Opera News articles from February 2004

Opera News archives from February 2004

Mission accomplished.(Viewpoint)(recital by Ewa Podles, New York, New York)(Concert Review)
February 1, 2004... The most telling moments of a recital program are often its encores. How many will there be? How many languages can an artist flash and juggle? Will there be a costume change? Will a highly serious program finish on a low-comedy note? Will a...

Opera watch.(news about opera singers, halls, performances and so on)(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... 1. On February 24, at 6:15 P.M., THOMAS HAMPSON and director MARTHE KELLER, currently in rehearsal for the Met's new DON GIOVANNI, will talk about the production with Met assistant manager SARAH BILLINGHURST at Lincoln Center's Kaplan...

Sound bites.(about James Westman, currently Germont in Dallas Opera's La Traviata)
February 1, 2004... James Westman, currently Germont in Dallas Opera's La Traviata, learned early in life that a singer's career is full of hard knocks. "I started as a boy treble. I sang with the American Boychoir, toured with the Boston Symphony singing the...

The Podles principles: she's made her reputation as a concert singer, but lately Ewa Podles has been taking on more and more opera roles. This month, she sings Eboli in Philadelphia; in March, she's Ulrica at Carnegie Hall. David J. Baker finds her at once the most tough-minded and the most generous of singers.(Cover Story)
February 1, 2004... "Why did this happen to me?" says Ewa Podles, contralto assoluto, at the start of the current season. "I asked myself always." What happened to her, last May in Albuquerque, was a serious automobile accident that left the singer with a...

Face to face: Robert Carsen and Frank Corsaro: now one of the opera world's foremost directors (Alcina, Les Boreades), Robert Carsen got his start as assistant to titan stage director Frank Corsaro, currently on the vocal arts faculty of the Juilliard School. Recently, Opera News reunited them for a discussion of visions, methods and surviving Bette Davis.(Interview)
February 1, 2004... OPERA NEWS: This is a nice reunion for the two of you. FRANK CORSARO: Oh yeah! We pass one another internationally now. ON: Was your first contact at Glyndebourne, working on The Love for Three Oranges? ROBERT CARSEN: Yes, I was...

Fast break: Matthew Gurewitsch charts the speedy rise of tenor Rolando Villazon, whose debut solo CD is released this month.
February 1, 2004... High notes are the name of the game, but sometimes a bright tenor will exercise the low option. Consider the close of the first act of La Boheme. Mimi and Rodolfo have wandered offstage, headed for the Cafe Momus. He asks her to say she loves...

Corelli at his Zenith.(Bel Canto Society)(opinions about Franco Corelli, and how to order CDs and videos)
February 1, 2004... "Cavaradossi? This one's my best!"--Franco Corelli Tosca (Parma, Jan. 21, 1967, live). Corelli, Gordoni, D'Orazi, Carbonari, Maionica; Morelli; Chor. and Orch. of the Teatro Regio di Parma. (2 CDs) #5013 $19.95 "This is the singing for...

Confessions of an opera lover: Ethan Mordden recalls his early days of going to the old Met, when he first came under the spell of opera.
February 1, 2004... Years later, people ask how it started: the sheer volume of music and storytelling, the high-strung performers, the faintly Gilded Age atmosphere... and then doesn't the fat lady sing and the scenery fall down? It's apocalypse now. So...

An American in Paris: this month. William Christie celebrates his sixtieth birthday and the 300th anniversary of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's death with a tour of the composer's works.(Interview)
February 1, 2004... "I was a musician," wrote Marc-Antoine Charpentier more than three centuries ago. "And since those who scorned me were more numerous than those who praised me, music brought me small honor and great burdens." His glum tone becomes...

So why do the Grammys matter? The classical division of the world's most prestigious music awards is often treated like an afterthought, but for the winners, the rewards can be substantial.
February 1, 2004... For the past year, the London Symphony Orchestra's live recording of Les Troyens has borne an eye-catching sticker plastered over the shrink-wrap: Grammy Winner. This month, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (known as the...

Rigoletto.(Metropolitan Opera)
February 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 7, 2004 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. Music by Giuseppe Verdi Libretto by Maria Piave, after Victor Hugo's play Le Roi S'Amuse ...

