Opera News articles from February 2002

Opera News archives from February 2002

Committed resources. (Viewpoint).(money for the arts after September 11)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... The arts always suffer when the economy turns sour, so it should hardly come as a surprise that funding prospects for cultural organizations across the U.S. are exceedingly bleak. Nowhere do the arts seem likely to be more severely...

Storm of protest.(Letter to the Editor)
February 1, 2002... It is a misreading of history to say that Marc Blitzstein's "creativity was stymied by the subject" of Sacco and Vanzetti. He was frustrated by the Red-baiting of both the 1920s and the '50s and awed by the scope of what would become his...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2002... In "The Endangered List" [Nov.], Tim Page is quoted as saying "[Virgil Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts is] a Himmel on nitrous oxide." The correct quote should be: "It's a hymnal on nitrous oxide." Violinist Helen Hagnes died on July...

Opera watch.(Brief Article)(Illustration)
February 1, 2002... 1. After a U.S. recital tour this month, DAVID DANIELS arrives in Manhattan for performances of Berlioz's Les Nuits d'Ete with the New York Philharmonic (March 6, 7 and 8), then journeys to Vermont for a recital at Middlebury College (March...

On the beat: Wexford, land of the rising stars; Larmore winds up her Teldec contract with a French recital disc; Conlon receives Legion of Honor.
February 1, 2002... In late October, I flew to Ireland in time to catch the closing performances of Wexford Festival Opera's fiftieth-anniversary season. Wexford has been a favorite spot of mine for years -- a gracious little town of about 15,000 that plays host...

Sound bites.(Juan Diego Florez)(Brief Article)(Interview)
February 1, 2002... Juan Diego Florez bounded onto the stage as Lindoro in Opera Company of Philadelphia's L'Italiana in Algeri last season, and even listeners who don't know Almaviva from Alidoro immediately sat up and took notice. This was a real Rossini tenor,...

Tales of the city: a guided tour of Figaro's hometown.(Seville)
February 1, 2002... If theater is the ultimate "art of the moment," as Federico Garcia Lorca insisted it was, Seville is its real-life counterpart. Perhaps the consummate Seville resident is Figaro. Stage director and dramaturg extraordinaire, creator of stories...

Dark horse: now that he has rebuilt his voice step by step, Marcello Giordani is singing better than ever -- and has put his ten difficult years behind him. (Cover Story).
February 1, 2002... Monday, April 23, 2001, was the most important night of Marcello Giordani's career to date. On that evening, he sang the role of Raoul in Les Huguenots at Carnegie Hall with Opera Orchestra of New York, Eve Queler conducting. Meyerbeer's grand...

Mildred Miller. (Reunion).
February 1, 2002... The Met was blessed with a wealth of fine American mezzos during the 1950s and '60s -- glamorous, stagewise women with excellent voices, all of them competing for the same small slice of the vocal pie. Rise Stevens, of course, virtually owned...

Face to face: Hei-Kyung Hong and Licia Albanese.(Interview)
February 1, 2002... Two famous sopranos. Two generations. Two perspectives. At one side, Licia Albanese, beloved prima donna for twenty-six Met seasons, an artist of searing emotional intensity, an authentic Puccini specialist ever since her debut as Cio-Cio-San...

Northern light: in a repertory that stretches from Mozart to Wagner and beyond, Norwegian soprano Solveig Kringelborn shines.
February 1, 2002... As Solveig Kringelborn plays it, Act I, Scene 3 of Eugene Onegin is a vivid portrait of a young girl's agony at having made a crucial misstep. Thomas Hampson, as Onegin, towers over her. Kringelborn flutters and curtseys, not quite knowing how...

Road warriors: Richard Dyer boards the bus with Bulgaria's barnstorming Teatro Lirico d'Europa.(Statistical Data Included)
February 1, 2002... When Giorgio Lalov returned from one of his two-month American tours with Teatro Lirico d'Europa, his six-year-old son Christian was waiting for him. "Da-Da," he cried, "you smell like opera!" Lalov founded Teatro Lirico in 1988, and it...

Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.(Eugene Onegin)
February 1, 2002... "Vodka for the Standees," ran a headline in New York's Daily News for October 29,1957. To play up the return of Eugene Onegin to the Metropolitan Opera's repertory on opening night of the 1957-58 season, general manager Rudolf Bing served the...

Il Barbiere di Siviglia. (Metropolitan Opera).
February 1, 2002... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 2, 2002 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA Music by Gioachino Rossini Libretto by Cesare Sterbini, after the play by...

Le Nozze di Figaro. (Metropolitan Opera).
February 1, 2002... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 9, 2002 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. LE NOZZE DI FIGARO Music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / Libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, after the play...

The casts.
February 1, 2002... Soprano Ruth Ann Swenson (Rosina) has focused on Verdi of late, singing Gilda in Paris's Rigoletto, Amelia in Dallas's Simon Boccanegra and Violetta in Barcelona's Traviata. The Bronxville, New York native, whose Met debut was as Zerlina in Don...

