Doge star
La Cieca's spy in San Francisco whispers that the 2008-2009 season will open with Simon Boccanegra with Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the title role. Later productions will include a revival of Bohème with Angela Gheorghiu and the company premiere of Die Tote Stadt featuring Emily Magee and Torsten Kerl. Also expected is the world premiere of Stewart Wallace’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter, based on the novel by Amy Tan.Labels: 2009, gheorghiu, hvorostovksy, la cieca ci guarda la cieca ci vede, san francisco
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9:25 PM
41 Comments:
I'm always ambivalent about Mr Horostovsky- saw him in concert and he was excellent but around the same time (shortly afterwards) he made some very disparaging remarks about gays, in an interview.
I hate an artist who bites the hands that feed them.
Well, if he reads Parterre, he probably has good reason! We all sound like a bunch of old, old maids...Horny old maids...
Can anybody substantiate these rumors about Hvorostovsky dissing gays? I have asked this before, I think.
Alagna's similar comments after his shaky Met debut I have read.
Stewart Wallace? Jesus, didn't San Francisco learn their lesson after Harvey Milk?
Ah well, I guess Rosenberg's reign of terror is over—no more Ligeti, Adams, or Messiaen; now that the Philip Glass prestige-premiere is out of the way, it's solid second-tier from here on out.
Your spy in SF reads San Francisco Classical Voice, I see: those operas and leads were published there weeks ago.
Dmitru Hvorostovsky has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. Full, strong, wide, unforced, and gloriously rich. If I never saw his face (which is very characterful and engaging) I would adore his singing.
I don't know what Hvorostovsky might have said about gay people. If he did say something negative the best thing to do is to write to him and object, pointing out his error and asking him, as an influential public figure, to consider correcting himself. He does not come from a country with any degree of enlightenment about gay people -- and he has struggled at time to be taken seriously as a singer rather than as a sex object. It is a problem Bryn Terfel has never had, and he has had an easier time as a result.
Whatever, none of this affects whether or not DH sings beautifully. Lucky SF to get to hear him.
Your spy forgot to tell you about their Idomeneo (with the Met's current Hansel singing Idamante), and that Nicola Luisotti will be conducting their Boheme. I'm so miffed that La Cieca passed me over for spy duties that I will not divulge any more!
I can confirm all of these but the Boheme. I've also heard a rumor of Racette doing all three Trittico heroines, and Damrau in Le Fille (though That may be 2009-2010) I also assume that Die Walkure will feature next season, given that Rheingold is this season.
he should not be singing Simon.
way too small a voice for it. handsome, yes.
but he is forcing very badly now the top and it isn't going away.
Racette as the trittico heroines. I'll pass.
Remember to tell the management to line up Elaine Alvarez for Mimi too, just in case Angela doesn't turn up for rehearsals.
DH's voice always sounds a bit strangulated to me. The sound doesn't flow like a real Verdi baritone's. Not my idea of a Simone, but at least he isn't Thomas Hampson.
Never heard him live, just clips on YouTube. And the singing was so uninteresting that his views on gays, straights or anything at all, but especially on singing, cannot be that important.
I think I've said this before on this blog, but his recital in Carnegie Hall in 2005 was The Best Vocal Recital I have ever seen.
Ever.
I have heard him live in operas where he was completely drowned out by the orchestra, and other times where he was just amazing. I think he is a great artist.
I honestly don't know Boccanegra very well, but I imagine it's BIG. I look forward to hearing it!!
The SF Walkure is slated for 2009-2010 - next season will see no installment of the Ring. Opening the 2009-2010 SF season will be the Trittico with Paolo Gavanelli and, unfortunately, Racette. There will also be a new production of Trovatore with Sondra Radvanovsky, and Salome with Nadja Michael. The Fille - with Damrau and Florez - is also for that season, I believe.
