Feliz Cumpleaños, Happy Birthday, Eduardo Lizalde!

“The tiger is a fascinating figure from biblical times to the current stage and I do not think that there is a writer who has not ever mentioned the tiger. The Tiger is the image of the death, destruction, and in addition, beauty; this is just a metaphorical instrument.” Eduardo Lizalde.

July 14 was the birthday of our beloved and admired mexican poet Eduardo Lizalde!
His nickname is “The Tiger” because of the recurrent appearance of this animal in his poetic works, written under the influence of Jorge Luis Borges and William Blake, but also by his readings of certain children’s stories of Kipling and Salgari.
Besides of being a brilliant poet, Eduardo Lizalde is also a great enthusiast of the opera and years ago he had a special program named “100 years of Opera in Mexico” in Canal 22 and he also wrote, under the pseudonym of “Enesimo Nemo” many articles about his memories and love for Opera in different newspapers and cultural magazines and years later, to rescue his Opera memories from the old Opera memories that Eduardo Lizalde wrote in these articles, the special investigator Edgar Ceballos gathered in a compilation in the book tiltled as “The Opera Today, yesterday and always: an anthology of Opera chronicles by Eduardo Lizalde”. In this delightful book, in which I had the fortune of reading, the different and rich opinions of Eduardo Lizalde about Opera and about many legends, from Ramon Vinay, Titta Ruffo, and Maria Callas, to, Placido Domingo and Samuel Ramey and also about his Opera travels around the world, Bayreuth, the MET, la Scala…and also about the moments when Maria Callas performed in Mexico.
He was also a host (along with the great erudite and scholar Ernesto de la Peña, with whom he had a great friendship) of the also excellent program “Operomania”, in TV UNAM channel, in which both talked about their favorite Operas and also about the history of Opera.
Together, Eduardo Lizalde and Ernesto de la Peña, had beautiful programs in which they commented famous operas such as “The Marriage of Figaro”, “The Flying Dutchman”, “Don Giovanni”, “William Tell”, “Fidelio”, “Andrea Chenier”, “The Tales of Hoffman”, “Don Carlo”, “Eugene Onegin” and the “Wagner’s Ring Cycle”.
Eduardo Lizalde studied singing, composition and lyrics at the night school of the “Conservatorio Nacional” at the same time when he was studying literature in the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature at the UNAM.
And in the words of Ernesto de la Peña, one of the best and most beautiful poems of Eduardo Lizalde is “Third Tenochtitlán”.
Apart from the opera, Eduardo Lizalde is fond of good wine and cheese. 😉
Eduardo Lizalde was recently awarded this year with the “Carlos Fuentes International Literature Prize” and he is considered as “The most important living Poet of Mexico”.
(Fun trivia, Eduardo Lizalde is also known as a “Tiger” not only becase of his poems but also because of his passionate “hunting” for great Opera recordings and albums” )

Feliz Cumpleaños, Eduardo Lizalde!

Celebrating Pablo Neruda!

“Sólo con una ardiente paciencia conquistaremos la espléndida ciudad que dará luz, justicia y dignidad a todos los hombres. Así la poesía no habrá cantado en vano” Pablo Neruda
(“Only with a burning patience will conquer the splendid City which will give light, justice and dignity to all men. The poetry will not be sung in vain”)

Celebrating Pablo Neruda!

On this day, Pablo Neruda, the greatest poet of XX century (in words of Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and Nobel Prize in Literature in 1971, was born in Chile, back in 1904.
His real name was Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto (I’m glad that he changed his name, whew! ) ) and he took as a pseudonym “Neruda” in tribute of the Czech poet Jan Neruda. He changed his name because his father didn’t want him to become a poet.
Indeed, Pablo Neruda gave a huge legacy to the world of literature and the also great Harold Bloom added Pablo Neruda as one of the 26 writers central to the Western tradition in his very famous book “The Western Canon”.
It will take long to mention all of Neruda’s works, among them his collection of poems “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair”.
My favorite work of Pablo Neruda is “Canto General” which is, in my opinion, a monument and the greatest legacy for the poetry of Latin America.
And yes, there is a link of Pablo Neruda to the Opera! Pablo Neruda inspired Chilean author Antonio Skarmeta’s novel “Ardient Paciencia” in which later inspired the film adaptation of the famous Italian film “Il Postino” (Neruda’s Postman) and years later, Mexican composer, Daniel Catan composed the Operatic version with Placido Domingo playing the role of Pablo Neruda.
Recently I had the pleasure of watching a new film about him, “Neruda” which was nominated for the Golden Globe of Best foreign film.

