In the first decade of the twentieth century numerous small and middle-sized European cities built impressive municipal theaters, and Bern was no exception. To finance this one, a group of prominent local citizens got together and formed a joint-stock company to raise money for the new theater, which they later Read More …
In 1875 Bizet’s Carmen had its world premiere here at the Opéra-Comique. Also Debussy’s Pelleas et Mélisande and Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann had their world premieres here, so this is a hall that is full of great opera history. The performance I saw here in 2006 was of The Barber Read More …
Have you ever been in this situation? You’re traveling with a dozen or so nice people from several different countries, and you’re all very excited about the next leg of your journey. Everybody gets packed up, and they keep talking about departing (also various ones fall in love with each Read More …
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 the auditorium. The theater was first built from 1909 to 1911, at a time when new municipal theaters were being Read More …
Instead of being shipwrecked, captured by pirates and sold into slavery, the Italian travelers in David Hermann’s staging of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri were flying comfortably in an Airbus when it crash-landed in the jungle in some remote part of the world. The wrecked plane was apparently found by some sort Read More …
This beautiful old theater dates from 1874 and is still very much in operation despite the recent openings of the new opera house, the new concert hall and the new Royal Danish Playhouse. The Danish name for The Old Stage is Gamle Scene, a name which provokes giggles among German Read More …
This large cemetery in the 20th arrondissement of Paris is popular with tourists because some famous people are buried here. If you go in at the main entrance you can get a map to help you find the graves of people like Gioacchino Rossini, Maria Callas, Édith Piaf, Jim Morrison Read More …
One of the mysteries of operatic history is why the composer Gioacchino Rossini (1792 – 1868) abruptly stopped composing in 1829 at the age of 37, when he was at the height of his powers and had just had a huge success with his opera Wilhelm Tell. Since he was Read More …
The one thing I really messed up on my visit to Milan in 2008 was that I didn’t see the exhibition Ricordi e i Fantastici 5 — and why not? Because I didn’t notice the little sticker saying it had been extended, so I thought it was all over before Read More …
Since it was the middle of February I was prepared for snow, slush, sleet, gale-force winds and freezing temperatures, but in fact it was dry and frost-free the entire time, and on my last day we had brilliant sunshine and temperature readings from 17° C. at noon up to 20° Read More …