parterre box

69 comments

• 61
  JoeBoo36 says:

  April 23, 2009 at 5:57 PM

  Now I’m mad. I tortured myself choosing between Villazon and Calleja, and went with Villazon because of his reputation in this role and bacause I also wanted to hear Angela. I wasn’t completely impressed with Angela, and Barry Banks filled in for Villazon. I like Calleja in theory, and would have loved to hear him live. Oh well. Such is the life of a teacher who can afford only two operas per season.
• 62
  Constantine A. Papas says:

  April 23, 2009 at 10:44 PM

  Alessandro # 57

  You’re lucky! As we speak, Netrebko’s singing Violetta in Zurich to Beczala’s Alfredo. They say she topped her Salzburg performance. Now, with Calleja in Vienna. That woman gets the top tenors and we’ll have multiple dream teams, but with the same soprano! I bet you, these young tenors love to sing with her.
• 63
  Pawel says:

  April 23, 2009 at 11:03 PM

  Calleja is a very fine lyric tenor that allows us to to experience what “old school” singing was like(those of us who are not 100 years of age…). It is free, sonorous, “correct”… and like commenters before me said: quite full and very powerful because of it. The timbre has velvet and softness, which makes some people believe it’s a light lyric. He was about 6 years ago(he started singing onstage over 10 years ago).. but now it’s clearly a full lyric. How far he’ll ever venture into lirico-spinto repertoire I don’t know – judging by his wisdom up till now, it will probably as much as he can really handle.

  The nasality, thin high C and other issues are mostly gone. Also the fast vibrato which has always been quite correct – more so than the slower ones today – it did sometimes switch to a tremolo(distinct break in the sound).. but that’s also gone.. it has settled.. His Che gelida manina at the MET gala(video on Youtube) was stunning!

  P.S. Choose between Villazon and Calleja? Why choose? I prefer Calleja. Unfortunately already the operalia competition clearly revealed what would happen. Calleja sang a technically superb “Tombe degli avi miei”.. and Villazon revealed already a dangerously faulty technique in “La donna e mobile”. And I take no joy in saying this..I wish it would have been different for Villazon…he had less rigorous training than Calleja and less wisdom(singing too many too heavy spinto roles too early..)
• 64
  scifisci says:

  April 23, 2009 at 11:43 PM

  ah! I’m so mad that I have never seen calleja! For one reason or another i have never been able to catch him when he’s singing at the MET…and now it appears I won’t be able to for a while (here’s hoping gelb calls him to save the day for hoffman).

  The che gelida manina from the gala on youtube is so beautiful and effortless.
• 65
  Cocky Kurwenal says:

  April 24, 2009 at 8:07 AM

  Dexter @#60 – I don’t think you’re correct about the vibrato. Correct vibrato is whatever an individual’s voice naturally has when everything is physically as released as possible and the air can flow unimpeded. In some individuals, that will naturally be fast (Calleja, Corelli) and in some it will be a little slower (Freni, Hvorostovsky). The likes of Supervia and Radvanovsky did not or do not sing with a completely free body, which causes that bleat or judder – an unnaturally fast vibrato – and makes their sound a little controversial or, in my book, just plain wrong.
• 66
  m. p. arazza says:

  April 24, 2009 at 11:46 AM

  Calleja is a very fine lyric tenor that allows us to to experience what “old school” singing was like(those of us who are not 100 years of age…)

  You got it, he’s the closest thing I’ve heard to a singer preserved in amber from a century ago. The way he can suffuse a line with emotion, even the uncanny way the top sounds a little like it was recorded into a horn … it’s really something else.

  As for Villazon vs. Calleja, I trust I’m not the only one who noticed the contrast between Villazon’s clownish, manic performances as “host” of the Opera Quiz and Calleja’s notably soft-spoken, well-spoken one last week.
• 67
  Hippolyte says:

  April 24, 2009 at 12:46 PM

  Calleja is singing Gabriele Adorno in Covent Garden’s stop on the Domingo-does-Simon-B world tour next season.
• 68
  dexter says:

  April 24, 2009 at 8:29 PM

  Cocky K; I get your point about the pressured vibrato – I quite like it, which is why I enjoy the indiviuality of Supervia and yes, Sandra R. But with Calleja, to me, as to many others, he is a throwback to those voices where the rapid shimmer provides spin and penetration. Note shimmer, not bleat, which puts me firmly on one side the argument, though I do see the opposing side.
• 69
  Rogwood says:

  April 25, 2009 at 10:47 AM

  I like it too, but is Adorno right for him?