Opera News articles from October 1999

Opera News archives from October 1999

OPERA WATCH.(the New Europe '99 festival in New York City will run from October 11-31, 1999; this and other festivals and performances throughout the world are discussed)
October 1, 1999... New Europe '99 showcases emerging artists, Caldwell takes on Arkansas, Te Kanawa makes love in Maori NEW EUROPE '99 a citywide festival of performances and humanities events, takes place in N.Y.C. (Oct. 11-31). Eleven cultural and...

ON THE BEAT.(Stephanie Blythe has been receiving rave reviews for her performances, including that of Cornelia at the Metropolitan Opera House; this and other performances and performers are discussed)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Stephanie Blythe chooses Tulsa Opera for her first-ever Carmen; Rockwell Blake joins Chicago's all-star Alcina Lately, it seems STEPHANIE BLYTHE can do no wrong. Last spring, she sang Cornelia in the Met's all-star Giulio Cesare and wound...

SOUNDBITES: Madeline Bender.(Bender has the remarkable ability to convey a fresh and sincere feeling with every note she sings)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... Madeline Bender is going straight to hell, and she's thrilled about it. The Harrisonburg, Virginia, native arrives in the underworld this month, when she makes her Paris debut as Gluck's Eurydice at the Theatre du Chatelet. Bender was "floored"...

HOMEMADE CDs.(the price of CD home recorders is fallng, with prices ranging from $650-$850; specific models are discussed)(Brief Article)
October 1, 1999... THE ART OF DIGITAL HOME RECORDING Tape has had a long run. For half a century -- since its American debut circa 1950 -- audiotape has been the mainstay of home recording, at first on open reels and later in the form of cassettes. But as our...

New from the Studios.(listing of new opera recordings)
October 1, 1999... Joanne Sydney Lessner previews this season's CD releases What's new from the studios as we head into the twenty-first century? The big 2000 marks Kurt Weill's centennial, as well as the fiftieth anniversary of his death. BMG gives us...

I've Heard That Song Before.(the CD revolution in sound recording inspired many reissues of opera recordings; specific recordings are discussed)
October 1, 1999... Just what constitutes a "reissue"? When I started buying opera recordings, in the high summer of the LP era, the words "contains previously issued material" on the cover of a record usually meant one of two things: the LP (or LP set) in...

The Rise of Little Voice.
October 1, 1999... Today, dozens of singers are recording operas that they couldn't get away with onstage. Stephen Francis Vasta examines the ways in which recorded music has changed how we listen to opera As opera stands poised to enter the new century, this...

The Young Lion.(the promising career of Argentinian tenor Jose Cura)
October 1, 1999... Argentinian Jose Cura may well be the young fantasy tenor audiences have been clamoring for. Shortly before he made his Met debut in Cavalleria Rusticana, he talked to Rebecca Paller about his meteoric rise to the top of the opera world. ...

LE MAITRE FLORISSANT.
October 1, 1999... The thriving career of Baroque-music specialist William Christie Twenty years ago, the opera repertory pretty much began with Mozart. Many of us knew there had been operas in France, England and Italy in the seventeenth and eighteenth...

The Wisdom of Eve.
October 1, 1999... March 1999. Arriving for the first full-cast rehearsal of Opera Orchestra of New York's I Masnadieri, at conductor Eve Queler's apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, I seem to have walked in late on an informal luncheon gathering. A...

Will the Real Lucia Please Stand Up?
October 1, 1999... Charles Mackerras explains the version of Donizetti's opera he is conducting at the Met this season There have been more than 500 performances of Lucia di Lammermoor by the Metropolitan Opera since October 24, 1883, the second night of the...

Claire Croiza.(Review)
October 1, 1999... Claire Croiza [] "THE COMPLETE RECORDINGS" Songs & arias by Caplet, De Breville, Debussy, De Severac, Duparc, Fauns, Honegger, Milhauad, Poulenc, Roussel, Schubert; verse by Aeschylus, Peguy, Racine. Various accompanists. Translations of...

