Russian soprano Anna Netrebko, and her fiance, Uruguayan baritone Erwin Schrott, have given birth to their first child in a Vienna, Austria, hospital. The baby boy weighed-in at 7.9 pounds. The name of the child wasn’t announced, but Opera Chic has learned the bambino will be called Tiago Arua Schrott.
(Photo credit: Yahoo!)
You are currently browsing articles tagged Opera.
An opera by Al Gore? Are you serious? Well, Gore won’t actually be writing the opera, but an Al Gore opera is actually being written for La Scala’s 2011 season (h/t Opera Chic):
“[A]n opera has been commissioned to composer Giorgio Battistelli for the 2011 season, based on An Inconvenient Truth, the best-selling book by Al Gore (Gore had recently been hired by Milan’s Mayor to prepare a presentation supporting the nomination for Milan as host city of the 2015 Expo, arguing that the shockingly gray, polluted, bike lane-deprived city is in fact a paragon of green virtue).”
(words fail me)
Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, was voted into TIME’s 100 for 2008! Gelb became the Met’s 16th general manager in 2006, and he immediately launched a crusade to reinvigorate the sometimes stodgy world of opera. His initiatives, most notably the high-definition live broadcasts in movie theaters across the country, and in Europe and Japan has brought opera to a wider audience. Additionally, last September Sirius Satellite Radio started broadcasting Met opera performances 24/7! Anna Netrebko, the stunning Russian soprano, has written the tribute to Peter Gelb in TIME. In the article Netrebko refers to Gelb as “revolutionary and a visionary in the field of classical music” and says what impresses her most is that he has “implemented these new and exciting programs while also elevating the art of great singing.”
Bravo! Mr. Gelb!
photo: www.metoperafamily.org
I picked up a copy of French soprano Natalie Dessay’s Italian Opera Arias. This is a nice collection of bel canto favorites from Verdi, Belinni and Donizetti. I truly enjoyed these recordings! Dessay’s Violetta, from Verdi’s la Traviata, is very strong, emotional and intelligent; she quite adeptly illustrates the shifting moods of the tragic courtesan destined to die. The offstage phrases were sung by none other than French tenor Roberto Alagna. As Elvira, from Belinni’s i Puritani, Dessay gives an emotionally-charged performance. Her sweet, lilting voice singing “Qui la voce” is ravishingly beautiful.
My favorite piece on this recording is Dessay’s Lucia, from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, a role she played in the Met’s opening night gala this past September. Just as in her Met performance, Dessay played a wonderfully vulnerable, fragile Lucia during the famous “mad scene.” And if the music itself isn’t enough, the CD comes with a bonus DVD of Dessay’s Lucia performance at the Met. One can’t truly appreciate this diva without actually seeing her perform! Brava!
Prague National Theater
This evening we attended Dvorák’s opera “Rusalka” at the Prague National Theater. The performance began at 7 p.m. and we were chauffeured to the performance in one of the hotel’s Mercedes limos about 30-minutes before show-time. We had orchestra row seats with a semi-private box, just behind the orchestra pit. 
There were three seats across and one behind. We had seats “1″ and “2″ (in front) and shared the box with another couple. It was quite pleasant and we had an unobstructed view of the stage (we also had a fabulous view of the conductor and the orchestra musicians). The theater projected the opera’s text (”titles”) in English on a small screen just above the stage, which added to the enjoyment of the performance. There was a 15-minute intermission after both the first and second act with champagne, beer, water and light snacks in the lobby. This opera actually premiered in this very theater in 1901.
The opera was conducted by Oliver Dohnányl and starred Helena Kaupová as Rusalka, Tomáš Cerneý as the Prince, Miloslav Podskalský as Vodnik (the Water Goblin), Yvona Škvárová as Ježibaba (the Witch) and Anda-Louise Bogza as Cizí knežna (the Foreign Princess)
Kaupová was wonderful singing “Mesícku na nebi hlubokém” (Oh, moon high up in the sky) and it made quite a difference hearing the aria performed by a Czech. I noticed a difference in her diction versus Renée Fleming. However, Kaupová’s voice wasn’t as strong as it needed to be, as she was overpowered by the orchestra a time or two. The best performance of the night came from Podskalský as he sang “Kvetiny bile po ceste” (White blossoms all along the road) to a huge round of applause from the audience.
There are many interpretations of this opera and I suppose this is necessary to keep the story interesting and “current.” However, Rusalka is a fairy tale and I believe should be performed as one. This performance was and it didn’t disappoint. Cindy and I truly enjoyed this opera.
