Opera News articles from April 2000

Opera News archives from April 2000

LETTERS.
April 1, 2000... COMPOSER LARGESSE? Further to Mary Jane Phillips-Matz's excellent "Friends and Rivals" article [Jan.]: in 1991, when I was artistic director of Greater Miami Opera (now Florida Grand Opera), I had the great fortune of meeting with Arnold...

OPERA WATCH.
April 1, 2000... Rameau's Platee gets the Morris treatment at NYCO, Malta and Albania add highlights to soprano lists, Lear teaches Strauss at the Morgan TEXACO QUIZ KIDS, a student version of Texaco's Opera Quiz, a longstanding feature of the Met Saturday...

Leaving L.A.(Peter Hemmings leaves Los Angeles Opera)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... With an admirable record behind him, Peter Hemmings steps down as head of Los Angeles Opera When Los Angeles Opera general director Peter Hemmings retires this June, he leaves the company in top condition. Before his arrival, sixteen years...

ON THE BEAT.(opera news)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Stephen Wadsworth's Clemenza production comes to New York City Opera; the Donath family gets together for Der Rosenkavalier This month, STEPHEN WADSWORTH's acclaimed 1991 staging of La Clemenza di Tito makes its way to New York City Opera....

Standing Out in a Crowd.(soprano Barbara Quintiliani)(Interview)
April 1, 2000... In Boston last July, when the heat was just about the only thing to think about, a small blurb in The Boston Globe gave lovers of vocal music something to get their minds off the summer blahs. Fresh out of New England Conservatory, local...

HIGH SCORERS Ricky Ian Gordon.(Interview)
April 1, 2000... BRIAN KELLOW talks to the prolific, high-energy songwriter One of today's busiest composers, Ricky Ian Gordon has never hewed to one particular style or school; his catholic tastes in music are reflected in the variegated fabric of his...

SIGHT AND SOUND: MUSIC BY MOUSE, A.K.A. MP3.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Line an octopus with countess tentacles, the Internet embraces more and more of our world. Now it is reaching into the realm of music with both threats and promises. This latest wrinkle in the ongoing romance between music and electronics...

WILL POWER.(opera singer Willard White)(Interview)
April 1, 2000... IN 1975, WILLARD WHITE LEFT THE U.S. FOR THE U.K. --WHERE BLACK SINGERS HAD AN EASIER TIME OF IT. NOW, FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH, HE MAKES HIS MET DEBUT AS GOLAUD IN PELLEAS ET MELISANDE Willard White's take-no-prisoners rumble of a voice...

Ring REFRACTIONS.(Richard Wagner)
April 1, 2000... More than any other work, Wagner's tetralogy had a galvanizing effect on music of the twentieth century. How will we come to grips with the composer's legacy in the years to come? On New Year's Eve, 1999, many thousands of people gathered...

The Ultimate Fantasy Ring.(casting an all-time version of Richard Wagner's Ring)
April 1, 2000... Admit it--you're never 100 percent happy with the way Wagner's Ring is sung. Wouldn't it be nice, just once, to assemble luxury cast from beginning to end of the Nibelungen saga? Conrad L. Osborne has done just that. Contracted to lock in...

Melchior at the Met.(Lauritz Melchior at the Metropolitan Opera)
April 1, 2000... JOHN PENNINO LOOKS AT THE TENOR'S HERCULEAN ACHIEVEMENTS AND FINDS THAT THE RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF When thirty-five-year-old Lauritz Melchior made his Metropolitan Opera debut, in 1926, he was known to relatively few in America. His...

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH Siegfried?(Richard Wagner's 'Siegfried')
April 1, 2000... STEPHEN FRANCIS VASTA LOOKS AT THE RING'S MOST MALIGNED OPERA The brilliance of Wagner's achievement in fusing musical and dramatic power in the Ring is rarely contested today, save by the most stubborn anti-Wagnerians. But the four...

The Prime of Miss Jane Eaglen.(Interview)
April 1, 2000... Some opera are born overnight, stepping in for an ailing prima donna, dazzling audiences and making headlines with their inspired garnering accolades to last a lifetime. Others soar high and fast, only to disappear as quickly as they came,...

BROADCASTS METROPOLITAN OPERA.
April 1, 2000... CELEBRATING THE SIXTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF TEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCASTS Richard Wagner Die Walkure Claude Debussy Pelleas et Melisande Richard Wagner Gotterdammerung The practice of doubling roles in the Ring, far...

BUSONI: Doktor Faust.(Review)
April 1, 2000... BUSONI: Doktor Faust [] Jenis; D. Henschel Begley Kerl, Roth, Hollop; Fischer-Dieskau (speaker); Orchestre et Choeur de l'Opera National de Lyon, Nagano. Text and translation. Erato 3984-25501-2 (3) Ferruccio Busoni's magnum opus, Doktor...