Remembering the great Pablo Neruda in his Birthday Anniversary.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Birthday and also fifth Death Anniversary.

In words of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf ……..
“A born god who has it all”

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Birthday and also fifth Death Anniversary.
5 Years ago, on May 18 of 2012, the world of Opera and classical music lost one of the most beautiful and most incomparable voices ever and one of the most important performers of Lieder and also a conductor and also writer… Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Thanks to the beauty of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, I discovered the beauty of Schubert’s Lieder and I highly recommend his many wonderful recordings that he did with Gerald Moore very much!
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau performed Opera, Oratorio and of course, Lieder and he has performed in many languages, German, English, French, Italian, Russian, Hungarian (he was married to Julia Varady) and Hebrew plus besides of singing and conducting, he also wrote books “Robert Schumann: Words and Music”, “Wagner and Nietzsche”, “Schubert’s songs”, “Gustav Mahler”, “Johannes Brahms: Leben und Lieder, “Joseph Haydn”, “Goethe als Intendant”, just to name a few.
Besides of his famous Lieder recordings which are a treasure of music, (my personal favorite is “Die schöne Müllerin”) Fischer–Dieskau also made wonderful perfomances in different repertoire like Rigoletto, as Rodrigo in Don Carlo, as Germont in La Traviata, as Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, as the four villains in “Les Contes d’Hoffmann”, as Don Alfonso in Cosi fan Tutte, his wonderful Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte… just to name a few.
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sang Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Verdi, Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Britten, Bartok, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Offenbach, Wagner so many composers and he was very versatile. He was one of my personal favorite voices, beautiful and soft…. in some ways… his voice reminds me a bit… to Peter Mattei’s.
It is not a surprise that Fischer–Dieskau‘s voice is one of my favorites, because of my love for Baritones, Bass/Baritones and also Bass singers.
Fischer–Dieskau, was also a conductor. Incredibly, if I am correct, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau never, ever performed at the Met.
Today, May 28, we remember Diestrich Fischer-Dieskau on his Birthday Anniversary.

 

 

 

Remembering Sir Roger Moore (1927-2017)

“We all have a resposibility in life to do what we can to help those less fortunate”….. Roger Moore.

The world lost not only a living legend of classic cinema and along with Sean Connery, an extraordinary James Bond, but the world also lost an extraordinary human being…..
Roger Moore was something more than 007 James Bond, or Simon Templar (The Saint) but he was also an UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, he did a lot of beautiful work for UNICEF for the children around the world and he was also against animal cruelty and supported PETA.
“Live and let Die”, “The Man with the Golden Gun”, “The Spy Who Loved Me”, “Moonraker”, “For your Eyes Only”, “Octopussy” and a “View to Kill” are the films in which Roger Moore gave us many joys as 007 James Bond. (and in many films of the Roger Moore era, it had some of the best villains, Christopher Lee, Richard Kiel (unforgettable Jaws) and Louis Jordan, just to name a few.
James Bond, The Saint but most important…. a gentleman that did wonderful work for UNICEF and that cared for the less fortunate.
Thank you Roger Moore, for the many joys that you gave us with you wonderful movies, specially as James Bond and thank you more, for your beautiful humanitarian work that you did for humanity. Rest in peace Sir Roger Moore.   (1927-2017)

 

 

 

 

Carlos Fuentes, Fifth Death Anniversary

Carlos Fuentes. Universal Mexican. (1928-2012)

