By: Frank Cadenhead. 28 September 2020. Tonight’s opening performance of Lully’s Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme at Paris’ Opéra Comique has been cancelled. The next four nights also. The reason: one of the “artistic team” has Covid-19. The performances of 3 to 8 October are still planned, with the assumption that the situation would be under control […]
Read the rest of this article »By: Frank Cadenhead. The photo below – two recent front page features in a regional newspaper in France – suggests just how high the visibility is of the world of culture in France. It also suggests the wide concern about this world which is usually centered around a public assembly in these pandemic times. Art […]
Read the rest of this article »By Frank Cadenhead. The July 14th Concert at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in Paris went ahead as planned last night – with some adjustments for the current health climate. This iconic Bastille Day event, followed by a famous fireworks display, is now in the eighth year, and was televised in France, on Eurovision […]
Read the rest of this article »Opera EuropaThe professional association of opera companies and festivals in Europe. THE NEED FOR CULTURE When times are hard, we more than ever need the solace of culture. Art, books, films, music, theatre are therapy for disrupted lives.We recognise that Governments must impose restrictions on public gatherings in order to protect lives; and we are […]
Read the rest of this article »By Frank Cadenhead. March 16, 2020. This is a major declaration of French opera’s performing artists. This “Cri du Coeur” makes plain that the abrupt cancellation of all opera everywhere in France at Midnight on March 14 leaves both artists and staff without any idea of when this will end and if there will be […]
Read the rest of this article »By: Frank Cadenhead. When I heard that there was a box in the Opéra-Comique that was still in the possession of an aristocratic family, I thought it was a joke. There is a French version of The Onion available but this item was in Le Monde. It appears that Louis XVI gave a box as […]
Read the rest of this article »By: Frank Cadenhead. It is not a news item demanding the attention of fans of opera around the world but it is important for opera in Brussels. The Théâtre de la Monnaie stage and the workshops where productions are prepared and stored are now linked by a tunnel under Leopold Street. There was only […]
Read the rest of this article »By: Frank Cadenhead. This is (mostly) a Google translation of an item from the French site Forum Opera: After declaring in 2015 that he would not go back on the stage of the Orange Theater, Roberto Alagna announces he will give up Otello on July 12 and 15, 2020 in Munich to make his return […]
Read the rest of this article »By: Frank Cadenhead. The Tuesday news of the failure to find a replacement for Serge Dorny at the Opéra National de Lyon leaves opera in France’s second-largest city adrift. The announcement by the selection committee indicates that all of the finalist, and their proposals for season 2021-2022 and beyond, have been found insufficient. The members […]
Read the rest of this article »By: Frank Cadenhead. It was not just “politically incorrect.” The Belgian government has accused the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège of possibly violating a law by receiving financial support from a tobacco company. Support by Japan Tobacco International, whose brands include Winston and Camel, has not been hidden and the company’s logo appears is […]
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