Opera News articles from May 1999

Opera News archives from May 1999

OPERA WATCH.(singer performances and company schedules)
May 1, 1999... The Met announces new season, Bartoli gamely goes on in Zurich, Scotto onstage in Turin SONIA GANASSI, who started the season as Zayda in a new staging of Donizetti's Dom Sebastien at Bologna's Teatro Comunale (Dec.), since has portrayed...

Bittersweet BUDAPEST.(traveling in Budapest, Hungary)
May 1, 1999... Brooks Peters savors the multinational flavor of the Hungarian capital My first glimpse of Budapest was in black and white, on a silver screen, in a smoke-filled movie theater. It was my senior year in college, and I slipped into the local...

Budapest Bound.
May 1, 1999... While the rest of the world kicks oft the new millennium this coming January with picnics at the Pyramids, a crush at Times Square and the odd trek to the North or South Pole, conductor Rico Saccani, the new music director of the 146-year-old...

Echoes of Riga.(Riga, Latvia)
May 1, 1999... JAN MORRIS travels to the Latvian city and discovers its people still struggling to find their in place modern Europe "Oh please," said I to the lady in her little glass cubicle in the lobby of No. 4, Riharda Vagnera Iela. "It is not...

All About Ewa.(singer Ewa Podles)(Interview)
May 1, 1999... Gutsy Polish contralto Ewa Podles has self-confidence, a huge following -- and no time for music-business politics At Paris' Theatre des Champs Elysees, Act II of Handel's Rinaldo is about to begin. It's a concert performance starring Ewa...

WARSAW The Great Survivor.(re-emergence of Poland's capital)
May 1, 1999... As World War II came to an end in 1945, an embittered Adolf Hitler destroyed much of what was left of occupied Europe in a vain attempt to hinder the relentless progress of the Allies. In Warsaw, however, his malevolent intentions were not...

The Long Voyage Home.(William Lobkowicz; Bohemia)
May 1, 1999... The scion of a distinguished Bohemian family returns to his roots "Home," for me, has meant Bohemia for as long as I can remember. I was born in Boston in 1961, grew up in Massachusetts and was educated there, and my mother is from...

Charm City.(Prague -- the most comfortable of Europe's great capitals)(Brief Article)
May 1, 1999... Prague -- the most comfortable of Europe's great capitals Some cities blind you with their beauty and grandeur: Prague disarms you with its modesty. At one time it might have become a "second Vienna." and there are still a few reminders of...

THE KRAKOW CONNECTION.(composer Krzysztof Penderecki wants to make Krakow, Poland, famous for music)
May 1, 1999... POLAND'S FOREMOST COMPOSER, KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI, IS WORKING OVERTIME TO MAKE HIS CITY A VITAL FORCE IN EUROPEAN CULTURAL LIFE In the armory of the Wawel Royal Castle, perched high above the rooftops of Krakow, is an ornate Turkish saddle...

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] 1869 Version: Putilin, Lutsuk, Okhotnikov, Pluzhnikov; 1872 Version: Borodina; Vaneev, Galouzine, Okhotnikov, Pluzhnikov, Nikitin; Kirov Opera and Orchestra, Gergiev. Texts and translations. Philips 462230 (5CDs) The history of Boris...

JONES: The Geisha.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Watson, Sar. Walker, Vivian; Maltman, Koc, Nicoll, Suart; New London Light Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Corp. English text only. Hyperion 67006 Although this 1896 Anglo-Japanese confluence will not replace The Mikado in the affections of...

MOZART: Le Nozze di Figaro.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Marin Degor, Borst, Polverelli; Claessens, Rivenq; La Grande Ecurie & La Chambre du Roy, Malgoire. No text or translation. Auvidis Astree E 8657 (3) These two no-frills budget recordings originate from live festival performances of the...

MOZART: Cosi Fan Tutte.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Fournier, Polverelli, Marin Degor; Edwards, Rivenq, Donnelly; La Grande Ecurie & La Chambre du Roy, Malgoire. No text or translation. Auvidis Astree E 8658 (3) (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) These two no-frills budget recordings originate from...

