Wagner’s “Dutchman” Makes Uneven Met Return after a Decade
Stephen Gould & Deborah Voigt - photo by Corey Weaver, Metropolitan Opera
Source: www.qonstage.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Richard Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer” (1843), his earliest opera in the more or less regular repertory, returned to the Metropolitan Opera on April 23, for seven performances, after a 10-year absence, in August Everding’s updated production, new in 1989, with designs by Hans Schavernoch (sets), Lore Haas (costumes), and Gil Wechsler (lighting), staged this season by Stephen Pickover, but this “Flying Dutchman,” alas, failed to soar. Read more
Song & Emotion Fill Carnegie, as Beloved ‘Flicka’ Gives Farewell Recital
Frederica vonStade - photo by Eric Melear
Source: www.qonstage.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Beloved American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, familiarly known to music lovers as Flicka, has been winding down her four-decade singing career and elected, on April 22, to give her New York farewell recital at Carnegie Hall, assisted by ever-supportive pianist Martin Katz. No standard-issue concert, with song groups or cycles by this and then that composer, this was a diverse and intriguing, eclectic program, covering a great deal of musical territory, with the singer relating the songs to particular episodes in her personal and professional life. While nostalgia inevitably suffused the proceedings, so did consummate music making, with the lady of the hour in fine, polished voice.
Intimacy and immediacy of interpretation characterized the selections with which von Stade chose to take her leave, as it has throughout her seasons Read more
Guy Friday: A Night of a Thousand Stars
Joey Adami - photo courtesy of Joey Adami
Source: www.newyorkqnews.com
By Joey Adami
Meanwhile:
A sigh of relief filled my lungs as I smiled back at Jaden, my editor, handing me back a copy of my work. I felt his hand on mine a little longer then expected, his face, nearly an inch from mine, as he bent forward. I closed my eyes, felt my heart bang, and took a deep breath.
1:30 a.m. Central North Hospital
“What are you guys trying to do, ruin every chance I have at sex?” Luke cried, as he and Will entered room 212. He was referring to the night Will O’Neil dropped in suddenly, back from California and crashed his attempt at a
hook-up, and now I myself was laid up in the hospital’s emergency wing. Read more
Community Rallies, after Hate Crime, as Center Unfurls New Rainbow Flags
New Rainbow Flags - photo by Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Source: www.newyorkqnews.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert
In the wake of a torched rainbow flag left hanging on a poster display case outside Manhattan’s LGBT Community Center, on April 14, the community gathered before the Center, on April 21, for a rally, and the unfurling of two new rainbow flags, to hang from the West 13th Street building.
In welcoming remarks, Center Executive Director Glennda Testone said, “We collect, we activate and, most of all, we do not back down, especially in the face of threats and scare tactics … We’re here, we’re queer, and we are not going anywhere. This is our Center, our home.” As Testone continued, “We’re here to send a message of strength, solidarity,” she was interrupted by a dissenter, passing in front of the stage platform and beginning, “The Bible says,” before Testone declared him “outnumbered” by the dozens of us present. Read more
Met Presents Premiere of “Armida,” Subdued, & her Six Tenors, in Full Cry
Armida cast - photo by by Ken Howard
Source: www.qonstage.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert
This spring, the Metropolitan Opera is presenting the company premiere of Gioachino Rossini’s “Armida” (1817), which pits the eponymous Saracen sorceress against six coloratura tenor Crusaders. Read more
Martyred Nuns Take Juilliard Stage in Gripping “Carmélites,” Led by Manson & Melano
Renee Tatum, Tharanga Goonetilleke, Lacey Benter, and Adam Richardson - photo by Nan Melville http://www.qonstage.com/QOnStage_articles/2010dialogues_554Gelbert/554.jpg
Source: www.qonstage.com
By Bruce-Michael Gelbert
Composer Francis Poulenc and playwright Georges Bernanos’ “Dialogues des Carmélites” (Dialogues of the Carmelites, 1957), after Gertrude von le Fort’s historically-based novelette, set in France before, during, and near the end of the French Revolution, Read more
Conversation with Janis Ian
Janis Ian - photo by Peter Cunningham
Source: www.qonstage.com
By Sherri Rase
Janis Ian will be playing at Music On Main at the United Methodist Church, 69 Main Street, in Woodbridge, New Jersey on April 21 at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, go to www.WoodbridgeArts.com. Advance tickets are priced at $22. Tickets at the door are $25. Recently QonStage got an opportunity to take five with this internationally renowned folk artist.
Janis Ian’s “Society’s Child” made headlines and protests, when it was new in 1965, and some were so moved by it, that they burned down a radio station in Atlanta that dared to play the song about an interracial couple. Ian knew what she was talking about, having grown up in various parts of Essex County, NJ and then moving into New York City, with her family, while still a young person. Gaining experience in the NYC folk clubs, recognized for her talent and her ways with her songs and those of others, Ian made her way through slings and arrows that we might think are the stuff of melodrama. Read more
Google News- Boy Scouts End Longtime Ban on Openly Gay Youths - New York Times
- As Tyson Gay preps for NY race, talk turns to Bolt - USA TODAY
- Boy Scots Vote To Allow Gay Members, But Not Leaders - NPR
- Boy Scouts Approve Plan to Accept Gay Scouts, Ban Remains on Gay Adult ... - ABC News
- Court Cancels Ukraine's First Gay Pride Rally - ABC News
- Gay Rights Activist Held in China - Voice of America
- Boy Scouts set to vote on lifting gay youth ban - Los Angeles Times
- The Ban on Gay Boy Scouts Might End Today - The Atlantic Wire
- New gay-rights battleground: Virginia - Politico
- Boy Scouts vote on gay members: What's at stake - NBCNews.com (blog)
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- Ukraine: Gay Pride Rally Banned
- Boy Scouts to Admit Openly Gay Youths as Members
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- On Eve of Vote, Boy Scouts Are Divided Over Accepting Gay Youths
- 4 Arrested in Attack on Georgia Gay Rights Demonstration
- Right-Wing Writer Kills Himself in Notre-Dame Cathedral
- 2 More Antigay Attacks Are Reported in Manhattan
- Immigration Overhaul Wins Panel’s Backing in the Senate
- Florida Student, 18, Arrested for Sex with Teammate, 14
