The Murderous Mr. & Mrs. Macbeth at the Met
NEW YORK—Over 200 operas have been derived from Shakespeare’s plays, but the composer who best plumbed the playwright’s depths was Giuseppe Verdi. Although “Macbeth” has never achieved the popularity of Verdi’s late masterpieces based on the Bard’s plays, “Falstaff” and “Otello,” it is a work of undeniable power.
Now, the Metropolitan Opera has revived the 2007 production directed by Adrian Noble. Since he is the forme
‘Breaking Bad’ season five will air in July, says Aaron Paul
Breaking Bad will return for its fifth season in July, according to the show’s star Aaron Paul.
The actor confirmed the date on and teased the upcoming premiere.
He wrote: “Just read the first episode of Breaking Bad S5 and words can not express. S**t is about to get crazy. Get ready my friends. Love you Vince [Gilligan]!”
Paul continued: “The teaser alone in episode 1 S5 will have you screaming more then when someone got blown up last season,” referring to the fourth season’s violent finale.
“Breaking Bad will return to your Television sometime in July. Full article…
Menahem Pressler Teaches the Essence of Music
CHICAGO—I just witnessed beautiful master classes given by the legendary pianist Menahem Pressler.
Menahem Pressler has played thousands of concerts all over the world as a soloist and also in the magnificent setting of the Beaux Arts Trio, possibly the most famous piano trio that ever existed.
Pressler was an original founding member of this trio for piano, violin, and cello and played with it /li> It takes intelligence, dedication, love, understanding, and above all humility in the face of great music to find this meaning and only then do we have a chance to find it.
Music encompasses a never-ending journey in which we may temporarily forget our small selves to find a beautiful sunset—that interplay of auditory waves which bathe us in a different kind of sunshine.
Eric Shumsky is a concert violist. /di
Desperate Housewives trial: Star wasn’t wrongfully dismissed, ABC says
A lawyer for ABC has argued that Desperate Housewives star Nicollette Sheridan was not wrongfully dismissed from the show.
Sheridan has launched a case for battery and wrongful termination against the show’s creator Marc Cherry, claiming that he slapped her with force and that her character Edie Britt was killed off in season five of the show when she made a complaint against Cherry.
Cherry and ABC’s attorney Adam Levin told the court on Wednesday (February 29): “For a television show to last more than a few episodes, writers must continue to shock and surprise the audience who is wanting more. Full article…
Album Review: Speech Debelle – ‘Freedom of Speech’
It would have been easy to see Speech Debelle as a one hit wonder. Although her Mercury-winning debut album wasn’t exactly a hit – it didn’t receive the sales hike normally associated with winners. Debelle was – and is – clearly talented, as this superb second album demonstrates. Her observant confessional lyrics remain, but here she expands her range to highly political meditations on the London riots and a possible global collapse. The production, as with her debut, is fantastically musical (if a little unsubtle), taking unusual turns throughout the record. As a whol