The last-ever singer in Opera News
OperaIt is rather touching that the final singers’ issue of the US opera magazine features a rising artist on the cover rather than one of the dwindling band of eye-catching celebrities.
Elza van den Heever is a South African soprano who has been appearing with distinction in leading roles at the Met for a decade. If she is not a household name, that is partly down to the Met’s shrinking profile in US media and partly to the general absence of big singer personalities who capture the limelight and dominate the conversation.
And that itself is a leading cause of the demise of Opera News, RIP.
A lovely Elsa in Lohengrin a few years back in Zürich, and a very down-to-earth personality.
Frankly, when the announcement came, I was surprised Opera News was still in circulation. With other, serious publications about opera, it became superfluous years ago.
ON was excellent up into the 90s but became increasingly glossy, glitzy and superficial. I have almost a complete run 1941-2009 or so but began round filing them afterwards. If us subscribers are going to get OPERA mags that will be welcome.
I’d say it is due to the absence of distinctive singers with unique vocal face. The unprecedented drought is by now a worldwide calamity. The phenomenon can also be coined a pandemic. Also, the people in the biz who thought that forcing singers into primordially a Miss Universe or Barbie Doll pageant (over and above what ultimately matters) would be the answer for attracting new audiences and exploding profits are now reaping what they sowed. RIP.
She’s not a “rising artist.” She’s a star. She rose about 15 years ago.
Gelb taking over the store and then the Guild was the stu[idest possible outcome and the death knell of an organization which did good things for opera internationally and raised funds for the MET. He really must hate opera.
The past couple of years it was very difficult to find copies of the magazine. I live in a big city where there are still some some big book stores and the few remaining Barnes and Noble stopped carrying it, so in a way it was a signal they would stop publishing it.
Rest in peace