Time to say hello?
La Cieca hears that Andrea Bocelli dropped by the Met yesterday to audition for Peter Gelb. The accompanist, on dit, was none other than James Levine!
Labels: blind, gelb, la cieca ci guarda la cieca ci vede, levine
POSTED at
11:06 AM
48 Comments:
Mr Bocelli will be appearing here in Rome next October in Mascagni's rarely performed Amica. I have a feeling that it won't be on our subscription so that they can sell out at full price. Nothing against Bocelli and I think the Management here have done this so they can help finance the half-full houses for Wozzeck and Rusalka - but if its not part of the subscription I'm not sure I'm going to bother. Though rarely performed Mascagni... hmm tempting.
Say it isn't so!!!!!!
With all respect, Bocelli's voice is small, thin, and nasal, and not coplimentary to the Met's cavernous house. Bocelli is primarily a crooner and a troubadour-type singer, similar to Luciano Tajoli, who was very popular in Europe during the 50s and 60s. Bocelli's performance in a full-scale opera production in Detroit with Denyce Graves- I'm not sure of the title- was panned by critics and cosidred it a vanity venue for him, and not to be taken seriously as an opratic tenor. On the other hand, Bocelli is very popular and sells CDs like hot cakes. Gelp can use Bocelli for a fund-raising event to benifit the Met, but for a full-scale opera pruduction?
My mother saw the performance in Detroit. She went in order to see Bocelli since she was a fan of his. After the performance, I asked her what she thought. She didn't think much of Bocelli, but couldn't praise Denyce Graves more highly.
Maybe Gelb will mount a new production of Turandot, Otello or Tristan starring Bocelli and Charlotte Church?
I believe Bocelli sang Werther with the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit. I was not there, but had read that he entered Act 1 on a white horse.
He sang on the Today Show one morning last week. He really didn't sound very good. They appeared to be using a recorded vocal line over his singing. I honestly don't get him at all. Some of my friends love him. According to the Today Show he is "the best selling tenor in the world". I guess it's me.
Maybe Gelb does see dollar signs.
The funny thing is that the very same fans who love Bocelli's CDs will be disappointed once they hear him in a large acoustic space like the Met, side by side real opera (as opposed to popera) singers.
OMG - I don't know which is worse.
(A) Bocelli thinking he could make a success singing from the Met stage (unmiked; or (B) Levine actually allowing him to audition.
There is definitely something wrong with this picture.
Maybe Peter Gelb is planning a new production of Rigoletto, with Andrea Bocelli as the Duke, Kristin Chenoweth as Gilda, and Nathan Gunn as Rigoletto.
Honestly, what does anyone at the MET think Bocelli could actually sing there, maybe Beppe in Pagliacci?
My guess is that if Bocelli ever does sing at the MET hew will be used more or less as they're using Chenoweth--as a specialty act that could, in the context of the presentation, alluse of a microphone. A party guest performer in Fledermaus, for example--that sort of thing. Gelb is a pretty canny guy and I don't think he's going to bring a stream of pop singers in and give them ligitimate operatic roles.
Yes, the role Bocelli did in Detroit was Werther. It didn't go all that well. Ms Graves apparently not only sang well on that occasion, but was generosity itself in subtly guiding him around the stage and otherwise supporting him whenever he needed it.
I have been delighted to see so many interesting postings on La Cieca's part of Cyberspace, but have never posted myself until today. I was one of the regular standees at the "Old Met" and then the "new" one at at Lincoln Center. My first live Opera was an Aida Matinee (Feb 1965) with Leontyne Price and Richard Tucker in his debut as Radames.
Whether you liked him, or loved him (or maybe hated him), YOU HEARD him. We heard Gedda, Corelli, Vickers, McCracken, Bergonzi, even Sandor Konya, Flaviano Labo, George Shirley and Barry Morrell and so many others. Then came Domingo and Pavarotti.
When Bocelli's first CDs came on the market, I made a point of saying without a microphone no one would ever have heard about him or even cared. Today, years later, I stand by that remark.
did anyone go to the MEt's AIDA and hear Carosi or D'Intino? how were these 2 ladies?
Boston Orchestral Player,
I have been reading La Cieca for a couple of years. I think it is a great opera blog very insightful and funny most of the time. You might want to check your facts in reagards to this one. Esp the part about the maestro playing for Bocelli, while simultaneously rehearsing the Boston Symphony in a double service.
Lev
The closing night at the old met was quite an time! Thank you to the guy out there who got me in... he directed me to an exit stair up to a balcony.
