Opera News articles from April 2005

Opera News archives from April 2005

Ready for prime time.(singer Rene Pape; cancellation of opera television broadcasts through WNYE, New York)(Editorial)
April 1, 2005... Rene Pape is an artist who thrills his audiences with charisma, intelligence and a one-in-a-million voice: the luxurious timbre of Pape's supple, expressive bass is unmistakable, its velvety, dark-brown texture shot with ear-catching flashes of...

Vesselina Kasarova returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago in October 2005, taking on the title role in Rossini's La Cenerentola.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... 1. VESSELINA KASAROVA returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago in October 2005, taking on the title role in Rossini's La Cenerentola. JUAN DIEGO FLOREZ makes his Lyric debut as Kasarova's Don Ramiro, with BRUNO CAMPANELLA conducting the revival of...

David Gockley has been named the sixth general director of San Francisco Opera, effective January 1, 2006.(Opera Watch)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... 2. DAVID GOCKLEY has been named the sixth general director of SAN FRANCISCO OPERA, effective January 1, 2006. Gockley the general director of HOUSTON GRAND OPERA since 1972, succeeds PAMELA ROSENBERG, SFO's current general director, who will...

The Cleveland Orchestra has released a seven-disc set titled The Robert Shaw Legacy 1956-1997.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... 3. THE CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA has released a seven-disc set titled THE ROBERT SHAW LEGACY 1956-1997. The set includes live archival performances of Shaw leading Bach's St. Matthew Passion, Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem and Handel's Semele, among...

Milena Kitic, who sang Carmen for Los Angeles Opera in October 2004, will reprise Bizet's Gypsy for the Metropolitan Opera in the fall of 2005.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... 4. MILENA KITIC, who sang Carmen for LOS ANGELES OPERA in October 2004, will reprise Bizet's Gypsy for the Metropolitan Opera in the fall of 2005. The Belgrade-born mezzo returns to LAO for Meg Page in Falstaff next month and is scheduled to...

Vanessa Redgrave, currently starring in the RSC production of Euripides's Hecuba at London's Albery Theatre, will head the cast when Hecuba comes to BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House in June.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... 5. VANESSA REDGRAVE, currently starring in the RSC production of Euripides's HECUBA at London's Albery Theatre, will head the cast when Hecuba comes to BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House in June. The twelve-performance BAM run of the tragedy,...

On April 6, Rachel Portman's opera, The Little Prince, will have its premiere on Thirteeen/WNET's Great Performances.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... 6. On April 6, Rachel Portman's opera, THE LITTLE PRINCE, will have its premiere on Thirteeen/WNET's GREAT PERFORMANCES. Based on Antoine de Saint-Exupery's beloved story, The Little Prince stars TEDDY TAHU RHODES as The Pilot, JOSEPH MCMANNERS...

This month, her Carol Vaness-A.(soprano Carol Vaness discusses performances of Samuel Barber's Vanessa)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... This month, her CAROL VANESS-A. The leading Mozart soprano of her generation has for some time been branching out into more unexpected roles, and her latest is the title heroine (if that's the word to be used for such a perplexing character) in...

Not many singers are lucky enough to get to work on music by Fats Waller and Handel at the same time.(soprano Jennifer Aylmer)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... Not many singers are lucky enough to get to work on music by Fats Waller and Handel at the same time. But that's what JENNIFER AYLMER was doing when I spoke with her in February. The Waller was for a program of music by Waller and Dorothy...

Leontyne Price's Aida.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... I was puzzled, confused and then slightly angered at some of the assertions made by Leighton Kerner about Leontyne Price's two recordings of Aida ["Twice-Told Tale," Jan.]. If Mr. Kerner is a voice teacher, he missed out on some obvious things....

Classical music in America.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... What mainly seems to bother Martin Bernheimer in his "review" of my Classical Music in America [Books, Feb.] is that I hold opinions with which he disagrees. My book makes no claim to objectivity (like any history, it's interpretive), and its...

Rebecca Luker.(singer)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... Tony-nominated Broadway soprano Rebecca Luker greeted me recently at the door of her apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, remarkably flesh-faced and grateful for my lateness for our early-Saturday-morning appointment. In a musical world...

Tamar Iveri.(soprano)(Interview)
April 1, 2005... Tamar Iveri wishes she had been born "in another epoch, when singers were treated like gods." As she reaches the latest milestone in an already dazzling career--her Met debut as Donna Anna--she muses, "Today, everything depends on promotion and...

Bass instincts Rene Pape's commitment doesn't end once he leaves the stage. Stephen Hastings interviews a singer who loves to say what he thinks as much as he hates to play politics.(Interview)(Cover Story)
April 1, 2005... "All I want is to give pleasure to the audience." Rene Pape--who has emerged as the world's most charismatic bass in the first decade of the twenty--first century--repeated this statement several times during our two-hour interview (generously...