BRITTEN: Paul Bunyan.(Review)
April 1, 2000... BRITTEN: Paul Bunyan [] Gritton, Watson; Streit, Robinson, Coleman-Wright, Cranham; Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, Hickox. Text. Chandos CHAN 9781 (2) Hopes that a second recording of Britten's long-suppressed first opera would...

DONIZETTI: Zoraida di Granata.(Review)
April 1, 2000... DONIZETTI: Zoraida di Granata [] Cullagh, Pastorello, Montague; P. A. Kelly, Ford, Natoli, Hargreaves; Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Parry. Text and translation. Opera Rara ORC 17 (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) The...

JANACEK: Kata Kabanova.(Review)
April 1, 2000... JANACEK: Kata Kabanova [] Denoke, Peckova, J. Henschel; Kuebler, Delamboye, Trost, Smit; Chorus of the Slovak Philharmonic Bratislava, Czech Philharmonic, Cambreling. No texts. Orfeo C 487 992 (Qualiton, dist.) Although it features a...

HONEGGER: Le Roi David.(Review)
April 1, 2000... HONEGGER: Le Roi David [] Borst, Todorovitch, Guedj, Fersen; Ragon, Martin (narrator); Choeur Regional Vittoria d'Ile de France, Orchestre de la Cite, Piquemal. Text and translation. Naxos 8.553649 Among the members of "Les Six," Arthur...

ROSSINI: Mose.(Review)
April 1, 2000... ROSSINI: Mose [] Vaness, Soffel; Raimondi, Araiza, Brinkmann, Moll, Rootering; Chorus and Orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera, Sawallisch. 1988. No texts. Orfeo C 514 992 (Qualiton, dist.) By way of clarification, the version performed...

CON AMORE.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Ruth Ann Swenson [] "CON AMORE" Arias by Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi and Puccini. London Symphony Orchestra, Rudel Texts and English translations. EMI 56764 People who use opera CDs as a kind of sumptuous white noise will treasure this...

I WAS BORN IN LOVE WITH YOU.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Jessye Norman [] "I WAS BORN IN LOVE WITH YOU" Songs of Michel Legrand. Legrand, piano; Carter, bass; Tate, drums. Texts and translations. Philips 289 456 654-2 Crossover is not for everyone, but Jessye Norman's affinity for things French...

CHOPIN SONGS AND CHOPIN/VIAR DOT MAZURKAS.(Review)
April 1, 2000... [] "CHOPIN SONGS AND CHOPIN/VIARDOT MAZURKAS" Spencer, piano. Texts and translations. Hyperion CDA 67125 (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) Urszula Kryger reveals herself to be a well-schooled mezzo-soprano with a somewhat dusky tone, easy top notes...

WOLF: GOETHE LIEDER.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Mitsuko Shirai [] "WOLF: GOETHE LIEDER" Holl, piano. Texts, no translations. Capriccio 10-855 Most lieder-singers adore the songs of Hugo Wolf, which, at their best, capture with finely honed clarity the poetic essence of a text. They tend...

SONGS OF THE CLASSICAL AGE.(Review)
April 1, 2000... [] "SONGS OF THE CLASSICAL AGE" Schrader, fortepiano. Texts and translations. Cedille Records CDR 90000 049 (Qualiton, dist.) Soprano Patrice Michaels Bedi is an intelligent and musical singer, with a voice that is light, rich and flexible....

EN FRANCAIS.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Valerie Masterson [] "EN FRANCAIS" Arias by Gounod, Massenet, Bizet, Charpentier, Gluck, Verdi, Debussy National Symphony Orchestra, Edwards. Texts and translations. CD JAY 1318 (Allegro, dist.) Valerie Masterson is a beloved figure in her...

HANDEL: Giulio Cesare (highlights).(Review)
April 1, 2000... HANDEL: Giulio Cesare (highlights) [] Sills, Forrester; Schreier, Treigle. Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Colon, Richter. VAI Audio VAIA 1184 In the fall of 1966, New York City Opera gave four performances of a production that helped...

UNKNOWN TEATRO COLON RECORDINGS.(Review)
April 1, 2000... [] "UNKNOWN TEATRO COLON RECORDINGS" Excerpts from Bellini's Norma with Callas, Barbieri, Rossi-Lemeni; scene from Gounod's Faust with Arizmendi. 1949. Serafin, Panizza, conductors. Notes, no texts or translations. Divinia DVN-12 (Val, dist.)...

LOS ANGELES CONCERT.(Review)
April 1, 2000... [] "LOS ANGELES CONCERT" Arias by Spontini, Verdi, Rossini, Boito, Puccini and Thomas. 1958. Orchestra, Rescigno. No texts or translations. VAI Audio VAIA 1182. For many operagoers in the last half of the twentieth century, there have been...

APRIL ONLINE EDITION OF OPERA NEWS.
April 1, 2000... Nilsson, Corelli, Sills, Sutherland and Stokowski in a centennial commemoration of the Philadelphia Orchestra; a gala Fledermaus from Vienna; recitals from Stutzmann and Popp; James Bowman performs a new song cycle by Geoffrey Burgon.