On   May 15th, five years ago, Carlos Fuentes, Novelist, essayist and one of the greatest writers of Mexico, passed away at age 83.
In his obituary, the New York Times described him as “one of the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world” and also, (along with Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Julio Cortazar, Mario Vargas Llosa, Octavio Paz, Juan Rulfo and Jorge Luis Borges) an important influence on the “Latin American Boom”, the explosion of Latin American literature in the 1960s and ’70s.
And also in the words of the New York times, Carlos Fuentes was called as “Mexico’s elegant public intellectual and grand man of letters, whose panoramic novels captured the complicated essence of Mexico’s history for readers around the world”.
Carlos Fuentes was often called as “universal Mexican” and also, the Guardian called Carlos Fuentes as “Mexico’s most celebrated novelist”.
He won many literary honors like the “Miguel de Cervantes Prize” (the highest of Spanish literature) and Carlos Fuentes was often a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature but unfortunately he never won.
He wrote many novels, short stories, plays and essays and he also wrote intellectual articles in journal newspapers, commenting not also about the political problems of Mexico and Latin America but also about the problems of the world.
Carlos Fuentes was indeed a man of culture, a true intellectual, he loved reading books and writing of course, it was also a pleasure to read his opinions about books, history, music and even movies.
The death of Carlos Fuentes in 2012 was a huge loss for Mexican Culture but luckily, his books are still in the list of the most readed books in many Mexican libraries and that makes the spirit of Carlos Fuentes more alive than ever, in the Mexican culture.

Some interesting trivia: Carlos Fuentes served as Mexico’s ambassador to France from 1975 to 1977.

He also taught at Cambridge, Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Cornell.

Among his favorite authors were Balzac, Pablo Neruda, Miguel de Cervantes, William Faulkner and James Joyce

His favorite books were:
Don Quijote de la Mancha, by Cervantes.
The Odyssey by Homer
Macbeth by Shakespeare
La Comédie humaine by Balzac
The poetic works by Quevedo
Our mutual friend by Dickens,
Absalom, Absalom! by Faulkner
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
Antigone by Sophocles

