National Council Grand Finals Concert (Metropolitan Opera, March 18)
The National Council Auditions are classical music’s best reality show—not least because the judges have real power, the contestants have real talent, and the winners get a real prize. And not just some cash and a Pepsi commercial—we’re talking about getting discovered and fostered by the Read More
Last night as we entered the hallowed halls of Carnegie to see Alec Baldwin and soprano Renee Fleming in a staged reading of A.R Gurney‘s Love Letters, we thought of a funny joke to explain our tardiness. “We couldn’t find the street called ‘Practice,’” we apologized as we picked up our tickets. Zing! Read More
We felt woefully under-dressed as we stepped into the 2nd floor foyer of the Waldorf-Astoria, the entrance to Bette Midler‘s Hulaween party. The theme was Día de los Muertos – the Mexican Day of the Dead – and although we felt like zombies after occupying Wall Street earlier that Friday evening, we weren’t decked out in any apparel that suited the $1,000-a-plate dinner. Read More
After a 15-year collaboration that catapulted Renée Fleming from just another plush-voiced soprano to a glamorous, genre-crossing household name, the singer is parting ways with legendary publicist Mary Lou Falcone.
Ms. Fleming’s manager, Alec Treuhaft, said that Ms. Fleming had “decided she wanted to take this part of the operation in-house,” and Ms. Falcone Read More
On Monday, April 12, at the Metropolitan Opera’s opening-night performance of Rossini’s Armida, the Transom decided to sort the famous people who truly enjoy the cries of Renée Fleming from those who come for the fashion spectacle that the event has become ever since Yves Saint Laurent became the official sponsor three years ago.
Seeing Read More
A recurring phrase in Rossini’s Armida, about a sorceress and her ill-fated love for a Christian soldier during the Crusades, is “Dove son io?”—“Where am I?” It was a question I kept asking myself, with increasing incredulity, as the opera wore its way through its rocky Metropolitan Opera premiere on Monday night.
There was Read More
“This is so glamorous, this is really the jet-setting opera lifestyle that people think I lead,” said Renee Fleming, the world-renowned American opera singer with the enchanting voice that is in such high demand, she never seems to take a vacation.
Ms. Fleming, a luscious 49, was speaking over the phone after getting off the Read More
Renée Fleming can sing a mean Tchaikovsky, but can she renovate a two-unit Upper West Side penthouse? The 48-year-old diva paid $4,262,700 late last month for eight and a half rooms atop 200 West 86th Street, but she has a bit of work ahead of her.
“Bring your architect to this exceptional opportunity to Read More
The Transom was so crunk this week that it forgot to show you what it had in the paper this week. Come aboard! It’s delicious! Ahem:
Danny the Wonder Pony rides again at CroBar with Warhol-era refugees.
Katie Gardner closes The West End to become… a Girl Scout troop leader in Africa?
The so-called Handel opera revival has prompted the disinterment of so many treasures from the Baroque master’s once-buried trove of roughly 40 stage works that it might be more accurate to say that we’re in the midst of a Handel rush. Locally, the New York City Opera has done most of the digging, first with Read More
