Opera News articles from March 2000

Opera News archives from March 2000

LETTERS.(Letter to the Editor)
March 1, 2000... BLAKE'S VIEW ?? I concede to Brian Kellow every right to dislike a performance, and I gather this was the case with my singing of Oronte in Handel's Alcina, which he reviewed in the January issue [p. 86]. I protest, however, his reportage...

ERRATUM.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... ERRATUM: Baritone Brian Davis was listed inadvertently as a tenor in the Tristan und Isolde broadcast cast [p. 68, Dec.], in which he sang Melot.

OPERAWATCH.
March 1, 2000... Milnes takes a new role in Memphis, Houston gears for Adamo and Floyd, Met divas are honored The MOG's 65th Anniversary Luncheon (March 2 at N.Y.C.'s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel) honors divas ANNA MOFFO and ROBERTA PETERS; they made their Met...

ON THE BEAT.(brief notes)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... Costa Diva -- a Merry Widow with glamor; Robert Bass celebrates twenty years with the Collegiate Chorale In the 1960s and early '70s, few sopranos defined glamour quite so much as MARY COSTA. She's been little in evidence lately, so...

Cover Story.(opera understudies)
March 1, 2000... JOANNE SYDNEY LESSNER TAKES A LOOK AT OPERA'S EMERGENCY RESCUE TEAM -- THOSE WHO WAIT IN THE WINGS "I might catch up with a doctor's appointment, practice a little. I never have a lesson or a coaching, I don't go out if it's cold. I read...

Extraordinary Jo.(Jo Stafford, singer)(Interview)
March 1, 2000... In our cover-story poll, "What's the Greatest Voice You Ever Heard?," in the September 1999 issue of OPERA NEWS, Susanne Mentzer cast an enthusiastic vote for the superb '40s and '50s pop stylist Jo Stafford. It struck the editors that since...

WIDOW'S PEAKS.(The Merry Widow, operetta)
March 1, 2000... A century's worth of famous Hanna Glawaris THE career of the irresistibly wealthy Pontevedrian beauty Hanna Glawari has been truly fabulous. Within months after her debut, at Vienna's Theater an der Wien in 1905, she was a worldwide...

NO HOLDING BACK.(Lady Macbeth of Mtsenk, opera)
March 1, 2000... Nikolai Leshov's short story "lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" tackles the question of what drives a woman to commit murder Whenever we read a news story of a brutal murder, questions inevitably arise as to what motivated the attacker, and to what...

SOUND of THUNDER.(Leonard Warren, opera singer)
March 1, 2000... This spring, a new biography by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz promises to shed light on Leonard Warren's life and career. LEIGHTON KERNER remembers Warren on the fortieth anniversary of the baritone's shocking death during a Met performance of LA...

High Times, Hard Times.
March 1, 2000... Last fall, Christa Ludwig visited New York to promote her autobiography, IN MY OWN VOICE, recently published in the U.S. Broadcaster and author EDWIN NEWMAN met with Ludwig to discuss her distinguished career and hardscrabble early years ...

METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCASTS.(Review)
March 1, 2000... The music of Lehar's Hanna Glawari has proved appealing to an extraordinary gallery of Met prima donnas over the years. In 1908, within a few months of The Merry Widow's New York premiere, Marcella Sembrich recorded (in Italian) a solo-voice...

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya.(Review)
March 1, 2000... RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya [] Gorchakova; Okhotnikov, Marusin, Galouzine, Putilin, Minzhilkiev, Ognovenko; Kirov Chorus and Orchestra, St. Petersburg, Gergiev. Text and translation....

STRAVINSKY: Le Rossignol; Renard.(Review)
March 1, 2000... STRAVINSKY: Le Rossignol; Renard [] Dessay, McLaughlin, Urmana; Grivnov, Naouri, Schagidullin, Mikhailov, Caley; Chorus and Orchestra of L'Opera National de Paris, Conlon. English text. EMI 56874 Listeners who enjoy Stravinsky's...

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Kashchey the Immortal.(Review)
March 1, 2000... RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Kashchey the Immortal [] Shaguch, Diadkova; Gergalov, Pluzhnikov, Morozov; Kirov Chorus and Orchestra, St. Petersburg; Gergiev. Text and translation. Philips 446 704-2 If the character of Kashchey is familiar to...

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: The Tsar's Bride.(Review)
March 1, 2000... RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: The Tsars Bride [] Borodina, Shaguch, Loskutova, Markova-Mikhailenko; Hvorostovsky, Bezzubenkov, Alexashkin, Akimov, Gassier; Kirov Chorus and Orchestra, Gergiev. Text and translation. Philips 462 618-2 (2) What a gem...

