Table Of Contents: July 2012

THE RECITALIST: GERALD FINLEY SET TO SING IN TORONTO, OTTAWA, TANGLEWOOD AND RAVINIA

Vol. 77, No. 1

• Who's Afraid of Hugo Wolf?
• The Enduring Landscape of English Song
• Rossini Rarity: Ciro in Babilonia at Caramoor
• Sound Bites: Fiona Murphy
• Reunion: Elly Ameling
• The Brief, Burnished Perfection of Henri Duparc

Features

The Lone Wolf

Hugo Wolf had barely a decade to produce his extraordinary output of songbooks. RUSSELL PLATT surveys some important Wolf interpreters in assessing the art of one of the most demanding of the great lieder composers.

There'll Always Be an England

The works of English composers from Purcell through Britten and beyond have never wanted for champions. HILARY FINCH offers an overview of the English song landscape and reflects on the genre's enduring popularity.

Song Champion

Bass-baritone Gerald Finley has conquered the world's opera stages, but it was the song repertoire that first drew him in, and it still exerts a special appeal. FRED COHN talks with the bass-baritone about his repertory choices and his unique partnership with pianist Julius Drake.

Becoming Rossini

Ciro in Babilonia, which Will Crutchfield conducts at the Caramoor Festival this summer, shows Rossini taking early steps toward the musical dynamo he would become. WILLIAM R. BRAUN listens to the young master's work.

Reunion: Elly Ameling

The Dutch soprano chats with HANS PIETER HERMAN about her long and varied career on the recital stage and shares her thoughts on the future of the art of song.

Departments

Recordings

In Review

Books

A history of Russian opera through the lens of gender conventions

OperaWatch

by OUSSAMA ZAHR

One of the Good Guys

BRIAN KELLOW talks to George Dvorsky, one of the stars of the York Theater revival of Maltby and Shire's Closer Than Ever.

On the Beat

Appleby takes top prize at the Lissner Competition; Sellars gives us all a moment to remember at the OPERA NEWS Awards.
by BRIAN KELLOW

Sound Bites: Fiona Murphy

by BRIAN KELLOW

Viewpoint: The Recital Issue

Subscribers Only

by F. PAUL DRISCOLL

The Skin He's In

British composer George Benjamin, whose new opera Written on Skin receives its world premiere this month at the Aix-en-Provence festival, chats with ADAM WASSERMAN about the work's inception and progress to the stage.

The OPERA NEWS Awards

Sunday, April 29, 2012 | Grand Ballroom, The Plaza, New York
Photos: Dario Acosta

Coda: The Perfectionist

by JAMES C. WHITSON

A Little Bit of Soul

BRIAN KELLOW chats with the incomparable living legend Marta Eggerth on the occasion of her 100^th birthday.

Dateline

by TRISTAN KRAFT

Obituaries

Subscribers Only

Contralto Lili Chookasian dies at ninety; Hungarian soprano Sari Barabas; NYCO stalwart William Chapman; designer Rolf Langenfass; administrator Edward Purrington; mezzo Margarita Lilova; arts advocate Jeannette Rohatyn