By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
The Royal Opera has commissioned Thomas Ades to compose an opera based on the Luis Bunuel film "The Exterminating Angel."
Degas painted it. Chopin wrote variations on it. Balzac and Dumas mentioned it in their fiction. The Paris Opera performed it 100 times in just three years.
Placido Domingo will sing the title character in Verdi's "Nabucco" for the first time at The Royal Opera next year.
Hundreds of British arts organizations had their public funding slashed or eliminated Wednesday, the result of government spending cuts aimed at tackling the country's deficit.

Why write an opera about the sordid life and death of Anna Nicole Smith? That question doubtless leaped to the minds of many when they heard the Royal Opera had commissioned such a work.

Why write an opera about the sordid life and death of Anna Nicole Smith? That question doubtless leaped to the minds of many when they heard the Royal Opera had commissioned such a work.
Why write an opera about the sordid life and death of Anna Nicole Smith? That question doubtless leaped to the minds of many when they heard the Royal Opera had commissioned such a work.
It's a rags-to-riches story with sex, drugs, vast wealth and family tragedy. Perfect material for an opera.
High-class hokum it may be, but when "Adriana Lecouvreur" is cast with terrific singers and staged with old-fashioned opulence, who cares?
Sir Charles Mackerras, a renowned conductor acknowledged as the leading exponent of Leos Janacek's operas, has died of cancer. He was 84.