SZYMANOWSKI: King Roger; Symphony No. 4 (Sinfonia Concertante).(Review)
October 1, 1999... SZYMANOWSKI: King Roger; Symphony No. 4 (Sinfonia Concertante) [] Szmytka, Rappe, Milne; Hampson, Minkiewicz, Langridge, Gierlach, Burden; Andsnes, piano (Symphony); City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, Symphony Youth Chorus and Symphony...

R. STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier (highlights in English).(Review)
October 1, 1999... R. STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier (highlights in English) [] Kenny, Montague, Joshua, Vaughan, Rhys-Davies; Tomlinson, Shore; Peter Kay Children's Choir, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Parry. English text. Chandos/Opera...

SCHUMANN: Das Paradies und die Peri, Requiem fur Mignon; Nachtlied.(Review)
October 1, 1999... SCHUMANN: Das Paradies und die Peri, Requiem fur Mignon; Nachtlied [] Bonney Coku, Fink; Archer, Pregardien, Dazeley, Finley, Hauptmann; The Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, Gardiner. Text and translations. DG...

SCHUMANN: Der Rose Pilgerfahrt.(Review)
October 1, 1999... SCHUMANN: Der Rose Pilgerfahrt [] Oelze, Remmert; Gura, Muller-Brachmann; Mayers (piano); RIAS-Kammerchor, Creed. Texts and translations. Harmonia Mundi 901668 Schumann's forays into the dramatic choral realm remain relatively little...

BRUCH: Odysseus.(Review)
October 1, 1999... BRUCH: Odysseus [] Maultsby, Nylund, Lange; Kneebone, Gartner, Holzer, Burt; NDR Radio Choir, Budapest Radio Choir, Hannover NDR Radio Philharmonic, Botstein. Text and translations. Koch-Schwann 3-6557-2 (2) With the exception of his...

BRUCH: Moses.(Review)
October 1, 1999... BRUCH: Moses [] Whitehouse; Voile, Gambill; Bamberg Symphony Chorus, Bamberg Symphony, Flor. Text and translations. Orfeo C 438 982 H (2) (Qualiton, dist.) With the exception of his popular Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor and, to a...

MAHLER: Des Knaben Wunderhorn.(Review)
October 1, 1999... MAHLER: Des Knaben Wunderhorn [] Von Otter; Quasthoff; Berlin Philharmonic, Abbado. Text and translations. Deutsche Grammophon 289 459 646-2 Anne Sofie von Otter and Thomas Quasthoff, with Claudio Abbado and the Berlin Philharmonic,...

BERNSTEIN: Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish"; Chichester Psalms.
October 1, 1999... BERNSTEIN: Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish"; Chichester Psalms [] Mattila; Menuhin, speaker ("Kaddish"). Norman-Webb, Gregoire; Mills, Takeda, Ivorra (Psalms); Choeur et Maitrise de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Sado. Text...

Wolfgang Holzmair.(Review)
October 1, 1999... Wolfgang Holzmair [] Schubert: Die Schone Mullerin. Cooper (piano). Texts and translations. Philips 456 581-2 The discography of Die Schone Mullerin has dozens of entries, including a 1983 version (on Preiser Records) by Holzmair...

Thomas Hampson.
October 1, 1999... Thomas Hampson [] "OPERETTA ARIAS "Arias by Lehar, Stolz, J. Strauss, Tauber, Millocker, Zeller and Kalman. London Voices, T. Edwards; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Welser-Most. Texts and translations. EMI Classics 5 567582 ...

Vivica Genaux.
October 1, 1999... Vivica Genaux [] "AN EVENING OF ARIAS AND SONGS BY ROSSINI" Dube (piano). No texts or translations. EPCASO (Empire Music, dist.) Alaskan mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux made her Met debut in 1997 as a last-minute substitute in Rossini's Il...

Daniel Taylor.(Review)
October 1, 1999... Daniel Taylor [] "BACH ARIAS AND CONCERTI" Haynes (oboe); instrumental ensemble. Texts and translations. ATMA ACD2 2158 (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) This disc is pleasing enough, but hardly a definitive Bach program. Daniel Taylor's...

