Bombshell
La Cieca hears that Audra McDonald will sing the role of Kitty Oppenheimer when the Met presents John Adams‘ Dr. Atomic in the 2008-2009 season. La McDonald, it will be remembered, premiered Kitty’s aria “Easter Eve, 1945″ in May 2004 with the New York Philharmonic under Adams’ baton. The versatile songstress is currently in Houston preparing for the March 4 prima of a double bill of La Voix humaine and a new one-woman opera by John Michael LaChiusa entitled Send (who are you? I love you).
Glamour diva Marcella Pobbe stars in this week’s podcast of Giordano’s Fedora on Unnatural Acts of Opera. La Cieca is experimenting with a new web-based player for the podcast on the site; the advantage is that you can select either the current show or else any of the archived shows from a pull-down menu. Do let La Cieca know what you think of this new gadget!
Also new is one of the latest Google Video selections, a performance by Edita Gruberova in the finale of Roberto Devereux from Munich in 2005:
my first thought after hearing pendachanska: sounds like bartoli transposed up dramatically!
from what I understand the San Carlo was a Dress rehearsal and the audiance mainly consisted of rich dowergers. Alexandrina Pendatchanska got a HUGH ovation at NYCO–check the videos on this BLOG–I see nor hear Bartoli AT ALL!
My two cents worth: I saw Gruberova as Zerbinetta and Lucia and found her spectacular in both. Her acting left nothing to be desired. Actually, she was the most active Zerbinetta I’ve seen. I have a tape of her Met Puritani and I love listening to her.
I have checked out the clip here on Google video…I must say it seems impressive. For some reason, the sound doesn’t match with the action when I try to view it and I haven’t gotten to hear the end of the scene because the visual stops and thus so does the audio – right in the middle of a phrase. Does anyone else encounter this problem?
From what I can hear in the clip, she is lacking that supremely fast-almost-a-flutter vibrato that she has on the studio recordings – maybe it’s a problem she’s fixed already?? I can only hope so – b/c it really is a marvellous instrument.
You can hear more of Alexandrina Pendachanska at this page.
Pendachanska’s slow or fast vibrato does NOT bother me a bit. After all I lived through defending (what was called at the time) Callas’s wobble!
Lovely voice. Can it fill a large house? A lyric soprano easily harmed by attempting high-lying roles. Could end up like Moffo, Anderson, et al.
Thanks Brett – that was the page I referred to earlier where I listened to her ‘Bel raggio.’
Is Pendatchanska a singer one must hear live? I heard a few clips of her on the web and I wasn’t overwhelmed. It is a nice voice but I don’t get all the hype. I am assuming the voice is even more beautiful in person, correct?
YES!! See her especially see her do “roberto” — it will knock your socks (or stockings) off! Her recital on Capricio label) was done like when she was 12 yrs old!