calvisson-leblon

I spent ten days in the Big Apple at the beginning of April.   It was my cultural Spring Break in the city.   As usual, I met my friends and we visited museums, art galleries, concert halls and restaurants.   We also went to the Metropolitan Opera where we met Luisa Miller and reconnected with the sisters Fiordiligi and Dorabella.   Luisa Miller is the heroine of a Verdi opera by the same name.   Fiordiligi and Dorabella are the much-vilified sisters of Cos ì fan tutte , a Mozart opera which premiered in Vienna in 1790, one year before the composer’s death.   Rest assured, this is not another blog on misogynist operas, although both operas treat women poorly, but on the decisions taken by the two sisters and their boyfriends.   I was keen to discover Luisa Miller , about a doomed romantic heroine from a Schiller drama.   The innocent Luisa is the victim of a loving but selfish father and of a jealous lover, himself tricked by an unscrupul...

Every year, in March, television, newspapers and magazines fall over themselves to release news on women’s achievements.   It has become a ritual ahead of the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8.   Like a flash in the pan, interest falls soon after.   But in an era of #MeToo, #balancetonporc and Times’Up, there seems to be a flutter of momentum for women to achieve some of their goals and get recognition.   This year businesses and governments are taking notice. In the past, women were prevented from striving outside their narrow female ambit.   Likewise, women’s important accomplishments were overlooked because they were women.   It has been a wish of mine for some time to have a look at some of the women who changed history and share their stories.   Here are the stories of three amazing women who risked their life for France and the Allies during WWII: Margot Duhalde, Jeannie Rousseau de Clarens and Susan Travers.   Th...

Rio Carnival is no longer the good-natured, escapist festival that celebrates the spirit of samba.   Over the years Carnival has become more unruly and violent, and this year was the worse.   Carnival has been hijacked by runaway gangs who have attacked and robbed revelers participating in blocos (street parades).   Ahead of the festivities, like many jaded Cariocas , I joined the stampede out of the city.   For the past four years, carnival-free Argentina has been my destination of choice.   Since the late 70s, when I lived in Bolivia, I have been fascinated by the Jesuit missions of Latin America.   A couple of years ago, I visited the ruined, jungle-overrun Jesuit settlements of northern Argentina (Misiones province, near Igua z u Falls).   In this region the 18 th century Jesuit’s colonial proselytism (reductions) still lends itself to controversy: the local Guarani Indians either relinquished or were compelled to trade their ancestral ...

You may have read my last blog on Florence, Italy.   I did not mention that I attended the New Year’s Eve concert at the Maggio opera theater.   I noticed that Bizet’s opera Carmen was programmed for the beginning of 2018.   Its performance was a bomb to be thrown in the rarefied world of opera.   As an anti-violence-against-women protest, the male director changed the end of the misogynist plot, the first militant action of the #Times Up age.   Instead of being stabbed to death, Carmen shoots her would-be murderer, her dejected ex-lover Don Jos é.   Carmen, mezzo-soprano Veronica Simeoni, liked the alternative ending.   This plot twist received mixed reviews, but the opera run was sold out.    Does crime against women no longer pay?   In Italy, women are so frequently murdered that a name has been coined for this social crisis: femminicidio or femicide. Carmen is one of the world’s most oved operas and a favorite of first-ti...

If in 1345, Taddeo Gaddi had not built the iconic Ponte Vecchio in Florence, five centuries later Walt Disney would have! It was built in stone to withstand the recurring floods of the Arno River which had washed out the previous wooden bridges.   The Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) is both an architectural achievement and a commercial and tourist attraction.   In 1966, it stood firm during the “mother of all floods” [1] which damaged a large part of Florence.   It was erected as a self-paying bridge: the rents paid by the shops built on both sides covered its construction cost.   However, the commercial beginning of the bridge was far from glamorous as the first shopkeepers were butchers and tanners.   Fed up with the stench and the muck in the river, in 1593 Grand Duke Ferdinando I Medici of Tuscany kicked them out and replaced them with jewelers, cleaner and in the eye of the banker-cum cardinal, more profitable activities. Made a cardinal as the r...

This is a twice-a-year routine, but it is becoming increasingly expensive.   These past three years, I have noted that apartment rentals and restaurants prices have gone through the roof.   The modest furnished studio apartment I used to rent for under $ 200 a day, now goes for $ 240 and counting.   Museums have joined the inflation carousing and now unabashedly charge $ 18 or more for a visit.   This is a particularly sore point for a spoiled museum-goer like me.   As a senior citizen in Brazil, I either do not pay or am charged half-price.   The ruthless law of supply and demand rules in New York City, and I suspect Manhattan to be the borough of the stealth inflation! Restaurants have always puzzled me, they crop up and vanish overnight.   Many cherished and busy landmarks have disappeared inexplicably.   One cannot meet in a restaurant unless it has been previously checked.   NYC is the city of the 80% fail rate, out of the 1000 r...