La Boheme. (Metropolitan Opera).
February 1, 2002... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 16, 2002 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. LA BOHEME Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica LA BOHEME ...

Eugene Onegin. (Metropolitan Opera).
February 1, 2002... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 23, 2002 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. EUGENE ONEGIN Music and text by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky after the novel in verse by Pushkin...

What to read and hear.
February 1, 2002... IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA Two of the most useful biographies of Rossini, those by Herbert Weinstock (1968) and Richard Osborne (1986), are unfortunately out of print. But the intriguing story surrounding the first performance of Barbiere is...

Rossini: Bianca e Falliero. (Editor's Choice).
February 1, 2002... * Cullagh, Larmore; Banks, D'Arcangelo; London Philharmonic, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, Parry. Text and translation. Opera Rara ORC 20 (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) Rossini's serious operas have never gained as firm a hold on the repertory as his...

Marschner: Der Vampyr. (Opera And Oratorio).
February 1, 2002... * Klepper, Hoffman; Kaufmann, Hawlata, Marquardt; Orchestra and Chorus of the WDR Rundfunk, Koln, Froschauer. Text. Capriccio 60083 (2) Heinrich Marschner's 1828 Der Vampyr is little performed today, but the singspiel was a hit in its day,...

Franz Hawlata. (Opera And Oratorio).(MEPHISTO" Scenes and arias by Gounod, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Boito, Schumann, Spohr and Mussorgsky)
February 1, 2002... * "MEPHISTO" Scenes and arias by Gounod, Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Boito, Schumann, Spohr and Mussorgsky; Orchestra and Chorus of the WDR Rundfunk, Koln, Froschauer. Text. Capriccio 10878 Heinrich Marschner's 1828 Der Vampyr is little performed...

Davis: Tania. (Opera And Oratorio).
February 1, 2002... * Aaronson-Davis, Randall-Osborn, Plantamura; Brooks, Young, Brewer, Larson; Episteme, Steiger. English text. Koch 3-7467-2 HI (2) Anthony Davis's Tania, his surreal, jazz-influenced operatic fantasia on the 1974 Patty Hearst abduction...

Puccini: Preludio Sinfonica; Messa di Gloria; Crisantemi. (Choral And Song).
February 1, 2002... * Alagna, Hampson; London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Pappano. EMI Classics 57159 On a blind hearing, it wouldn't be easy to guess the composer of the Messa di Gloria. Written in 1880, when Puccini was barely out of his adolescence,...

Mysterium: Sacred Arias. (Recital).
February 1, 2002... * "MYSTERIUM: SACRED ARIAS" Songs and arias by Schubert, Pann, Popescu-Branesti, Adam, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Puccini, Mascagni and others. Romanian National Chamber Choir "Madrigal, "London Philharmonic Orchestra, Marin. Texts and translations....

Rossini Arias. (Recital).
February 1, 2002... * "ROSSINI ARIAS" Arias from Semiramide, Otello, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, La Gazza Ladra, L'Italiana in Algeri, Zelmira, La Donna del Lago, La Cenerentola. Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Chailly. Texts and translations. Decca...

Portrait. (Recital).
February 1, 2002... "PORTRAIT" Berliner Symphoniker, Shambadal. No texts. Arte Nova 74321 85762 2 Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Zaremba weaves a subtle yet intoxicating spell in this collection of Russian, French and Italian arias. Her attractively plummy voice...

Wayfaring Stranger. (Recital).
February 1, 2002... * "WAYFARING STRANGER" Decca 468 499-2 What we have here is an image problem. Andreas Scholl, a smart, energetic German countertenor, fond of pop music and motorbikes, made a name as a seriously artistic musician. But his wackiness keeps...

Youmans: Through the Years. (Musical Theater).
February 1, 2002... * Murphy, Cody; Barrett, Chaffin, Foster; Gandy. Ps classics 103 (psclassics.com) Rodgers, Hart, Hammerstein, Gershwin, Porter, Kern, Berlin -- these are the names that spring to mind when we think of the golden age of popular American...

Galuppi: Il Filosofo di Campagna. (Historical).
February 1, 2002... * Moffo, Rizzieri; Andreolli, Panerai, Petri; Instrumental Group of the Collegium Musicum Italicum, "I Virtuosi di Roma," Fasano. 1959. Text and translation. Testament SBT 1195 This is the second recording of Baldassare Galuppi's II...

The Art of John van Kesteren in Opera. (Historical).
February 1, 2002... * "THE ART OF JOHN VAN KESTEREN IN OPERA" Arias by Rossini, Donizetti, Gluck, Bellini et al. Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Eichorn; and others. No texts. Gala GL 100.572 (Qualiton, dist.) Unwrapping this new no-frills two-disc set from Gala...