Sophie Koch.
October 1, 1999... Sophie Koch [] "GOETHE LIEDER" Songs by Schubert and Wolf. Raynaud (piano). Texts and translations. Le Chante du Monde 2781111 (Harmonia Mundi, dist.) Programs of Goethe settings are endlessly fascinating for the varied responses of...

Richard Conrad.(Review)
October 1, 1999... Richard Conrad [] "A ROOM WITH A VIEW" Songs by Noel Coward. W. Merrill (piano). Texts. Newport Classic SPD 85647 (Allegro, dist.) In celebration of Noel Coward's centennial, the distinguished tenor Richard Conrad has created an...

TCHAIKOVSKY: The Maid of Orleans.(Review)
October 1, 1999... TCHAIKOVSKY: The maid of Orleans [] Preobrazhemkaya, Kashevarova; Kilchevsky, Solomiak, Runovsky, Yashugin, Konstantinov; Chorus and Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater, Leningrad, Khaikin. 1946. English text. Myto 992.HO28 216:03 (Qualiton,...

WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde.(Review)
October 1, 1999... WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde [] Nilsson, Hoffman; Vickers, Mittelmann, Crass; Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Colon, Stein. 1971. No texts. VAIA 1178-3 (3) This live recording (in very good monaural sound) from Buenos Aires in 1971...

MOLLICONE: The Face on the Barroom Floor.(Review)
October 1, 1999... MOLLICONE: The Face on the Barroom Floor [] McGiffin; McCauley, Holloway; Central City Opera, Mollicone. 1980. Text. CRI 822 (Koch, dist.) The Face on the Barroom Floor recently celebrated its twentieth birthday, and in the two decades...

Elisabeth Hongen.(Review)
October 1, 1999... Elisabeth Hongen [] "ELISABETH HONGEN SINGT LIEDER" Songs by Wagner, Marcello, Schubert, Schumann, Wolf, Brahms. Gerald Moore, Herman von Nordberg, Hans Zipper, Friedrich Wuhrer et al. (pianists). 1946-48. No texts. Preiser Mono 90356...

BERNSTEIN: Wonderful Town.
October 1, 1999... BERNSTEIN: Wonderful Town [] Luker, Mason; Raines, Edelman; National Symphony Orchestra, J. O. Edwards. JAY CDJAY2-1281 (2) [] McDonald, Criswell; Hampson, B. Barrett; Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Rattle. EMI Classics 5 56753 2 ...

NEW EXPANDED RECORDINGS COVERAGE.
October 1, 1999... Look for the following recording reviews, which appear exclusively in the October Online edition of OPERA NEWS: Verdi's Le Trouvere, an alternative Schubertiade; songs by Pauline Viardot and Lili Boulanger; Lucine Amara recital; a 1911 Carmen;...

Rediscovering Gold.
October 1, 1999... Ira Siff appraises the art of French soprano Renee Doria It was the summer of 1976, my first trip to San Francisco. I was staying in the suburbs with friends, Michael and Carol Barclay. Once ensconced out West, Michael had reinvented...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: SAN FRANCISCO.
October 1, 1999... San Francisco Opera presented four cycles of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen between June 9 and July 3. Designer John Conklin and director Nikolaus Lehnhoff's 1985 production was revised by designer John Coyne, movie costumer Bob Ringwood...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: CHARLESTON, SC.
October 1, 1999... "People don't change; it's circumstances that change the way they act," intones the double chorus at the opening of Kurt Weill's Die Burgschaft, in an ominous twist of Marxist philosophy. If the statement, repeated several times throughout the...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: INDIANOLA, IA.(Review)
October 1, 1999... "Seventy-five years from now," Kurt Weill told writer and librettist Arnold Sundgaard, "Street Scene will be remembered as my major work." The intervening decades and evolving musical fashions have sometimes cast doubt on that prediction....

