Come un baleno rapido

I remember a couple of years ago when this young sweet-looking pure-toned mezzo-soprano from the Czech Republic surfaced into the world of classical music media. I first saw her on video singing Bach’s Kantate BWV 199 and was immediately converted into a Magdalena Kozena’s fan. That said, I cannot state I have been an unconditional [...]

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Frankenstein Norma

If it were possible to put Maria Guleghina and Hasmik Papian in a blender, maybe the Metropolitan Opera House would have found an ideal singer for the fearsome role of Norma in Bellini’s opera. But, alas!, life is never that simple. In any case, maybe because I had previously read all the trashing both singers [...]

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In the flesh

Joachim Lafosse seems to be another born-ready talent. Nue proprieté, his third feature-length movie, is an absolute masterpiece. In his no-frills photography, Lafosse creates the necessary claustrophobic atmosphere to tell the story of a mother stuck with her two sons in a country house in Belgium and how her attempt to break free from her [...]

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Born ready

The first film by Wes Anderson I have seen happened to be The Royal Tenenbaums – but the truth is I only thought this was a great movie when I saw it for the second time. The TV was silent and I was a bit sleepy but not enough to fall asleep – and followed [...]

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