Opera News articles from June 2002

Opera News archives from June 2002

Festival season. (Viewpoint).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... For many years we have published a guide to U.S. opera festivals in our June issue. This year, we are also homing in on three of the most venerable and successful American adaptations of a summer ritual first tried at Salzburg in the...

Correction.
June 1, 2002... Gabriella Tucci relinquished a performance of Andrea Chenier at the Met to allow Zinka Milanov to celebrate her twenty-fifth anniversary, not her twentieth, as stated in "Reunion: Gabriella Tucci" [April]. The error was not the author's but...

Opera watch.
June 1, 2002... 1. KATARINA KARNEUS is currently at work in Glyndebourne, as Gluck's Clitemnestre (June 1-July 5). Next month brings a brace of Sestos in Munich's Giulio Cesare (July 25, 27). The mezzo takes on Annio in Covent Gardens Clemenza di Tiro in...

New directions. (A Singer's Diary).
June 1, 2002... "As an opera singer, I was always interested in what directors see, how they focus things," observes Stephanie Sundine. Throughout her career, which encompassed leading roles (Tosca, Salome, Isolde, Desdemona) at the Met, in Paris, Berlin, at...

Sound bites.(Lawrence Brownlee)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Lawrence Brownlee had a tough act to follow at this year's Marilyn Home Foundation Recital in January. Minutes before his aria, Home herself had made an unlisted appearance, singing Gershwin's "By Strauss," her burnished timbre and...

Dramatic presence: soprano Patricia Racette's gusty, uncompromising approach to her work extends to her offstage life, as well. (Cover Story).(Cover Story)
June 1, 2002... IF there's one constant in a singers life, it's change: the nomadic journey from city to city, theater to theater, festival to festival. The more successful you are, the more you're on the road, with precious little time to establish roots and...

Operating theater: controversial and unapologetic, director Jonathan Miller thrives on dissecting the contemporary opera scene.
June 1, 2002... Jonathan Miller, the thinking man's director, has presided over four productions at the Metropolitan Opera -- all theatrically stimulating and some subtly provocative. His Le Nozze di Figaro -- dark, realistic, carefully motiyated and...

Seasons of Santa Fe: Richard Gaddes, the new general director of Santa Fe Opera, is bringing a strong sense of history and a heightened feeling of community to the company.
June 1, 2002... In Santa Fe, past and present coexist gracefully. Downtown, its Plaza, a patch of green laid out by the founding padres in 1610, fills in summer with Native Americans from nearby pueblos selling their not-bad homemade jewelry. At one end stands...

The road to Ravinia: after almost a century aof music-making, Illimois's beloved Ravinia Festival continues to redefine populism.
June 1, 2002... Summer music festivals are supposed to be the center of the action. They're a way to stimulate tourism, visitors, commerce. Step off the train in Salzburg in August, and you'll see Deutsche Grammophon posters of Domingo. Arrive in Bayreuth, and...

The Aspen idea: for decades now, the Aspen Music Festival has thrived in remote ski resort in the Rockies that has become one of the most popular ports of call of the rich and famous. But can it say true to its original vision?
June 1, 2002... The Aspen Music Festival, now launching its fifty-third season, began as the quixotic dream of Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke and his wife, Elizabeth, to create a haven in the Rocky Mountains for the arts, an experimental hothouse for...

Bound for Eden: Rebecca Paller interviews the stars of Cary John Franklin's new opera about Charles A. Lindbergh, due for its world premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis this month.(Loss of Eden stars Mark Duffin, Keith Phares)(Interview)
June 1, 2002... There was no shortage of public heroes in the 1920s, and many of them have been forgotten -- but not Charles Augustus Lindbergh, whose flight from New York to Paris seventy-five years ago was a historic event of such magnitude that it...

Summer landscape: an Opera News guide to the top U.S. summer festivals.
June 1, 2002... ARKANSAS * OPERA IN THE OZARKS AT INSPIRATION POINT Inspiration Point Fine Arts Center, Eureka Springs, 479-253-8595; www.opera.org June 21 La Boheme. Also 23, 25, 27, 29, July 3, 11, 17, 20 June 22 Cosi Fan Tutte. Also...

