Intermezzo

Opera Holland Park ticket offer

All remaining tickets for the first two performances of OHP's new Adriana Lecouvreur are reduced to £30 - roughly half price.

The dates are Thursday 24 and Saturday 26 July, and you need to book online using the promo code ADRIANA30.

The Falstaff Diet

How does Ambrogio Maestri, the world's busiest Falstaff, maintain those career-defining curves?

As with any job, it's all about how much you put in.

Food is in Maestri's blood - he worked in the family restaurant until his late 20s and his discovery by the perspicacious Riccardo Muti.

The big baritone has never lost his love of tucking in, and now uses his operatic down-time to share his authentic Italian recipes with a hungry world.

Risotto above. More cooking lessons on Maestri's YouTube channel.

Christian Lacroix frocks up in Frankfurt

No whorehouse mermaids or panto pussies for Christian Lacroix. "I love to resurrect bygone worlds," he says. "My idea of ​​paradise is to touch the fabrics of the past, to smell the scents of the past."

Proving that historical inspiration can transcend mere reproduction, here are some of his fabulous costume designs for Vincent Boussard's new production of Adriana Lecouvreur, which opens at Oper Frankfurt on Sunday.

Angela's first ever Adriana Lecouvreur cancellation

Here's Angela's BBC Breakfast interview from last week, in which she reveals (around the 5 minute mark) that she was actually supposed to sing Adriana Lecouvreur at Covent Garden some time before the current production - but cancelled. Unfortunately the interviewers aren't sharp enough to probe any further, but I suspect this little snippet may account for one or other of the multiple Bohèmes or Traviatas foisted on us at short notice over the last few years. (Thanks Isabella for providing).

That's enough Angela for a while.

If you want to hear what her substitute, Ángeles Blancas Gulin, got up to check out this sound clip on GTL Torn T.

Guess which dates Gheorghiu will cancel next

So, after last night's all-too-predictable news, which other dates do you think Angela Gheorghiu will cancel? Any - or all? Vote below (you can vote for more than one date if you're particularly pessimistic).

 

*UPDATE 7/12* - with Angela's dates now completed, the poll is CLOSED - here are the final results:

 

Angela Gheorghiu is unwell

 
Well, did you really think she'd get through a whole run? The sickest soprano in operatic history has cancelled tonight's appearance in Adriana Lecouvreur at the Royal Opera House.  (via Gert)

The announcement was apparently "greeted with derisive laughter and boos".