Music of the night: Steven Blier looks at the staggering challenges and bewitching appeal of Mozart's Queen of the Night.
April 1, 2005... I came under the power of the Queen of the Night as an eleven-year old. When first I heard "O zittre nicht," ending with that amazing series of scales and arpeggios, I fell in love with opera--bewitched, like Tamino. Singing that role has...

Riding high: the elegant art of Matthew Polenzani this month's Tamino in the Met's Zauberflote.(Interview)
April 1, 2005... "Ho-ly! Oh, wow, that's amazing!" exclaims Matthew Polenzani, his eyes widening in astonishment. The reaction is to a favorable comparison with his idol, Fritz Wunderlich, many of whose hallmarks seem to live again in Polenzani's fresh,...

Grand finale 1791: Mozart's last year brought a great creative explosion, including his two final operas, La Clemenza di Tito and Die Zauberflote. Few works could seem less alike, but Anthony Rudel finds the connections between them.
April 1, 2005... 1791 was Mozart's final year, the year that saw the creation of two of his most heavenly masterpieces, Die Zauberflote and La Clemenza di Tito. Given the remarkable depth and breadth of Mozart's last burst of glory, the question arises: how did...

Beating the devil. What meaning does the Faust legend have for us today?
April 1, 2005... What would you ask for, if you could have anything you wanted, in exchange for something you didn't value very much? The magus Faust, as a sixteenth-century German chapbook recounts, asked for information: how were different parts of the...

The well-tempered prima donna: on May 15, a Met gala celebrates the fortieth anniversary of Mirella Freni's debut. Patrick Giles pays tribute to one of opera's true class acts.
April 1, 2005... She appeared before the gold curtain, pale, disoriented, wet-eyed, and so exhausted that Luciano Pavarotti did not so much seem to be accompanying her to acknowledge the audience's wild applause as trying to hold her up. It was January 22,...

Tosca.(performances during 2004-05 Metropolitan Opera season)(includes opera cast, plot, background)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... BROADCAST OF APRIL 9, 2005, 1:30 P.M. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2004-05 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS GRANTS FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE...

Die Zauberflote.(performances during 2004-05 Metropolitan Opera season)(includes opera cast, plot, background)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... BROADCAST OF APRIL 16, 2005, 1:30 P.M. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2004-05 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS GRANTS FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE...

Die Walkure.(performances during 2004-05 Metropolitan Opera season)(includes opera cast, plot, background )(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... BROADCAST OF APRIL 23, 2005, 12:30 P.M. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2004-05 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS GRANTS FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE...

The casts.(singers, conductors during 2004-05 Metropolitan Opera season)
April 1, 2005... Maria Guleghina (Tosca) tackled Abigaille in Vienna Nabuccos last December, then remained with the company as Maddalena in Andrea Chenier, her Met debut role in 1991. Last month, she repeated her Abigaille at the Met. The soprano from Odessa,...

Faust.(performances during 2004-05 Metropolitan Opera season)(includes opera plot, cast, background)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... BROADCAST OF APRIL 30, 2005, 1:30 P.M. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2004-05 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS GRANTS FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE...

La Clemenza di Tito.(performances during 2004-05 Metropolitan Opera season)(includes opera cast, plot, background)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... BROADCAST OF MAY 7, 2005, 1:30 P.M. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2004-05 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS MADE POSSIBLE BY GENEROUS GRANTS FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE...

Los Angeles.(Romeo et Juliette)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... If the test of a true star is the ability to make greatness out of the mediocre, Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazon are stars indeed. Gounod's Romeo et Juliette was once wildly popular, a repertory staple in the world's great opera houses;...

Seattle.(Manon Lescaut)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... Though Manon Lescaut is a tenor's dream and nightmare--des Grieux has great stuff to sing, but it is a lung, difficult part--the real challenge in this opera belongs to the soprano, who must grow from a giddy, luxury-loving schoolgirl into a...

New York City.(Pelleas et Melisande)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... The return of Pelleas et Melisande to the Metropolitan Opera repertory on January 29 found the orchestra in sumptuous, resplendent form tinder James Levine. If the maestro sometimes seemed to treat Debussy's score like Parsifal, it's because of...

Houston.(Idomeneo, re di Creta)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... The gods were surely smiling on Houston Grand Opera's production of Mozart's Idomeneo, seen January 28. A propitious alignment of mortals made this an evening to remember. With stunning visual simplicity and breathtaking musical execution, this...