By the way, check out http://video.google.com/
videosearch?q=%22comte+ory%22
Bocelli and Netrebko would make a lovely couple.
Not only do I not understand the Met wanting Bocelli, I don't get Italians loving him. Whenever I'm in Italy, I hear his recordings every where - restaurants, etc. It makes me crazy!
Kristi Chenoweth isn't going to need a microphone at the Met.
LPR
Is anyone hearing the dreadful "Aida" Broadcast on Sirius? That´s not what we should expect from the Met: Brown as bad as always, D´Intino boring, and Farina is struggling to reach every note above G. And what a uninteresting reading by Ono!
There is definitely something wrong with this picture...but luckily for Bocelli he can't see it.
Kristin Chenowith is an idiot. She is a show pony. She can twirl a baton, go on pointe, belt, do cartwheels while masturbating. And, she is a size zero.
Even the idea of Bocelli is enough to make me sick (but Peter Gelb is definitely the Giuliani type who will stop at nothing to sell tix).
As for D'Intino in Aida, whoever said she's "boring" must have been watching a different show. I was there Monday night and she was exquisite (I also saw her Eboli a few years back, which was equally breathtaking).
My full review is here:
http://thegayrecluse.com/2007/11/08/on-luciana-dintino-amneris-for-the-ages/
W-H-A-T?
Now, my feelings on Kristen Chenowith are basically in line with everyone else who thinks her voice is too small to sing at the Met. That having been said, I have never seen her sing live, and so I don't really know - maybe I will be pleasantly surprised, and I hope so. I would like very much to think that Mr. Gelb is trying to maintain and IMPROVE artistic standards while raising the visibility and popular viability of the Met.
But Andrea Bocelli?!??!?!?!?! Ok, like, People, the Met is an Opera House. An O-P-E-R-A H-O-U-S-E. A place that houses OPERA SINGERS. NOT Popera singers. Who next, Paris Hilton in a live version of her genetic-repo-whatsey-hoosey-opera? Or maybe MAYBE we could have a live from the Met in HD BROADCAST of a screening of the the Paris Hilton absurdity, AT the Met. It could be screened in the house and recorded and played in movie theaters everywhere and times square, with chinese acrobats, puppets, and the opening number could be Josh Groban with his shirt off singing to scenes from the new opera commissioned by the Met from Rascal Flats.
I mean, COME ON!!!!!
And what is the alternative, that Gelb announce to the world that he has auditioned Andrea Bocelli, and deemed him not good enough to sing at the Met, thereby alienating all the morons who think what he sings is opera???? This has really gone too far. I'm sticking with regional opera until the Met gets their act in order. Lame lame lame lame lame.
At some point, an artistic institution like the Met has a responsibility to educated the public, and put someone on stage and say, we KNOW this person isn't famous yet, but you MUST hear them sing. Selling tickets is vital and important. Attracting new audiences is vital and important. But this really is starting to look like the death knoll for opera. Is it REALLY that hard to find someone who can actually sing, who is really a great artist, and who has a kernel of beauty and star quality and MAKE them into a star? Wouldn't that be easier than take someone who has star quality and hope they become a great artist along the way? This is REALLY depressing. Oh, HELP.
Is Gelb still continuing Opera at the Park tours?
I went to one several years ago and I recall it being mic'ed, which would certainly address the issue of projection.
I've never heard Bocelli live, so who knows.
Oh yes, the parks concerts are most certainly amped. There is no other way to do it. One year I went and there were 70,000 people there!! Awesome.
But amplification in the house is different. I have no problem with the fact that an opera house may use amplification to make certain regie-concepts work, but even the shadow of a thought that they would hire a high-profile singer who can't be heard in the house without amplification when there are PLENTY of great and in fact BETTER singers who can be heard just fine without it, makes my skin crawl.
D'Intino might be "exciting" as Amneris, but the girl changes her vocal register on every 3rd note. While I loves me a good chest voice, it needs to be integrated, and not used as if she were doing a parody of Ethel Merman (and a bad one at that - D'Intino WISHES she had as much point to the voice as La Merman).
I did appreciate D'Intino's Gloria Swanson/Sunset Boulevard impression, though.
Well, there is a slight precedent at the Met. In the 1930's radio was huge all across the nation. There were very popular programs with tenors like Nino Martini and James Melton. They sang both opera and the pop of that time which required a real, trained voice. Both could sing but were not first rank tenors. They could sing without a mike but their voices weren't huge. However, they were both good-looking and made some movies.