Eugene Onegin MET in HD

OH MY!!! OH MY!!!!!! My heart  in last Saturday, April 22 was in joy and happiness after the glorious HD of Eugene Onegin!!!!
I was in heaven!!!!!!!!!!
I still can’t believe what I saw last Saturday, April 22…. it was beyond of beautiful, of incredible and poetical! It was MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!
Last Saturday’s Live in HD of Eugene Onegin was was so special for me for many, many reasons, as many know, Stefan Kocan is one of my personal favorites, he is my favorite and also the greatest Bass of Opera of today and he shined like a true star in the sky with his beautiful performance as Gremin! Another reason that this HD is so special for me is because “Eugene Onegin” is one of my personal, all time, favorite Operas, it is an Opera which I always treasured, because of the poetical music and arias, quartets and Eugene Onegin makes me feel so thankful for loving Opera, Last Saturday’s HD of Eugene Onegin was a perfect example of what true beauty is and that separates it from the ugly things of the world.
What else can I say about the exquisite quartet of Madame Larina, Filippyevna, Olga and Tatyana at the beginning and also the glorious peasants chorus which makes me feel so happy and always wants me to dance and sing along with them? Also the quartets of Onegin, Tatyana, Olga and Lensky, Tatyana’s famous and beautiful “Letter aria” which is a moment that gives me lots of goosebumps? And Onegin’s answer, so cruel and yet with lots of beauty in the singing and in the music…. how can aria be cruel and musically beautiful at the same time? Only a genius like Tchaikovsky could do that!  
And the also glorious and famous Waltz in Tatyana’s name party which at the beginning is full of happiness and it ends tragically… the chorus singing with joy at the beginning of the Waltz and they end with concern, sadness and pain because of Lenky and Onegin’s confrontation in the party… a moment that is full of incomparable strong drama and the chorus, the music, and the entire singing from the cast made is so perfectly beautiful!
And Lenky’s haunting aria…. “Kuda, Kuda”, which is one of my all time personal favorite arias for a Tenor…. it is so haunting and it also breaks me . Kuda, Kuda is one of the most beautifully, dramatically arias ever full with beauty and tragedy. Lenky’s and Onegin’s duet before the duel also breaks me and I have no words to describe the beauty of this duet in this tragic moment.
And the glorious and powerful Act III… the magnificent and joyful Polonaise which is one my all time favorites….. the gorgeous music and dancing was a joy for me to watch! And as everyone here know… the big moment was coming…. Stefan Kocan’s extraordinary performance as Gremin and his famous “Gremin’s aria” touched many hearts around the world!
(In a personal note which I’ll give more details later below in this post… here in my zone, in the Auditorium Mateo Herrera, the audience applauded so load to Stefan’s magnificent performance! Anna Netrebko, Peter Mattei an Alexey Dolgov also received applauses but not as much as Stefan Kocan! )
And Onegin’s aria in which he determines to write to Tatyana and declare his “love for her” is also priceless! And of course, the powerful ending… the duet of Onegin and Tatyana, which makes it one of the greatest endings ever!
I loved many versions of Eugene Onegin… but last Saturday’s performance is one of the greatest ever!
Anna Netrebko as Tatyana… Anna once again gave us an extraordinary Tatyana and her Letter aria was absolutely glorious, beautiful and so moving! I liked her so much in the 2013 version and I liked her even more now today! BRAVA, BRAVISSIMA Anna Netrebko!!!!!  Peter Mattei, what else can I say about Peter’s excellent Onegin? Peter Mattei always gives us different and rich consistent performances and I admire his versatility…. from singig Rossini, Puccini, Wagner… to Tchaikovsky. It is always a pleasure to watch and listen the beautiful voice of the always great Peter Mattei! His singing and also acting, specially in the final part was excellent! BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO Peter Mattei!!!!
