Opera News articles from March 2001

Opera News archives from March 2001

LESSONS FROM VERDI.(political lessons from Verdi's operas)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... In this space in our December issue, I observed that neither presidential candidate had troubled to say anything about his views on serious culture, whether or not it deserved support and, if so, to what extent -- or, if not, why. By late...

OPERA WATCH.
March 1, 2001... 1. An early career highlight for DEBORAH VOIGT was her 1988 win in the annual vocal competition held by OPERA INDEX, an all-volunteer organization that provides financial support to young singers. At a January 2001 gala at Manhattan's Essex...

ON THE BEAT.(Russell Braun; Deborah Voigt)(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2001... Rising baritone Russell Braun sings Billy Budd in Toronto; La Voigt as Tosca; Fleming as jazz singer -- to the mannerism born? RUSSELL BRAUN appears March 4 in recital at Manhattan's Merkin Concert Hall, under the auspices of the Marilyn...

CORRECTION.
March 1, 2001... San Francisco Opera's enterprising education director is Carol Weinstein, not Carol Gilbert, as I reported in my January column. Apologies to Ms. Weinstein.

SOUND BITES: Christine Brandes.(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2001... Pity the poor voice coach who cautioned soprano Christine Brandes, back when she was an undergraduate at Ohio State. "You're very good, but you'll never have a career as a singer," Brandes recalls the instructor saying. "I guess," Brandes adds,...

PORTRAITS DE Manon.(changing performance styles of Massenet's opera)
March 1, 2001... STEVEN BLIER examines how changing performance styles have performed Massenet's material girl The year is 1973. I am at the very beginning of my career as an accompanist, and Sheri Greenawald has asked me to come and play her voice lesson...

THE SOPRANOS JUST WHAT IS A VERDI SOPRANO?
March 1, 2001... Speak to opera-lovers about Heldentenors or Wagner sopranos or Mozart singers or Verdi baritones or Verdi mezzos, and they will know what you mean, and all of you will agree on the phenomenon you are talking about. But if you mention Verdi...

STAGES OF VERDI.(influential productions of Verdi's operas)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... MARTIN BERNHEIMER revisits some of the century's most influential productions of Verdi's operas Modern operas are almost universally treated as musical theater, sometimes even as valid musical theater. The drama, in many illustrious cases,...

THE ROAD TO BABYLON.(Elijah Moshinsky and John Napier on Metropolitan Opera's new Nabucco)(Brief Article)(Interview)
March 1, 2001... PATRICK GILES speaks with Elijah Moshinsky and John Napier, the production team behind the Met's new NABUCCO At its March 1842 world premiere, Giuseppe Verdi's Nabucco was presented in a production featuring hand-me-down costumes from an...

UNSAFE AT ANY SPEED.(effect of role of Abigaille in 'Nabucco' on sopranos' vocal health)
March 1, 2001... THE DANGERS OF SINGING ABIGAILLE IN NABUCCO In 1889, poised between Otello and Falstaff and at the height of his "Grand Old Man" status in Italy, Giuseppe Verdi had the mixed pleasure of living through the fiftieth anniversary of his debut...

GRACE ANN UNDER PRESSURE.(Interview)
March 1, 2001... ALBERT INNAURATO checks in with one of opera's most tempestuous divas, Grace Bumbry, and finds that, in her sixties, she's anything but serene "Albert Francis?! Pick up! It's Grace Ann!" Some voices pull one out of sleep, or off the...

METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCASTS.
March 1, 2001... Rosalind Elias, admired by audiences and colleagues alike for her beauty, intelligence and vocalism, is still active as a singer and stage director. It is difficult to believe that this vital presence sang Fenena in the Met premiere of Nabucco...

DONIZETTI: "The Three Queens".(Review)
March 1, 2001... DONIZETTI: "The Three Queens" [] 7-disc set, essay booklet. Text and translations. DG 289 465 967-2 Anna Bolena Sills, Verrett; Burrows, Plishka; London Symphony Orchestra, Rudel. DG 289 465 957-2 Maria Stuarda Sills, Farrelk...

VERDI: Jerusalem.(Review)
March 1, 2001... VERDI: Jerusalem [] Mescheriakova; Giordani, Rouillon, Scandiuzzi; Choeur du Grand Theatre de Geneve and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Luisi. Text and translation. Philips 462 613-2 (3) Jerusalem, the 1847 reworking of I Lombardi for the...

PROKOFIEV: War and Peace.(Review)
March 1, 2001... PROKOFIEV: War and Peace [] Morozova, Ionova, Livengood, Stephen; Lavender, Balashov, A. Ewing, R. Williams, Opie, Matioukhin, Guthrie, Dupont; Russian State Symphonic Cappella, Spoleto Festival Orchestra, Hickox. Text and translation. Chandos...

ALBENIZ: Merlin.(Review)
March 1, 2001... ALBENIZ: Merlin [] Martinez, Henschel; C. Alvarez, Domingo, Maltman; Coro Nacional de Espana, Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid, Coro Alfonso X "El Sabio," Orquesta Sinfonica de Madrid, de Eusebio. Text. Decca 287 467 096-2 (2) Merlin...