Operetta haven.(Ohio Light Opera of Wooster, Ohio)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... The hills surrounding Wooster, Ohio -- just a seventy-five-minute drive southwest of Cleveland -- are dotted with cows and corn, not exactly signs of a unique artistic festival nearby. Eventually, however, the road leads to the Freedlander...

Chicago on the air. (Lyric Opera of Chicago Radio Network).
June 1, 2002... More than 500 radio outlets in North America are slated to carry the WFMT Fine Arts Network's rebroadcasts of Lyric Opera of Chicago's 2001-02 first nights through June 29, 2002. Produced by Norman Pellegrini and Lois Baum (with Chris Willis,...

On the road: Carol Vaness in Paris: to be a singer in the twenty-first century is to be a world-class traveler. With this article, Opera News launches an occasional series that asks singers where they like best to return.(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... For Carol Vaness, the first city that springs to mind is Paris. She loves the Jardin du Luxembourg, the public park behind the Luxembourg Palace, home of the French Senat, on the Left Bank. "My girlfriend, Jennifer [Ringo] Conlon, who lives...

Wagner: Tannhauser.
June 1, 2002... [] Eaglen, W. Meier, Roschmann; Seiffert, Hampson, Pape; Chor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim. Text and translations. Teldec 8573-88064-2 Daniel Barenboim continues in his apparent mission to conquer all...

R. Strauss: Friedenstag.(Strauss)
June 1, 2002... [] Voigt; Dohmen, Martinsen, Botha, Jun, Villars; Staatskapelle and Staatsopernchor Dresden, Sinopoli. Notes, libretto and translations. DG 463 494-2 If noble intentions and high-minded subject matter could make an operatic masterpiece,...

Mozart: the Impresario.(Mozart's Circle: The Beneficent Dervish)
June 1, 2002... MOZART'S CIRCLE: The Beneficent Dervish [] Baker, Sieden, Meek; Aler, Deas, A. Ewing; Boston Baroque, Pearlman. Texts and translations. Telarc CD-80573 Here, on a single, gratifying disc from Telarc, are Mozart's The Impresario, a...

Ward: Roman Fever.
June 1, 2002... [] Grimley, Smith, Brown, Shoremount; de Toledo; Manhattan School of Music Opera Orchestra, Gilbert. English text. Albany Records Troy 505 Robert Ward's 1993 opera Roman Fever, the latest in the series of Manhattan School world-premiere...

Herbert: the Red Mill.
June 1, 2002... [] Balach, Loomis, Wilcox; Woods, King, Maida, Woodward, Meachem, Wannen; Ohio Light Opera, Thompson. Text included. Albany Records Troy 492/493 (2) Victor Herbert's The Red Mill (1906), one of his most successful operettas, is rarely...

Barbara Bonney. "While I Dream".
June 1, 2002... Songs by Schumann and Liszt. Pappano, piano. Texts and translations. Decca 2894702 89-2 Another silly (and misleading) title from the marketing people is tacked onto another memorable lieder recital from Barbara Bonney and Antonio Pappano....

Placido Domingo. "Wagner: Scenes from the Ring".
June 1, 2002... With Dessay, Urmana; Cangelosi; Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Pappano. Texts and translations. EMI Classics CDC 57242 Placido Domingo's association with Wagner, seemingly a relatively recent event in the tenor's lengthy...

Vesselina Kasarova. "Love Entranced: French Opera Arias".
June 1, 2002... Arias by Meyerbeer, Gounod, Berlioz, Thomas, Saint-Saens, Massenet and Lalo. Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chaslin. Texts and translations. BMG CADV-67667-2 This repertoire seems an odd vehicle for showcasing the considerable appeal of...

Dmitri Hvorostovsky. "Verdi Arias".
June 1, 2002... from Otello, Rigoletto, Stiffelio, Nabucco, Un Ballo in Maschera, Ernani, I Masnadieri, Il Trovatore. With Grivnov, Vinogradov; Spiritual Revival Choir of Russia, Kontorovich; Philharmonia of Russia, Bernardi. Texts and translations. Delos DE...