The Queen of Spades.(Metropolitan Opera)
February 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 14, 2004 SPONSORED BU CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. Music by Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky Libretto by Ilych Tchaikovsky, after the story by Alexander...

The casts.
February 1, 2004... Andrea Rost (Gilda) was Covent Garden's Lucia in December before coming to the Met, where she made her debut in 1996, as Adina in L'Elisir d'Amore. In April, she sings Haydn's Creation in Naples and a concert in her native Budapest. The soprano...

Stravinsky.(Metropolitan Opera)
February 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 21, 2004 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. STRAVINSKY LE SACRE DU PRINTEMPS Music by Igor Stravinsky THE CAST The Chosen...

L'Italiana in Algeri.(Metropolitan Opera)
February 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 28, 2004 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. Music by Gioachino Rossini Libretto by Angelo Anelli L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI THE...

In review: from around the world: New York City.(North America)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2004... In reviving La Juive (Nov. 6) after an absence of sixty-seven years, the Metropolitan Opera took the practical course of importing a well-received production from the Vienna State Opera. Director Gunter Kramer, abetted by set designer Gottfried...

In review: from around the world: Houston.(North America)
February 1, 2004... Is Handel's Giulio Cesare a drama populated with power-hungry, lusty, larger-than-life men and women driven by the seemingly all-consuming, timeless desire to dominate? Or is it a backlot romp during the golden age of Hollywood? The latter was...

In review: from around the world: Washington, DC.(North America ... Die Walkure)
February 1, 2004... From the moment the orchestra started churning over the anxious opening music to the finale's luminous sound-bath of magic, majesty and mystery, nearly five hours later, Washington Opera's performance of Wagner's Die Walkure cast an unbreakable...

In review: from around the world: San Francisco.(North America ... Il Barbiere di Siviglia)
February 1, 2004... In the past, San Francisco Opera patrons could count on hearing bel canto opera in conservative productions, with big stars who paid great attention to vocal precision and beauty. The new Il Barbiere di Siviglia, commissioned by general...

In review: from around the world: Dallas/Ft. Worth.(North America ... Pique Dame; The Turn of the Screw)
February 1, 2004... Dallas Opera and Fort Worth Opera programmed ghost stories last fall, shortly after Halloween. Both Dallas's The Queen of Spades (seen Nov. 7) and Fort Worth's The Turn of the Screw (Nov. 8) featured excellent singing, strong orchestral work...

In review: from around the world: Paris.(International ... Il Trovatore)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2004... The November 15 performance of the Opera National's new production of Verdi's Il Trovatore began with angry scenes at the Bastille. Star tenor Roberto Alagna was indisposed, but the usual custom of posting an announcement at the entrance of the...

In review: from around the world: London.(International ... Aida)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2004... In the bad old days, some would have you believe, opera singers used to stand there, hold their arms out in outlandish postures and sing. That's all over now, of course--or at least it was, until Robert Wilson began directing. His Aida, which...

In review: from around the world: Vienna.(International ... Falstaff)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2004... No doubt the Garter Inn at Windsor was not a classy hostelry, but for the State Opera's new production of Verdi's Falstaff, which opened on October 19 (seen Oct. 29), Marco Arturo Marelli placed the inn underground, in the sewers, with walls of...

In review: from around the world: Munich.(International ... Leonora)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2004... Although it's generally true that each of Beethoven's many revisions strengthened Fidelio, the original version, Leonore (from 1805), is a revelation, surprising whether the music is unfamiliar or familiar. The Theater am Gartnerplatz's new...

February on-line edition of Opera News.(Brief Article)(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... NORTH AMERICA: In New York, Met debutants Kozena, Machado; Turner Wilson shines in NYCO's Pasquale; Juilliard offers a Handel rarity. San Francisco hears powerhouses Urmana, Milling in Don Carlos, plus Kringelborn, Ventris in Lady Macbeth of...

Susan Chilcott "BBC Voices: Volume 3. The Gift to be Free".(Recordings)(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Songs by Copland. Burnside, piano. English texts. BBC Black Box BBM1074 (Koch, dist.) Aaron Copland's music is about as American as John Wayne, baseball and roaming buffalos, so at first glance a CD of his songs featuring British...

