News from afar

The honour of interesting and informative conversations are now rarely bestowed upon me. Old friends visit infrequently, and my trips to the city are always rushed and therefore often empty. What a treat it was, then, to spend a weekend with a dear friend on the sleepy east coast of Vancouver Island... where the dearth of obligations and convenient distractions gave us leave to sit and talk a while.

In a conversation about forgetfulness, in which I lamented my inability to recall the name of that poem about golden grove unleaving, she asked whether I had read the recently released biography of my favourite poet. I, being in self-imposed exile from the world of arts and letters, was wholly unaware of its publication (I have been behind in reading my Harper's... not having much of David Foster Wallace to look forward to, I just haven't been as motivated). A quick restaurant table google led me to the New York Times book review, and another quick google gave me the phone number to Munro's Books, who, I trusted, would be the best bet for finding literary biographies of a poet whose once household name has dwindled to relative obscurity.

She also asked whether I had heard that Angela Gheorghiu had pulled out of all her Met performances in which Roberto Alagna would also be performing. I was slightly confused, as, since their separation years ago (during my pre-Tofino life), they had performed together on multiple occasions. Well... as it turns out... things went from bad to worse... and they can't even be on stage together anymore. That sort of news has got to have shaken up the opera world.

And... another piece of news that made a ripple (a much smaller one, I would imagine) in the opera world, is that Dmitiri Hvorostovsky has been ordered by the courts to up his alimony for his ex-wife, Svetlana, and their two children. Huh. I didn't even know he had an ex-wife.

If there was an opera version of Entertainment Tonight, we would be much better informed of the going-ons with our opera stars. It is no coincidence, I think, that those who are totally into opera don't really care much about what their favourite baritones had for breakfast.