December 17, 2001 Opera singer Martha Mödl has died. Article in German
September 26, 2001 Reviewing a concert performance of Verdi's Don Carlo that took place at Jordan Hall in Boston last Saturday, Ellen Pfeifer wrote in today's Boston Globe, "Boston Bel Canto Opera's concert presentation was wildly uneven in quality, its ambition far exceeding its grasp."
September 15, 2001 According to today's Boston Globe, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts has postponed, because of the tragedy shaking the nation, the unveiling of its master plan for the museum's renovation and expansion. A new date has not yet been decided. Events would have taken place on September 24 in Boston, and on September 25 in New York.
September 14, 2001 The Boston Symphony Orchestra's web site now has an etiquette page.
The 2001 U.S. Open Squash Championships scheduled Thursday, September 13, through Sunday, September 16, to take place at Boston's Symphony Hall, have been postponed.
September 10, 2001 Tenor Frank Lopardo received a favorable review from the San Francisco Chronicle, in a Setpember 7, 2001, performance of Rigoletto (opening the San Francisco season) described over all as "humdrum routine."
September 8, 2001
"Opera is a museum," writes Andrew Clark in the Financial Times. Renee Fleming gave an interesting interview to David Patrick Stearns at andante.com
September 7, 2001 The 2001 US Open Squash Championships take place September 13 through 16 at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston; call (877) 524-5685. The Boston Phoenix reports that a glass-enclosed court will be set up at Symphony Hall.
New page about El Niño, an oratorio by John Adams: http://www.johnrpierce.com/lhl2.html
September 6, 2001 July 31, 2001 Last month Naxos released a recording of Puccini's La Bohème from La Scala, Milan, February 1938, featuring Licia Albanese, Beniamino Gigli, Tatiana Menotti, and Afro Poli, conducted by Umberto Berrettoni.
June 14, 2001News from John Pierce
The Los Angeles Opera's Queen of Spades was given a favorable review in today's Los Angeles Times.
In the Chicago Sun-Times of July 30, 2001, Laura Emerick gave a fairly negative review to Kiri Te Kanawa's performance at the Ravinia Festival.
The June 12 performance of Lully's Thésée at the Boston Early Music Festival was reviewed in today's Boston Herald.
May 25, 2001
Boston Baroque has announced its 2001-2001 season. Among the singers announced are tenors William Burden (to sing in Handel's Messiah), William Hite (Virtue in Bach's cantata Hercules at the Crossroads), and Stanford Olsen (in Mozart's Mass in c minor).
May 6, 2001
Boston's Emmanuel Music has announced that its exploration of the vocal, piano, and chamber works of Schubert will continue next season with performances on October 14, 2001 (featuring the Cello Quintet), as well as Noember 18, 2001, and January 6 and 20, February 24, March 10, and May 5, 2002. Craig Smith also announced that Emmanuel Music will be performing Handel's Saul next season.
February 16, 2001
I attended a performance of Bach's Mass in b minor last night by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, with soloists Barbara Bonney, Angelika Kirschlager, John Mark Ainsley, and Thomas Quasthoff. Anglelika Kirschlager was especially impressive and thoroughly interesting. The orchestra played superbly. The other soloists, and the chorus, though very competent indeed, did not succeed in interesting me very much. The Masterworks Chorale performance that I attended in Sanders Theatre last November was more enjoyable. The chorus and soloists seemed more alive and more interested in communicating something to the audience. William Hite was a more appealing tenor than Ainsley.
January 12, 2001
Today's Boston Globe reports that soprano Linda Roark-Strummer has been engaged to sing the role of Lady Macbeth in a concert performance of Verdi's Macbeth at Jordan Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 3, 2001.