FRASER-SIMSON and TATE: The Maid of the Mountains.(Review)
March 1, 2001... FRASER-SIMSON and TATE: The Maid of the Mountains [] Kelly, Burgess, Gamble, Ager; Maltman, George, Suart, Maxwell; New London Orchestra, Corp. Text. Hyperion 67190 (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) In wartime London, 1917, The Maid of the Mountains...

SCHOECK: Penthesilea.(Review)
March 1, 2001... SCHOECK: Penthesilea [] Naef, Reinhard; Kale, Johnson; Sinfonieorchester Basel, Venzago. Text, no translation. Pan 510 118-2 (2) (Qualiton, dist.) Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957) is best-known for his lieder -- he wrote more than three hundred...

Dagmar Peckova.(Review)
March 1, 2001... Dagmar Peckova [] Songs by R. Strauss, Schoek, Berg. I. Gage, piano. Texts and translations. Supraphon 3434-2 231 (Qualiton, dist.) Othmar Schoeck (1886-1957) is best-known for his lieder -- he wrote more than three hundred songs -- which...

BLOCH: Macbeth.(Review)
March 1, 2001... BLOCH: Macbeth [] Hatziano, Fournier, Schaer, Stamboulides; Lafont, Trussel, Bladin, Vanaud, Marliere; Latvian Radio Chorus, Montpellier Philharmonic, Layer. Notes and libretto in French only. Actes Sud OMA-34100 (2) (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) ...

"A MUSICALL BANQUET".(Review)
March 1, 2001... Andreas Scholl [] "A MUSICALL BANQUET" Songs by Dowland, Caccini, Guedron. Karamazov, lutes; Markl, harpsichord; Coin, bass viol. Texts and translations. Decca 466917-2 The unpretentious artistry of this singer has captivated me since I...

"VISSI D'ARTE".(Review)
March 1, 2001... Francoise Pollet [] "VISSI D'ARTE" Arias by Verdi and Puccini. Orchestre Philharmonique de Montpellier, Layer. Cascavelle VEL 3014 (Allegro, dist.) French soprano Francoise Pollet has enjoyed an international career for some time now, but...

VERDI: Ernani.(Review)
March 1, 2001... VERDI: Ernani [] Araujo; Del Monaco, Sereni, Siepi; Chorus and Orchestra of RAI, Rome, Previtali. 1958. MYTO 2MCD 004 230 (Qualiton, dist.) This could have been a Met cast, and as a matter of fact, Del Monaco, Sereni and Siepi did perform...

BRITTEN: The Rape of Lucretia.(Review)
March 1, 2001... BRITTEN: The Rape of Lucretia [] Cross, Ferrier, Ritchie, Pollak; Pears, O. Kraus, Brannigan, Donleavy; English Opera Group Orch., Goodall. Gala GL 100.560 (2) The first sound of Kathleen Ferrier's voice, half an hour into this 1946...

"MET STARS SING VERDI".(Review)
March 1, 2001... VERDI: Excerpts [] "MET STARS SING VERDI" Scenes and arias from I Lombardi, Ernani, Attila, Macbeth, Jerusalem, Luisa Miller, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, I Vespri Siciliani, Simon Boccanegra, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Forza del...

"ARIAS AND SCENES, VOLUME I".(Review)
March 1, 2001... Giulietta Simionato [] "ARIAS AND SCENES, VOLUME I" Excerpts from operas of Gluck, Rossini, Meyerbeer. With Corelli, Ghiaurov, others unidentified; Vienna Philharmonic, RAI Symphony Orchestra Milan, La Scala orchestra and chorus; Karajan,...

"BERNSTEIN LIVE".(Review)
March 1, 2001... Leonard Bernstein [] "BERNSTEIN LIVE" With Farrell, Curtin, Nixon, Vyuyan; Thomas, R. Lewis; New York Philharmonic, Bernstein. NYP 2003 (Available at 1-800-557-8268 or www.newyorkphilharmonic.org) Among the previously unavailable delights...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.
March 1, 2001... Perhaps because Il Trovatore has been hemmed in by so many misconceptions over the years, Graham Vick, who directed the Met's new production, resolved to approach it from a fresh angle. His declared intentions -- to restore the work's romance,...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: LONDON.
March 1, 2001... English National Opera's season continued with Dallapiccola's The Prisoner (Nov. 17), a score that upheld the finest traditions of Italian opera in the postwar era. (Its stage premiere was in Florence in 1950.) The Prisoner combines the...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: PARIS.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... The Paris Opera ended the century with a serious strike that necessitated performances of Die Zauberflote with a single, unchanging set and only basic lighting. It would be unfair to judge veteran Benno Besson's new production from the...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: MILAN.(Review)
March 1, 2001... While La Scala's new production of Il Trovatore offered an uncut score and interesting musical insights (with orchestral playing rich in tellingly inflected detail), it proved rather bland theatrically. Director-designer Hugo De Ana's...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: CHICAGO.
March 1, 2001... Boris Godunov is considered the apotheosis of Russian opera, but it's hard to top the unforgiving existential bleakness, brooding race memory, fatalism and general gloom -- complete with three violent onstage deaths -- of The Queen of Spades....