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ST. LOUIS, MO.
October 1, 1999... The faux weathered-brick wall, for seven seasons the backdrop for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, was gone this year, leaving behind the generic thrust stage of the Loretto-Hilton Center at Webster University. The company, however, still offered...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: HOUSTON.
October 1, 1999... Leo Tolstoy's last novel, Resurrection, reflects the author's societal concerns at the end of his life. A rich Prince, serving on a jury, sees someone with whom he once had a brief affair wrongly condemned to Siberia. Feeling enormous...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: LONG BEACH, CA.(Review)
October 1, 1999... The innovative Long Beach Opera opened its June Festival season (June 12) with Moliere's three-act play Le Malade Imaginaire (performed in David Frame's translation), with music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. This was the last work known as a...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: NEW YORK CITY.
October 1, 1999... At the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse on May 25 and 26 (seen 26), the Center for Contemporary Opera introduced a new one-act work -- Sorry, Wrong Number, with libretto and music by Jack Beeson -- and revived Elie Siegmeister's Angel Levine,...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: KATONAH, NY.
October 1, 1999... This year's semistaged bel canto opera at Caramoor was La Gazza Ladra (1817), Rossini's opera semiseria about a servant girl who narrowly escapes execution for the theft of silverware that was actually taken by a pet magpie. The plot is drawn...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: ISTANBUL.
October 1, 1999... Marking the 700th anniversary of the Ottoman Empire, this year's Istanbul Festival presented Antonio Vivaldi's Bajazet. Though the orchestra (Ensemble Europa Galante) and soloists came from Italy, the production itself was a premiere, designed...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: VIENNA.
October 1, 1999... The 180th Vienna State Opera performance of Hans Pfitzner's Palestrina, which took place on June 3, was the fourth of the new production that opened on May 23. Director/designer Herbert Wernicke, who believes in making the audience use its...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: SPOLETO.
October 1, 1999... The highlight of this year's festival was Italy's first-ever uncut staging of Prokofiev's War and Peace (seen May 29 at the Teatro Nuovo), a musically uneven work that nevertheless encompasses a unique range of characterization and variety of...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: STUTTGART.
October 1, 1999... For its third staging of Der Ring des Nibelungen since World War II (succeeding 1955's Ferdinand Leitner/Wieland Wagner and 1977's Silvio Varviso/Jean-Pierre Ponnelle productions), Stuttgart has entrusted each of its four installments to a...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: RIGA, LATVIA.
October 1, 1999... The Riga Opera Festival, now in its second year, seeks to concentrate into a two-week period the high points of the Latvian National Opera's season, of which Viesturs Kairiss' new production of Eugene Onegin was dearly one. Andzella Kirse,...

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: BUENOS AIRES.
October 1, 1999... Commissioned for the inaugural season of the Teatro Colon, in 1908, and revived this season (on May 11) at the same opera house, Hector (Ettore) Panizza's Aurora became the second national opera, after Boero's more popular El Matrero. Though...

CORRECTION.
October 1, 1999... The photo of Dialogues des Carmelites on page 45 of the August issue is from Tulsa Opera's production.

LETTER FORM IRELAND.
October 1, 1999... Opera in Ireland is full of paradoxes. The country has a place on the international opera map thanks to the Wexford Festival, an eighteen-day celebration at which any work that's been languishing in obscurity can have its day in the sun again....

VIDEO.
October 1, 1999... This month and next, check local TV listings for Sing Faster: The Stagehands' Ring Cycle, set to appear on public television's "Independent Lens" Series. (Exact air dates were not available at press time.) In filmmaker Jon Else's one-hour...

OBITUARIES.
October 1, 1999... ROBERT GREGORI, Philadelphia, May 25, 1932 -- June 14, 1999 The dramatic baritone appeared frequently with the opera companies of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Dallas and Tulsa. In 1967, he made his New York City Opera debut in the world...

MOVING DAY: A COLLECTOR'S NIGHTMARE.
October 1, 1999... "There was an old man who lived in a shoe; He had so many recordings he didn't know what to do." Yes, I know that's not the way Mother Goose told the story, but the principles the same. Even if I resist being called an old man, I have...