Saturday, September 29, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Metropolitan Opera Schedule 2012 – 13
Thanks to Gesela Moffit for this information:
October 27, ‘12 Verdi’s Otello
Verdi’s Shakespearean masterpiece returns to the Met with Johan Botha in the title role opposite the acclaimed Desdemona of star soprano Renee Fleming. Semyon Bychkov conducts.
Run time: 3:30
Nov. 10, ‘12 Ades’s The Tempest (Met Premiere)
Jonas Kaufmann stars in the title role of the innocent who finds wisdom in Francois Girard’s new vision for Wagner’s final masterpiece. His fellow Wagnerian luminaries include Katarina Dalayman as the mysterious Kundry, Peter Mattei as the ailing Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin as the wicked Klingsor, and Rene Pape as the noble knight Gurnemanz. Daniele Gatti conducts.
Run Time: 5:45
March 16, ’13 at 12:00 (new time) Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini
October 13, ‘12 Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore (new
production)
Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani star in Bartlett Sher’s
new production of one of the greatest comic gems in opera, as the fickle Adina
and her besotted Nemorino. Mariusz
Kwiecien is the blustery sergeant Belcore and Ambrogio Maestri is Dulcamara,
the loveable quack and dispenser of the elixir.
Maurizio Benini conducts. Run time: 3:05October 27, ‘12 Verdi’s Otello
Verdi’s Shakespearean masterpiece returns to the Met with Johan Botha in the title role opposite the acclaimed Desdemona of star soprano Renee Fleming. Semyon Bychkov conducts.
Run time: 3:30
Nov. 10, ‘12 Ades’s The Tempest (Met Premiere)
Composer Thomas Ades conducts the Metropolitan Opera
premiere of his own work, with baritone Simon Keenlyside starring as Prospero.
Director Robert Lepage recreates the interior of 18th-century La
Scala in this inventive staging. Run Time: 3:35
December 1, ‘12 Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito
The virtuosic Elina Garanca sings Sesto in Mozart’s drama
set in ancient Rome. Guiseppe Filianoti
is the noble Tito and Barbara Frittoli is Vitellia, in this handsome revival of
one of the composer’s final masterpieces.
Harry Bicket conducts. Run time: 3:15
Dec. 8, ‘12 Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera (new
production)
Director David Alden’s dreamlike setting provides a
compelling backdrop for this dramatic story of jealousy and vengeance. Marcelo Alvarez stars as the conflicted
king; Karita Mattila is Amelia, the
object of his secret passion; and Dmitri Hvorostovsky is her suspicious
husband. Kathleen Kim is the page Oscar,
and Stephanie Blythe sings the role of the fortune-teller Ulrica. Fabio Luisi conducts. Run time: 4:00
Dec. 15, ‘12 Verdi’s Aida
The Met’s unforgettable production of Verdi’s ancient
Egyptian drama stars Liudmyla Monastyrska as the enslaved Ethiopian princess
caught in a love triangle with the heroic Radames, played by Roberto Alagna,
and the proud Egyptian princess Amneris, sung by Olga Borodina. Fabio Luisi conducts. Run Time: 4:00
Jan. 5, ’13 at 12:00 (new time) Berlioz’s Les
Troyens
The Met offers a rare opportunity to witness Berlioz’s vast
epic, last performed at the Met in 2003.
Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani, and Dwayne Croft lead
the starry cast, portraying characters from the Trojan War. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi marshals
the large-scale musical forces. Run Time: 5:45
Jan. 19, ‘13 Donizatti’s Maria
Stuarda (Met Premiere)
Mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato, one of the world’s most
exciting singers, takes on the virtuosic bel canto role of the doomed Mary,
Queen of Scots. Director David McVicar turns to the second opera of Donizetti’s
Tudor trilogy, which explores regal characters at fateful moments of their
lives. Elza van den Heever sings
Elizabeth I, and Maurizio Benini conducts. Run time: 3:20
Feb. 16, ‘13 Verdi’s Rigoletto (new Production)
Director Michael Mayer has placed his new production of
Verdi’s towering tragedy in Las Vegas in 1960.
In this production, inspired by the antics of the Rat Pack, Piotr
Beczala is the womanizing Duke of Mantua, Zeljko Lucic is his tragic sidekick,
Rigoletto, and Diana Damrau is Rigolettt’s daughter, Gilda. Run Time: 3:35
March 2, ’13 at 12:00
(new time) Wagner’s Parsifal (new production)Jonas Kaufmann stars in the title role of the innocent who finds wisdom in Francois Girard’s new vision for Wagner’s final masterpiece. His fellow Wagnerian luminaries include Katarina Dalayman as the mysterious Kundry, Peter Mattei as the ailing Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin as the wicked Klingsor, and Rene Pape as the noble knight Gurnemanz. Daniele Gatti conducts.