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: SAN FRANCISCO.(Review)
March 1, 2001... Death is the price Semele must pay, not only for forcing her lover, Jupiter, to reveal himself in his full divinity, but also (in Handel's version) for her comic coloratura marathon of self-admiration, "Myself I shall adore." Gazing into a...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ST. PETERSBURG.(Review)
March 1, 2001... The operas of Richard Strauss are rarely performed in Russia. In recent years, Moscow and St. Petersburg have seen only Salome, in a 1995 production by Julie Taymor for the Mariinsky Theater that, despite some idiosyncracies, won many admirers....

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: BARCELONA.(Review)
March 1, 2001... Perhaps the most bizarre response to intimidation in the history of censorship was Verdi's relocation of the gaiety, humor and amorous passions of Sweden's royal court in Un Ballo in Maschera to the stern grayness of Puritan New England. Most...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: BALTIMORE.(Review)
March 1, 2001... Baltimore Opera Company, celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this season, added Elektra to its repertoire (Nov. 11), in a production given extra newsworthiness by Renata Scotto's first portrayal of Klytamnestra. Anyone who witnessed the divas...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: DALLAS.(Review)
March 1, 2001... It has taken seventy-five years for Wozzeck to reach Texas, but Dallas Opera offered a stunning if belated production of Berg's masterpiece in December at the Music Hall in Fair Park. Although the Dallas audience, restive and coughing in the...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: WASHINGTON, D.C.(Review)
March 1, 2001... Greeting the audience as it filled up the seats at the Kennedy Center Opera House for Il Trovatore on Oct. 28 was the sight of rain pouring onto a stage strewn with slain soldiers sprawled amid ragged rows of swords stuck into the earth. The...

CONCERTS AND RECITALS: NEW YORK CITY.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Bad enough that Jane Eaglen resorted to sheet music and a stand throughout her New York recital debut (Nov. 29), even during encores. Worse, she forced high notes. Worst yet, the English soprano gave slight indication that her songs...

CONCERTS AND RECITALS: CLEVELAND.(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Sustained, deserved standing ovations greeted Pierre Boulez, a strong cast and the Cleveland Orchestra after a superlative Pelleas et Melisande (Dec. 9), the second of two long-awaited concert readings. Boulez seems to have renewed the...

MARILYN HORNE: Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Ete (1966).(Review)
March 1, 2001... MARILYN HORNE: Berlioz: Les Nuits d'Ete (1966) [] VAI VHS 69426, 32 mins. (approx.) May 16, 1964: Marilyn Horne, newly thirty, fresh from a triumphant Boston Semiramide, judges the Los Angeles Bureau of Music's "Artist of the Future" Voice...

ANNA MOFFO: Bell Telephone Hour telecasts (1962-67).(Review)
March 1, 2001... ANNA MOFFO: Bell Telephone Hour telecasts (1962-67) [] Excerpts from La Boheme, Don Giovanni, Romeo et Juliette, La Traviata. VAI VHS 69712, 42 mins. (approx.) May 16, 1964: Marilyn Horne, newly thirty, fresh from a triumphant Boston...

The Magic Flute.(Review)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Illustrations by Davide Pizzigoni; translation and introduction by J. D. McClatchy Abbeville Press, 200pp., $50. 2-CD set included (Toscanini, 1937); 270 full-color illustrations "Zu Hilfe! Zu Hilfe! Sonst bin ich verloren," sings Tamino...

The Unknown Callas: The Greek Years.(Review)
March 1, 2001... The Unknown Callas: The Greek Years by Nicholas Petsalis-Diomidis Amadeus Press, 672 pp. $39.95 These two poorly written biographies serve as neat bookends to Maria Callas's life, one concentrating on the period before 1947, the other on...

Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis.(Review)
March 1, 2001... Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis by Nicholas Gage Knopf, 448 pp. $26.95 These two poorly written biographies serve as neat bookends to Maria Callas's life, one concentrating on the period before 1947, the other...

OBITUARIES.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
March 1, 2001... VICTOR BRAUN, Windsor, Ontario, August 4, 1935 -- Ulm, January 6, 2001 Celebrated as Don Giovanni, Scarpia, Onegin, Jochanaan and Golaud, Braun began his career in his native Canada and then established his reputation in Europe in the...

VERDI'S FINAL MASTERPIECE.(composer established the House of Rest for Musicians prior to his death)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2001... Say "Casa Verdi" to a taxi driver in Milan, and he knows just where you want to go: to "Verdi's house," the Casa di Riposo per Musicisti, the House of Rest for Musicians that Verdi built and endowed more than a hundred years ago. Casa...