I agree that Hvorostovsky is not really a Verdi baritone, and he tends force the voice quite a bit. But he is capable of true greatness. I may have been at the same recital as Sugarmezzo. The Russian arias (but not the Verdi) were nothing short of astounding. Why someone doesn't mount The Demon for him I'm sure I do not know. I'd settle for a concert version. How about it, Ms. Queler?
Strange how Nadja Michael was a second-rate mezzo (look at her Eboli on YouTube - house mezzo standard), but currently seems to be rated a first-rate Salome by people who run opera houses ... La Scala, Covent Garden and now San Francisco. Maybe she looks good doing the Dance of the Seven Veils ...
Interesting Barnaba. Same is true of Violetta Urmana - definitely a second rate mezzo, now in great demand by the best houses.
Well as far a singing goes the upcoming San Francisco seasons look a whole lot better than what is they're peddling down in Los Angeles (a company I used to have high hopes for). Is it possible that they're doing Traviata for the 3rd time in 4 seasons, and Butterfly for the 3rd time in 5? Same productions, lots of cheap young "talent". Well I guess they have to sacrifice somewhere, since their new Ring is running them 32 million bucks!! No subscription renewal for this puppy!
I don't believe Nadja Michael can be a convincing Salome. All the recent reviews of her I have read from Germany mention her shrill top notes and even one Intendant I know said she was a not-quite-soprano in Die Tote Stadt in Amsterdam. I will report back after the Covent Garden prima.
With DH singing Boccanegra on the west coast and Domingo singing Boccanegra in Berlin, it will be very interesting to compare. I think DOmingo will win hands down. A great Verdi specialist at the twilight of his career, who started as a baritone? He'll be awesome.
re: Nadja Michael ... A German review of, I think, her Tosca at Bregenz last year described her voice as "heraufgequaelt" or "tortured upwards".
I believe she is due to sing Die tote Stadt in London in a couple of years' time. Not sure I want to hear her attempt the gorgeous schmaltzy bits of that score ...
The accepted wisdom on Violeta Urmana seems to be that she was better as a mezzo, but I think she sounds like a dark-toned soprano. Though the top notes are not as full as the rest of her voice - they don't 'blossom' - at least they are there.
Thank you for confirming my hopes, Betterspy. I'm pretty excited for the season after next. Do you know who's singing Brunnhilde and the Walsungs in '10?
Evan- I can sit through (or skip) another set of Butterflies and Traviatas if that means that LA Opera can bringin in some easy cash to finance the stuff that Los Angeles doesn't see anymore, like the Ring and the Recovered Voices specials. I'm flying down solely for the Zemlinsky/Ullmann double bill next month: I love DER ZWERG.
Oh...yum.
I've met him a few times and he is very reserved and, to an extent, a bit cold (within the realm of reasonability for a Russian). But...yum. He can Simon my Boccanegra anytime.
http://cultureonthecheap.wordpress.com
Interesting that you found DH cold. I found him generous, with a goofy sense of humor. Of course, I have a middle-aged-matron crush on him, so consider the source. I'm with CharlieB on the voice.
Olivia
what a coincidence. My Bocca is Negra too and it sure needs some Simoning. But I am a gay man. Maybe we should blindfold Dmitri during Simoning to heighten his other senses.
i have met some artists backstage and you never know how they'll be. barbara hendricks was cold and reserved to me, but she had a cold that night; sumi jo was friendly but seemed very shy; ewa podles was cold too. in contrast, larmore and leech were kind and engaging. well, that's my limited experience. i haven't met that many artists yet.
Sadly, Bocca, despite being French, Italian, Syrian, and Jewish, the only thing negra is my hair. (And, arguably, my soul.) The rest of me is...well...downright Russian-looking.
Del, everyone has their off-days. On a note separate from my meeting him, that bastard did steal the last diet Red Bull from me in the Met Cafeteria once, and I still have yet to forgive him for it.
