Pamela Feinsilber
- Location
- Larkspur, California, USA
- Birthday
- December 31
- Title
- freelance book editor, writer, cultural gadabout
- Bio
- Longtime, former senior editor for culture at San Francisco magazine, now blogging about events leading up to the San Francisco Opera's Ring Cycle--Wagner's four related operas, rarely performed one after the other like this--in June 2011. See my website, www.pamelafeinsilber.com.
MY RECENT POSTS
- Nutcracker Season
December 12, 2010 07:56PM - How Happily My Heart Breaks
November 18, 2010 08:23PM - My Afternoon with Domingo
October 24, 2010 11:08PM - Miners, Music, Machines
October 15, 2010 08:21PM - The Music Goes Round and Round
October 14, 2010 01:22PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “And another thing about
Liszt: he was
Wagner's
father-in-law!”
January 13, 2011 01:26PM - “How wonderful to read
something like this on a music
blog.
Loud applause for
McDo…”
December 12, 2010 07:29PM - “How cool to see Bryn
Terfel live and naked, so to
speak. I
like how you
describe…”
October 07, 2010 05:06PM - “Hi, Cathy: Thanks! I
hope to put up something new
soon, about
my trip to the
A&am…”
October 07, 2010 02:43PM - “Great! it is well worth
reading. I will read it
again
sometime.
So are you
a book…”
September 30, 2010 03:29PM
Pamela Feinsilber's Links
DECEMBER 12, 2010 7:57PM
Nutcracker Season
The opera season just ended, and San Francisco Opera's Ring Cycle won't come around until next summer. I'll be spending the next six months looking behind the scenes when I can, and watching other music, theater, and dance performances, of course. There are wonderful overlaps in the arts, especi… Read full post »
NOVEMBER 18, 2010 8:28PM
How Happily My Heart Breaks
I saw Placido
Domingo as Cyrano
de Bergerac recently. What a thrill. Not that I'm
star-struck; I've seen too many stars and been struck by how little
they measure up to the hype. But it really is something to see a
true superstar perform. Someone like Domingo brings such/
OCTOBER 24, 2010 11:08PM
My Afternoon with Domingo
I met Placido
Domingo a few days ago. Wait, let me rephrase that. A few
days ago, I met Placido Domingo! He is in San Francisco to sing
Cyrano de
Bergerac, by the undervalued Italian composer Franco
Alfano. (Why this 1936 opera is performed so infrequently is a
post in/
OCTOBER 15, 2010 8:21PM
Miners, Music, Machines
Not long ago, I went with San Francisco Opera French
horn player Bill
Klingelhoffer to A and G Music in
Oakland--specifically to its vast downstairs repair shop, Best Instrument Repair
Co. That's where I met
Dick Akright, "a giant in the field of horn-crafting repair,"
according to/
OCTOBER 14, 2010 1:22PM
The Music Goes Round and Round
It seems a little oxymoronic, putting Richard
Wagner's name in front of a brass instrument associated with
marching bands and Octoberfest. But as the people at wagner-tuba.com
will tell you, the name of "one of the least well-known orchestral
instruments in the world today" is "colourful y/
OCTOBER 11, 2010 2:23PM
Mozart, a Maid, and Dave Matthews
So I was at the opera
house one afternoon, watching a dress rehearsal for The Marriage of Figaro,
when I saw someone emerge from the wings far downstage--just a step
or two. I assumed he was going to sing, until I noticed his jeans
and polo shirt. He/
OCTOBER 4, 2010 6:56PM
Unforgettable
The first time you see any great opera is memorable, I think.
It's like coming into Paris or Stonehenge or the Andes for the
first time. No matter how often you return, how much you feel your
love or admiration deepen, you can only experience that
initial
OCTOBER 3, 2010 7:50PM
Super Days and Nights
It strikes me that being a supernumerary in a small role can
be the best job at the opera. You're not just a face in the crowd,
but you're not the scene's focus, and of course, you don't have to
sing. In his five roles so far with
SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 2:36PM
I Second That Emotion
I took a walk with my friend Kelly Powers the other day, and as usual, we talked about books: what we've read lately, what we recommend, what we've thrown across the room. This time, we discussed the act of reading itself, and what a welcome refuge it can be. In… Read full post »
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010 2:23PM
Word of the Day: Supernumerary
Those of you who don't think opera overlaps with popular
culture have not been watching Mad
Men. Or am I the only one who remembers a conversation Don
Draper had in an elegant restaurant in the first of this season's
episodes, when he was on a blind date
SEPTEMBER 26, 2010 2:56PM
Butterfly Tears
When I tell non-aficionados that I'm blogging about the Ring
Cycle, opera, and the other arts, they rarely say, "Oh, I don't
like opera." More often, they reply, "Ooh, opera is so expensive."
Well, yes--and no. There are certainly other ways to see a
production than paying for
SEPTEMBER 24, 2010 1:07PM
Light and Sound
After I talked with Bill Klingelhoffer at the opera house (see September 22 post), I met my friend Dale Eastman across Civic Center at the Asian Art Museum. The museum is in a 1917 Beaux Arts building that held the city's old main library. Like the opera house, city hall, and
SEPTEMBER 23, 2010 6:18PM
Body Double
SEPTEMBER 22, 2010 7:50PM
You Put Your Lips Together and...
SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 2:03PM
Genius and Jerk
The general public knows two things about Richard
Wagner. One, he was a great composer. Two, Hitler loved him.
Some have even commented that his was the background music to the
Holocaust, which isn't quite fair, since Wagner died in 1883. And
according to some sources, he wasn't even Hit… Read full post »
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 1:23PM
The Ring and I
As you set out to read, I
hope, this blog, I can hear you wondering: Who are you?
And possibly, if you're not an opera buff, What is the
Ring?
To get things squared away
right away: The Ring refers to Richard Wagner's magnificent
cycle
Sheba Marx
MissMusicNerd
Kerry Lauerman
Salon.com
