Word: impresario
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Still scarred by memories of his war with the tempestuous Maria Callas, Impresario Bing tried to absolve his conductor and soothe his diva. Miss Dernesch, he explained, had merely been engaged as an understudy: "Even Madame Nilsson, as immortal as she is, can get sick occasionally." But since the Austrian soprano was coming all the way to New York, he added, she at least deserves the chance to give one performance in Von Karajan's critically acclaimed production of the Ring. From Vienna, the conductor supplied an obbligato of support to Bing's explanation...
...moment of wrath, Hamburg State Opera Impresario Rolf Liebermann once exclaimed: "It's the directors who ruin everything. It's never the composer, conductor or singers. The directors are just so many dilettanti who don't know their job. Their only concern is their own vanity...
While preparing for the opening curtain of La Gioconda at Miami's Dade County Auditorium, Tenor Richard Tucker suddenly noticed an air-conditioned chill. "Turn it off," he complained; the cool air, he said, would freeze his throat. But of course, said the impresario-and sotto voce told his assistant to leave it on. All through the first two acts, Tucker's anger mounted. Finally, just before the third act he announced: "Unless the air conditioning is turned off, I do not sing a note!" Someone mentioned that the audience might leave. "Let them!" Tucker roared. "They must...
Said Arizona's Barry Goldwater, upon resuming his seat in the U.S. Senate: "After what happened to me four years ago, I feel like the only kamikaze pilot who ever made a round trip." ∙∙∙ That steely impresario of Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera, Rudolf Bing, has grown so used to skirmishes with the critics that his defenses have nearly become reflex actions. In announcing the six new productions he will mount at the Met next season, Bing simultaneously unleashed a blast at the waiting critics. "What is the press? Six or eight people with their...
...Hamburg State Opera under the guidance of Impresario Rolf Liebermann has developed into one of the most creative companies in the world. An opera composer himself (Penelope, School for Wives), Liebermann commissions two new operas a year, lets producers and directors follow their own imaginative flights. Currently, two new productions - a brilliant revival of Mozart's The Magic Flute and the premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's first major stage work in five years - are proving the wisdom of such artistic generosity...