Apart from that, Mrs Bluebeard, how did you enjoy the show?

Apart from that, Mrs Bluebeard, how did you enjoy the show?

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norman lebrecht

January 30, 2015

Our intrepid New York operagoers, Elizabeth Frayer and Shawn Milnes, went to see the protests at the Met and stayed to see the premiere.

Iolanta, says Shawn, ‘featured some of the best singing I have heard in my adult life at the Met.’ Bluebeard, says Elizabeth, was ‘truly scary’.

Read their double/double review here.

bluebeard scary

Comments

  • Brian says:

    Elizabeth writes, ” And the Met was not exempt from criticism for employing the two Russians.” That’s not quite fair. Remember that in today’s opera world these projects and contracts are arranged anywhere from five to seven years in advance. None of the present controversy was even an issue that far back.

    • Milka says:

      But now we know the kind of creatures they are and the horrors they support .
      To give them any approval is to be morally bankrupt . Flt. #17- 283 innocents killed while
      an audience applauds says not much about the human condition

  • harold braun says:

    At least,this brings us back to what really should matter here ,the artistic quality!

  • Mike Schachter says:

    I am no fan of Putin’s, but we seem to be heading for a situation where performers will need to fill in a questionnaire to guarantee that none of their opinions could possibly offend any “activists” (activist=middle class person with nothing useful to do).

    • CDH says:

      Activists got women the vote, contributed mightily to rights for African-Americans, gay rights, and a plethora of other things that, left to the politicians, might have happened “eventually” but got weaving a lot sooner — if too late for so many. Don’t be so condescending. If your central point is to leave Netrebko and Gergiev alone, fair enough. Not all will agree with you, but it is a defensible position. But a lot of activists are people who have a hell of a lot to do, but put public interests ahead of their own for causes they believe in.

      • Mike Schachter says:

        That’s not my point actually, and it is nonsense that the suffragettes got women the vote, it was the involvement of women in WW1. Arguably their increasingly extremist tactics before 1914 delayed it. My point was that self-appointed guardians of ethics want to decide whom we can watch or listen to, depending on whether they approve of the views of the performers. If I don’t like a performer,for any reason I won’t buy the tickets.

  • milka says:

    Mr. Schachter
    Mr. Torgovitsky is not deciding for you .Only you can do that .
    The performers involved went public in supporting death, destruction
    and chaos . If the performers had not gone public none of these exchanges would\exist , now that they have gone public they must bear whatever criticism comes their way . . Mr. Torgovitsky .. said nothing but shows us what they are as human beings ,and if only
    partly true they should be viewed with contempt .Your cheap shot on activists is just
    that . ” The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing “..Edmund Burke , you might ponder on that while being clever. Mr. Torgovitsky to me seems a good man .

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