Alexey Dolgov, his Lensky was adorable and very moving… Lensky is one of my favorite roles for a Tenor and Alexey Dolgov did a mangnificent job portraying the tender and heartbreaking Lensky and his Kuda, Kuda was absolutely heartbreaking!!!
BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO, Alexey Dolgov!!!!!!!!!!!!
Larissa Diadkova and Elena Zaremba were also magnificent as Filippyevna and Madame Larina! BRAVI Larissa Diadkova and Elena Zaremba!!!!
Elena Maximova was also very good as Olga and I loved her singing so much! BRAVA, BRAVISSIMA Elena Maximova!!!  And finally, what else can I say about the extraordinary Stefan Kocan who was, again I say it… magnificent as Gremin! His Gremin broke me in tears completely and I was completely destroyed after his performance! My heart was jumping of joy watching Stefan’s terrific Gremin… it was 8 minutes of pure gold, that I wished that were longer…. The 7, 8 minutes of Stefan’s poetic singing of what true love is… “Lyubvi fse vozrastï pokornï” were the 8 most beautiful, golden moments ever!!!
I was completely destroyed and in tears of joy and happiness!
How can I express my happiness  after watching Stefan Kocan’s glorious performance!!!!  I couldn’t sleep that night after watching and listening to a singing and acting performance which is out of this world, Stefan Kocan as Prince Gremin. Stefan not only word, by word sang beautifully “Lyubvi fse vozrastï pokornï” but Stefan also acted the performance with beauty, dignity, elegance and wisdom  The way that looked and smiled and touched Tatyana while singing was the perfect definition of true beauty!
And I am not the only one, in my Auditorium in Leon, Mexico, many people in my audience were also impressed and applauded so load after Stefan’s glorious Gremin’s Aria! And I am very proud and happy to say that Stefan, here in Leon, Mexico (and by reading many other comments, in other parts of the world, was the one who received more applauses and BRAVO, over Anna, Peter and Alexey, which they were also great! And at the end of the performance… I listened to a group of ladies that expressed that “The Voice that they loved more was… the Husband of Tatyana” …..
Watching  Stefan s Gremin in the Live in HD of “Eugene Onegin” from the Met , was a true privilege for all of us…. Stefan Kocan as Gremin, gave us the lesson of what true love is.. and he made the difference of Onegin! We all are so fortunate to live in this era of Opera because Stefan Kocan is making this era, a new Golden Age of Opera!
BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO, Stefan Kocan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And Maestro Robin Ticciati was also a joy for me to watch! I loved his conducting and he is a new treasure for the Opera world, I loved his interview and his passion and enthusiasm and love for what he does! The only bad thing is that his interview was a few minutes before the glorious Act III! I noticed that he had to rush quickly!  
And what else can I say about the glorius Met Opera Orchestra and the Glorius Met Opera Chorus? And also the Glorious Chorus made a huge important role in the development of the Opera… BRAVI Met Opera Orchestra, BRAVI , Met Opera Chorus!!! And BRAVO, Maestro Ticciati!
And I loved the interviews of Renee Fleming with her colleagues from “Der Rosenkavalier”, Elina Garanca and Günther Groissböck so much, I loved what she said about… nice to see you again so soon! (my memory is not good but something like that said ) and I loved the documentary of the Chandeliers so much and I also loved what Peter Gelb said about Placido Domingo… that he is indestructible!
Thank you Met Opera, for doing Eugene Onegin again… a lyric Opera full of beauty and wisdom…. with four characters that gives us lessons of life in different ways… Onegin, Tatyana, Lensky and Gremin. We all can learn from this characters and the consequences that they have, specially in Onegin and Lensky.
Eugene Onegin is a treasure of history of Opera… and I am so happy that many loved the new HD, even thought that many complained about it, a few months ago about having another HD of this timeless masterpiece.
Thank you, Tchaikovksy for bringing music to the novel in verse of Eugene Onegin!
(Here an image of the great Slovak Bass Štefan Kocán as Gremin in Eugene Onegin )

