Comments on: vows

By: Will

Will — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:33:48 +0000

Man has the highest style facial hair of 1885. Maybe it tickles her–OK I’m not going to go there.

Early on Graves was a really strong performer. It wasn’t the greatest voice in the world for technical polish, but it worked, it was pretty and she was (probably still is) a real stage animal as well as a beautiful woman. In the 90s I saw her Carmen once and Dalila twice (S&D is a “guilty pleasure” for me) and she made an impact. I’m always sorry to see a performer like Graves suffer a vocal crisis–she brought both glamor and some excitement to her work.

By: Condanna O Screater

Condanna O Screater — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:51:19 +0000

Oh my goodness, those whiskers! They make me instinctively cross my legs. Yikes.

By: Baritenor

Baritenor — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:35:17 +0000

Ah, GRENDEL. That takes me back. What a bizarre, bizarre piece that was, but I liked it. Last time I heard Graves was in The Rake’s Progress about two years ago. It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t terrible, either.

By: Sacerdotessa

Sacerdotessa — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:26:57 +0000

She was married to David Perry who is the brother? of Janet Perry (a soprano herself). I for one fell in love with Grave’s voice whenI heard it some 15 yrs ago (She was impressive in Margaret Garner a few seasons back)and looking forward to hearing her as Carmen here in NC next spring.

By: Graciella Scusi

Graciella Scusi — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:10:42 +0000

@14 re: the picture
“We’ve begun an excavation of our souls that has unfolded new selves for us.”

Apparently he’s a brilliant man of science disguised as the Marquis de Fou, and she’s a beautiful woman still masquerading as an opera singer. Obviously they’re made for each other. Start digging!

By: Tamerlano

Tamerlano — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:51:59 +0000

yippee! Carmen and Dalilah…meh, who cares.

By: Drammy

Drammy — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:51:36 +0000

Ai wow, chaka. Those people actually make Denyce look good.

By: Lucky Pierre

Lucky Pierre — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:36:34 +0000

she’s singing with the NYPhil in july. she’s announced for excerpts of carmen and dalilah.

By: chaka

chaka — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:19:40 +0000

Here’s a pic of the couple (yikes)

http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2009/08june09/08transplant_fundraiser.html

By: Gualtier M

Gualtier M — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:58:14 +0000

Denyce Graves’ first husband was also wealthy – a guitar importer and lutenist named David Perry who she married in 1990. I believe he came from money and was older than she was by a decade or more. They divorced around 2004-2005 when she got pregnant by her male personal assistant. I think he was French. Her first husband I think had looked the other way at previous affairs and may have accepted the child as his own.

Interestingly, Graves’ career took off when she and Perry met in 1989 and married in 1990 and pretty much had tanked by 2004 when she got pregnant. Pregnancy also didn’t seem to improve her voice.

This article discusses her career problems which came to a head around 2000 including a vocal crisis and the removal of a polyp from her cords:

http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=26112

By: Quanto Painy Fakor

Quanto Painy Fakor — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:52:10 +0000

Talk about Vagina Monologues… thank heavens I re-read the blurb at the top. For a moment I thought that Dr. Montgomery had removed Denyce’s kidney through HER vagina – OUCH!

Here’s wishing the newly weds health and happiness in their new life together.

By: Krunoslav

Krunoslav — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:19:08 +0000

Graves may well be the the top diva of her generation to have emerged from her DC neighborhood, but the Washington provinciality at work here is staggering.

She is indeed singing CARMEN for Opera New jersey alongside Richard Leech next year. Maybe they can complete the cast with Gino Quilico and Eva Lind and go on a nostalgia tour.

By: Lindoro Almaviva

Lindoro Almaviva — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:06:33 +0000

So I guess her guitar playing hubby is in the same place where her Amneris is…

By: Tom N

Tom N — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:33:20 +0000

The Washington Post style section always reports on whatever Graves is up to, she’s a local and went to the performing arts high school here. While the music critics sometimes told it like it was about her voice, the rest of the paper seems to have ignored her vocal decline — or when they hint at it, it’s in terms of her (evidently former) wreck of a life.

By: Clita del Toro

Clita del Toro — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:54:14 +0000

Well, perhaps Graves’ doctor husband can perform another, ground breaking operation and fix her voice through her “you know what”! YECH!

By: judycadanna

judycadanna — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:43:40 +0000

@pavel

I just threw up in my mouth. That sounds like something Tippett would set to music.

By: pavel

pavel — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:40:58 +0000

“We’ve begun an excavation of our souls that has unfolded new selves for us.”

bleah

By: aristotleincarnate

aristotleincarnate — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:33:20 +0000

oy. somewhat OT, but does the Post not have editors?

“I’m usually the first one to pull out my laptop” on long trips, Graves told us.

By: casualoperafan

casualoperafan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:29:14 +0000

Well I wish her every happiness.

On the career front I know she will be singing with Opera NJ at the NJPAC, with, I think but not sure, the NJ Symphony.

The rumor is that this is partly why Ruth Ann Swenson cancelled her Fledermauses last year, because heres were out in the boonies with a reduced orchestra and then she found they were doing this larger scale production.

i have NO way to verify this rumor, it is just hearsay and not substantiated.

By: dcrazmo

dcrazmo — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:08:55 +0000

What happened to that scruffy looking hillbilly type she was with a while back?

By: Orlando Furioso

Orlando Furioso — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:48:28 +0000

Well, it all depends on how you define “top,” “diva,” and generation.”

And “of.”

By: richard

richard — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:45:59 +0000

Well, congrats to Denyce. But the Washington Post calls her “the top diva of her generation”????? Wow, that’s creative