Reviews, appreciation and analysis of all things opera
Part I of this interview may be found at: Heartland Heartthrob: An Interview with Nathan Gunn, Part I. [Below: Nathan Gunn; edited image, based on a photograph from www.texasperformingarts.com.] Wm: One of your colleagues in one of my interviews suggested that your physical exercise regimen and your physical appearance have put pressure on other operatic males … Read more
[The following interview with baritone Nathan Gunn was conducted in August, 2010.] Wm: You grew up in South Bend in Northern Indiana, and now reside in Champagne-Urbana, in East Central Illinois. Yet you spend a part of each year in the world’s great cosmopolitan cities, even while you are paterfamilias for a large family back … Read more
Wolfgang Amadeus (note about film Amadeus below) Mozart’s final operatic masterpiece, “Die Zauberfloete” (The Magic Flute) once again enchants Santa Fe Opera audiences. The summer 2010 season is the 54th for The Santa Fe Opera in beautiful olde Santa Fe – now celebrating its 400th anniversary. The “Magic Flute” has been a very frequent show-stopper of the all-time operatic wunderkind … Read more
This is the third in a series of guest commentaries by author and historian Arthur Bloomfield, whose new e-book on the styles of the great oldtime opera and symphony conductors is posted at www.morethanthenotes.com. At least one prominent historian of the Metropolitan Opera – and perhaps a few copycats too – dismissed the diminutive and … Read more
William’s note: I first interviewed Conductor Antony Walker at the new offices of the Pittsburgh Opera (in the historic building that was originally part of the factory of the Westinghouse Brake Company. (See: Interviewing Conductor Antony Walker on Undervalued Masterpieces – and His Unexpected Celebrity.) This second interview took place at the Santa Fe Opera … Read more