Edward Johnson in seeing that the box office was hurting during the depression hired both tenors for the Met. Neither was as good as Charles Kullman let alone Jan Peerce, Richard Tucker, Tito Schipa or Richard Crooks. But they did attract some audiences back then but today are mostly forgotten.
Bocelli could serve this function at the Met. He seems to have inherited Pavarotti's non-opera interested public who want to hear star italian tenors and don't give a damn about what is going on around them. Luciano's stadium crowd.
BTW: Bocelli is singing a lot in Europe these days including a production of Mascagni's "Amica" in Rome. I don't know if he pays for these engagements but they do happen every season. One intendant says that he works hard, is very prepared and brings in audiences and is no better or worse vocally than many other tenors who are working regularly. These houses are smaller than the Met, so audibility isn't as much of an issue.
Here we go again...an unconfirmed rumour, and everyone flies into a tizzy. I'd like to echo Lev and point out Levine was apparently in Boston on Nov. 7, "rehearsing the Boston Symphony in a double service."
Which makes more sense, Levine in Boston rehearsing Boston Symphony or playing as an audition pianist for Bocelli in NY? I would need a few more facts before I freaked on the Met, on Gelb, on Levine, et al...
So how was Flanigan's Vanessa? I'm dying to know...
Bocelli?!? This has to be a vicious rumor. Tiny, tinny, nasal voice. He should stick to Granada and Volare.
As for Chenoweth, well I have to say I don't think her voice could fill the Met, but she was one of the best Cunegondes I've ever seen. She's also fabulous in Pushing Daisies, and handles Broadway material extremely well. I'm not a fan of cross over, but I'd rather see her try her hand at, say, Orphée aux Enfers or Candide than listen to one more legitimate opera singer ruin Someone to Watch Over Me.
I'll keep my Domingo for "Granada", thank you very much! :o)
Bocelli at the Met? I'll just shoot myself. Opera is over for me!
flanigan's vanessa is EXCELLENT. Definitely worth seeing. Her voice is in great shape and her interpretation is very passionate. Goeldner isn't bad either!
There are smaller voices than Chenoweth's that have performed at the Met. I have caught several of her performances over the past few years, but it is hard to tell since the entire cast of every Broadway show she has been miked.
Her voice can't be smaller than Florez'. Okay that was just an opportunity for me to say something mean about him.
Forget the stunt casting stuff. Why can't the MET cast properly for the operas they have planned? I find it hard to believe that they could not have found a better Lady MacBeth, etc. Gelb is a master of P.R. and hype, but what will be his artistic legacy as far as singers? Casting the same 3 tenors in every role over the past couple of months may have helped the P. R. machine, but where was that voice we have all been waiting to hear? Who were the covers that probably should have gone on? The way things are going now at the Met we'll never get to hear a "new" discover. While Alagna & Giordani comported themselves rather nicely; I would hate to see future seasons of those two plus a Farina (why is still being hired people?)over and over again. MR GELB AND ALL THOSE ON YOUR STAFF - get out to the festivals - go to freakin' Europe and find us some new voices. Lord knows the Young Artist Program at the MET ain't producing them.
Eve Queler certainly seems to have the knack for finding the up and coming voices or voices that are here but not given the oppotunity to do things at the Met (or even NYCO for that matter). Every season of OONY has a least two or three singers that you definitely want to hear more from again. A lot of the people you are drooling over at the Met got the some first notices with her.
Oh there is that beatifully voiced young soprano Jennifer Check who comes from the Young Artists that I love love love. So I stand corrected.
NYCOQ -
Why do you want to say something mean about Florez?? Because he's a nice-guy?
Try this:
Florez appeared in public and sang with Katheryn Jenkins.
That's mean and it's true!
Anonymous -
I honestly don't know why I dislike him so much. His is the best Rossini voice of his generation. He's opera-beautiful and has an engaging stage persona. Oh I remembered why - he can't even be heard over an orchestra.
Leaving Florez aside (I could hear him fine in BARBER, NYCOQ) and going back to the issue at hand, I would have no problem at all with Gelb using him like he uses Chenowith, as a specialty/cross-over act. I wouldn't even object to a concert one night while the house is dark. But Gelb isn't fool enough to try to put him in a main stage role, unless it's something like Beppe, and even then, I don't think so. He could probably sing the Blind Emperor in Turandot without a problem, though...
Okay, that was in bad taste.