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.(Review)
April 1, 2000... The kingpin of the busy proceeding in the Met's Der Rosenkavalier was Susan Graham's coltish Octavian, who grew in awareness before the viewer's eyes. Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier returned to the Metropolitan Opera on January 20...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: WEST PALM BEACH.(Review)
April 1, 2000... It took only a century, but Umberto Giordano's Fedora finally received a South Florida production, courtesy of Palm Beach Opera. It turned out to be one of the most consistently satisfying efforts by the company in years; even subtracting...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: MILAN.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Riccardo Muti has made something of a specialty of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century operas; he has recently performed cycles of Beethoven symphonies with the La Scala orchestra. So Fidelio was a natural choice to open the company's...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: VIENNA.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Beds dominated Robert Carsen's new staging (Dec. 11) of Die Frau ohne Schatten for the State Opera. He and designer Michael Levine, with assistance from Ivor Bolton, set the work in the period of its completion, with the main set being a smart...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: BRUSSELS.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Swiss director Luc Bondy seems strongly attracted to A Winter's Tale, Shakespeare's parable about a Sicilian king who, in a fit of jealousy, destroys his family and suffers for twenty years before miraculously rediscovering his wife and...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: MADRID.(Review)
April 1, 2000... In February 1909, barely one month after Elektra startled its first audiences in Dresden, Margarita la Tornera had its premiere in Madrid. A far from revolutionary work, written in a country more famed for its small-scale, streetwise, playful,...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: MOSCOW.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Yevgeny Svetlanov returned to the Bolshoi Theater on December 15 for a new production of Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov, the opera the conductor led at his debut with the company in 1955. For the new staging, he assumed a supervisory role...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: MUNICH.(Review)
April 1, 2000... The Staatstheater am Gartnerplatz has always been Munich's "other" opera house. Built in 1864-65 as a theater devoted to the spoken word, it slowly found its own identity, shifting emphasis toward music. It has seldom tried to compete with its...

IN REVIEW: FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.(Review)
April 1, 2000... CONCERTS AND RECITALS Coming to the end of a long career, Marilyn Horne gave plenty of evidence of her sovereignty among singers on the last night of the New York Philharmonic's "Completely Copland" festival (Dec. 10, 11). It's hard to...

COMPANY BOX: Virginia Opera.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... Most American opera companies name themselves after their hometown (the Metropolitan, Florentine and Glimmerglass being notable exceptions), but Edythe C. Harrison had a vision that went beyond her city. In 1974, having raised $33,000 for...

Eileen Farrell: An American Prima Donna.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Eileen Farrell: An American Prima Donna [] VAI VHS 69421, 45 mins. (app.) One of the classiest of the classical home-entertainment companies, VAI continues to do a superior job of finding, restoring and releasing rare performances by...

Marian Anderson: On Stage and at Home.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Marian Anderson: On Stage and at Home [] VAI VHS 69226, 27 mins. One of the classiest of the classical home-entertainment companies, VAI continues to do a superior job of finding, restoring and releasing rare performances by leading artists...

Renata Scotto in Concert.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Renata Scotto in Concert [] Arias by Verdi, Puccini, Catalani. Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, Armenian (1986). VAI VHS 69419, 58 mins. Fans of Renata Scotto and Gwyneth Jones certainly will want these concerts from Canada. Don't let the...

Gwyneth Jones in Concert.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Gwyneth Jones in Concert [] Arias by Wagner, Verdi, Puccini, Lehar; song by Lloyd Webber. Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec, Streatfield (1988). VAI VHS 69418, 53 mins. Fans of Renata Scotto and Gwyneth Jones certainly will want these...

George London -- A Celebration.(Review)
April 1, 2000... George London -- A Celebration [] Benefit Concert. Malfitano, Popp, Troyanos, Rysanek; Araiza, Gedda, King et al. Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Zagrosek, Hollreiser, Binder, Graf(1984). VAI VHS 69224, 172 mins....

Benjamin Britten in Rehearsal and Performance with Peter Pears.(Review)
April 1, 2000... Benjamin Britten in Rehearsal and Performance with Peter Pears [] Britten: Nocturne for Tenor and Chamber Orch. VAI VHS 69420, 60 mins. In 1962, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears gave a radio broadcast performance with the CBC Vancouver...

OBITUARIES.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
April 1, 2000... CARLO COSSUTTA, Trieste, Italy, May 8, 1932 -- Udine, Italy, January 22, 2000 The tenor, best known for his performances in the dramatic repertory, died of liver cancer. He made his debut in 1958 as Cassio at the Teatro Colon and created...

IMPRESSIONS OF PELLEAS.(opera)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2000... CAST OF CHARACTERS: Arkel, a blind King Genevieve, his daughter-in-law Golaud, her elder son Pelleas, her younger son Yniold, Golaud's son by a dead wife Melisande, Golaud's new wife SCENE 1, ARKEL'S STUDY Genevieve:...