Opera News articles from February 2005

Opera News archives from February 2005

Standard bearers.(Viewpoint)
February 1, 2005... The unfailing excellence of Dolora Zajick's work in her chosen repertory has been a fact of life since the beginning of her professional career; she's an artist who seemed to start at the top and has never looked back. At Zajick's Met debut, as...

Opera watch.
February 1, 2005... 1. MICHELLE DEYOUNG, who sang Venus in the Met's Tannhauser in November and December, takes on Sieglinde and the Gotterdammerung Waltraute for Lyric Opera of Chicago in its spring Ring cycles (March/April). The mezzo returns to New York to join...

On the beat: Millo plays a winning hand as Puccini's Minnie: Narucki on being a femme moderne: Miller takes his ball and goes home.
February 1, 2005... If you're talking about sopranos who really know how to dig into the verismo repertory, there's APRILE MILLO, and then there's everyone else. (In fact, judging from the tinkling, plain-vanilla Toscas and Maddalenas I've been hearing for many a...

Sounds bites.
February 1, 2005... Peter Volpe likes to work with his hands. In fact, his carpentry skills helped steer him toward opera. Despite the resemblance of this career trajectory to that of another well-known Volpe, he answers an oft-asked question with a jolly, booming...

Reunion: Mary Curtis-Verna.
February 1, 2005... In January 1953, OPERA NEWS asked two young American singers building careers in Europe to file reports on their experiences. The correspondent the magazine found in Italy was a soprano from Salem, Massachusetts, named Mary, Curtis. She wrote,...

The great big world of Dolora Zajick.
February 1, 2005... The powerhouse mezzo is moving deeper into bel canto territory. This month, she sings Sara in a new production of Roberto Devereux in Barcelona. Brian Kellow finds that she is interested in a wide range of topics--from the current political...

The show must not go on: how censors tried to protect us from "dangerous" operas.
February 1, 2005... Of the four Met broadcast operas covered in this issue of OPERA NEWS--Le Nozze di Figaro La Boheme, Nabucco, Samson et Dalila--three faced major obstacles with the censors before the curtain could go up. Only Boheme seemed innocuous enough not...

Vintage years: long a virtual artistic prisoner in East Germany, conductor Heinz Fricke has had a remarkable second act at Washington National Opera.
February 1, 2005... Read the reviews, or check out his bona tides--for thirty-two years he was general music director of the Berlin Staats-oper--and you form a very clear presentiment of what Heinz Fricke must be like. The reviews of his performances over the past...

Songs in the key of van Dam: this month, the great Belgian bass-baritone returns to New York for a pair of recitals. Peter G. Davis examines the poetic powers of an artist Americans experience all too seldom.
February 1, 2005... Savor the moment. Singers with the special qualities of Jose van Dam do not come our way often these days--a bass-baritone with an instantly recognizable voice of astonishing natural beauty, comfortable in a wide range of repertory but never...

Grand operetta: the collegiate chorale's February program of romantic chestnuts puts Friml, Romberg and Herbert in a larger context.
February 1, 2005... He's known the leader of ambitious concert versions of such grand-scale operas as La Forza del Destino and Oberon. But this month, Robert Bass shifts gears to celebrate his twenty-fifth anniversary as music director of the Collegiate Chorale,...

The metropolitan opera.(Save the Met Broadcasts)
February 1, 2005... Dear Met Broadcast Listeners, Our 2004-05 Broadcast Season has begun--"live from the stage of The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City." These broadcasts are a gift from our home to your home. I cannot give enough thanks to all...

New goddess in town: Mark Adamo's long-delayed Lysistrata, opening this month at Houston Grand Opera, doesn't owe a whole lot to Aristophanes.
February 1, 2005... Lysistrata is relocating from the Attic to the operatic realm, and her moving man is Mark Adamo, a composer-playwright who's never at a loss for words or music. Today, his ideas tumble out in a stream-of--extreme-consciousness torrent, at once...

Letter from Beijing.
February 1, 2005... Huge, gray and metastasizing, China's capital is a place where neighborhoods can disappear overnight, sundered by a widened highway or displaced by a highrise, the inhabitants forced to move to new towns on the city's fringe. Inching through...

Le Nozze di Figaro.(Metropolitan Opera)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 12, 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....

La Boheme.(Metropolitan Opera)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Oiuseppe Oiacosa and Luigi Illica BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 19, 2005, 1:30 P.M. THE METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2004-05 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS MADE...