After the performance the hotel limo was waiting to take us back to the hotel.
It’s opening night at the Met and I’m listening to Mary Zimmerman’s production of Lucia di Lammermore. This performance is dedicated to the memory of the late Beverly Sills. The first act has ended and Met radio host Margaret Juntwait is interviewing Marcello Giordani who plays “Edgardo.” He’s talking about his son who doesn’t like opera because it takes his dad away from home so often; his son likes “Hip Hop” and Jay-Lo. (funny).
The first act was wonderful and (in scene 2) Natalie Dessay sang beautifully, the aria “Regnava nel silenzio”. You could feel the emotion, her love for Edgardo, with the sweet lilting rendition of the cabaletta “Quando rapita in estasi”. The Dessay-Giordani duet, their loving farewell to close the act, “Verranno a te sull’ a ure,” was magical, as first Dessay, then Giordani, then both together sang the beautiful melody.
Soon the curtain will rise on Act II…
7:47: Act II has ended. The sextet sounded great (powerful) and I understand the staging was incredible, essentially a wedding photo. (interesting). It’s intermission and Maestro Pla¡cido Domingo has joined Margaret Juntwait; they’re discussing tomorrow night’s performance of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, which Domingo is conducting.
Mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne has just walked in and they’re talking about singing bel canto and how demanding it is. The ability to sing the legato is key (which goes without saying). Domingo departs…
Horne is talking about what she’s been up to and it appears she’s been doing a lot of teaching. She likes working with “young people,” and she says it actually keeps her young. (A feeling that’s important, I suppose, being a grandma and all). Now compliments for Domingo and the work he does (and his interest in) developing young performers.
They’re wrapping up (you can hear the orchestra warming up in the background). It sounds like Horne will be returning to the Met tomorrow night for Roméo et Juliette. Horne departs…
Act III is about to begin and Lucia will soon go mad…
I’m sipping a glass of Glengoyne Scotch, smooth and warm…
9:24:The third act closes and the opera ends to enthusiastic applause. Dessay’s vocal display of “Il dolce suono,” during Lucia’s “mad scene” was dramatic and thrilling. A cadenza as the aria ended added to the sweet sadness of the song. Dessay drew extended applause for her performance during this scene, “brava, brava”.
Giordani’s singing of Edgardo’s heart-wrenching final farewell, “Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali,” was excellent. Evidently, Lucia came out as a spirit and encouraged Edgardo to join her in death. A different twist to the end of the opera. I guess it makes sense. After all, Edgardo’s final words are to Lucia.
Now Margaret Juntwait is describing the curtain calls…
Standing ovation!
Fantastic performance!
The Met’s Opening Night Gala is over.
Tomorrow evening is the Opening Night Gala at the Metropolitan Opera! For me, the gala begins at 5:30 p.m., as I tune in to Donizetti’s bel canto masterpiece, Lucia di Lammermoor broadcast live via Sirius “Met Opera Radio”.
 |
With this production, the Met kicks off its 2007-08 season and tomorrow night’s Lucia promises to be absolutely exhilarating! The opera features French soprano, Natalie Dessay, in the title role.
I enjoy Dessay, she has an interesting perspective on opera and the roles she plays. When asked about the intimidation of being the fifty-eighth Lucia at the Met, and following in the performance footsteps of such great sopranos as Lily Pons, Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, she shrugs it off, “I’m not a musicologist” … “These questions of who sang what, when, how–what can I say?” Needless to say, Dessay doesn’t scour ancient scores to rediscover the embellishments of past performers, rather she focuses on her own intrepretation and performance. Dessay says, “The challenge of Lucia, to me, is to make the character real.” In doing so, she focuses on being musical and theatrical at the same time, which requires great care for the words she sings. Dessay desires to create the illusion of speech in her singing, which is the key to creating the right theatrical performance:
“I try not to remind people that I’m singing instead of speaking. To make that happen, you should sing it really, really well, with deep commitment to the truth, so that you are believable as a character, not as a singer. This is what I want to achieve. Music is not the last goal–it’s a way to achieve the goal which is theater.”
Accompanying Dessay’s Lucia will be Sicilian-born tenor Marcello Giordani, who plays Lucia’s lover Edgardo; Mariusz Kwiecien, her scheming brother Enrico; and John Relyea as the compassionate Raimondo. Maestro James Levine conducts the the performance.
