CONTENTS

REGULARS 7 Editorial 9 Spotlight: La sonnambula;

Espert's Traviata; Le Maftre de Musique; Gala needs at Covent Garden 13 Interval Talk:

Margaret Price; Cardiff Singer of the World 16 Opera Houses of the

World: Opera Bastille

Opera moves from Palais Gamier; Revolution returns to the Bastille.

Rupert Christiansen,Palais Gamier Robert Turnbull,- Carlos Ott Colin McDowell,Paris Architecture Caroline Bugler,· Cafes and Restaurants in Paris 30 Opera Then: Opera

in the French Revolution j ean-jacques Gabas 64 An Assortment of

Voices: Tenore Robusto} ohn Steane 69 Equipment: A Diet

of WORMS Michael Scott Rohan 70 Armchair Opera:

Recording the drama Michael Wilcox 72 Brief Assessments 102 Passion for Opera:

Count Ghislain de Vogue

FEATURES 36 In Focus: Il trovatore

Helena Matheopoulos, Germaine Greer, Rosalind Plowright 46 Kurt Weill: Street Scene

Me! Cooper,· Weill Style Patrick O'Connor

COVER ANJA SILJA as Regan in Aribert Reimann's Lear at the

San Francisco Opera. Photograph by Ron Scherl

JESSYE NORMAN will be signing

recordings for Opera Now at Liberty, Regent Street, London at

lunchtime Friday, June 2.

Lotte Lenya still had lots of kicks left in her when she played

in From Russia with Love. See p.46.

5 1 Designing by the

Metre: Stefanos Lazaridis Antony Peattie 54 Anja Silja profile:

Michaelj ohn White 58 French Summer

Festivals: J ackie Smith, J ean-}acques Gabas

DIARIES 75 Introduction 77 Calendar

15 May to 15 July 86 Listings Live Opera, UK

and abroad; recitals and broadcasts 104 Booking Ahead