Run Time: 5:45
March 16, ’13 at 12:00 (new time) Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini
Zandonai’s compelling opera, inspired by an episode from
Dante’s Inferno, returns in the Met’s ravishingly beautiful production, last
seen in 1986. Dramatic soprano Eva-Maria
Westbroek and tenor Marcello Giordani are the doomed lovers. Marco Armiliato conducts. Run Time: 4:00
April 27, ’13 at
12:00 (new time) Händel’s
Giulio
Cesare (new production)
The opera that conquered London in Händel’s time comes to
the Met in David McVicar’s lively production.
The world’s leading countertenor, David Daniels, sings the title role
opposite Natalie Dessay as an irresistibly exotic Cleopatra. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts. Run Time 4:35
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Excerpts from message by Senator Carl Levin
Opening Statement at PSI Hearing: Offshore Profit Shifting and the U.S. Tax Code
Thursday, September 20, 2012
America stands on the edge of a fiscal cliff. This challenge lends new urgency to a topic this subcommittee has long investigated: how U.S. citizens and corporations have used loopholes and gimmicks to avoid paying taxes. This subcommittee has demonstrated in hearings and comprehensive reports how various schemes have helped shift income to offshore tax havens and avoid U.S. taxes. The resulting loss of revenue is one significant cause of the budget deficit, and adds to the tax burden that ordinary Americans bear.
U.S. multinational corporations benefit from the security and stability of the U.S. economy, the productivity and expertise of U.S. workers and the strength of U.S. infrastructure to develop enormously profitable products here in the United States. But, too often, too many of these corporations use complex structures, dubious transactions and legal fictions to shift the profits from those products overseas, avoiding the taxes that help support our security, stability and productivity.
The share of federal tax revenue contributed by corporations has plummeted in recent decades. That places an additional burden on other taxpayers. The massive offshore profit shifting that is taking place today is doubly problematic in an era of dire fiscal crisis. Budget experts across the ideological spectrum are unified in their belief than any serious attempt to address the deficit must include additional federal revenue. Federal revenue, as a share of our economy, has plummeted to historic lows – about 15 percent of GDP, compared to a historic average of roughly 19 percent. The Simpson-Bowles report sets a goal for federal revenue at 21 percent of GDP.
The fact that we are today so far short of that goal is, in part, due to multinational corporations avoiding U.S. taxes by shifting their profits offshore.
****
The bottom line of our investigation is that some multinationals use our current tax system to engage in shams and gimmicks to avoid paying the taxes they owe. It is a system that multinationals have used to shift billions of dollars of profit offshore, and avoid billions of dollars in U.S. taxes, to their enormous benefit. Who are the losers in this shell game? There are many:
•The U.S. government, which provides the services and security that help many of those multinational corporations grow and prosper, and then watches them shift their profits offshore to avoid paying taxes;
•Other citizens and business who must shoulder a greater tax burden;
•domestic industries that do not exploit the tax code to shift profits offshore and avoid U.S. taxes;
•the integrity and viability of our tax system.
So today we will take a detailed look at how this system works, the legal contortions on which it is based, its gimmicks and charades, and hopefully, we'll generate some enthusiasm to fix it.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
America stands on the edge of a fiscal cliff. This challenge lends new urgency to a topic this subcommittee has long investigated: how U.S. citizens and corporations have used loopholes and gimmicks to avoid paying taxes. This subcommittee has demonstrated in hearings and comprehensive reports how various schemes have helped shift income to offshore tax havens and avoid U.S. taxes. The resulting loss of revenue is one significant cause of the budget deficit, and adds to the tax burden that ordinary Americans bear.
U.S. multinational corporations benefit from the security and stability of the U.S. economy, the productivity and expertise of U.S. workers and the strength of U.S. infrastructure to develop enormously profitable products here in the United States. But, too often, too many of these corporations use complex structures, dubious transactions and legal fictions to shift the profits from those products overseas, avoiding the taxes that help support our security, stability and productivity.
The share of federal tax revenue contributed by corporations has plummeted in recent decades. That places an additional burden on other taxpayers. The massive offshore profit shifting that is taking place today is doubly problematic in an era of dire fiscal crisis. Budget experts across the ideological spectrum are unified in their belief than any serious attempt to address the deficit must include additional federal revenue. Federal revenue, as a share of our economy, has plummeted to historic lows – about 15 percent of GDP, compared to a historic average of roughly 19 percent. The Simpson-Bowles report sets a goal for federal revenue at 21 percent of GDP.
The fact that we are today so far short of that goal is, in part, due to multinational corporations avoiding U.S. taxes by shifting their profits offshore.
