White Shirt Monday: Chain Reaction

[Please cue all possible Prince Valiant/Chain a soprano to this/”You’ve Got Chainmail and it sings better than the tenor, among other things” summer quips and chill the Côtes du Provence rosé while you contemplate the reasons for this smirk: Daniela Pini (Isolier) in Rossini’s “Le Comte Ory”, Malmö 2015 PS. That shirt collar detail, bring me the ice bucket]

Quarantine, Week 8

[Quarantine goals: entering the Zoom conference call in nothing but an artful bedsheet wrap and with the arm workout results on display, in a confident slalom through the leftover bottles of the night before. Role model: Stéphanie d’Oustrac (Nicklausse/The Muse) in Offenbach’s “Les contes d’Hoffmann”, Paris/Bastille 2016]

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Quarantine, Week 7

[“Oh show us the way to the next absinth bar!” – Members of the choir at the Warlikowski background bar in Offenbach’s “Les contes d’Hoffmann”, Brussels/La Monnaie 2019]

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d’Oustractions

[Me, whenever there’s a production announcement that includes an Idamante or Sesto not cast with a mezzo-soprano: <glaring daggers> “A splendid union. Just splendid.” </glaring daggers> – Mélissa Petit (Aricie), Stéphanie d’Oustrac (Phaidra), Cyrille Dubois (Hippolyte) in Rameau’s “Hippolyte et Aricie”, Zurich 2019.]

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Fly Me To The Moon: “Orlando Furioso” live from La Fenice

[#extremelyrelevanttomyinterests – “Moi?” – Yes, the swaggering contralto in boots and a white shirt! (we may have to talk about the Jack Sparrow wig at some other point). Sonia Prina (Orlando) in Vivaldi’s “Orlando furioso”, Venice/LaFenice@TeatroMalibran 2018]

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Pyre, Pyre, Hearts on Fire, II

[In Sickle and in Health! – Joyce DiDonato (Adalgisa) and Sondra Radvanovsky (Norma) in Bellini’s “Norma”, New York/Met 2017.]

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So… how about a round of “Norma still or Xena episode?”