Nabucco.(Metropolitan Opera)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... BROADCAST OF FEBRUARY 26, 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 FOUNDATION...

Samson et Dalila.(Metropolitan Opera)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... BROADCAST OF MARCH 5, 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 FOUNDATION ...

New York City.(North America)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... The Metropolitan Opera premiere production of Handel's Rodelinda (December 2) was a successful compromise, a blending of Baroque stylistics with the house's traditional performance and production values. Some standards suffered, but everyone...

Washington, D.C.(North America)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... Although nearly as old as opera itself, zarzuela doesn't get much attention outside of Latin countries--a neglect that Placido Domingo has long fought to reverse. With zarzuela in his DNA, the tenor makes a persuasive advocate for the genre,...

Houston.(North America)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... Houston Grand Opera's thirty-first world premiere, Daniel Catan's Salsipuedes, a Tale of Love, War and Anchovies, was unveiled on October 29 at the Wortham Theater Center, where ushers and even audience members donned tropical shirts and straw...

San Francisco.(North America)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... San Francisco Opera general director Pamela Rosenberg delivered her latest coup against operatic orthodoxy with her company's sensational American premiere of Gyorgy Ligeti's riotous Le Grand Macabre during the fall season here (seen November...

Chicago.(North America)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... Few musical-theater creations can move us in so primal a fashion as The Cunning Little Vixen, Janacek's hymn to nature and to the natural cycle of human life and mortality. The opera entered Lyric Opera of Chicago's repertory on November 17, in...

Paris.(International)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... The most important world premiere of the Paris season took place at the Chatelet on November 23, when Angels in America, by Peter Eotvos, was presented. After the outstanding success of Three Sisters in 1998, the composer's adaptation of...

London.(International)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... Jonathan Miller recently gave an interview in the national press in which he complained, not for the first time, of his relative neglect in his own country, He's got a point: this eminent director has done little new work at the U.K.'s major...

Prague.(International)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... Prague's National Theatre seemed for a time to be misplacing its priorities: recent stagings of operas by Dvorak and Janacek were poorly designed and directed, while works by John Adams, Philip Glass and Martin Smolka received lavish,...

Zurich.(International)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... Just prior to the opening of Zurich's new Pelleas et Melisande on November 14, it became known that its production team would be in charge of the new Ring des Nibelungen at the Vienna State Opera. One wonders where the international Winterreise...

Venice.(International)(Opera Review)
February 1, 2005... La Traviata, the most popular of all operas given their premieres at La Fenice, was the first to be staged in the rebuilt theater. Conductor Lorin Maazel chose to perform the original version of the score (uncut) heard at that first performance...

February online edition of opera news.(Brief Article)
February 1, 2005... NORTH AMERICA: I Vespri Siciliani returns to the Met; NYCO's Cinderella; a new Aida at Lyric Opera; Puccini, Wagner and Tchaikovsky at San Francisco Opera; Turandot in Costa Mesa, Carmen, Boheme and Vanessa in LA; Portland's Viaggio; Jenufa and...

A matter of style: a well chosen program of French opera arias finds Denyce Graves in superlative form.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... Denyce Graves--"FRENCH OPERA ARIAS" by Saint-Saens, Gounod, Berlioz, Massenet, Thomas, Lalo, Bizet, Donizetti. Orchestra Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Soustrot. Texts and translations. Virgin Classics 62277 What a wonderful thing it is to...

Barber: Vanessa.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... BARBER: Vanessa Brewer, Graham, Wyn-Rogers; Burden, N. Davies; BBC Singers and Symphony, Slatkin. Text. Chandos CHSA 5032 (2) This welcome release stems from a gleaming-toned BBC Symphony concert performance led with impassioned conviction...

Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... BERLIOZ: Benvenuto Cellini Ciofi, Di Donato; Kunde, Lapointe, Naouri, Delaigue, Salha, Mauillon, Huchet, Nedelec; Chorus of Radio France, National Orchestra of France, Nelson. Virgin Classics 57062 There will never be a definitive version...

Vivaldi: Orlando Finto Pazzo.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... VIVALDI: Orlando Finto Pazzo Bertagnolli, Comparato, Prina, Custer; Pizzolato; Abete, Oro; Academia Montis Regalis, de Marchi. Texts and translations. Opus 111 OP 30392 This recording of Orlando Finto Pazzo raises Opus 111's ongoing...