Aesthetically, [I have nothing against Bocelli personally - and my heart goes out to him as a blind person], there are 2 points against him singing at the Met; the voice isn't good, and I don't like feeling uncomfortable watching someone who is a potential hazard onstage. Remember Alicia Alonso at the Met Gala in the 70s or 80s? People were laughing. He may well bring in Luciano's stadium audience, but I don't think so. For those who like his records, well, that's
the sort of thing they like.
OK, the idea of Bocelli appearing at the Met just simply makes me ill. Friends who attended his WERTHER in Detroit were horrified. And I'm glad to hear that Maestro L. was making REAL music instead of accompanying what must have been a truly lousy audition!
As for Ms. Chenoweth, she is a lovely and talented lady with a legit voice (listen when she puts the "cutesy" thing aside -- wow!), and she really wouldn't need a mike. I've heard her live several times now (including her Cunegonde, which is truly HER role), and it's no smaller a voice than Ms. Battle's was. And she's a much nicer person!
VANESSA at NYCO is definitely worth catching. Ms. Flanigan is not my favorite singer by any means, but she was convincing and sang well in this role. I thought Ms. Goeldner, as Erika, was wonderful!!
Bocelli could sing Pitichinaccio in the upcoming "all-star' HOFFMANN with Netrebko's crystalline, clean- coloratura'd Olympia and the "Looks 10 Voice 4" Elina Garanca ( a PRODUCT whom the Met is hiring for the future instead of securing Di Donato's services).
According to the Associated Press:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hsI3KAH5dyJeCmhGle6gBFqEdvGwD8SQG9180
Bocelli Sings at Met _ for Practice
NEW YORK (AP) — Andrea Bocelli made it to the Metropolitan Opera — to test out the acoustics.
The blind tenor, who is friends with Met general manager Peter Gelb, sang some Italian art songs on the main stage on Nov. 2, Met assistant manager Elena Park said Friday. While the Met isn't looking to cast Bocelli in an opera, he could sing an out-of-season piano recital, Park said.
Bocelli, 49, has had a successful career as a pop singer, but he has received mostly negative reviews for his work in classical music, with many critics writing his unamplified voice is thin and doesn't carry. He made his North American opera debut in 1999 in Massenet's "Werther" at the Detroit Opera House, and sang in September at Luciano Pavarotti's funeral in Modena, Italy.
He has recorded six full operas: "Werther;" Leoncavallo's "Pagliacci;" Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana;" Puccini's "La Boheme" and "Tosca" and Verdi's "Il Trovatore."
The German guy with the thalidomide disfigurements has several videos on Youtube, and seems to be a very good singer. Why not get him to NY to audition of Jimmy L?
You are talking about Thomas Quasthoff, and to say that he "seems very good" is a bit of an understatement I think. I saw him a few years back at Carnegie Hall, and he was just incredible - musical, expressive, the voice is large and commanding. I have read interviews with him where I believe he said something about opera being difficult for him to do because he didn't want it to be a publicity stunt to cast him as something like Rigoletto, but also because it was physically quite strenuous and difficult for him. But holy baby mozart, if you get the chance to see him concertize, don't pass it up!!
And yeah, why DOESN'T the Met have scouts??? Or, I mean, DO THEY?? Maybe they do and we just don't know. But it would be such a very good idea - like sports teams do. That's exactly what they should do.
Well the thing about Florez is that he looks, and sounds, like a skinny kid: sort of the Obama of Opera! I have it on good authority that when he cuts his finger opening a can of snails, rather than red blood oozing out, it's green goo. You see, he's sappy! He's seemingly in some kind of developmental arrest. He probably has tiny little balls that have not descended, and all that. I wont go into further detail. But he moves me not, he's hard to hear, and on the radio the voice is very spindly and you have to wonder what is all the fuss about?
Soit!
Well the thing about Florez is that he looks, and sounds, like a skinny kid: sort of the Obama of Opera! I have it on good authority that when he cuts his finger opening a can of snails, rather than red blood oozing out, it's green goo. You see, he's sappy! He's seemingly in some kind of developmental arrest. He probably has tiny little balls that have not descended, and all that. I wont go into further detail. But he moves me not, he's hard to hear, and on the radio the voice is very spindly and you have to wonder what is all the fuss about?
Soit!
Sugarmezzo: my comment on Quasthoff may have sounded snarky, but I may have tried to be 'neutral" about his abilities, due to having got slammed in several youtube sites for some opinions I typed about Callas, Siepi,Joe Schmidt, Birgit,and Zinka. Maybe someday I will grow a thick skin to handle the world of singer fandom.
If that talentless blind fuckwit appears at the MET, I will personally stone Gelb to death!
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