Word: figaro
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...November 17, the same day that Hanoi informed Washington that Tho would not be coming to Paris, two French newspapers, Le Monde and Le Figaro, reported that Tho would not come and that the United States had stationed five aircraft carriers off the Vietnamese coast--more carriers than the U.S. has ever stationed there at any time during its involvement in Vietnam. The presence of so many aircraft carriers must have made Hanoi wonder why, before they had even had a chance to give a reply to the secret U.S. peace plan, Nixon and Kissinger were already threatening them...
...first new production since taking over, Davis has presented Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and shown that he can do very well at the altar by himself. The production -attractively staged, dramatically paced-has delighted everybody: audiences, critics and-through Davis' simultaneously released Philips recording-listeners on both sides of the Atlantic. Davis suits tempo to text and voice to orchestral volume in a way that captivatingly illuminates the twin ingredients that make Mozart's music the miracle that it is -the hushed fury at its core, the tripping joy at its surface...
Back to Rep. The new Figaro is doubly significant as a sign of things to come at Covent Garden. Davis hopes to return the house somewhat to its original conception of a resident repertory company by drawing on a "really good" new generation of British-trained singers. Figaro, for example, boasts several comparative youngsters who had never sung important roles at Covent Garden before the Davis regime (among them Tenor Robert Tear and pearly voiced Soprano Kiri Te Kanawa, who scored a sensation as the Countess). Says Davis: "If I find a dozen first-class singers, we shall have what...
...With Figaro, Davis also seems to be declaring a middle-ground approach to repertory between battered war-horses and uncompromising avant-garde works. He intends to balance what he considers the true classic tradition-operas like Otello, Boris Godunov and the Ring-with occasional forays into the new and experimental. Next July, he will offer Taverner, a harshly dissonant new opera about a 16th century composer. Written by one of England's leading young composers, Peter Maxwell Davies, the work will be produced by Film Director Ken Russell (The Devils, The Boy Friend...
...long run, Davis knows that his plans hinge on musical successes-like Figaro-rather than his charisma. "I'm not the maestro type, throwing scores at people or eating the telephone," he says. "I'm a perfectly ordinary bloke who happens to be musical director of the Royal Opera. Of course, I have to play the role of the chap who is never flustered, always self-confident. But when I wake up in the night I find there are pieces of my fingers all over the pillow...