On Tuesday night, another Met performance will be broadcast live over Sirius: Gounod’s sensual interpretation of Shakespeare’s Roméo et Juliette.
 |
Starring the stunning Russian soprano, Anna Netrebko, as Juliette, and tenor Roberto Alagna, as her Roméo. Nathun Gunn will play Romeo’s friend Mercutio, and the incomparable Maestro Plácido Domingo will conduct.
The Met will stage several performances of Roméo et Juliette throughout the season, including their New Year’s Eve gala. Accompanying Netrebko during these performances will be several “high-voltage” Roméos: Roberto Alagna for the first two performances, Joseph Kaiser in his company debut, and Matthew Polenzani for the New Year’s Eve performance. Nathan Gunn and Stéphane Degout will share the role of Mercutio. Rolando Villazón was originally scheduled to star opposite Netrebko, but on the advice of his doctor, has cancelled all performances for the next couple of months. Villazón still remains scheduled to play Roméo during the December 15th matinee performance to be simulcast in movie theaters and recorded for television.
It’s going to be a good week!
The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Opera’s tribute to Beverly Sills has just ended. What a heartwarming presentation it was! The event was free. Tickets were given away starting at noon today on a first-come, first-served basis at the Met box-office. The event was also broadcast live to Times Square and on Sirius Satellite Radio (my venue). The performers included, Plá¡cido Domingo (accompanied by James Levine on piano), who sang Handel’s “Ombra mai fù”; Anna Netrebko singing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Nightingale and the Rose”; John Relyea singing Schubert’s “An die Musik”; and Natalie Dessay who sang Strauss’ “IIch wollt ein Sträußlein binden”. The speakers included many of Sills’ family and friends: her brother, Stanley Sills told a story about the famous “pubic” typo in the first edition of Sills’ autobiography, Bubbles; Mayor Mike Bloomberg spoke of Sills’ penchant for fundraising; Met Chairman, Peter Gelb said her departure from the Met had nothing to do with his arrival (which Sills orchestrated); comedian Carol Burnett was especially touching as she relayed that Sills’ was the first person she phoned whenever she came to New York; television journalist, Barbara Walters spoke heartwarmingly about Sills’ daughter “Muffy” who is deaf and suffers from MS; and former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger described the “hide-in-plane-sight” affair the two shared (tongue-in-cheek, of course).
The two-hour event was interspersed with recorded performances by Beverly Sills, including the song, “Just an Octave Apart,” a duo she sang with Carol Burnett.
All of the speakers were sincere and witty; obviously, Beverly Sills had touched each of them in a very special way. Peter Gelb, whom Sills hired, said she would call him after he’d started working and ask, “Peter, is everything perfect?” Today, Gelb’s reply was, “Sadly, Beverly, without you the world of opera is less perfect.”
Legendary tenor, Luciano Pavarotti, died of pancreatic cancer yesterday at his home in Modena, Italy. He was 71 years old.
Pavarotti’s manager, Terri Robson, said,
“The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness.”
Pavarotti had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year. He underwent surgery in July 2006 to remove a cancerous mass; he had also been receiving radiation treatments.
Pavarotti’s death came only one day after becoming the first recipient of the new “Excellence in Italian Culture Award” from the Italian government, the Italian Culture Ministry reported on Tuesday evening. The tenor received the award for promoting Italian culture abroad and within Italy itself. The opera house where he performed for the first time 40 years ago, La Scala opera house in Milan, stated it will organize a singing contest in honor of the Italian tenor.
Following his first professional appearance in 1961, Pavarotti made his Met debut on November 23, 1968, as Rodolfo in La Bohéme opposite Mirella Freni. By the time he gave his farewell performance on March 13, 2004, as Cavaradossi inTosca, he had sung with the company in 378 performances, more than anywhere else in the world.
According to the All Music Guide:
Pavarotti appeared in the first “Live from the Met” broadcast on the PBS network and has been the most consistent draw on that series for years. His outstanding catalogue of recordings on the London (Decca) record label preserves nearly every role he ever performed and will be hard to match for its quality and scope. His charity work has including AIDS benefit concerts and world hunger gala events, as well as his “Pavarotti and Friends” concerts to benefit children, especially in the former Yugoslav states. He also founded a quadrennial contest to identify talented young singers and boost their careers. And, as one of the “Three Tenors,” he has brought operatic singing to a wider popular audience than previously might have been thought possible. In 2003 he released his first solo crossover CD, Ti adoro.