Gee...maybe I am masochistic if I still love him. All he has to do is sing "Avant de quitter ces lieux" like he did on opening night of the 2005 Faust and I melt.
http://cultureonthecheap.wordpress.com
Continuing on Stella's theme, I've found Jill Grove quite engaging, Diana Damrau very friendly, Flicka just adorable, and Thomas Hampson rather arragant. Denyce Graves just shoved her way right passed me without saying mum. Patricia Racette came off as just this side of regal,definetly a "diva" in the best sense of the word. Best of all was Anthony LaCuira, who is a lot less maniac offstage. He took the time to talk to me for a good ten minutes after a performance and gave me some really excellent career advice, coupled with an invitation backstage the next time he sang in Los Angeles.
FLicka was quite charming when I met her backstage. ANd I was in a panel discussion where the panel was Alfredo Krauss, Ruth Welting, Valerie Masterson, and Marilyn Zschau, during the production of Tales of Hoffmann in Chicago. All were charming and approachable, but no one more so than Ms. Zschau, with whom I'd spoken about Macbeth. SHe was learning the role, and I mentioned the Cossotto recording. SHe invited me to meet her backstage after the Hoffmann performance. I gave her my recording of the Macbeth. The following season, she came back for Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and I went backstage again and we talked for about 20 minutes and raved about the recording I had given her the previous year.
Hi sanford- funny you should mention la Marilyn - we were only discussing her Lady Macbeth today and saying how wonderful she was. I forget the year- it was a while ago- but it was great along with everything else she did here downunder- Minnie, Tosca, Salome.
Still have memories of the body stocking incident here that she wore to do a nude Salome. The stick on nipples were kept in a little box backstage and one night they went missing.
One wardrobe queen went hurtling around backstage asking everyone in a loud voice "Has anyone seen Miss Zschau's nipples?" ;0)
Violeta Urmana WAS a better mezzo than soprano. At least as a mezzo her homely "seconda donna" persona was compensated for by a first-class voice, but she just doesn't have an ounce of diva charisma. Her (badly costumed) Leonora di Vargas and Tosca in London were like overdressed cleaning ladies. A London critic - and leading Verdian - described her as the best Lady Macbeth he had ever heard and I thought, well you need to get out more. Scotto, Bumbry, Dmitrova, and, perdonami all you Barstow unbelievers, Dame Josephine were all superior in the previous production. As for Guleghina, well, she shunts it out and there's no-one better. Did Varady ever actually sing the role anywhere? Did anyone hear it? THAT I would like to have heard.
Barnaba,
ROH has a habit of casting pushed up mezzos as Salome - Bumbry and Ewing in previous new productions. I'm sure with Mc Vicar in charge there are sure to be lots of visual distractions. The web site says of the production:
"This opera contains scenes of nudity and violence".
Sounds promising.
I saw Emily Magee as Marie in Die Tote Stadt in Zurich. Vocally OK but too much of the Hausfrau. Quite eclipsed by Olaf Baer in fish nets and high heels in the second act.
Ruxton, G'day, mate. Marilyn, I think, was sadly underrated and extremely under recorded. The only recording I've ever heard about was a Musetta she did with Renata Scotto, I believe. SHe was wonderful in the Hoffmann, but she was astounding in the Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Maybe La Cieca can find a Zschau broadcast to post on her podcast. How about it, La Cieca? Any Marilyn Zschau on the horizon?
Marilyn Zschau is the Musetta on the extremely good ROH BOHEME DVD with Cotrubas, Shicoff, Allen and Howell, led very well by Lamberto Gardelli.
It is a very traditional production by John Copley of the kind that the shrew calling itself "Bridget Jones" elsewhere on this blog would surely disdain-- no trace of Council flats or I-Pods or nude men in lavatories- and is probably the best overall BOHEME on DVD.
