NEW YORK – Patricia Racette had just sung her moving final notes in "Suor Angelica" and fallen to the stage. Around the Metropolitan Opera House, a significant segment of the audience was sniffling and wiping away tears. Racette took on the rare task of singing all three soprano leads in Puccini's "Il Trittico," three one-act operas of melodrama, tragedy and comedy. Her shattering
For all the work’s virtues, the main reason that Los Angeles Opera has mounted a production of Handel’s “Tamerlano” is that tenor Plácido Domingo recently added the role of Bajazet to his repertory. Bajazet is not the title character, but...
REVIEW: Placido Domingo takes on the tenor role in Handel’s showpiece. The Orange County Register, Nov. 22, 2009. SEE SLIDE SHOW One’s heart sinks a little when the curtain is raised on Los Angeles Opera’s production of Handel’s “Tamerlano,” which opened Saturday for five performances at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. It’s one of those minimalist, modernist...
Antonio Ghislanzoni (libretto), based on a French scenario by Auguste Mariette, Giuseppe Verdi (composer) Aida / the production I saw was the Metropolitan Opera live HD, in encore on Thursday, November 12, 2009 One of the aspects of Aida that interviewer, singer Renée Fleming suggested several times in the intermissions of Verdi's great opera was that, despite the huge size of the cast, except...
NOT Disney ! A movie satire from Hong Kong in the early fifties. It's even more hysterical when you realize that each of the Seven Dwarfs is a famous Chinese opera singer or comedian. Or both in the case of Leung Sing Por, the fat guy. He was a brilliant opera singer, who took to straight drama and to comedy so well, he had two simultaneous careers - cannot imagine a western opera star with such guts....
The recent news of Angela Gheorghiu’s impending divorce from Roberto Alagna may give some clue as to why this performance, part of the South Bank’s second ‘International Voices’ season, was postponed from its planned date of 2nd October. In the interim she has also, in the role of her accompanying tenor, swapped the American up-and-comer James Valenti, due to co-star with her...
Despite a divorce, Gheorghiu & Alagna are stellar in this new release!Alberto Veronesi conducts Pietro Mascagni’s rarely performed opera L’amico Fritz starring soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna, on a new recording to be released by Deutsche Grammophon next Tuesday, November 17, 2009. The album was recorded in 2008 during acclaimed live performances at Deutsche Oper Berlin...
I’m starting this post without a clear vision of where it’s going to end up, but I’ve had some encounters in the past few days that need airing, things that might be interesting to young singers wondering what it means to “make it” as an opera singer. So bear with me... I had an audition on Friday (more about this later, but it was a far cry from last week’s !),...
Teacher and performer, Kiri Te Kanawa to sing Saturday in D.C. I 'm 65," says Kiri Te Kanawa, the golden-toned, New Zealand-born soprano. "I can't say the voice sounds like it did at 35. But as long as I do music that suits me, I'm fine. If you're a size 12 you don't try to wear a size 8, do you? You'd look very stupid."
What I'm really enjoying is having post topics being driven by questions I'm asked at auditions or by e-mail. The question of who you are as a voice type being set in stone is an interesting one, and certainly a question that has implications for auditions. To give a quick (and probably predictable) response to this topic heading: it depends. If you look at any number of operas, you will see that there...
Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex is so dramatic it hardly needs staging. Stravinsky wanted the text in Latin, deliberately distancing the text from listeners, to further strengthen the idea of ancient, impenetrable mystery. So a story of ancient Greece, written first in French by Jean Cocteau and back-translated into Latin. Setting this performance in Japanese pre-history extends the idea that this saga is...
An active tenor with Vancouver Opera Chorus, John Arsenault has appeared in minor roles in Salome and Fidelio . John recently turned heads as Pinkerton in Vancouver Island Opera's production of Madame Butterfly . JOhn will help kick off the season with his role of Flavio, a centurian, in Vancouver Opera's Norma . Guilty musical pleasure? I love lots of different music, and I don’t believe in...
Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Ciacosa (libretto), based on a play by Victorien Sardou, Giacomo Puccini (music) Tosca / premiere at Teatro Costanzi, Rome, January 14, 1900 / the production I saw was from The Metropolitan Opera's HD production of October 10, 2009 (the encore production I witnessed was on October 29, 2009) By coincidence, soon after seeing a filmed version of Puccini's La Bohème (see...
from The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes , edited by Clifton Fadiman. When Maria Callas was singing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she was interviewed by a reporter who said, "You were born in the United States, you were brought up in Greece, you are now practically an Italian. What language do you think in?" Miss Callas replied, "I count in English."
Norma is one of the great bel canto masterpieces. Vincenzo Bellini’s haunting melodies, dramatic scene-painting and tender and intense emotions have been praised by no less than Richard Wagner, who loved the opera’s rich flow of melody and deep glow of truth. The role of Norma is considered one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire, not only for the vocal control required, but...
NEW YORK – Patricia Racette had just sung her moving final notes in "Suor Angelica" and fallen to the stage. Around the Metropolitan Opera House, a significant segment of the audience was sniffling and wiping away tears. Racette took on the rare task of singing all three soprano leads in Puccini's "Il Trittico," three one-act operas of melodrama, tragedy and comedy. Her shattering performance as the...
Order cheap Risperdal without prescription - Click Here! >>> Risperdal (RISPERIDONE) is an antipsychotic agent used to treat emotional and mood disorders. It may also be used to treat other conditions as determined by your doctor. Order cheap Risperdal without prescription. - Click Here! >>> We accept Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, Diners and JCB cards Buy Risperdal online without prescription in Professional...
Buy Apcalis SX Oral Jelly (Orange flavor) - Click Here! >>> Apcalis SX Oral Jelly (Cialis, Generic Tadalafil) - is manufactured by Ajantha Pharma, India. It is used for impotence, loss of libido and Erectile Dysfunction or Ed treatment in man. Apcalis tadalafil Oral jelly is the jelly form (Orange flavor). Buy cheap Apcalis SX Oral Jelly (Orange flavor) without prescription. - Click Here! >>> We accept...
Videos
