Opera News articles from January 2004

Opera News archives from January 2004

Musing on comedy.(Viewpoint)(Column)
January 1, 2004... Once, during a conversation about Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia, the great soprano Bidu Sayao, then in her early eighties, chose to demonstrate a bit of business that she had perfected at the beginning of her long career. It was (and is)...

Opera watch.(bits of news about opera singers, companies, recordings, and so on)
January 1, 2004... 1. DEBORAH VOIGT has signed an exclusive contract with ANGEL/EMI RECORDS. Her debut solo album for the label, a Wagner-Strauss program recorded in Munich in September 2003, is set for U.S. release on April 6, 2004--the day before the soprano...

On the beat: La Juive career high point for Isokoski; Haitink leads an unforgettable Pelleas; Powell shines in new Sondheim show.(bits of news about opera, singers, conductors and so on)
January 1, 2004... One of the biggest successes in the Met's new production of La Juive was scored by soprano SOILE ISOKOSKI, one of many fine singers to emerge from Finland over the past twenty years. The role of Rachel has been a high point in Isokoski's...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2004... CORRECTION: Opera Orchestra of New York's La Gioconda, starring APRILE MILLO, takes place on April 20, not in January, as I stated in my November column.

Sound bites.(Latonia Moore, opera singer from Philadelphia)
January 1, 2004... Latonia Moore is poised to claim her place on international stages, and when she does, the opera world will discover what Philadelphia already knows. After winning the Metropolitan Opera Auditions three years ago, Moore turned down an...

Reunion: George Shirley.(Biography)
January 1, 2004... At age sixty-nine, George Shirley is doing exactly what he always intended to do: imparting his knowledge and love of music to new generations. His illustrious singing career is far from over, but for Shirley, singing was never the aim. "When I...

High jumps: already celebrated at age thirty-one, Juan Diego Florez is arguably the tenore di grazia of his generation. John Morrone traces the rise and rise of the Peruvian "bel canto poster boy.".(Biography)
January 1, 2004... The tenor's pretending to be drunk. Pitching from side to side, brandishing a sabre, he sings while he swaggers and jumps like a cat from the stage to a tabletop, his body as lithe and poised as a dancer's. This is Count Almaviva, relishing a...

What are you laughing at? Some notes on comedy in opera.(laugh lines)(Column)
January 1, 2004... The great actor Edmund Kean is reported to have said on his deathbed, "Dying is easy, comedy is hard." As far as we know, that oft-quoted line did not refer to Kean's time spent at the opera house, but it might as well have, For in the standard...

Bumpy nights: falls, slips, bad lighting, no rehearsal. Stories of performers in extremis are always good for a laugh--and the victims are usually eager to tell them. John Sheehan collects worst-night experiences from some of opera's top stars.
January 1, 2004... Jennifer Larmore was singing at Berlin's Staatsoper in the Ruth Berghaus production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia, in which the sets are made of nothing but painted sheets. "I leaned out the 'window' for Rosina's first recitative, and the whole...

Rhapsody for Horne: as Marilyn Horne approaches her seventieth birthday. Fred Plotkin recalls how his early admiration for her developed into a warm friendship.
January 1, 2004... Marilyn Horne dazzled me with the ease and freedom with which she sang--long before I had any understanding of what vocal technique was. When I listened to her recordings while reading the score, I was stunned by her fidelity to the notes as...

Making Goethe sing: long before the world ever heard of Massenet's Werther, Goethe's texts were a source of inspiration to a wide range of composers.
January 1, 2004... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, author of the novella on which Massenet's Werther is based, would not have found the opera to his taste. But this was not because he was opposed to the union of his words and characters with music. Quite to the...

Werther.(Metropolitan Opera)
January 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF JANUARY 10, 2004 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. WERTHER THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Bailiff bass, PAUL PLISHKA...

The Merry Widow.(Metropolitan Opera)
January 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF JANUARY 10, 2004 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. THE MERRY WIDOW THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Vicomte Cascada ...

The casts.(news bits about singers, conducters and so on; includes Spotlight on Bo Skovhus)
January 1, 2004... Michel Plasson (conductor, Werther) leads Werther for the Theatre du Chatelet, in his native Paris, in April, then goes to Zurich for Dialogues des Carmelites, the vehicle of his 1977 Met debut, as well as Carmen. He reprises Carmen at La Scala...

Madama Butterfly.(Metropolitan Opera)
January 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF JANUARY 14, 2004 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. MADAMA BUTTERFLY THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Lt. B. F. Pinkerton tenor,...

Boris Godunov.(Metropolitan Opera)
January 1, 2004... BROADCAST OF JANUARY 31, 2004 SPONSORED BY CHEVRONTEXACO OVER THE CHEVRONTEXACO METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK, 1:30 P.M. BORIS GODUNOV THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Nikitich bass, RICHARD...

