I posted the other day about seeing opera stars Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón in guest appearances at last Friday’s Petroushka Ball. Gossip columnist Liz Smith, writing in America’s Newspaper of Record today, is close behind me:

“THE MUSIC world had nothing but val entines this Valentine week for the ravishing new queen of opera, Anna Netrebko, fast becoming the Russian ‘Madonna’ of opera. This week the soprano’s fourth album, ‘Violetta-Arias and Duets from La Traviata’ was released to enormous success. After opera legend Marilyn Horne told me not to miss her, I went to the Met and caught this stunner in ‘Rigoletto,’ a performance that brought tears of joy to those who enjoy opera with great big voices, dramatic flair and sex appeal. The Big House was crazy for both Anna and her tenor, Rolando Villazón. It was just like the good old days at the Met, except that the diva herself is marvelously mainstream. It is said she drinks, swears like a sailor, loves fashion, listens to hip-hop – but for all her modern ways, she vows never to make a pop album. You can catch this blazing new star in her final ‘Rigoletto’ tomorrow night, or wait for her ‘Don Pasquale’ in March.”

[Derb] I don’t know about “Russian Madonna,” though. Netrebko is WAY better looking that Madonna; and so far as voices are concerned, well…