Interviews and Conversations

Most of the following interview was conducted on the Santa Fe Opera “Ranch” with the much-appreciated facilitation of the Santa Fe Opera: Wm: I ask my interviewees their earliest memories of music, and of opera. What were yours? AM: My earliest memories of music come from piano and from dance.  As an only child, my parents … Read more

The following interview was conducted with American director Francisco Negrin, whose productions of operas by Handel, Gluck and Massenet I reviewed for this website, but whose scheduled Fall 2020 productions of Verdi’s ‘Il Trovatore” at the Los Angeles Opera was postponed for a year and of Massenet’s “Werther” at the Houston Grand Opera was canceled, … Read more

[Below: Canadian baritone Elliot Madore; resized image of a Cryil Mater photograph.] Wm: I like to know the earliest memories that my interview subjects have of music? What are yours? EM: My love of music was fostered at a young age singing with my school choir. I vividly recall being utterly taken and transfixed by … Read more

The following interview with New York countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen was conducted with the facilitation of the Houston Grand Opera. [Below: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen; publicity photograph by Fay Fox.] Wm: Aryeh, often ask my interview subjects about the earliest memories that they had of music. What were yours?  ANC: I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, … Read more

This is the ninth installment in a series of conversations between myself and British opera director John Pascoe, regarding operas for which he created the whole production, or a production’s sets or costumes. This conversation follows: A Conversation with John Pascoe, Part 8: Memorializing “Radically Authentic” Conductor and Baroque Music Scholar Alan Curtis. Wm: John, … Read more