Paris.(International ... Les Troyens )(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... John Eliot Gardiner long had wanted to bring the complete version of Les Troyens to the Paris stage, and he had the opportunity at the Chatelet last fall, with a production, staged by Yannis Kokkos, that was the jewel in the crown of Paris's...

Amsterdam.(International)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... In 1993, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor, Edo de Waart, performed Berlioz's Les Troyens in concert, but when the musicians entered the pit for the new production by Netherlands Opera (the company's first, seen Oct. 14),...

Wexford.(International)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... The way in which Ireland's leading festival conducts its operation--three major launches within as many days--inevitably pits not just production against production, but work against work. Rarely do all three come out of the competition equally...

Warsaw.(International ... Ubu Rex marks a departure for composer Krzysztof Penderecki)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... Krzysztof Penderecki's opera buffa Ubu Rex raised eyebrows at its 1991 Munich premiere, not least because the composer was seen to have cast aside his avant-garde credentials by writing a score that was tonal and eclectic. Others thought the...

Brussels.(International ... Le Roi Arthus is revived)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... Though several works by French composers have had their debuts at Brussels's Monnaie/De Munt Theater, not all are brought back on their anniversaries--so the choice to welcome back Ernest Chausson's Le Roi Arthus (King Arthur) for a centenary...

Corelli's legacy.(Bel Canto Society)(Advertisement)
January 1, 2004... Toward the end of his life Franco Corelli expressed great concern that he and his legacy would be forgotten. We at Bel Canto Society are devoted to his memory, to the point that we have made available 29 titles with him, among them the...

New York City.(North America)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... In its revival of Stravinsky, a triple-bill of one-act works by the Russian giant of twentieth-century music, the Met presented its audience with an embarrassment of riches. The late director John Dexter developed the concept of this trilogy...

Washington D.C.(North America ... Hasmik Papian stars in the title role of Bellini's Norma)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... The title role of Bellini's Norma continues to present remarkably daunting technical and interpretive challenges that are not readily met today. Many a soprano has been so defeated by the eloquently arching phrases of the score or the...

Seattle.(North America ... Mourning Becomes Electra: opera by Marvin David Levy)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... Fiery performances by Lauren Flanigan (as Christine, the Clytemnestra figure) and Nina Warren (as her daughter, Lavinia) brought to vocal life Marvin David Levy's adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (from 1967), the second...

Detroit.(North America ... Ewa Podles is conspicuous in Un Ballo in Mascera)(Opera Review)
January 1, 2004... Ewa Podles stole the show as Ulrica in Michigan Opera Theatre's season-opening Un Ballo in Mascbera (Oct. 22). That's not an easy thing for any Ulrica to do--she sings in only one scene, which she must share with the chorus and practically...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
January 1, 2004... The artist pictured with Robynne Redmon and Alan Opie in Madame Mao in "In Review" (Nov., p. 73) is Kelly Kaduce, not Anna Christy, as stated in the caption. The music director of" Glimmerglass Opera is Stewart Robertson, not Robinson, as...

Rameau: Zoroastre.(Recordings)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Mechaly, Panzarella, Revidat; Padmore, Berg, Lecroat, Bazola, Bonnet; Les Arts Florissants, William Christie. Text and translations. Erato 43182-2 (3) Zoroastre, Rameau's penultimate tragedie en musique, is one of the least-performed...

Massenet: Manon.(Opera And Oratorio)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Fleming; Alvarez, Chaignaud, Ferrari, Vernhes, Senechal; Paris Opera, Lopez-Cobos. Text and translation. Sony Classical S3K-90458 (3) In his biography of Massenet, James Harding writes of Manon's "wholehearted innocence," adding, "She is...

Turnage: the Silver Tassie.(Opera And Oratorio)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Connolly, Hegarty; Finley, Howell, Kempster; English National Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Daniel. Text and Notes. ENO Alive 001 (Empire, dist.) The Silver Tassie, Mark-Anthony Turnage's opera based on the play of the same name by Sean...

Handel: Theodora.(Opera And Oratorio)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Daneman, Galstian; Taylor, R Croft, Berg, Slaars; Les Arts Florissants, Christie. Text and translations. Erato 0927 43181-2 (3) Handel's masterpiece Theodora, the penultimate of his oratorios, played only three performances when it was...

Weill: the Eternal Road (excerpts).(Opera And Oratorio)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Hauman, Rearick, Christopher, DeNolfo, Dent, Maddalena, Rideout; Ernst Senff Chor, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Schwarz. English text. Naxos 8.559402 Part opera, part musical, part pageant, all epic--Kurt Weill and Franz Werfel's...

Bernstein: West Side Story.(Musical Theater)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Bonney, Williams; Ball, Howard; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Wordsworth. Notes and synopsis. Warner Classics 60423-2 West Side Story is one of those works of the American musical theater that defy ready categorization. Although...

Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette, Les Nuits d'Ete.(Choral And Song)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Diener; Tarver, Sedov; Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, Boulez. Text and translations. Deutsche Grammophon B0001301-02 Hector Berlioz (1803-69) came under Shakespeare's spell in 1827, when an English theatrical company gave performances...

Susan Graham.(Recital)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... "AT CARNEGIE HALL" Works of Brahms, Berg, Debussy, Poulenc, Simons, Messager, Hahn and Moore. With Martineau, piano. Erato 60295 Susan Graham has a way of timing career milestones to generate the right amount of stir. Her long-awaited New...

Dmitri Hvorostovsky.(Recital ... Where Are You, My Brothers? Russian Songs)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] "WHERE ARE YOU, MY BROTHERS?" Russian songs. Style of Five, Spiritual Revival Choir of Russia, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Orbelian. Transliterated texts and translations. Delos 3289 Don't judge this disc by its first cut: the overwrought...

Roberto Alagna.(Recital ... Nessun Dorma)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] "NESSUN DORMA" Arias by Puccini, Giordano, Catalani, Zandonai, Leoncavallo, Ponchielli, Mascagni, Cilea and Wolf-Ferrari. London Voices, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Elder. Texts and translations. EMI Classics 57627-2...

Hei-Kyung Hong.(Recital)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] "KOREAN SONGS" Songs by Dong-Jin Kim, Kyung-Kyu Park, Yong-Ha Yun and other Korean composers. Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Kim. Virgin Classics 45616 Hei-Kyung Hong is a lyric soprano whose singing art practically defines the best of...

Bryn Terfel.(Recital)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] "BRYN: BRYN TERFEL SINGS FAVORITES" Songs and arias by Bizet, Carmichael, Dvorak, Homer, Schubert and others. London Symphony Orchestra, London Voices, Wordsworth. Texts and Translations. DG B0001305-02 Close your eyes and you'll think...

Franco Corelli.(Historical)(Sound Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... []"THE UNKNOWN RECORDINGS" Arias by Verdi, Gounod, Massenet, Puccini, Catalani. New Philharmonia and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, Ferraris, Pedrazzoli. Text and translations. EMI Classics 62699-2 Most of these previously unreleased (by...

The best of the year.(best CDs: opera and oratorio, recitals, new works and so on )
January 1, 2004... UNMATCHED SETS: This year's crop of complete opera and oratorio sets yielded a dozen must-haves: Strauss's Die Agyptische Helena, with the glorious Deborah Voigt (Telarc); the Giulio Cesare wrought by Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre...

January online edition of Opera News.(Editorial)
January 1, 2004... World-premiere recordings of Carter's What Next? and Albeniz's Henry Clifford; Naxos releases new Wagner duets disc and vintage operetta gems; choral music by Rautavaara; remastered performances of 1931 La Scala Mefistofele and 1960 Semyon...

Verdi: Don Carlos.(Video)(Video Recording Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Mattila, W. Meier; Alagna, Hampson, van Dam, Halfvarson; Orchestre de Paris, Choeur du Theatre du Chatelet, Pappano. 1996. Kultur DVD D2031, 210 mins. When director Luc Bondy and conductor Antonio Pappano were planning this 1996...

Claudio Abbado: a Portrait.(Video)(Movie Review)
January 1, 2004... [] Film by Paul Smaczny. Berlin Philharmonic Orch., Chamber Orch. of Europe, Gustav Mahler Youth Orch. Arthaus Musik DVD 101 049 (Nezos, dist.), 60 mins. A tantalizing eight-minute glimpse of rehearsal from the 1995 Salzburg Easter...

Obituaries.(Franco Corelli)(Obituary)
January 1, 2004... Franco Corelli. Ancona, Italy, April 8, 1921--Milan, October 29, 2003 Franco Corelli's tenure at the Metropolitan Opera (1961-75) could perhaps more aptly be referred to as his reign. There were other prodigiously gifted tenors at the...

Dateline.(Calendar)
January 1, 2004... METROPOLITAN OPERA (Metropolitan Opera House, 212-362-6000; www.metopera.orq) Jan. 1 Benvenuto Cellini (Berlioz). Bayrakdarian, Goeldner; Zhang, Coleman-Wright, Halfvarson; Inouye, Serban, Tsypin/Alexi-Meskhishvili, Ingalls Jan. 2...

Adam Guettel's light in the piazza: the composer's new musical, based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer, opens at Chicago's Goodman Theater on January 20.(Hot Ticket)(Brief Article)(Interview)
January 1, 2004... Piazza is about a Southern woman, Margaret Johnson, traveling in Italy with her beautiful daughter, Clara, who is mildly brain-damaged. When a simple, handsome young Italian boy falls in love with Clara, Margaret wrestles with herself over...