Purcell: Dido and Aeneas.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Graham, Tilling, de Boever, Palmer; Bostridge, Daniels, Agnew: European Voices, Le Concert d'Astree Haim. Text, translations. Virgin Veritas 72435-4560521 The excellent period-instrument ensemble Le Concert d'Astree, under the baton of...

Puccini: Le Villi.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Diener, David; Machado, Tezier; Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Choeur de Radio France, Guidarini. Text and translation. Naive V4958 (Naxos, dist.) [] PUCCINI: Edgar Varady, McCormick; Tanner, Jenis, Cigni; Orchestre National...

Janacek: the Cunning Little Vixen (in English).(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Watson, Montague; Tear, Allen; Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Rattle. 1990. English text. Chandos CHAN 3101 Two issues will determine whether a listener finds this Vixen worthwhile. One, obviously, is...

S. Wagner: Die Heilige Linde.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Schellenberger, Lukic, Georg, Halmai; Wegner, Horn, Scharnke, Kuzel, Trekel; West German Radio (Cologne) Symphony and Chorus, Albert. Libretto and translation. CPO 999-844 (3) As a composer of late-Romantic German opera in an era attuned...

Marcello Giordani.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] ARIAS by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Pacini, Verdi and Mascagni. Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus of Bellini Theater, Catania, Mercurio. Texts and translations. Naxos 8.557269 Despite the dire pronouncements about the current dearth of...

Luciano Pavarotti.(Ti Adoro)
February 1, 2004... [] "TI ADORO" Thirteen popular songs by Musumarra, Centonze, Rota, Zimmer and others. Various instrumental ensembles. Texts and translations. Decca B0001096 "Crossover" was a phenomenon established by an ailing and eventually desperate...

Astrid Varnay.(Original Masters: Astrid Varnay)
February 1, 2004... [] "ORIGINAL MASTERS: ASTRID VARNAY" Excerpts from Wagner's Die Walkure, Gotterdammerung, Tristan und Isolde; Beethoven's "Ah! Perfido"; Wagner's Wesendonck-Lieder; arias from Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, La Forza del Destino. With Topper,...

February online edition of Opera News.(Historical)(Editorial)
February 1, 2004... Recitals by Ford, Hendricks, Maltman, the Orlando Consort and Izzy; the fourteenth disc in Naxos's Schubert series; Penderecki's Te Deum; von Stade sings Argento's Casa Guidi.

Paisiello: Nina.(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Bartoli, Galstian; Kaufmann, Polgar, Veccia; Chorus and Orchestra of the Opernhaus Zurich, Fischer. Arthaus Musik DVD 100367 (Naxos, dist.), 120 mins., plus one "bonus" documentary The wide-eyed and disheveled soprano, trilling and...

Donizetti: Linda di Chamounix.(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Gruberova, Mamsirova, Kallisch, Asher; van der Walt, Will, Polgar, Ariostini, Christoff; Orch. & Ch. of the Zurich Opera House, Fischer. TDK DVD DVUS-OPLDC (Naxos, dist.), 164 mins. Even Rigoletro does not make so much fuss over its...

Verdi: La Traviata.(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Bonfadelli, Peebo, Leveroni; Piper, Ricci, Bruson, Sarti, Tisi; Orch. and Ch. of Fondazione Arturo Toscanini, Domingo. TDK DVD DVUS-OPLTR (Naxos, dist.), 139 mins., plus "bonus" documentary Franco Zeffirelli returned to Busseto's...

Verdi: Otello.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Frittoli, Rinaldi; Domingo, Nucci, Parodi; Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala, Muti. TDK DVD DVUS-OPOTEL (Naxos, dist.), 140 mins. Placido Domingo's Otello is already available in at least four other commercial recordings. If...

Prokofiev: War and Peace.(2 CDs from 2 different opera companies)(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2004... [] Prokina, Bogachova, Borodina; Grigorian, Gergalov, Okhotnikov, Ognovenko, Gerello, Marusin; Orch. and Ch. of the Kirov Opera, Gergiev. Kultur DVD D2903, 250 mins. [] Guryakova, Zaremba, Obraztsova; Brubaker, Gunn, Kotcherga, Zimnenko,...