Going back to Sanford/Bari/Stella, I haven't gotten to meet too many opera singers (in the traditional sense), however I used to work for the Met so I got to watch what all of them were eating in the cafeteria. Rene Pape likes NesQuik chocolate milk. Domingo has a lot of fruit salads and yogurt. Magdalena Kozena opted for the banana and a pound cake. Oh, the list goes on...
http://cultureonthecheap.wordpress.com
Yniold
Angela Denoke is singing Salome in the first revival of the new Covent Garden production, so it might be wroth waiting for. The best Salomes at Covent Garden in the last 30 years have been Gwyneth Jones first time round (give or take a squall or wobble) and the pre-Brünnhilde Hildegard Behrens. Malfitano gave it all she had - not quite enough - in the Bondy production, though. My favourite moment in that staging was Anja Silja's Herodias giving Salome an "even-I-wouldn't-do-that" look as she kissed the head.
I also agree with Nerva Nelli about Marilyn Zchau's Musetta in the CG DV. The performances weren't quite as good as ones conducted by Kleiber with Cotrubas, Aragall (and I think Carol Neblett as Musetta), but that DVD is still one of the best Bohemes available.
I have seen Violeta Urmana twice at the Met - once as Eboli, and once as Ariadne. They were both ASTOUNDING.
I have since seen video of her Eboli on youtube and was underwhelmed, but I have to tell you, in that house, on that day, it was one of the best live performances I've seen.
And her Ariadne was just, oh, unbelievable. Damrau was the Zerbinetta, and she was good - better than most, obviously, but I couldn't WAIT to hear Urmana sing again, because she was just amazing.
interesting sugarmezzo - i had the opposite reaction, I was more interested in Damrau than urmana (not to say she wasn't impressive) I wonder why she didn't sing any of the roles gulag ended up singing this season. Dramatic sopranos are ever in short supply and it seems odd that one as good as urmana was no where to be found in new york.
bari, are you sure when denyce graves ignored you that the problem was you, not her?
just kidding... :-)
well, i wouldn't judge a singer by one encounter -- i don't think so and so is a total bitch because i didn't think he/she was super friendly to me. i'll say this about sumi jo -- i thought she should be MORE of a bitch, or at least a bit more assertive. the fan in front of me -- an older gentleman with no tact -- had a trillion CDs for her to sign. and she signed them all, while there was a lot of people waiting. i'dda just said, sorry, i'll sign 5 or whatever. he'll probably just sell them on ebay. when i finally met my great idol, i just brought the program. i couldda brought all my CDs of her, but i didn't. i thought that'd been tacky.
going back to hvoro, i'll agree, he's dreamy. there's something about those tartar eyes, and he's really yummy now that he cut his hair short. i never liked the long hair look on him.
Sanford- I've also got a Zschau Electra on video which isn't bad in my view, however, I'm no Elektra specialist so other people might differ.
It doesn't do much for me.
Sugarmezzo, you have to get out more. I agree that Urmana is an excellent and useful singer and that it is a shame that the sylph-loving Gelb regime has made no place for her this year.
Yet there was nothing "astounding" about her fine if earnest Eboli and her first, very solid shot at Ariadne-- certainly the latter paled before both Ariadnes of the Met's previous revival, Debbie Voigt in one of her best parts and the real revelation-- hidden by the NEW YORK TIMES so at presumably to back up Tony T's contention that Voigt-- who broke through in Boston, so it was on his radar-- was the best Strauss soprano in the world-- the truly astounding debut of Christine Brewer. ( It is differently astounding that she hasn't been back since). Remember how just a short few years ago Tony T was hymning Jane Eaglen as "the greatest dramatic soprano in the world"?
Nerva Nelli
I can believe you about La Brewer's Met Ariadne. She sang the role in English here at ENO in London and it was without question the most thrillingly sung account of the music I have ever heard live - and my Ariadne's include Jessye, Tomova-Sintow, (late) Janowitz and Debbie V. Why do most Americans not ralise that Brewer has the the most exciting soprano voice in the world right now? It's a gorgeous instrument and there is almost nothing she can't sing. I'd love to hear her Aida. We Brits have loved her for years but Covent Garden won't have her - after casting her as Donna Anna and Contessa Almaviva in the 1990s - because of her size. I'm even prepared to sit through the cheesy old Met Ring again to see her Brünnhilde in 2009.
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