Table Of Contents: July 2011

TUSCAN SON: CONDUCTOR NICOLA LUISOTTI

Vol. 76, No. 1

• The Chicago Beat: Lyric Opera's Andrew Davis
• Why was Guillaume Tell Rossini's Last Opera
• Britten Master: Steuart Bedford
• Twice-Told Tale: Julius Rudel on Beverly Sills and Giulio Cesare
• Maestra Xian Zhang
• Fausto Cleva's Mastery of the Italian Repertoire
• Sound Bites: Jason Collins

Features

First Maestra

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GEORGE HALL discovers how Chinese-born conductor Xian Zhang became the first woman to head a major Italian orchestra.

Law and Order

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JOHN W. FREEMAN remembers the autocratic style of conductor Fausto Cleva, the Met's longtime master of the Italian repertoire.

Direct Expression

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Italian conductor Nicola Luisotti, music director of San Francisco Opera, is a great respecter of tradition — on his own terms. COURTNEY SMITH reports.

A Knight in Chicago

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F. PAUL DRISCOLL visits the Windy City for a conversation with Sir Andrew Davis, who just celebrated his tenth anniversary as Lyric Opera of Chicago's music director.

Conquering Caesar

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Beverly Sills loved to tell the story of how she became an "overnight" star in New York City Opera's 1966 production of Giulio Cesare. In his forthcoming memoir, First and Lasting Impressions (coauthored by REBECCA PALLER), conductor JULIUS RUDEL tells his side of the story. The following is an excerpt from that book.

Britten's Finest

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JOHN ALLISON interviews Steuart Bedford, a peerless interpreter of the operas of Benjamin Britten.

The Long Shadow of Guillaume Tell

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Rossini's last opera occupies a seminal place in the nineteenth-century repertory. As Caramoor prepares a concert revival of Guillaume Tell, PATRICK DILLON explains just how this particular grand opera hits the bull's-eye.

Departments

Recordings

CRITIC'S CHOICE: Schrott sings tangos. A new recording of Fedora with Gheorghiu and Domingo; Pappano conducts Pergolesi and Rossini Stabat Maters; Brewer in encore mode; Hänssler pays tribute to Peter Anders. VIDEO: Lehnhoff directs Theorin and Meier in Salzburg's Elektra; Zurich Opera's Tosca, with Magee, Kaufmann and Hampson; a Donizetti rarity from Accademia La Scala; Criterion releases Schertzinger's 1939 Mikado and Leigh's Topsy-Turvy; Jansons leads Gurrelieder; Petite Messe Solennelle from Chailly; Jan Peerce is remembered in a documentary.

In Review

Books

A scholarly examination of Puccini's late operas.

On the Beat

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Hampson in the Year of Mahler; Munsel sends in the clowns at the National Arts Club.
by BRIAN KELLOW

Viewpoint: A Full Life

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by F. PAUL DRISCOLL

OperaWatch

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by OUSSAMA ZAHR

The OPERA NEWS Awards
Metropolitan Opera Guild President Richard J. Miller, Jr., Carol Miller and Jonas Kaufmann
© Dario Acosta 2011

Sunday, April 17, 2011 | Grand Ballroom, The Plaza, New York

Sound Bites: Jason Collins

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by F. PAUL DRISCOLL

Dateline

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by TRISTAN KRAFT

Obituaries

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Composer Daniel Catán dies suddenly at sixty-two; singers Anita Välkki and Vincenzo La Scola; composer Peter Lieberson; biographer Joan Peyser; director/choreographer Elena Denda Capobianco; broadcaster Andrew Karzas; conductor Yakov Kreizberg