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About operaman
Name
Stephen LlewellynBio
Stephen Llewellyn worked with Portland Opera for nearly four years and still produces this blog on a weekly basis. You may see him manning the Portland Opera table at the Metropolitan Opera High Definition transmissions where he enjoys chatting with like-minded Saturday morning opera fans. Do stop by and say 'hello'. He has been a barrister in Hong Kong, a professional folk singer and classically-trained tenor. He makes a mean zabaglione, and cries easily and frequently at opera performances.
Opera and Other Links
The Rest is Noise - Alex Ross of the New Yorker
What I Am Reading
In Patagonia (Bruce Chatwin)
Memoirs (Da Ponte)
The Librettist of Venice (Bolt)
Ship Fever (Andrea Barrett)
Le Grand Meaulnes (Alain-Fournier)
Beethoven. Letters, Journals and Conversations
What I am listening to as I write this week's post...
Magnum Mysterium (Lauridsen)
Nixon in China (new recording)
Vanessa (Barber)
John Martyn
Leon Redbone Christmas Album
Christmas With The Yours (Elio)
Mozart Requiem (arr. for String Quartet)
Tosca (Callas)
Till Eulenspiegel (Strauss)
And another thing...
Plàcido Domingo
For a guy who just celebrated either his 69th or 74th birthday (depending who you believe) Placidone sure is a busy guy. Last week he opened at the Met, performing the name role in a new production of Verdi's Simon Bocanegra. Then, last Saturday he was to be found in the orchestra pit at the Met, conducting Verdi's Stiffelio. On Sunday, he was to be found presenting a rapper award at the Grammy's. Simon Bocanegra, which we will all have an opportunity to see at the movies this coming Saturday, was, by and large, positively reviewed. His conducting of Stiffelio was not greeted with enthusiasm. At the Grammy's he looked just plumb awkward! And little wonder. What the hell were they thinking having him appear with Mos Def to honour a rap artist??
What's next - P Diddy making a presentation to Eighth Blackbird for Best Contemporary Chamber Ensemble?
Bill Waterson
It is fifteen years since the appearance of the last Calvin and Hobbs comic strip and twenty-one years since the creator of that manifestation of genius last gave an interview. Thus, when he agreed to be interviewd by the Cleveland Plain Dealer last week, it was big news. I am happy that the Plain Dealer got the scoop. That newspaper is the source I go to for book reviews I know I can trust. Here's the interview. And since I am only mentioning this here to give me the opportunity to share with you one of my all-time favourite C and H strips, here it is.
Click on it and it will enlarge to a size you can read.
Click on it and it will enlarge to a size you can read.
Brava, diva!
Soprano Brenda Harris (pictured above) is both one of my favourite opera singers and one of my favourite people. So it gives me particular pleasure to note that last week, after she opened at Minnesota Opera in the role of Queen Elizabeth I in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, the Minnesota Post reported that "Harris seared the heavens with a searing performance." Well, of course she did!
Okay, y'all can go back to work now. See you on Monday.