In the Wings: Backstage glimpses with Boston Lyric Opera

Norma Cookbook

Enjoy recipes from our Norma cast, creative team, and staff for you to try at home. Mix up these delicious dishes while listening to Norma on demand available March 29 at 3 PM. Jonathan Burton, Pollione Bucatini Cacio e Pepe Pasta In honor of Pollione's Roman heritage Ingredients Kosher salt 6 oz. pasta (such as egg tagliolini, bucatini, or spaghetti) 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed, divided 1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper 3/4 cup finely grated Grana Padano or Parmesan 1/3 cup finely grated Pecorino Recipe Preparation Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a 5-qt. pot. Season [...]

By BLO Staff|2022-02-12T09:18:51-05:00March 25th, 2020|

NEXT TO NORMA: Sidling up to the story

Norma is an opera with a reputation. For nearly two centuries it has been admired as the finest of Bellini’s ten operas and the greatest opera composed during the bel canto era. So much so that other significant composers of Bellini’s time and afterwards have paid tribute. Liszt created a pugilistic fantasy for solo piano on themes from Norma. Chopin appropriated a piercing melody from the opera for the most poignant of his piano Etudes. (The Polish composer also wanted to be buried next to Bellini in a Paris cemetery, and he was.) Wagner conducted a production of Norma in [...]

By Richard Dyer|2021-09-20T13:50:29-04:00March 16th, 2020|

The Fine Art of Feasting in Ancient Gaul

Original post from The Iris: Behind the Scene at The Getty by Nancy DeLucia Real. Published November 1, 2014. A glimpse at life in the ancient Roman provinces of Gaul through the lens of food, glorious food One of a Pair of Cups with Centaurs (detail), A.D. 1–100, Roman, found at Berthouville, France. Silver and gold, 5 7/8 in. diam. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des monnaies, médailles et antiques, Paris My passions for history and food often cause me to wonder how past cultures ate, drank, and relaxed. Recently I’ve been immersed in the history and tastes of [...]

By Nancy DeLucia Real|2021-09-20T13:50:03-04:00March 16th, 2020|

What Inspires You?

Donors like you fund 70% of the cost of each performance, program, and class at Boston Lyric Opera, and are a treasured part of our community. Below, we’ve compiled what some of our most enthusiastic supporters had to say about why they love BLO and how it inspires them. What inspires you? Here are five reasons to consider giving this year. Do you have another? We encourage you to share your opera inspiration with us! 1. Jane and Steven Akin Emerging Artists. The Emerging Artists initiative has been a staple of BLO ever since it was launched eight years ago. [...]

By BLO Staff|2021-09-20T13:49:29-04:00December 12th, 2019|

Opera & The Ordinary: History & Interiority in Fellow Travelers

In a 2018 interview, composer Gregory Spears explained that he was drawn to the subject matter of Fellow Travelers because he “really wanted to write an opera about ordinary people,” and he “liked that the central characters weren’t historical figures.” This seemingly simple juxtaposition—ordinary people versus historical figures—raises complex questions. Who gets to be an operatic subject? What kind of stories is the art form best equipped to tell? Can opera make the ordinary extraordinary? […]

By Lucy Caplan|2021-09-20T13:49:03-04:00November 19th, 2019|

RESISTANCE! How Underground Gay Life Thrived in the 1950s

Fellow Travelers dramatically portrays how anti-gay prejudice shaped the lives of gay men and lesbians during the Lavender Scare of the 1950s. Given the tremendous pressures to resist or hide being gay, lesbian, or transgender in those years, it would be easy to think that LGBTQ life disappeared, or was a miserable existence. But in fact, many people managed to enjoy a fun, if very underground, nightlife in Boston and other cities. Some even organized political and social resistance movements against the laws and customs hemming them in. […]

By Russell Lopez|2021-09-20T13:48:44-04:00November 19th, 2019|

Boston’s own Lavender Scare: the Harvard Purge of 1920

Prior to World War I, upper-class Protestant gay men and lesbians were accepted into the highest levels of Boston society. But after the War ended in 1918, a shift in public attitudes about homosexual people brought an end to the tolerance and started a series of purges and police actions that lasted through 1920. One of these purges was a secret court set up at Harvard to identify and expel gay students. The swiftness and strong actions of this court underscored a new wave of intolerance that began a 60-year period of repression. […]

By Russell Lopez|2021-09-20T13:48:32-04:00November 12th, 2019|

An Interview with Thomas Mallon, Author of Fellow Travelers

In addition to producing the opera Fellow Travelers, Boston Lyric Opera will partner with WBUR for an evening with author Thomas Mallon, composer Gregory Spears and director Peter Rothstein in its new CitySpace on Tuesday, November 12 at 6:30pm. Moderated by Boston University Music Professor Phyllis Hoffman, tickets are just $10, and available here. Veteran music writer and critic Richard Dyer recently spoke to Mallon about writing the historical novel, and the impressive career he’s forged with stories on the periphery of history. […]

By Richard Dyer|2021-09-20T13:48:05-04:00November 10th, 2019|

Executive Order 10450: Six Decades of Government-Sanctioned Oppression

The overwhelming threat hanging over the heads of the characters in Fellow Travelers was known as Executive Order 10450, which prohibited the federal government from hiring gay and lesbian people. Signed by President Dwight Eisenhower in April 1953, the Executive Order was drafted by Robert “Bobby” Cutler, a noted Bostonian who was the first person appointed as National Security Advisor to the President of the U.S. It remained in full force until 1973 and was only revoked in its entirety in 2017. […]

By Russell Lopez|2021-09-20T13:47:44-04:00November 7th, 2019|

Powerful and Personal: Rothstein on the People in Fellow Travelers

Tragedies abound in opera, but the tragic story in Fellow Travelers is unique. A love story between two men during the McCarthy era, it tells of a complicated illicit relationship and the persecution that impacted it. […]

By Jody Feinberg|2021-09-20T13:47:21-04:00October 24th, 2019|