Rossini in Bremerhaven

From the outside, the City Theater in Bremerhaven looks rather cramped and austere, but inside it is pleasant, with wood paneling on the walls both in the lobby and in Read More …

Rusalka in Antwerp

The two largest cities in Flanders, Antwerp and Ghent, had separate opera companies until 1981, when the two companies were merged to form the Flemish Opera — now known as Read More …

The Lausanne Opera and Gabriel Fauré

The Opéra de Lausanne is the only opera house I know of that looks more impressive from the back than from the front. The front end still looks much the Read More …

La belle Hélène in Lausanne

The composer Jacques Offenbach was born in 1819, so 2019 was his bicentenary. This cartoon by the front entrance of the Lausanne opera house shows him saying “200 years, already…?” Read More …

Open-air book market in Antwerp

For two-thirds of the year, from March to October, an open-air book market is held on the third Sunday of every month from 10 am to 5 pm at the Read More …

Antwerp

Like most cities in Flanders, this one has different names in different languages: Antwerp in English, Antwerpen in Dutch and German, Anvers in French, Amberes in Spanish, Antuérpia in Portuguese, Read More …

Grote Markt

For many years in the twentieth century, Antwerp’s Grote Markt (Large Market) was used as — you guessed it — a parking lot for automobiles. But now the cars have Read More …

The first King of the Belgians

In the Restoration period of the nineteenth century, every self-respecting European country had to have a King. So when Belgium declared its independence from the Netherlands in 1830, finding a Read More …

Northern Maritime Museum

On the Brugstraat (Bridge Street), one of the major bicycle routes into and out of the center of Groningen, there are two beautifully restored medieval buildings that house the Northern Read More …

The University Museum in Groningen

The University Museum describes itself as a “Museum of Man, Nature and Science.” When you go upstairs and into the old building you get to the Geology Hall, which has Read More …

Paintings on opera themes

When I go to art museums I am always glad to see paintings on themes that I ‘know’ because they have also been made into operas. I noticed four of Read More ...

Don Pasquale at the Opéra Garnier

Donizetti’s Don Pasquale is a funny opera that is full of lovely music and also serves as a timely reminder to all us older men that we shouldn’t get any Read More ...

Dionysian frenzy

In addition to the permanent exhibition of coins, medallions and antiques, the French National Library (Site Richelieu-Louvois) often hosts prestigious temporary exhibitions. When I was there in the summer of Read More ...

Berlin Citadel with discarded statues

Although I am not a military buff (my own military service cured me of that), I do enjoy looking at 16th and 17th century citadels, particularly since I have visited Read More ...

University of Bern

In the summer of 1961 I suddenly and unexpectedly became the beneficiary of funding which would allow me to study for two semesters at a European university of my choice. Read More ...

Hôtel du Nord: the place, the book and the film

The novel L’Hôtel du Nord by Eugène Dabit (1898-1936) tells the story of a working-class couple — the author’s parents, in fact — who ran a small working-class hotel in Read More ...

The ice cream girls

There were three intermissions during the Aida performance, two during Carmen and one during Madama Butterfly. Before each intermission (‘interval’ to you) there is a ritual in which the singers Read More ...

A musical comes home

For nearly two centuries Salzburg’s big tourist draw was Mozart. The great eighteenth century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756 and lived here — when he Read More ...

Rainy days in Copenhagen

In the middle of my visit to Copenhagen I was treated to one of their famous Baltic low-pressure areas, which brought thirty-six consecutive hours of drenching rainfall. This had a Read More ...

About me

Hello, my name’s Don. I’m an American living in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where I teach, ride a bicycle and go to the opera. I became an opera fan at Read More ...

Frankfurt OperaTalk

If you speak English, live in or near Frankfurt and are interested in opera, be sure to sign up for Germany’s only English-language opera appreciation course, Frankfurt OperaTalk, at the Read More ...

Opern-Gespräche

Seit 1999 leite ich einen Kurs namens „Opern-Gespräche“ an der Volkshochschule Frankfurt. In diesem Kurs reden wir (nicht nur ich!) mit fachkundigen Gästen aus dem Opernbetrieb über das reichhaltige Frankfurter Read More ...

Operas and cycling, and travel

Get on your bike … and ride to the opera house.