Cambodia — a country where performing arts were once banned altogether — will debut their first rock opera next month. It’s called WHERE ELEPHANTS WEEP and tells the story of a Cambodian refugee who returns to his country after spending some time in America. [LAT]
THE DEVIL AND GEORGE BUSH, a direct-to-the-Web opera composed by ROGER RUDENSTEIN is being offered for free download before it’s available on iTunes. It’s the first opera ever written about a sitting president and Rudenstein claims that it’s funnier than ‘W’, which shouldn’t be hard since that is a drama. [Seacoast Online]
New York’s METROPOLITAN OPERA has received a technical Emmy for their THE MET: LIVE IN HD series which allows audiences to screen shows in movie theatres across the country — maybe they should sell it on eBay to help out their friends with budget issues. [NYT]
Thanks to an anonymous American donor WILLIAM CHRISTIE and JEAN-MARIE VILLEGIER are reviving Lully’s TRAGEDIE LYRIQUE — otherwise known as the French baroque opera that led to rampant ticket scalping back in 1987 — at Paris’s Opera-Comique. No word yet on whether it will come to the US. [qobuz]
MUSLIM MAGOMAEV, also known as the Russian Sinatra, died this week at the age of 66 following a prolonged illness. [UPI]