February on-line edition of Opera News.(Video)(Editorial)
February 1, 2004... On DVD: Daniel Schmid's 2001 Beatrice di Tenda from Zurich; Steuart Bedford conducts 1990 Turn of the Screw in Schwetzingen; Netrebko, Diadkova, Bezzubenkov, Ognovenko in the Kirov's 1995 Ruslan and Lyudmila.

Paul Bowles on Music.
February 1, 2004... edited by Timothy Mangan and Irene Herrmann University of California Press, 292pp. $34.95 Best known as an author (and an ex-pat in Morocco) since his 1949 debut novel, The Sheltering Sky, Paul Bowles also was a composer. His musical works...

Monsieur de Saint-George.(a book by by Alain Guede )(Book Review)
February 1, 2004... by Alain Guede Picador 304 pp. $26 Known posthumously as the "Black Mozart," Monsieur de Saint-George (1739-99), ne Joseph Bologue, was born on a sugar plantation in Guadeloupe, the son of a Senegalese slave mother and an aristocratic...

Athena Sings: Wagner and the Greeks.(book by M. Owen Lee)(Book Review)
February 1, 2004... by M. Owen Lee University of Toronto Press, 100 pp. $12.95 paperback, $30 cloth "I am a retired professor of Greek," Father Lee owns up at the end of this modest, potent little volume, "privileged for almost forty years to teach Homer,...

February on-line edition of Opera News.(Books)(Editorial)
February 1, 2004... Guides for singing careers from Phillips, Hong-Young and Kirkpatrick; Bjornsson on Wagner's debt to Iceland; plus collections of anecdotes and quotations for music-lovers, two novels and a critical edition of Verdi's Stiffelio.

Katharine T. O'Neil Bidwell.(Obituaries)(Obituary)
February 1, 2004... KATHERINE T. O'NEIL BIDWELL, Dayton, OH, March 23, 1937--New York City, November 13, 2003 Long one of New York City's most zealous, persuasive and energetic advocates for the arts and education, Katharine Bidwell did nor let a diagnosis of...

Barry Morell.(Obituaries)(Obituary)
February 1, 2004... BARRY MORELL, New Fork City, March 30, 1927--Sandwich, MA, December 4, 2003 The tenor studied at Juilliard and with Giuseppe Danise before making his professional debut, as Pinkerton, with New York City Opera in 1955. Pinkerton was also...

David Hemmings.(Obituaries)
February 1, 2004... DAVID HEMMINGS, Guildford, England, November 18, 1941--Romania, December 3, 2003 In his early career, as a boy soprano, Hemmings created the role of Miles in Britten's The Turn of the Screw, in Venice, in 1954, and recorded the opera under...

Meyer Kupferman.(Obituaries)(Obituary)
February 1, 2004... MEYER KUPFERMAN, New York City, July 3, 1926--Rhinebeck, NY, November 26, 2003 The composer, whose influences embraced everything from Yiddish song to big-band jazz to Serialism, counted seven operas among his works, which also included...

Gabriella Gatti.
February 1, 2004... GABRIELLA GATTI, Rome, July 5, 1908-October 22, 2003 The soprano's chief area of activity was in her native city of Rome, where she studied at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia and made her debut, in Monteverdi's Orfeo, at Rome Opera in 1934....

Dateline.(operas around the world -- what's playing where)(Calendar)
February 1, 2004... METROPOLITAN OPERA (Metropolitan Opera House, 212-362-6000; www.metopera.org) Feb. 2 Tosca (Puccini). Salazar; Farina, Ramey; Fiore, Zeffirelli/Thomas, Zeffirelli/Hall Feb. 3 Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky). Mishura; Morris, Larin, Matorin,...

David McVicar's Semele in Paris: the hottest director of his generation in the U.K. brings Handel's sex comedy to Theatre des Champs-Elysees this month.(Hot Ticket)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2004... In David McVicar's work, there's a strong flavor of opera as living theater that never goes out of its way to shock but can take in the shocking. His Covent Garden Rigoletto, for example, opened with a party scene that included nudity and...