marcello Giordani has died at 56
Tenor Marcello Giordani died this afternoon following a heart attack – he was 56 years old. He was at his home in Augusta in the Province of Syracuse when at about 3 pm, after lunch, he felt unwell, but an hour of attempts to revive him by medical staff who arrived by ambulance and helicopter […]
Vittorio Grigolo comments on recent accusations after a triumphant performance at La Scala
Vittorio Grigolo received an enthusiastic ovation after his performance as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’amore at La Scala. After having seen contracts suspended with The Royal Opera and The Metropolitan Opera, La Scala decided to take no action against the tenor as there is an undergoing investigation by The Royal Opera House. The audience was clearly […]
Vittorio Grigolo: I couldn’t apologise. I was sent home like a killer.
December 2019 UPDATE: Colleagues support Vittorio Grigolo as he replies to being fired by the Royal Opera House and the Met In a video to his fans, Vittorio Grigolo has put forward his version of the story of his alleged groping a colleague onstage while on tour with The Royal Opera. The action led to […]
Lawrence Brownlee answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… singers’ edition!
Q&A When and why did you start singing? When I was a kid… I come from a musical family, and so music has always been a part of who I am. But I got serious about singing in high school when people told me girls would think I was cute. So my love for singing […]
Soprano Frances Alda: arguing with Toscanini, a debut at La Scala, Chaliapin’s hairy chest, and Caruso at the Met
Frances Alda (1879 – 1952) was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic soprano. She was one of the world’s most celebrated singers during the first three decades of the 20th century and was a frequent onstage partner with Enrico Caruso at the Metropolitan Opera. This account below, taken from her fascinating 1937 autobiography Men, Women, & Tenors, describes […]
The tides of memory – identity, migration and the new diasporas in a film by Luisa Mariani inspired by William Kentridge
William Kentridge’s mural, Triumphs and Laments, in Rome became the city’s biggest contemporary art work and is also Kentridge’s largest public work. The 550m stretch of black and white images was unveiled on 21 April 2016. It was commissioned to mark the anniversary of Rome’s founding in 753BC. The mural’s inauguration was celebrated by a […]