Washington, D.C.(Democracy: An American Comedy)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... Scott Wheeler's Democracy: An American Comedy manages to achieve an effect something like that of so-called "CNN-operas," in this case confronting audiences with characters, stories and issues plucked not from current headlines but from the...

Chicago.(Fidelio)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... Now almost exactly two hundred years old, Beethoven's Fidelio still has the power to move us with its universal theme of the triumph of love and freedom over oppression. Jurgen Flimm's updated production, with designs by Robert Israel and...

London.(Child of Our Time)(Concert Review)
April 1, 2005... English National Opera's contribution to the centenary of Michael Tippett looked, on paper, somewhat tangential--just two performances of the first-ever staging of his oratorio A Child of Our Time (January 21). Tippett, after all, composed five...

Munich.(Billy Budd)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... On January 15, more than fifty-three years after the world premiere of Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd, Bavarian State Opera mounted its first-ever performances of the work, given in the 1951 original version. Not even Munich's ill-advised...

Copenhagen.(Aida)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... The Royal Theater's Kasper Bech Holten, wunderkind of Danish opera and an artistic director of whom the unexpected is expected, opted to open Operaen, the brand-new opera house tinder his theater's charge, with Aida. The choice of a trusted old...

Zurich.(Ariane et Barbe-Bleue)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... Just a few weeks after its controversial premiere of Debussy's Pelleas, et Melisande, Zurich scheduled the first local production of Paul Dukas's Ariane at Barbe-Bleue, thus presenting two Maeterlinck-derived operas within the same season. It...

April online edition of Opera News.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... NORTH AMERICA: Levine leads Met revival of Figaro; COC continues its new Ring with Siegfried; Lyric Opera brings a legendary Tosca to Chicago; Los Angeles Opera revives Aida; Opera Pacific scores with Le Nozze di Figaro; Luisa Miller in Dallas;...

Extravaganza King: Robert Barnet and Boston Musical Theatre.(book)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... Extravaganza King: Robert Barnet and Boston Musical Theater by Anne Alison Barnet Northeastern University, Press, 223 pp. $28.95 A forgotten page of musical-theater history is uncovered in this unusual, thoroughly engaging little...

Sing for Your Supper: The Broadway Musical in the 1930s.(book)(Book Review)
April 1, 2005... Sing for Your Supper: The Broadway Musical in the 1930s by Ethan Mordden Palgrave Macmillan, 280 pp. $26.95 Wouldn't you figure that the 1930s made up a platinum decade in that golden era of Broadway musicals? Think of all those...

Ah, leve-toi, etoile: Rolando Villazon brings star-quality finesse and charisma to a program of French opera arias.(recordings)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Rolando Villazo "GOUNOD AND MASSENET ARIAS" Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Pida. Texts and translations. Virgin Classics 45719 Rolando Villazon truly knows how to sing quietly. For a tenor, this is no small matter....

Kalman: Die Csardasfurstin.(audio)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... KALMAN: Die Csardasfurstin Kenny Erdmann; Roider, Kathol, Ebner; Slovak Philharmonic Chorus and Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bonynge. Notes, text online. Naxos 660105 (2) As the important, influential Viennese operetta Die Csardasfurstin...

Arensky: Raffaello (and other selections).(audio)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... ARENSKY: Raffaello (and other selections) Domashenko, Pavlovskaya; Grivnov, Vinogradov; Dhilharmonia of Russia, Orbelian. Texts and transliterations. Delos 3319 The young Russian mezzo Marina Domashenko is increasingly visible at the...

Weinberger: Svanda Dudak.(music audio)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... WEINBERGER: Svanda Dudak Monogarova, Kostyuk; Robavs, Choupenitch, Teliga, Sharratt, Kozel, Ruane; National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus, Wexford Festival Opera Chorus, Reynolds. No texts or translations. Naxos 8.660146-47 Jaromir...

Soile Isokoski.(musical audio)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Soile Isokoski "MOZART ARIAS" Tapiola Sinfonietta, Schreier. Texts and translations. Ondine ODE 1043-2 (Koch, dist.) In a recital with the Tapiola Sinfonietta led by Peter Schreier, Finnish soprano Soile Isokoski's presentation of...

Anne Sofie von Otter.(recital)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Anne Sofie von Otter "MUSIC FOR A WHILE" Baroque melodies by Purcell, Dowland, Monteverdi, Ferrari, Frescobaldi, Caccini, Strozzi et al. Vinikour (harpsichord, chamber organ), Lindberg (theorbo, lute, Baroque guitar), Ericson (theorbo)....

Thomas Quasthoff.(recital)(Sound Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... Thomas Quasthoff "BACH CANTATAS" Berlin Baroque Soloists, Fussmaul. Texts and translations. Deutsche Grammophon B0003458-02 A new recording from Deutsche Grammophon of the three sacred cantatas for solo bass or baritone by J. S. Bach...

