I was in Paris for a few days to meet a very special friend, and managed to get a couple of tickets to Madame Butterfly at the Opera Bastille. I hadn’t intended to write about this event, for the very

written by Melissa, for Juliette. In her annual attempt to inject some culture into her nineteen-year-old daughter’s life, my mother forced me to attend the Festival International d’Opéra Baroque in Beaune. So it was with resignation and not a little

Commissioned by the Paris Opera, Verdi wrote a five-act opera based on Friedrich Schiller’s play, Don Carlo. According to the grand opera criteria of the times, the work had to be sung in French, with spectacular scenes providing an opportunity

Anna, Anna, Sacrée Nana! Anna Nebretko is known to be a star in the opera world. But nowadays, record companies have become so proficient in marketing and “creating” artists, so to speak, with digitally enhanced images, glamorous makeup and wardrobe,