The Met will broadcast the following tribute concerts on Sirius:
Thursday, September 6: La Fille du Régiment - Donizetti (Jan. 6, 1973) Richard Bonynge; Joan Sutherland, Regina Resnik, Luciano Pavarotti, Fernando CorenaFriday, September 7: Il Trovatore - Verdi (Jan. 21, 1989) James Levine; Aprile Millo, Fiorenza Cossotto, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, Paul PlishkaSaturday, September 8: L’ Elisir d’Amore - Donizetti (Apr. 29, 1989) Marcello Panni; Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti. Gino Quilico, Paul PlishkaSunday, September 9: Tosca - Puccini (Apr. 1, 1995) Daniel Oren; Elizabeth Holleque, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan PonsMonday, September 10: Rigoletto - Verdi (February 10, 1973) James Levine; Reri Grist, Joann Grillo, Luciano Pavarotti, Ingvar Wixell, John MacurdyTueday, September 11: Un Ballo in Maschera - Verdi (Jan. 26, 1997) James Levine; Deborah Voigt, Young-Ok Shin, Barbara Dever, Luciano Pavarotti, Juan PonsWednesday, September 12: Luisa Miller - Verdi (Jan. 23, 1982) Nello Santi; Katia Ricciarelli, Bianca Berini, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci, Paul Plishka, John CheekThursday, September 13: I Puritani - Bellini (Mar. 13, 1976) Richard Bonynge; Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, James Morris [first time on Sirius radio]
Coloratura soprano Beverly Sills passed away yesterday; she was 78 and died of cancer.
During the height of Sills’s stardom in the 1970s, she appeared regularly on television talk shows and variety specials with such personalities as Mike Douglas, Dick Cavett, Dinah Shore, Carol Burnett (a good friend with whom she sang duets) and even the Muppets. She was particularly associated with Johnny Carson and his Tonight Show, even filling in for Carson as guest host on occasion. Her warm and unpretentious personality made her very popular with the general public, and she used that renown to popularize opera.
In recent years, as chairman of the Metropolitan Opera’s board, she raised the money to save the company’s Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts after longtime sponsor Chevron Texaco withdrew its support.
Adieu.
In the Wall Street Journal’s “Arts and Entertainment” section yesterday, Greg Sandow wrote that professional criticism of classical music in the press is in decline.
In this article, Mr. Sandow discusses the misconception that classical music itself is in decline in large part because the print media no longer care about art and culture. He says that classical music is in decline and it isn’t the print media , but rather the age of classical music audiences and the marketing of classical performances by the concert halls that is to blame. He cites three reasons for this belief:
First, any decline in the amount of classical-music criticism published is partly due to the rise of new cultural institutions … I asked publicists from opera companies around the country if their press coverage was growing or shrinking. Shrinking, they said. And why? In part, they said, because there were new museums, new dance companies and new theater groups in their cities, which newspapers had to cover.
Understandable. The paper would be compelled to cover the opening of a new museum, certainly, but what of the American debut of an up-and-coming lyric soprano? This is important cultural news, isn’t it? Surely, there’s at least one day during the entire year that a city doesn’t open a new museum! Sandow cites as his second observation:
…the decline in classical criticism has other causes, too, and has been going on for at least 20 years … The 1980s were the pivotal decade, the decade when classical-music criticism visibly started to disappear. In 1980, Time magazine had a full-time classical critic and … ran twice as many pieces on classical music as it did on pop. When Vanity Fair started publishing in 1983, it, too, had a classical critic…
Then, in 1984, … Vanity Fair canned classical music … As the ’80s rolled on, Time published fewer and fewer classical reviews, and by 1990 (again by my own informal count) the 1980 proportions were reversed, so that now the magazine published two pop articles for every piece on classical music.
These examples could be multiplied. In 1990, … Entertainment Weekly, bucking the trend … ran three classical-record reviews each month. But we didn’t buck the trend long. A few years later, … reader surveys showed that hardly anyone read our classical reviews [and EW dropped them].
Yep, it’s all about the $$$, right? Perhaps, the writer just wasn’t clever enough to capture and hold the reader’s attention. I would often (and still do) overlook the long-winded, technical and pompous writings and reviews of classical music critics simply because they were excruciatingly b-o-r-i-n-g. Classical music isn’t droll, Sandow could take some lessons from one of my favorite “critics,” OperaChic. She’s an American, classically-trained musician living in Milan and her writing is interesting, informative, stylish and extremely witty. Maybe Mr. Sandow should think about the audience he’s writing to. If you’re a critic for EW, how does one appeal to the younger audience? It’s no wonder, as Sandow cites as his third and final observation…
Who reads classical-music reviews? There’s been a decline of interest in classical music, especially among younger people. One sign of that is the aging of the classical-music audience, which (as measured by the National Endowment for the Arts and by private studies) has been going on ever since the 1950s. Do newspapers survey their readers? What if they found — just as we did at Entertainment Weekly — that not many people read their classical reviews? What if the editors themselves don’t listen to classical music?