VERDI: Falstaff.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Faulkner, Dilber, Bonitatibus, Di Micco; Trimarchi, Comencini, Servile, Facini, Cosentino, De Grandis; Hungarian State Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Humberg. Libretto only Naxos Opera Classics 5537 The principal challenge in producing a...

SUK: Epilogue; Fairy Tale.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Orgonasova; Kusnjer, Mikulas; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Pesek. Texts and translations. Virgin Classics 7243 5 45245 2 3 Joseph Suk's Epilogue is a revelation. Suk (1874-1935) was not only Dvorak's favorite pupil,...

NOVAK: Slovacko Suite; Melancholic Songs of Love; Serenade in F Major.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Tetourova; Prague Chamber Phil., Belohlavek. Texts and translations. Supraphon 3372-2 931 (Qualiton, dist.) Joseph Suk's Epilogue is a revelation. Suk (1874-1935) was not only Dvorak's favorite pupil, he was also his son-in-law (he...

JANACEK: Glagolitic Mass/ZEMLINSKY: Psalm 83/ KORNGOLD: Passover Psalm, Op. 30.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Urbanova, M. Benackova; Bogachov, Novak; Trotter (organ), Slovak Philharmonic Choir, Vienna Philharmonic, Chailly. Texts & translations. London 289 460 213-2 The Glagolitic Mass, Janacek's odd yet glorious non-operatic masterpiece, is a...

JANACEK: The Diary of One Who Disappeared; Piano Sonata 1. X. 1905.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Peckova; Straka; Female members of the Prague Chamber Choir, Lapsansky (piano). Texts and translations. Supraphon 3378-2 931 (Qualiton, dist.) Captivating women appear frequently in the later dramatic works of Leos Janacek, and he...

Cecilia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] "CECILIA & BRYN" Arias and duets by Mozart, Rossini and Donizetti. No texts. Orchestra dell'Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, M. W. Chung. London 458 928-2 Of these two superstar duet albums, "Cecilia & Bryn" is the more satisfying;...

Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] "STAR CROSSED LOVERS" Songs, arias and duets by Bernstein, Ellington, Gardel, Gounod, Lehar, Moreno Torroba and Verdi. Chicago Symphony Barenboim. Texts & translations. London 289 460 793-2 Of these two superstar duet albums, "Cecilia &...

Monica Groop.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] "BACH ALTO CANTATAS" Wikman (organ), Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Kangas. Texts and translations. Finlandia 3984-25325-2 When one thinks how difficult it is for composers today to secure a commission for any type of chamber music,...

Ivan Kusnjer.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Dvorak: Biblical Songs, Gypsy Songs, Three Modern Greek Poems. Marian Lapsansky (piano). Texts and translations. Supraphon 3247-2231 (Qualiton, dist.) Written during Antonin Dvorak's famous sojourn in the U.S., this heartfelt cycle...

Julianne Baird.(Review)
May 1, 1999... "FANNY MENDELSSOHN LIEDER" Weber (pianoforte). Texts and translations. Newport Classic 85652 Bringing her early-music aesthetic to bear on the underexplored lieder repertory of Fanny Mendelssohn (Felix's older and, according to some, more...

SMETANA: Dalibor (in German).(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] Leonie Rysanek, Lotte Rysanek; Spiess, Dallapozza, Wachter, Czerwenka, Kreppel, Franc; Vienna State Opera, Krips (1969). No libretto. RCA 74321-57735 (2) This 1969 Austrian Radio broadcast, digitally remastered, preserves a much admired...

