"A perfect Plácido storm"

Set out facts allegro and then...largo, largo...opinion unfurls. Anne Midgette today at the WashPo classical blog calls it "a perfect Plácido storm." Lisa Hirsch, an Oakland-based writer, notes that David Gockley, with not quite the name of Plácido Domingo, has not only been a wonderful and dedicated company director, but has been as fine a fundraiser as Plácido as well. The New York Times quoted an unnamed source as saying that as a manager the supertenor is "kind of suspect."

You may have read my piece in the Weekly by now on what has happened to LA Opera in recent months and by extension in recent years. As I told Lisa Hirsch, I believe that very soon, a narrative will emerge that acknowledges that the late Peter Hemmings left LA Opera in fine shape and then...something...happened. Whether that something was Plácido, economics, bombs like The Fly, a costly yet conceptual Ring that disappoints many, or some mix of some or all, will be where the narrative resumes as the company announces its new season within the next ten days.