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LaStrega

The Walter Scott Opera that Never Was: Pacini's La Donna delle Isole

“Since I have had to speak in these poor memoirs of the compositions I have given birth to, I will also note those that lie imprisoned,...

LaStrega

Vincenzio Battista: The San Carlo's Forgotten Boy Prodigy

Pick up any biography of Verdi and the account of his "Galley Years" at the San Carlo will probably mention passim two composers we have...

LaStrega

Brazen and Clamorous Disorder: Pacini's Medea at Niblo's Garden [1]

Manhattan newspapers in September, 1860 covered Lincoln’s candidacy for president and rumblings of Southern secession. Sensational local...

LaStrega

Push and Pull, Part II: Coopetition in the New York Opera Alliance

For my MA thesis, I undertook a case study of one U.S. cultural alliance, the New York Opera Alliance (NYOA). NYOA is an outlier among...

LaStrega

Push and Pull: What is Coopetition?

The portmanteau term coopetition entered management literature in the 1990s with the publication of a book called (cleverly enough)...

LaStrega

Coronavirus, Cholera and Choir Practice, Part II

Some exciting news from the U.S.: the small Michigan Opera Theater (MOT) has just announced its new artistic director, Yuval Sharon, in a...

LaStrega

Boccanegra's Brother: Peri's Vittore Pisani

Apotheosis of Admiral Vettor Pisani By Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1743) It is easy to forget that Verdi's Simon Boccanegra was a bit of a...

LaStrega

Howling at the Moon, or Don't Read the Reviews

Many artists I know have told me they don't read reviews of their own performances. 192 years ago, the composer Giovanni Pacini...

LaStrega

Corona, Cholera, and Choir Practice Part I

Opera has endured for over 400 years, and pandemics are nothing new to practitioners.L'elisir d'Amore was composed in the midst of a...