Selected as one of the Best Music Books of 2010 by The Independent, here is a wonderful collection of 20 wide-ranging interviews with the preeminent opera singers, conductors, and directors working on and behind the stage today. Joshua Jampol invites opera-lovers to listen in as performers speak in frank terms about their strengths and weaknesses, conductors discuss the state of contemporary opera, and directors talk through the complexities involved in
staging a successful production. Jampol has unprecedented access and the table of contents reads like a "who's who" of the global opera world, featuring Fleming, Domingo, Ramey, Villazon, Dessay, Conlon, Salonen, Nagano, Boulez, Carsen, Chereau, and more. Each interview highlights a distinctive voice speaking
about his or her career path, first break, colleagues, major influences, audiences, critics, and all the diverse professions making up the emotional and extravagant world of the lyric arts. Jampol brings immense knowledge and a wonderful flair to these conversations, allowing his subjects to follow their thoughts wherever they lead, and revealing in the process a more intimate, reflective side of this constellation of operatic stars.
Editorial Review
This book is well written and highly readable, and given its simple Q&A format, it would appeal to both scholars and lay readers ... Well worth reading! Muhammad Khan, The Muslim News This impressive achievement brings together a vast amound of infromation in a lucid manner. Highly recommended for general and academic libraries as an objective, accurate analysis of the Arab Spring of 2011. Library Journal A remarkably readable, informative, slim volume ... Of particular worth is James Gelvin's ability to show how the protests are interlinked, yet also independent of each other ... an excellent primer for the general reader Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Joshua Jampol is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to the "Ear for Opera" series in the International Herald Tribune. He also writes for CNBC Business Magazine and has written for Time and The Guardian (London). He lives in Paris.