The Great Polish Bass in Opera & Song. (Historical).
February 1, 2002... * "THE GREAT POLISH BASS IN OPERA & SONG" No texts. Pearl PEA-0152 (Koch, dist.) This Herten, Westphalia-born bass (1912-2000) studied with Adamo Didur at the Lwow Conservatory. During World War II service in the free Polish army, he found...

Kiri. (Historical).(Kiri Te Kanawa )(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... * "KIRI" Arias from Samson (Handel), Le Nozze di Figaro, La Traviata, Gianni Schicchi, Adriana Lecouvreur, La Rondine, Louise. Excerpts from Vesperae Solennes de Confessore (Mozart), Chants d'Auvergne. Selections by Bach-Gounod, Gershwin, Kern,...

Listening room: Opera News offers the fourth installment of a new semiregular column that peers into the private collections of some of the music business's brightest lights.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... RICHARD BERNSTEIN, bass-baritone I am listening to Ezio Pinza Recital 1944-1951 [Myto]. Pinza has always been one of my idols, and this particular recording has all of my favorite bass arias [that were in his repertory]. I am especially...

New York City. (North America).(Luisa Miller, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria)
February 1, 2002... The Met's new production of Luisa Miller, which crept rather furtively into view on October 26, does have its problems. The overriding trouble is the extent to which the usually interesting and often brilliant stage director, Elijah Moshinsky,...

San Francisco. (North America).(Der Fliegende Hollander)
February 1, 2002... San Francisco's ardent Wagnerites, well-served by their opera company's previous managements, now have reasons for some concern. Only one work by the object of their affection -- and that the early and relatively brief Der Fliegende Hollander...

Houston. (North America).
February 1, 2002... Houston Grand Opera opened the 2001-02 season with a fine production of Rigoletto. Verdi created a fascinating figure in the title role, a character who elicits our sympathy but also our disdain. Modern stagings often emphasize his tortured...

London. (International).
February 1, 2002... Haydn's L'Anima del Filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice has a performance history so sparse that it might more fairly be described as a non-performance history. It all began in 1791 in London, where Haydn, the most admired composer of the day,...

Wexford. (International).
February 1, 2002... Last fall's season at Wexford Festival Opera was the Irish company's fiftieth. As has become customary, it presented three works unlikely to be found at your local opera house. To enhance the productions' accessibility, projected titles were...

Berlin. (International).(The Faraway Sound)
February 1, 2002... Franz Schreker's Der Ferne Klang (The Faraway Sound) was given its world premiere in 1912 in Frankfurt. The opera tells of a search for the unobtainable: in a provincial German town, Grete, the daughter of a debt-ridden gambler and a...

New York City. (Concerts And Recitals).(Tristan und Isolde)
February 1, 2002... Daniel Barenboim's ardor for Richard Wagner's music is well established. He has conducted regularly at Bayreuth for two decades, recorded a large chunk of the canon, even broken Israel's taboo by playing the prelude to Tristan und Isolde there,...

Letter from Baden-Baden.
February 1, 2002... Since Roman times, the truly ill, the merely out-of-sorts and a horde of idly curious like me have trooped to Baden-Baden to test the healing powers of its waters, which bubble out of the surrounding rock at 68 degrees Celsius. The city adopted...

Rosa Raisa: A Biography of a Diva with Selections from her Memoirs. (Books).
February 1, 2002... Rosa Raisa: A Biography of a Diva with Selections from her Memoirs by Charles Mintzer Northeastern University Press, 288 pp. $30 This book is the fruit of a lifelong love affair. Charles Mintzer first heard soprano Rosa Raisa...

Women Writing Opera: Creativity and Controversy in the Age of the French Revolution. (Books).(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... Women Writing Opera: Creativity and Controversy in the Age of the French Revolution by Jacqueline Letzter and Robert Adelson University of California Press, 341 pp. $48 Opera -- with its fat ladies, passionate exuberance and general...

Obituaries.(Obituary)
February 1, 2002... MONTE PEDERSON, Sunnyside, WA, August 21, 1958 -- Kreuth, Germany, November 6, 2001 The bass-baritone began his professional career with San Francisco Opera, where his roles included Donner, Orest and the title role in Der Fliegende...

Dateline.
February 1, 2002... METROPOLITAN OPERA (Metropolitan Opera House, 212-362-6000; www.metopera.org) Feb. 1 Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart). Rost, Isokoski, Jepson; Furlanetto, Mattei; Runnicles, Miller/Guarino, Davison/Acheson Feb. 2m Il Barbiere di...

Lettera da Ronkonkoma. (Coda).(The Ballad of Baby Doe)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2002... For his current production at Ronkonkoma, New York's acclaimed Concetto Opera, artistic director Horst Gabarit has transplanted Douglas Moore's American classic, The Ballad of Baby Doe, from 1880s Colorado to Renaissance Mantua and translated...