Opera News articles from January 2000

Opera News archives from January 2000

OPERA WATCH.(opera news from the Dallas Opera, the Metrololitan Opera broadcasts, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and other venues)
January 1, 2000... Fresh Wagnerians: Behle is Houston's Isolde, De Young, Chicago's Brangane; for Hampson, it's a season for Mahler SAN FRANCISCO'S BAY AREA nearly lost the live Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcasts when KDFC-FM dropped the program in favor...

ON THE BEAT.(news of singers Marni Nixon, Thomas Allen, and others)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Marni Nixon -- much more than The Voice of Hollywood; Thomas Allen, a Knight at the Opera MARNI NIXON got the nicest Christmas present an actress could wish for: The Dead, the SHAUN DAVEY--RICHARD NELSON musical she opened in last fall at...

Jake Heggie HIGH SCORERS.(Jake Heggie discusses his long career, and his first opera, an adaptation of 'Dead Man Walking')(Interview)
January 1, 2000... Songwriter Jake Heggie's first opera, an adaptation of Dead Man Walking with a libretto by Terrence McNally, will bow next season in San Francisco, and an all-star CD of his songs has just been issued. TOM SAVAGE talks to classical music's man...

FRIENDS AND RIVALS.(the lives of five 19th-century born Italian composers)
January 1, 2000... The tangled personal lives and careers of Giamo Puccini, Alfredo Catalani, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Alberto Franchetti and Pietro Mascagni often drew them into mutually supportive relationships when they were young. Three of the composers had...

SCOTTO VOCE.(interveiw with singer Renata Scotto, who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1965)(Interview)
January 1, 2000... A unique combination of intellect and instinct enabled Renata Scotto to travel from Bellini to Butterfly and back again. The soprano tells IRA SIFF that the technique needed to master bel canto and verismo is exactly the same... only different...

TEMPO DI MASCAGNI.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Ham and eggs ain't what they used to be. That's what old-timers would call Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci. Though they were not inevitably joined at first, by the 1920s "Pasta e fagioli" (more shorthand) were a predictable pairing -- a...

Moment of Truth.(Renee Fleming will appear in Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera)
January 1, 2000... Renee Fleming sings her first Metropolitan Opera Rosenkavaliers this month. She's at an ideal place in her lire and career to make the Marschallin her own. When word filtered out from the Metropolitan Opera that Renee Fleming had been...

Stages of di Stefano.(the career and insights of Giuseppe di Stefano)(Interview)
January 1, 2000... Some say that Giuseppe di Stefano, once hailed as the successor to Caruso and Gigli, squandered his talent, but the tenor has no regrets about his controversial career Giuseppe di Stefano lives in a spellbinding setting that befits a...

Variations on an Idol.(Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's influence on Richard Strauss)
January 1, 2000... The music of Mozart provided Richard Strauss with a continuing source of inspiration throughout his career. DAVID HAMILTON looks at the influence of one master upon another On June 26, 1909, while still at work on the first act of Der...

Living It Up in Operaworld.(mezzo-soprano Susan Graham discusses her opera career and her love of Rollerblading)(Interview)
January 1, 2000... American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, Octavian in this month's broadcast of Der Rosenkavalier, is at the top of her game and having a ball "Rollerblading," says mezzo-soprano Susan Graham. "I enjoy Rollerbladding." We're about a...

METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCASTS.(Review)
January 1, 2000... As the Metropolitan Opera heads into a new century, it is interesting to look at where the company was halfway through the last one. At the end of the 1949-50 season, Edward Johnson's fifteen-year tenure as general manager concluded with a May...

"THE FACES OF LOVE".(Review)
January 1, 2000... Jake Heggie et al. [] "THE FACES OF LOVE" with Cao, Clayton, Fleming, Foland, Larmore, McNair, Vaness, von Stade; Asawa; Heggie, piano; Miland, cello. English texts only RCA 63484 This all-Jake Heggie disc is remarkable not only for its...

MASSENET: Werther.(Review)
January 1, 2000... MASSENET:Werther [] Gheorghiu, Petibon; Alagna, Hampson, Courtis; London Symphony Orchestra, Pappano. Text and translation. EMI 7243 5 56820 2 (2) Despite the oddly scattershot recording history of Jules Massenet's work (fewer than half of...

