Fred Plotkin

Former New York City Opera conductor Julius Rudel recently published a memoir, which despite its flaws, provides a history of the company and its most important figure.

Shakespeare’s plays, with their gorgeous language, are not always congenial for musical adaptation. And yet, the stories and characters are so vivid and, yes, human, writes Fred Plotkin.

"The death of someone like Regina Resnik, which happened on August 8, just weeks before her 91st birthday, is akin to a library burning to the ground," writes Fred Plotkin in this appreciation.

Two rarely-heard operas have caught the attention of blogger Fred Plotkin: Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Prokofiev's Maddalena. The latter is being called "a scandalous, hot-blooded love triangle."

If Rossini took comfort from religious observance, we don’t know too much about it. His letters are seldom pious in nature, but his music offers other clues, writes Fred Plotkin.

Thomas Hampson recently appeared on the BBC's interview program, and the questioning turned predictably tough. To Fred Plotkin, it also reinforced some stereotypes about opera.

No matter how extravagant the vocal acrobatics might be, if singing—whether opera, gospel or just about anything else—is not anchored in genuine sentiment, it will ring as heartless...

Wagner's relationship with Otto Wesendonck, his most important financial backer, and the young and beautiful Mathilde Wesendonck, who became his most important muse, made for real drama, writes Fred Plotkin.

Zürich, Wagner's base for nine years, became a place where he could reflect upon, and amplify, his ideas and theories, writes Fred Plotkin.

Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin continues his discussion of the contentious topic of amplified opera singers with microphones and how it affects our senses.

Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin reviews the issue of microphones and amplification during opera performances. Should they be used? Should they be disclosed to those attending?

This is the first of what will be an occasional series about prima donnas, those irresistible singers whose talents and larger-than-life personalities never fail to fascinate and inspire opera fans.

Weber's Der Freischütz has been unjustly ignored outside of the German-speaking world, writes Fred Plotkin. Yet this opera foreshadows much of what followed.

An opera about George III, who reigned from 1760 to 1820, was written by Peter Maxwell Davies in the late 1960s and is called Eight Songs for a Mad King. This 33-minute work is a searing account of madness.

Soprano Alida Ferrarini, who died last week, was one of the most idiomatic interpreters of the light soprano repertory, mostly in Italian, writes Fred Plotkin in this appreciation.

Blogger Fred Plotkin addresses some basic ideas for the singer (and, to a lesser extent, all self-employed creative people) about how to manage your life so that art and commerce can happily coexist.

Most aspiring opera singers must find ways to pay the bills and student loans while aiming for the stage. Some get day jobs, more than a few go to Europe. Blogger Fred Plotkin considers the operatic paycheck.

Singers lead a rough life. They travel a great deal, being exposed to airplanes, jet lag, unfamiliar food, and people with germs who gush too long and too close. The result: a nonstop battle against sickness.

"I have heard more than a few conductors remark, when asked if there are any compensations for the inevitable fact that we are all getting older, that for a maestro his 70s can be a...

Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin writes of the State Choir of Latvia which he heard while attending a concert at Lucern, Switzerland.