Michael Chance and Fretwork. "The Hidden Face".
June 1, 2002... Music by Tavener, Taverner, Ward, Picforth, Purcell. Fretwork. Texts and translations. Harmonia Mundi 907285 The gradual revelation of connections between the works on this brilliantly assembled recording is one of its delights. The viol...

Verdi: Aida.
June 1, 2002... [] Martinis, Rankin; Fehenberger, Malaspina, Petri, Pernerstorfer; Wiener Symphoniker, Wiener Singverein, Karajan. Urania URN 22.190 (Qualiton, dist.) Officially "de-Nazified" in 1947, Herbert yon Karajan reached a pivotal career level...

London. (International).
June 1, 2002... Francesca Zambello's new production of Don Giovanni for the Royal Opera opened on January 22, with former music director Colin Davis returning to lead the first of two almost equally starry casts. (Charles Mackerras led the second cast.) ...

Paris. (International).(Medea at the Opera de Paris)
June 1, 2002... The Opera de Paris paid tribute to its most successful director of recent times, Rolf Liebermann (1910-99), with a new production of his Medea. The work, which began life as a soprano monologue (premiere in Hamburg, 1990), was extended to a...

Verona. (International).(Pagliacci)
June 1, 2002... The highlight of the winter season at the Teatro Filarmonico was Davide and Federico Alagna's touring production of Pagliacci (coupled on this occasion with the ballet Zorba the Greek), designed as a showcase for their brother Roberto and first...

Berlin. (International).(Fidelio)
June 1, 2002... "Fire Zimmermann!" the outraged audience screamed when the curtain came down after Deutsche Oper's new Fidelio on February 26, holding the company's Intendant, Udo Zimmermann, responsible for a disastrous production. Beethoven's complex work --...

New York City. (North America).
June 1, 2002... Franco Zeffirelli's production of Falstaff, the stuff of instant legend when it first appeared at the old Metropolitan Opera House in 1964, returned to the stage of the Lincoln Center house on March 21 with remade scenery. The costumes too were...

Chicago. (North America).
June 1, 2002... For Lyric Opera's new Parsifal (a coproduction with San Francisco Opera and English National Opera, where it was unveiled in 1999), director Nikolaus Lehnhoff updated Wagner's spacious tale of Christian mysticism and redemption to what appears...

Miami. (North America).(Regina)
June 1, 2002... Marc Blitzstein's Regina made what was announced as a first visit to Florida in February. Sparked by the local debut of Lauren Flanigan in the title role, Florida Grand Opera's sumptuous new staging (a coproduction with New York City Opera,...

Tulsa. (North America).(Cunning Little Vixen)
June 1, 2002... Compared with Janacek's great tragic operas, his Cunning Little Vixen can seem piecemeal and lightweight. What's a director to do with an opera about animals and their interactions with humans? But the production by Tulsa Opera (seen March 9)...

The Letters of Arturo Toscanini.
June 1, 2002... edited by Harvey Sachs Alfred A. Knopf, 528 pp. $35 Harvey Sachs's biography Toscanini, published by Lippincott in 1978, promptly qualified as the standard work on its subject. He wrote it, however, without the knowledge that extensive...

Obituaries.(Eileen Farrell )(Obituary)
June 1, 2002... EILEEN FARRELL, Willimantic, Connecticut, February 13, 1920 -- Park Ridge, New Jersey, March 23, 2002 If there was a recurring theme throughout Eileen Farrell's career, perhaps it was freedom. In her choice of musical direction, she always...

The Metropolitan Opera presents telecast of June 11, 2002, on PBS at 9 p.m. (ET) *. (Video).(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... NABUCCO Music by Giuseppe Verdi Libretto by Tenistocle Solera THE CAST (in order of vocal appearance) Zaccaria bass, SAMUEL RAMEY Ismaele tenor, GWYN HUGHES JONES Fenena mezzo, WENDY WHITE...

Early edition. (Coda).(early music)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2002... Early-music singers exist in a parallel universe to the one peopled by opera singers. Both feature vocalizing, language study, life on the road, germophobia, exasperating colleagues, grousing about managers and the delights of being recognized...