HANDEL: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato.(Review)
January 1, 2000... HANDEL: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato [] Gritton, McFadden, Anderson; Agnew, Davies; The King's Consort, King. Text and translations. Hyperion CDA67283/4 (2) Declared a "vernal masterpiece" by Grove, Handel's oratorio...

HASSE: La Contadina.(Review)
January 1, 2000... HASSE: La Contadina [] Oddone; Regazzo; Ensemble Arcadia, Cremonesi. Text and translations. Harmonia Mundi 905244 Johann Adolph Hasse's intermezzo La Contadina was first performed in Naples in 1728 between the acts of Pietro Filippo...

KALMAN: Die Herzogin von Chicago.(Review)
January 1, 2000... KALMAN: Die Herzogin von Chicago [] Riedel, Groop; Wottrich, Polegato, Lindskog Ginzel, Menzel; Rundfunkchor, Schoneberger Sangerknaben, RSO Berlin, Bonynge. Texts and translations. Decca 466 057-2 (2) The celebrated Entartete Musik...

BOCCHERINI Stabat Mater D'ASTORGA: Stabat Mater.(Review)
January 1, 2000... [] Gritton, Fox, Bickley; Agnew, Harvey; The Choir of the King's Consort, The King's Consort, King. Text and translations. Hyperion CDA67108 From Hyperion come spare, reverent performances of two Stabat Mater settings spanning the...

ROREM: Sun; String Quartet No. 3.(Review)
January 1, 2000... ROREM: Sun; String Quartet No. 3 [] Flanigan; Manhattan School of Music Symphony, Cortese; Mendelssohn String Quartet. English text. Newport Classic NPD 85657 Those familiar with Ned Rorem's music only through his songs should...

ROREM: Evidence of Things Not Seen.(Review)
January 1, 2000... ROREM: Evidence of Things Not Seen [] McDonald, Ziegler; Muller, Ollmann; Barrett, Blier, piano. English text. New World Records 80575-2 Those familiar with Ned Rorem's music only through his songs should investigate Sun, his 1967...

"THE VIVALDI ALBUM".(Review)
January 1, 2000... Cecilia Bartoli [] "THE VIVALDI ALBUM" Il Giardino Armonico, Antonini. Text and translations. Decca 289 466 569-2 Cecilia Bartoli's prodigious gifts are in spectacular evidence in this collection of Vivaldi arias. Taken from operas...

"SENTO AMOR".(Review)
January 1, 2000... David Daniels [] "SENTO AMOR" Arias by Mozart, Gluck and Handel. Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Bicket. Texts and translations. Virgin lOritas 7243 5 45365 2 6 These Baroque and Classical arias make a well-chosen showcase for...

"VERDI ARIAS".(Review)
January 1, 2000... Franz Hawlata [] "VERDI ARIAS" Arias and scenes from Nabucco, Ernani, Simon Boccanegra, Jerusalem, Otello, Macbeth, Don Carlos, Attila and I Vespri Siciliani. Chorus and Orchestra of Cologne Radio and Television, Froschauer. No texts;...

"SCHARZ ICH BITT' DICH: OPERETTA GALA".(Review)
January 1, 2000... Jochen Kowalski [] "SCHARZ ICH BITT' DICH: OPERETTA GALA" Arias by Lehar, Abraham, Kunneke, Straus, Lincke and Stolz. Munchner Rundfunkorchester, Fricke. Capriccio 10 835 You've got to admire countertenor Jochen Kowalski for the...

"PURE PASSION".(Review)
January 1, 2000... Jose Carreras [] "PURE PASSION" Capital Voices, Skates; The London Musicians Orchestra, Wilson; Lee. Texts only. Erato 3984-27305-2 This slushy collection of famous classical tunes lyricized for solo voice is heavy with unabashed...

"THE RECITAL".(Review)
January 1, 2000... Luciano Pavarotti [] "THE RECITAL" Songs and arias by Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Massenet, Respighi, Flotow, Mascagni, Sibella, Denza, Puccini, Tosti, Capurro and Donizetti. Magiera, piano. No texts. Atlantic "Q" Records 92837-2 ...