Marian Anderson.(Review)
May 1, 1999... [] "SPIRITUALS" No texts. RCA Victor 09026-63306-2 It is widely believed -- and stated in the annotations to this disc -- that the long career of African-American contralto Marian Anderson reached its culmination with her Metropolitan Opera...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: LONDON.(London, England)(Brief Article)
May 1, 1999... The brand new Sadler's Wells Theatre provided the setting for a Christmas and New Year season by the Royal Opera that wore an appropriately festive aspect -- at least on paper. The theater itself, built on a site with musical connections going...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: MILAN.(Review)
May 1, 1999... With its season-opening production of Gotterdammerung (seen Dec. 13), La Scala has completed, after a fashion, its first Ring cycle in thirty-five years. In the wake of heavy criticism of Andre Engel and Nicky Rieti's Die Walkure and Siegfried...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NAPLES.(Review)
May 1, 1999... Teatro San Carlo opened its season with Eleonora, a celebration (devised and directed by Roberto De Simone) of the bicentenary of the short-lived Neapolitan Republic of 1799, which came into being after the invasion of the French army. De...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ZURICH.(Review)
May 1, 1999... Hans Pfitzner's Die Rose vom Liebesgarten (1901), a romantic opera in a prologue, two acts and an epilogue, which scored a succes d'estime in its time (Mahler conducted seventeen performances at the Vienna Court Opera), hadn't been seen on any...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: AMSTERDAM.(Review)
May 1, 1999... After Peter Sellars portrayed The Rake's Progress as life in an American prison (reviewed April) for Amsterdam's De Nederlandse Opera, Russian Lev Dodin used The Queen of Spades to show the situation in a Russian psychiatric hospital. Both...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: VIENNA.(Review)
May 1, 1999... A new production of Ernani was unveiled at Vienna State Opera on December 14 (attended Dec. 18), in sets and costumes by Richard Hudson. The drab gray of his textureless walls was relieved by highbacked Spanish chairs, a thick red rope whose...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: HELSINKI.(Review)
May 1, 1999... The ascent of Anna Bolena from the ranks of opera rarity to the standard repertory now seems irreversible. The big moments for its Tudor heroine are rightly esteemed, and the various lesser known numbers contribute to overall mood and effect...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ST. PETERSBURG.(Review)
May 1, 1999... New stagings at the Mariinsky Theatre (Kirov) in the first part of the season consisted of something old, something new, something borrowed and everything in Italian. There can't be many companies today that can present Aida with only their own...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.(Review)
May 1, 1999... Even if David Hockney's delightful sets hadn't been spruced up for the Met's revival of Die Zauberflote (Dec. 14), there would have been plenty to enjoy. It was heartening to see the house brimming with remarkably well-behaved youngsters having...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: LOS ANGELES.(Review)
May 1, 1999... The most fantastic thing about Tobias Picker's new opera Fantastic Mr. Fox is that it made its debut at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Why the already put-upon L. A. Opera funded this vehicle for children is anyone's guess, but it might have...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: WILMINGTON, DE.(Review)
May 1, 1999... Capping composer Tina Davidson's three-year residency, OperaDelaware delivered the world premiere of her chamber opera, Billy and Zelda. This intimate piece, set to lyrics and script by the composer's sisters Eva and Lale, transfixed the small...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: WEST PALM BEACH.(Review)
May 1, 1999... Palm Beach Opera took on the challenge of Verdi's Don Carlo (Jarvis Center, West Palm Beach, Jan. 22) for the first time in its thirty-six years. Purists may have rued the choice of a trimmed version of Verdi's four-act revision of the score;...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: SALT LAKE CITY.(Review)
May 1, 1999... Utah Opera continued to mature artistically with a poignant, powerful Of Mice and Men. A warm audience reception to the production's January 16 opening indicated a readiness to embrace works by living composers. Cast members were uniformly...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.(opera singers, theater)
May 1, 1999... Jessye Norman takes the concert stage with a carriage and smile that imply the hall has been waiting for a presence like hers. When this noble, sumptuous, eloquent singer is at her best, one has to agree. A second before she appears, the...

Opera Fanatic.(Review)
May 1, 1999... Opera Fanatic Film by Jan Schmidt-Garre. Bel Canto Society BCS 0700 So you're planning your next slumber party. (And don't give me that -- you know who you are.) Along with the avocado facial and the Haagen-Dazs, you'll be wanting this...

BOHEMIAN FIFTHS: An Autobiography.(Review)(Brief Article)
May 1, 1999... BOHEMIAN FIFTHS: An Autobiography by Hans Werner Henze, translated by Stewart Spencer Princeton University Press, 512 pp. $35 Hans Werner Henze is one of a handful of composers who can claim to have written a significant body of postwar...

OBITUARIES.(Brief Article)(Obituary)
May 1, 1999... JOANN GRILLO, Brooklyn, NZ May 14, 1936 -- February 1, 1999 In the 1960s and '70s, Grillo was a core member of the Metropolitan Opera company, appearing there for twenty seasons and a total of 288 performances. Early on, she had planned for...