Whenever someone introduces The Elixir of Love (L’Elisir d’Amore), you can be sure the discussion will include mention of the jaw-dropping speed of its composition. I find myself slightly bemused by the skepticism with which scholars approach Donizetti’s boast that he completed the work in about two weeks; some suggest that the more accurate figure might have been closer to… a whole month (as if that in itself were not impressive enough)!

Master of the theater that he was, Verdi liked to recall a childhood incident in which real life seemed to trump the most hair-raising effects imagined for the stage. At the local church in his native village of Roncole, young Verdi found his attention naturally drawn to the music he heard during worship services. One day, while serving as an altar boy, he became so distracted from his duties that the priest celebrating Mass kicked him.

It was an opening night tradition: to exchange gifts to celebrate the start of a show. But as soprano Sheri Greenawald recalls, she was “as poor as a church mouse.” Her opera career was still young. And she didn’t have the money to go out and buy presents for her fellow cast members, celebrity singers like Frederica von Stade among them.

New virtual event; Additional drive-in screenings at Fort Mason of La Bohème and Tosca  announced.

Opera is ON streaming titles in November will include works by Donizetti, Verdi and Mussorgsky.

Rare opportunity to collect costumes seen on the War Memorial Opera House stage.