 

 

Idomeneo MET in HD

GLORIOUS!!!!! I can not think of another word than GLORIUS!!!  GLORIOUS Mozart!!!! GLORIOUS Idomeneo!!!! GLORIOUS Matthew Polenzani!!!!  Yesterday I couldn’t sleep because I was still in heaven after the glorious performance! The HD simulcast of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” was MAGNIFICENT and beyond of Glorious!!!!!  Oh my I don’t know how to start my unforgettable experience of Idomeneo!!! Matthew Polenzani became definitely “Idomeneo”! His singing was absolutely beautiful and deeply moving, Matthew made me cry with his absolutely gorgeous singing, Matthew Polenzani is definitely today, one of our greatest Tenors of our time and we are so fortunate to live in the opera era of Matthew Polenzani!
The overture, the glorious quartet, the chorus, Matthew’s performance, all… everything was so glorious!!!!  There are many different wonderful Operas related to the war of Troy and of course Idomeneo, is a true example of it. The thing that I love about the opera Idomeneo is the subject of “love”, the relationship between father and son… the love of Idomeneo for Idamante and the pain that he suffers due to his vow to Neptune to sacrifice the first man that he meets on land… and as we know… it is his own son Idamante (another good opera about this subject is Gluck’s “Iphigénie en Aulide”) and the love and link between family is something that I feel so strong personally and also, the love, between Idamante and Illia, in which their own fathers were enemies… it show us that love can be stronger than war, hate, ambition and power and that at the end, love saved the kingdom of Crete and its people. And thats what it makes Idomeneo a beautiful Opera, the glorious music and singing and magnificent performances were heartbreaking and I left the auditorium in tears of joy. My heart was in pure joy listening and watching Matthew Polenzani which is his greatest moment ever in his beautiful career. Matthew has gave us so many joys to our lives and hearts in so many wonderful performances, it seems like it was yesterday when we saw him for the first time ever at the MET in the short role of the master of ceremonies in The Queen of Spades and later as David in the 2004 version of Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. So many joys Matthew gaves us later, L’Elisir d’amore, Maria Stuarda, Don Pasquale, Cosi fan tutte, the Pearl Fishers, Roberto Devereux and now… Idomeneo in which Matthew is at the top of his beautiful career and Matthew Polenzani is making history now in the history of modern Opera. Matthew Polenzani performed “Idomeneo” with true dignity and only a giant can do that. Matthew was majestic, heartbreaking, poetic… MAGNIFICENT!!! His beautiful singing and performance was out of this world! In my Opinion, Matthew Polenzani’s name, along with many of my other favorite Opera artists of today will be remembered along with other legends of the Opera! We are living a new golden age of Opera!  Matthew, what he did today was beyond of incredible and beautiful, he made me cry and his performance as Idomeneo was absolutely heartbreaking, so moving and deeply touching, I felt his pain and his tortured soul in his beautiful singing and acting. Definitely, (and I hope that I am not exaggerating here) Matthew Polenzani is making himself a new legend of the Opera. BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO Matthew Polenzani!!!!!!!!!  Your Idomeneo is one of the GREATEST performances ever in the recent years of wonderful performances from the Met!!!! BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO again Matthew Polenzani!!!!!!! Alicie Coote was also very good as Idamante and I liked her performance very much! She performed the role of Idamante beautifully and perfectly and she also deserves a huge BRAVA, BRAVISSIMA Alice Coote!!!! Nadine Sierra, she was also absolutely wonderful as Ilia and her singing was absolutely exquisite and beautiful. Nadine Sierra is also making of herself a brilliant and wonderful career and the more I listen to Nadine the more fan I am of her!!! Her Ilia was absolutely moving and touching! BRAVA, BRAVISSIMA Nadine Sierra!!!!! And finally….. I got very, very impressed again with the amazing Elza van den Heever, her Elettra was absolutely amazing and out of this world, what a performance (and I still also remember the also wonderful Hildegard Behrens in this role in the 1982 version with Luciano Pavarotti!) and she was simply magnificent  BRAVA BRAVISSIMA Elza van de Heever!!!! I absolutely LOVED the extraordinary documentary of Maestro James Levine rehearsing with Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle in “Ariadne auf naxos”, that moment was magical for me and I absolutely loved it!!! I adore Jessye Norman, James Levine and Kathleen Battle and it was a huge pleasant surprise for me to watch this unforgettable documentary during the second intermission.  What else can I say about the glorious MET Opera Chorus, in which they performed a very special part in this beautiful Opera… the Chorus gave me lots of goosebumps and I also loved the interview with Donald Palumbo! BRAVI MET Opera Chorus!!!! And also a huge BRAVI to the always magnificent MET Opera Orchestra and a special BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO, to our always beloved and now living legend Maestro James Levine!!!  It is always a huge joy for me to watch Maestro James Levine conducting, because I feel his love and passion for this beautiful art and that he loves what he does and I will always be thankful for him, for giving us so many, many, many, many beautiful, historical performances at the MET. Yes, Maestro James Levine is now a living legend.  BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO Maestro James Levine!!! And I must say that Eric Owens deserves an extra double BRAVO…. first as a host, who was wonderful as always and also for his special singing as Neptune in the final moments. BRAVO, BRAVISSIMO Eric Owens!!!!! (It was so cute when at the end of the second intermission Eric Owens said, that his job as a Host was over because he had to get ready to sing Neptune’s part ) Yesterday‘s HD of Idomeneo was absolutely amazing and I must say, one of the greatest HDs ever!!!!! You don’t imagine how much I cried after this beautiful, performance! (And once again, I had to clean my face)  This HD performance was a true example of poetic beauty, dramatic singing and acting and that’s what it makes Opera, the art of all arts…. drama, poetry, tragedy, music and theatre, all arts together.  And I have to say that I am also a fan of the original production of 1982 with Luciano Pavarotti, Illeana Cotrubas, Frederica von Stade and Hildegard Behrens but yesterday’s performance  will be also remembered in the history of Opera and with this new performance of Idomeneo, with the same production, set and costumes by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle is a true example that we are living a new golden age of Opera. And what of our lives would be without the glory of Mozart? Mozart gave so much to the humanity and today, we experienced one of the many treasures that Mozart gave us from his incomparable talent and Mozart’s genius will never repeat again in history. Men like Mozart or da Vinci, will never repeat again in history of humanity. Long live Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart!!!!!!! Mozart plus Matthew Polenzani…. yesterday, March 25, was a day… that I will never, ever forget.  I had the most amazing experience with the HD of Mozart’s Idomeneo and I will never forget it in years.  This incredible performance left me without breath! Thank you Mozart, thank you Maestro James Levine, Thank you, Matthew Polenzani!
Mozart, Maestro James Levine and Matthew Polenzani, are a treasure of humanity.