****
The bottom line of our investigation is that some multinationals use our current tax system to engage in shams and gimmicks to avoid paying the taxes they owe. It is a system that multinationals have used to shift billions of dollars of profit offshore, and avoid billions of dollars in U.S. taxes, to their enormous benefit. Who are the losers in this shell game? There are many:
•The U.S. government, which provides the services and security that help many of those multinational corporations grow and prosper, and then watches them shift their profits offshore to avoid paying taxes;
•Other citizens and business who must shoulder a greater tax burden;
•domestic industries that do not exploit the tax code to shift profits offshore and avoid U.S. taxes;
•the integrity and viability of our tax system.
So today we will take a detailed look at how this system works, the legal contortions on which it is based, its gimmicks and charades, and hopefully, we'll generate some enthusiasm to fix it.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Fall opera schedule
Metropolitan
Opera Schedule 2012 – 13
Starting time is 12:55 p.m. unless indicated otherwise
Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani star in Bartlett Sher’s
new production of one of the greatest comic gems in opera, as the fickle Adina
and her besotted Nemorino. Mariusz
Kwiecien is the blustery sergeant Belcore and Ambrogio Maestri is Dulcamara,
the loveable quack and dispenser of the elixir.
Maurizio Benini conducts.
Run time: 3:05
Verdi’s Shakespearean masterpiece returns to the Met with
Johan Botha in the title role opposite the acclaimed Desdemona of star soprano
Renee Fleming. Semyon Bychkov conducts.
Run time: 3:30
Composer Thomas Ades conducts the Metropolitan Opera
premiere of his own work, with baritone Simon Keenlyside starring as Prospero.
Director Robert Lepage recreates the interior of 18th-century La
Scala in this inventive staging.
Run Time: 3:35
The virtuosic Elina Garanca sings Sesto in Mozart’s drama
set in ancient Rome. Guiseppe Filianoti
is the noble Tito and Barbara Frittoli is Vitellia, in this handsome revival of
one of the composer’s final masterpieces.
Harry Bicket conducts.
Run time: 3:15
Director David Alden’s dreamlike setting provides a
compelling backdrop for this dramatic story of jealousy and vengeance. Marcelo Alvarez stars as the conflicted
king; Karita Mattila is Amelia, the
object of his secret passion; and Dmitri Hvorostovsky is her suspicious
husband. Kathleen Kim is the page Oscar,
and Stephanie Blythe sings the role of the fortune-teller Ulrica. Fabio Luisi conducts.
Run time: 4:00
The Met’s unforgettable production of Verdi’s ancient
Egyptian drama stars Liudmyla Monastyrska as the enslaved Ethiopian princess
caught in a love triangle with the heroic Radames, played by Roberto Alagna,
and the proud Egyptian princess Amneris, sung by Olga Borodina. Fabio Luisi conducts.
Run Time: 4:00
The Met offers a rare opportunity to witness Berlioz’s vast
epic, last performed at the Met in 2003.
Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani, and Dwayne Croft lead
the starry cast, portraying characters from the Trojan War. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi marshals
the large-scale musical forces.
Run Time: 5:45
Mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato, one of the world’s most
exciting singers, takes on the virtuosic bel canto role of the doomed Mary,
Queen of Scots. Director David McVicar turns to the second opera of Donizetti’s
Tudor trilogy, which explores regal characters at fateful moments of their
lives. Elza van den Heever sings
Elizabeth I, and Maurizio Benini conducts.
Run time: 3:20
Feb. 16, ‘13 Verdi’s Rigoletto (new Production)
Director Michael Mayer has placed his new production of
Verdi’s towering tragedy in Las Vegas in 1960.
In this production, inspired by the antics of the Rat Pack, Piotr
Beczala is the womanizing Duke of Mantua, Zeljko Lucic is his tragic sidekick,
Rigoletto, and Diana Damrau is Rigolettt’s daughter, Gilda.
Run Time: 3:35
Jonas Kaufmann stars in the title role of the innocent who
finds wisdom in Francois Girard’s new vision for Wagner’s final
masterpiece. His fellow Wagnerian
luminaries include Katarina Dalayman as the mysterious Kundry, Peter Mattei as
the ailing Amfortas, Evgeny Nikitin as the wicked Klingsor, and Rene Pape as
the noble knight Gurnemanz. Daniele Gatti conducts.
Run Time: 5:45
Run Time: 4:00
The opera that conquered London in Händel’s time comes to
the Met in David McVicar’s lively production.
The world’s leading countertenor, David Daniels, sings the title role
opposite Natalie Dessay as an irresistibly exotic Cleopatra. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket conducts.
Run Time 4:35
Monday, September 10, 2012
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