So, we’re getting old. That’s the reason why classical music is in decline? Of course, one shouldn’t blame the press, as Sandow explains,
The last thing [we] should do, … is blame the press. “Newspapers don’t care about art or culture!” people cry. But I’d turn that around and ask if people in the classical-music business really understand the current state of our world [what?!?]. Because here’s something else I learned back in the ’90s when I talked to those opera-company publicists. One thing any publicist wants is advance coverage, preview articles about whatever’s being publicized. Once, the opera publicists said, they’d get these automatically. But that had stopped. “You’re doing ‘La Traviata’?” an editor might say. “You did it three years ago. What’s the story now?”
I guess, according to Sandow, when you’ve seen one production of la Traviata, you’ve seen them all.
Message to the Met: Save your $$$! La Traviata?? It’s been done!
Director and librettist, Colin Graham’s legacy, a new operatic version of Anna Karenina recently opened at Opera Theater of St. Louis. Colin, who passed away in April was scheduled to direct the would premier production at Florida Grand Opera in Miami, but it was never meant to be. His assistant, Mark Streshinsky, saw it through. This Anna was composed by David Carlson; Graham wrote the libretto.
After receiving huge acclaim in Miami, Anna Karenina has moved to the company Colin led to international renown during his two-decade tenure as artistic director. The production stars, with soprano Kelly Kaduce as Anna, Robert Gierlach as Vronsky, Christian Van Horn as Karenin, Brandon Jovanovich as Levin, Sarah Coburn as Kitty, Christine Abraham as Dolly and veteran Rosalind Elias as Agafia. The music director of Florida Grand Opera, Stewart Robertson, is the music director for this production. (photo above by Debra Gray Mitchell)
I recently picked up the DVD of an opera by Gaetano Donizetti called L’Elisir d’Amore (i.e. The Elixer of Love). This is a recording of a 2005 performance at the Vienna State Opera. It was conducted by Alfred Eschwé. The opera stars
- Anna Netrebko (soprano) as Adina,
- Rolando Villazón (tenor) as Nemorino,
- Leo Nucci (baritone) as Belcore, and
- Ildebrando D’Arcangelo (bass) as Dulcamara
This is opera buffo at its best! Nemorino, a simple-minded young man, is in love with Adina, who is impressed by the dashing Sergeant Belcore, a man overly impressed with his own charms. Dulcamara arrives in the village, offering panaceas of his own fraudulent design. Nemorino seeks a love potion which is happily provided by Dulcamara, but the love potion is actually just a bottle of wine. Adina, meanwhile, has agreed to marry Belcore, forcing Nemorino to obtain more elixir from Dulcamara, which he can only pay for by enlisting in Belcore’s troop. Rumor reaches the village that Nemorino has inherited a fortune, and he now finds himself immensely popular among the girls of the village, arousing Adina’s jealousy. When Dulcamara tells her that Nemorino has enlisted in order to find a way to her heart, she relents, dismisses Belcore and agrees to marry Nemorino, after buying him out of the regiment.
The music was absolutely wonderful and the performances were fantastic. Anna Netrebko’s voice was superb and her portrayal of the coy, teasing Adina was striking to say the least. Nucci did a great job as the pompous Sergeant Belcore and D’Arcangelo’s Doctor Dulcamara was outstanding and affectionately sleazy!
The best of the show was Rolando Villazón! His Nemorino was a perfect match for Netrebko’s Adina. I love these two best when they perform together! Villazón is an amazing actor and his performance ranged from comical (especially when getting a little tipsy after drinking the love potion) to softly heartwarming. I laughed out loud at his silly bottle dance and was surprised by his juggling skill (yes, he juggled apples). He absolutely stole the show when he sang, “Una furtiva lagrima,” (A furtive tear) his soft, quiet expression–a pianissimo–and breathtaking decrescendo at the end earned a welcomed encore for the young tenor!
Photo: Rolando Villazón and Anna Netrebko in L’Elisir d’Amore.
[ + ]
Recent Comments