BEETHOVEN: Fidelio.(Review)
March 1, 2000... BEETHOVEN: Fidelio [] Nielsen, Lienbacher; Winbergh, Pecoraro, Titus, Moll, Glashof; Hungarian Radio Chorus, Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia, Halasz. German text only Naxos 8.660070-71 (2) This new Fidelio, tautly and atmospherically...

ARNE: Alfred.(Review)
March 1, 2000... ARNE: Alfred [] Brandes, Smith; Daniels, MacDougall; Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale, McGegan. Texts. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 75605 51314 2 (2) For the modern listener, Thomas Arne's melodious (if not exactly engrossing)...

Vesselina Kasarova.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Vesselina Kasarova [] Lieder by Schubert, Brahms, Schumann. Haider, piano. Texts and translations. BMG Classics 09026-68763-2 In her new recording of German Romantic lieder, Bulgarian mezzo Vesselina Kasarova provides ample display of...

Daniela del Monaco.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Daniela del Monaco [] "NAPOLI IN CANTO" Neapolitan Songs. Grande, guitar. Texts and translation. Opus 111 OPS 30-268 (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) Three Tenors, move over: Daniela del Monaco is a trained opera contralto who can belt out a...

Sumi Jo.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Sumi Jo [] "A TRIBUTE TO JOHANN STRAUSS" Arias and instrumental selections. Symphony Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper, Bibl. Texts and translations. Erato 3984-25500-2 With the exception of Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss's operettas...

WAGNER: Parsifal.(Review)
March 1, 2000... WAGNER: Parsifal [] Ludwig Hongen; Uhl, Hotter, Wachter, Berry Franc; Chorus and Orchestra of Vienna State Opera, Karajan. Notes, no libretto. RCA 74321 61950 2 Herbert von Karajan caused a nice Wagnerian stir when he turned his...

WAGNER: Parsifal excerpts.(Review)
March 1, 2000... WAGNER: Parsifal excerpts [] Pistor/Wolff, Hofmann/Kipnis; Berlin Philharmonic/Orchestra and Chorus of the Bayreuth Festival/Orchestra and Chorus of the Berlin State Opera, Muck/Hertz/ Siegfried Wagner. Notes, no libretto. Naxos Historical...

BENIAMINO GIGLI.(Review)
March 1, 2000... BENIAMINO GIGLI [] "THE COMPLETE HMV RECORDINGS (1933-35)" Leoncavallo: Pagliacci. Pacetti; Gigli, Nessi, Basiola, Paci; Teatro alla Scala Orchestra and Chorus, Ghione. Songs and arias by Bixio, Bizet, Cottrau, De Curtis, Di Capua,...

LEONARD WARREN.(Review)
March 1, 2000... LEONARD WARREN "THE COMPLETE VICTOR RECORDINGS (1939-47)" Songs, arias, duets and scenes by Verdi, Ponchielli, Gounod, Offenbach, Rossini, Bizet, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Tchaikovsky, de-Hardelot, Sanderson, Speaks and Malotte; traditional...

RODGERS and HART: Babes in Arms.(Review)
March 1, 2000... RODGERS and HART: Babes in Arms [] Dilly, Anderson, Campbell et al.; Coffee Club Orchestra, Fisher. No texts. DRG 94769 This uplifting 1999 cast recording, taken from performances in the New York City Center ENCORES! series, finally...