Wagner: Tannhauser.(opera)(Opera Review)
April 1, 2005... WAGNER: Tannhauser Brouwenstijn, Wilfert; Windgassen, Fischer-Dieskau, Greindl, Traxel, Blankenheim, Stolze, Herwig, Horn; chorus and orchestra of the Bayreuth Festival (August 9, 1955), Schonberger Sangerknaben, Cluytens. Notes, synopsis,...

April online edition of opera news.(opera recording reviews)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... APRIL ONLINE EDITION OF OPERA NEWS New recordings of two operas by Zemlinsky; Milwaukee Symphony offers English-language Hansel and Gretel; Sullivan's Contrabandista; Bayrakdarian, Hunt Lieberson and Tilson Thomas gather for Mahler's...

Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.(Video Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... WAGNER: Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg Mattila, Grove; Morris, Heppner, Allen, Pape, Polenzani; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Levine. Production: Schenk. Deutsche Grammophon DVD B0003455-09, 292 mins., subtitled There may...

Shostakovich: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.(Video Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... SHOSTAKOVICH: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Secunde, Ventris, Vas, Clark, Kotcherga, Mikhailov, Nesterenko; Gran Teatre del Liceu, Anissimov. Production: Winge. EMI DVD DV8 5 99730 9, 187 mins. Shostakovich's wrenching masterpiece gets a...

Halevy: La Juive.(Video Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... HALEVY: La Juive Stoyanova, Ivan; Shicoff, Zhang, Fink, Daniel; Vienna State Opera, Sutej. Production: Kramer, Deutsche Grammophon B0003301-09, 245 mins., subtitled Gunter Kramer's 1999 production of La Juive was an important event,...

Bizet: Carmen.(Video Recording Review)
April 1, 2005... BIZET: Carmen Obraztsova, Buchanan; Domingo, Mazurok, Rydl; Vienna State Ogera, Vienna Boys Choir; C. Kleiber. Production: Zeffirelli. TDK DVD DVUS CLOPCAR (Naxos, dist.), 152 mins., subtitled Not much happens in the first twenty...

April online edition of Opera News.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Daniel Schmid's insightful 1984 documentary, Tosca's Kiss, makes its way to DVD; La Scala's Muti-led La Donna del Lago from 1992 features Rossinians June Anderson, Martine Dupuy, Rockwell Blake and Chris Merritt.

Victoria De Los Angeles.(soprano)(Obituary)
April 1, 2005... Barcelona, November 1, 1923--January 15, 2005 A peerless artist in a generation rich in great singers, Victoria de los Angeles triumphed in opera, in recital and on recordings with an ear-catching combination of warm, luxurious tone,...

Nell Rankin.(mezzo-soprano)(Obituary)
April 1, 2005... Montgomery, AL, January ,3, 1924--New, York, NY, January 13, 2005 One of the most talented mezzo-sopranos of her generation, Rankin studied at the Birmingham Conservatory and in New York. She began her professional career in Europe, with...

Margherita Carosio.(soprano)(Obituary)
April 1, 2005... Genoa, June 7, 1908--Milan, January 10, 2005 The soprano made her debut in 1924, as Lucia in Novi Ligure. The Irish diva Margaret Sheridan heard the teenaged Carosio and recommended her to Covent Garden, where she sang Musetta in La Boheme...

June Bronhill.(soprano)(Obituary)
April 1, 2005... Broken Hill, NSW, Australia, June 26, 1929--Sydney, January 25, 2005 After winning several vocal contests in her native Australia, including the 1950 Sydney Sun Aria competition, Bronhill chose to further her career in London, where she...

Karl Haas.(radio program host and musician)(Obituary)
April 1, 2005... Speyer-am-Rhein, Germany, December 6, 1913--Royal Oak, MI, February 6, 2005 The popular classical-music broadcaster's program, "Adventures in Good Music," began production in 1959, in Detroit, and entered international syndication via...

Dateline.(opera performances)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... METROPOLITAN OPERA (Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 212-362-6000; www.metopera.org) Apr. 1 Don Giovanni (Mozart). Iveri, Nitescu, Bayrakdarian; Finley, Sabbatini, Ramey, Lemalu, Burchuladze; Jordan, Keller, Yeargan/Rabot-Pinson ...

Signal interruption.(public television broadcasting of opera performances)
April 1, 2005... In Charles Ludlam's hilarious comedy Galas, a fictionalized account of the last days of Maria Callas, the opera diva, isolated in her apartment, is in total despair. Her love life is a disaster. Her career's finished. Her once loyal friends...