"ARIAS & SONGS".(Review)
January 1, 2000... Mattiwilda Dobbs [] "ARIAS & SONGS" Arias by Rimsky-Korsakov, Massenet, Bellini, Delibes and Verdi, with Panerai (baritone); Philharmonia Orchestra, Galliera; songs by Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, Faure, Hahn and Chausson, with Moore, piano....

CORRECTIONS.
January 1, 2000... CORRECTIONS: In "The Rise of Little Voice" (October 1999), Mirella Freni's recording of La Forza del Destino was described incorrectly. Freni recorded Leonora for EMI in 1986, with Riccardo Muti conducting. In "New from the Studios"...

Best of the Year.(best operas, recitals, and other categories, in 1999)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... COMPLETE OPERAS: Best in show in 1999 were Gluck's Alceste, led by Arnold Ostman (Naxos 8.660066-68); Valery Gergiev's two versions of Boris Godunov for the price of one (Philips 462230); Richard Bonynge's lively reading of Kalman's Die...

Romantic Heroine.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Anna Moffo [] ARIAS from Faust, La Boheme, Dinorah, Carmen, Semiramide, Turandot, Lakme Rome Opera Orchestra, Serafin. 1960. No texts. RCA 0.9026-63530 For many of us, Anna Morro was the first TV diva. There she was, throughout the...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: CHICAGO.(Review)
January 1, 2000... A View from the Bridge, an adaptation of Arthur Miller's 1955 play, with music by William Bolcom and a libretto by Arnold Weinstein and Miller himself, is probably one of the most eagerly anticipated new works of the past decade. This project...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.(Review)
January 1, 2000... When Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele returned to the Met on November 5, for the first time in seventy-four years, it wore somewhat shopworn finery that has been on display in Geneva (premiere, 1988), San Francisco, Chicago, Houston and Washington....

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: TORONTO.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Canadian Opera's dismal new La Traviata (Hummingbird Centre, Sept. 29) provided cautionary proof of how rampant production concepts can dislodge the most honorable musical intentions. Company general director and conductor Richard Bradshaw had...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: PESARO.(Review)
January 1, 2000... The climax of the twentieth Rossini Opera Festival was Pier Luigi Pizzi's compelling new staging of Tancredi (with the tragic "Ferrara" ending) at the Teatro Rossini. Though this was his third Pesaro staging of the work, Pizzi has never before...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: LUCERNE.(Review)
January 1, 2000... "Myths" was the theme of this year's Lucerne Festival, a leitmotif reflected in the semistaged performance of Othmar Schoeck's opera Penthesilea, presented in the Culture and Congress Center (Aug. 15). Virtually unknown in the U.S., and largely...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ZURICH.(Zurich Opear ouse produces marathon of Verdi's operas in anticiaption of 100th anniversary of his death)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... With new productions of Attila, Luisa Miller, I Lombardi, Un Ballo in Maschera, Un Giorno di Regno and I Due Foscari, plus revivals of Nabucco, Ernani and La Traviata, in the last twelve months, Zurich has witnessed a Verdi marathon -- a year...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: VENICE.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Una Cosa Rara -- a dramma giocoso by Spanish composer Vicente Martin y Soler -- is now best remembered for Mozart's having quoted from it in Act II of Don Giovanni. Yet it was an outstanding success when first performed at Vienna's Burgtheater...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NAPLES.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Operas on religious subjects were particularly popular in seventeenth-century Naples, and Francesco Provenzale's La Colomba Ferita -- based on the life of Saint Rosalia of Palermo -- is a fine example of the genre. Rediscovered some fifteen...

Hawaii Opera Theatre.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Back in 1961, flush with windfall profits from presenting Leonard Bernstein and the New York Phil-harmonic at the Waikiki Shell, the Honolulu Symphony Society decided to risk $5,000 on producing an opera. It staged Madama Butterfly in the...

OBITUARIES.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
January 1, 2000... C.J. LUTEN, Corpus Christi, Texas, January 30, 1925 -- Sarasota, Florida, September 27, 1999 OPERA NEWS' principal record reviewer for eight seasons, 1962-70, C. J. (Colby John) Luten had contributed to American Record Guide and...

LONG DISTANCE RUN.(opera singer Marilyn Horne)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... "Keep your face in the light!" whispered Marilyn Horne to the young colleague beside her, who was making her Carnegie Hall debut on that night in 1972. "From that day forward, I've been trying to do just that," says a grateful Frederica...