"ULTRASOUND".(Review)
March 1, 2000... "ULTRASOUND" [] Vocal and orchestral selections by Debussy, J. S. Bach, R. Schumann, Massenet, Mozart, Brahms, Hovhaness, Tchaikovsky, Vivaldi; Chopin, Tournier, Gluck, Grieg, Puccini and Schubert. Various soloists, conductors and...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Whether or not Harbison's The Great Gatsby, which was given its premiere at the Met on December 20, is a success will depend largely on how reverently one views the novel. Perhaps F. Scott Fitzgerald's book The Great Gatsby doesn't really...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: SAN FRANCISCO.(Review)
March 1, 2000... The first part of San Francisco Opera's 1999-2000 season looked like a film archive. Thierry Bosquet's pretty Louise designs approximated An American in Paris (but not Charpentier's operatic milieu). Michael Levine's Wozzeck was out of The...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: WASHINGTON, D.C.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Washington Opera brought Massenet's neglected Le Cid to the stage (seen Nov. 7) in a sumptuous coproduction first unveiled at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville. Hugo De Ana set the drama on a step-like series of playing levels, with...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: COSTA MESA, CA.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Owned by San Francisco Opera, John Conklin's compact, elegant sets for Verdi's La Traviata have been traveling up and down the California coast for several years. In Los Angeles, San Diego and Costa Mesa, as well as in their hometown, Conklin's...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: DALLAS.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Dallas Opera launched its 1999-2000 season with a combination of firsts and lasts. The first offering in Plato Karayanis's last season as general director was a new production of Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito (seen Oct. 31). It featured Richard...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: HOUSTON.(Review)
March 1, 2000... In 1986, Houston Grand Opera commissioned director Goran Jarvefelt and set and costume designer Carl Friedrich Oberle to create, for all three of Mozart's Da Ponte operas, spare but elegant unit-set productions patterned after their work for...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: PORTLAND, OR.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Portland Opera is in a semi-experimental mood these days. On paper, the company's thirty-fifth season looks traditional enough: Aida, Werther, a Pagliacci/Carmina Burana double bill, The Cunning Little Vixen and The Mikado. But the productions...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ZURICH.(Review)
March 1, 2000... It looks like no place, nowhere -- well, maybe somewhere between Dante's Inferno and Kafka's Castle. In Erich Wonders rusty-red background wall with its diagonal cleft, mysterious trapdoors open and close; behind them yawns a labyrinthine...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: GLASGOW.(Review)
March 1, 2000... David Horne, whose new opera, Friend of the People, was given its premiere by Scottish Opera at the Theatre Royal on November 6, has achieved a good deal in his twenty-nine years. Born in Stifling in 1970, he won the piano section of BBC Young...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: AMSTERDAM.(Review)
March 1, 2000... The title of Writing to Vermeer, the new opera by Louis Andriessen and Peter Greenaway, is an exact synopsis of the plot -- as far as there is one. Greenaway's libretto consists of nothing but eighteen letters written to the Dutch painter...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: LONDON.(Review)
March 1, 2000... There's something of a fashion these days for staging works that aren't strictly (in some cases even remotely) operatic, as if there weren't quite enough operas to go around already. Janacek's Diary of One Who Vanished, as it was titled on...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: MUNICH.(Review)
March 1, 2000... It has been more than twenty years since the Bavarian State Opera staged Beethoven's Fidelio anew. Although the previous production was more than serviceable, it was decided to have another go at one of the masterpieces of the repertory....

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: GENOA.(Review)
March 1, 2000... The Teatro Carlo Felice boldly opened its season with two Britten operas: Death in Venice and The Rape of Lucretia. The former had not been seen in Italy since 1973. It was given an ambitious production by director-designer Pier Luigi Pizzi --...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: HELSINKI.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Mothers and Daughters is the title of Tapio Tuomela's new opera, which opened on November 6, but a man is at the heart of the work -- Lemminkainen, the notorious womanizer of Finland's national epic, The Kalevala, which has inspired operas by...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ST PETERSBURG.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Johannes Schaaf will stage the Ring at the Mariinsky Theatre beginning in June; in a preliminary venture he joined the company for a new Don Giovanni. Those who know Schaaf's production for Covent Garden, where he has staged all the Mozart-Da...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: PARIS.(Review)
March 1, 2000... The Paris Opera celebrated the Poulenc centenary in style with a new Francesca Zambello production of Dialogues des Carmelites (opened Nov. 13). Seiji Ozawa conducted the score with absolute mastery, emphasizing the modern, Stravinsky-like...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: HONG KONG.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Start with Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, take a beautiful, seemingly defenseless orphan girl, pursued by a handsome yet venial youth and a scheming older man who will stop at nothing to satisfy his desires; add a few supernatural...

Letter from London.
March 1, 2000... In May 1998, OPERA NEWS ran a cover story on the chaos surrounding the controversial renovation of London's Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; it pictured the theater covered in scaffolding and posed the question, "Is it a wrap for the Royal?"...

DVD ALERT.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... It looks as if opera-lovers interested in adding DVDs to their collections can begin shopping in earnest. Image Entertainment, the DVD distributor for RM (Reiner Moritz) Associates, is now releasing titles in the new format in the U.S. Recent...

OBITUARIES.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2000... JOEL BLOCH, Brooklyn, New York, January 13, 1949 -- New York City, January 8, 2000 Bloch enjoyed a long and successful career as an artist's manager. A onetime employee of Shaw Concerts Inc., he later moved to Columbia Artists Management...

MY FAVORITE NIGHT AT THE OPERA.(Review)
March 1, 2000... What a difficult choice to make! After nearly forty years of opera going, evenings inextricably joined to a singer's name and image dance around in my brain, veiled by the glistening patina of memory, screaming, "Choose Me!" Rysanek's Senta or...

[2] FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.(Review)
March 1, 2000... Nearly everyone in the audience knew the story: Disney chief Michael Eisner heard Mahler's Eighth for the first time and, overwhelmed, decided that Disney should "do" classical music. As a result, two young (forty-ish) American composers...