Handel: Serse.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... HANDEL: Serse Norberg-Schulz, Piau, von Otter, Tro Santafe; Zazzo, Abete, G. Furlanetto; Les Arts Florissants, Christie. Text and translation. Veritas 72435 4571 1 2 1 (3) This Serse reflects an Opera de Lyon production also seen in London...

Lehar: Der Rastelbinder.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... LEHAR: Der Rastelbinder Papouschek, Hobarth; Muliar, Zednik, Dallapozza, Schellenberg, Kraemmer; Wiener Mozart Sangerknaben, ORF Symphony Orchestra, Graf No libretto. CPO 777 038-2 (Naxos, dist.) Although one associates Franz Lehar's...

Sarah Connolly: Heroes And Heroines.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... Sarah Connolly "HEROES AND HEROINES" Arias and sinfonias by Handel. Symphony of Harmony and Invention, Christophers. Texts and translations. Coro 16025 British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly pays homage to her roots in Harry Christopher's...

Angela M. Brown: Mosaic.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... Angela M. Brown "MOSAIC" Joubert, piano; Cooper, guitar. Albany Records TROY721 Opera's newest "overnight" star is a forty-year-old former secretary who has been toiling in regional opera companies for years. When she finally made her Met...

Paul Groves: Duparc: Songs For Voice And Piano.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... Paul Groves "DUPARC: SONGS FOR VOICE AND PIANO" With Pulley, soprano; Vignoles, piano. Text and translations. Naxos 8.557219 Paul Groves has established himself as an artist of intelligence and style--an opera singer equipped with a voice...

Measha Bruggergosman: So Much To Tell.(Sound Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... Measha Bruggergosman "SO MUCH TO TELL" Songs of Copland, Barber, Gershwin. Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Goodman. Texts. CBC Records SMCD 5234 Young Canadian soprano Measha Bruggergosman has a robust voice of both silver and dark oak, topped...

Saint-Saens: Samson et Dalila.(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... SAINT-SAENS: Samson et Dalila Borodina; Domingo, Leiferkus, Fink, Pape; Metropolitan Opera Chorus arid Orchestra, Levine. Deutsche Grammophon DVD B0003023-09, 148 mins., subtitled There was a time when telecasts from the Met (as many as...

Berlioz: Les Troyens.(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... BERLIOZ: Les Troyens Antonacci, Graham; Kunde, Padmore, Lehtipuu, Tezier, Naouri; Choeur du Theatre du Chatelet, Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Gardiner: Opus Arte DVD OA 0900 D (Naxos, dist.), 312 rains., subtitled,...

Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore.(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... Donizetti: L'Elisir d'Amore Scotto, Jotti; Bergonzi, Taddei, Cava; Orchestra and Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Gavazzeni. Hardy Classic DVD HCD 4014 (VAI, dist.), subtitled, 130 mins. Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Scotto did not...

Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos.(Video Recording Review)
February 1, 2005... STRAUSS: Ariadne auf Naxos Jurinac, Grist, Hillebrecht; Thomas, Schoffler, Feldhoff,: Vienna Philharmonic, Bohm. TDK DVD DVUS-CLOPAAN (Naxos, dist.), 130 mins. Some under-thirty opera fans scoff whenever anyone over fifty says, "You should...

Opera & Wine/Wine in Opera.(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Opera & Wine/Wine in Opera by Valentino Monticello Canto Holding Art Publications, 264 pp. $100 Valentino Monticello has three passions--wine, art and opera--which he has lovingly pursued his whole life long. As an oenophile and former...

Classical Music in America: A History of its Rise and Fall.(Book Review)
February 1, 2005... Classical Music in America: A History of its Rise and Fall by Joseph Horowitz W. W. Norton & Co., 640pp. $.39.95 Nostalgia, according to Peter De Vries (or was it Simone Signoret?), isn't what it used to be. Music in America isn't what it...

Dateline.(Calendar)
February 1, 2005... METROPOLITAN OPERA (Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 212-362-6000; www.metopera.orcj) Feb. 1 Turandot (Puccini). Gruber, Stoyanova; Botha, Tian; de Billy, Zeffirelli, Zeffirelli/Anni/Saligeri Feb. 2 Pelleas et Melisande (Debussy)....

Renata Tebaldi.(Coda)(Obituary)
February 1, 2005... PESARO, ITALY, FEBRUARY 1, 1922--SAN MARINO, DECEMBER 19, 2004 In opera, there are as many "golden ages" as there are generations of listeners with a long memory. One of those golden ages was the early reign of Rudolf Bing at the Met, when...