tales of the city
Casting is announced for the New York City Opera’s 2009-10 season. It’s all on their website, but here are a few highlights:
The “American Voices” concert features “a roster of stars including Joyce Castle, Anna Christy, Joyce DiDonato, Lauren Flanigan, Anthony Dean Griffey, and Samuel Ramey, all of whom appeared [note the past tense] at New York City Opera during their illustrious careers.”
George Manahan conducts Esther with Flanigan and Beth Clayton. Don Giovanni brings back Gary Thor Wedow, leading debut artists Daniel Okulitch, Stefania Dohvan, Joélle Harvey and Kelly Markgraf.
New faces in L’étoile include Julie Boulianne, Liza Forrester, Dominic Armstrong and François Loup. Sharing the role of Cio-Cio-San will be Shu-Ying Li and Yunah Lee.
Partenope boasts the debuts of conductor Christian Curnyn and singers Cyndia Sieden, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Nicholas Coppolo. Familiar faces (finally) include Laura Vlasak Nolen and Daniel Mobbs.
Well, there really is nothing much to “announce” in casting or elsewhere, now is there?
There isn’t one stand out debut among the bunch, and most of the men are mediocrities that have appeared there all ready. Hardy made an unnoticed debut in some Handel production, Mobbs has been something of a house musical theaterish baritone masquerading as a bass forever there, and Eric Jordan has been languishing in small parts for years. A ton of returning singers who failed to make much of a mark in the first place. They couldn’t find any better? Minor league at best.
And when and in what world did Anna Christy become a “star?” Enough to merit a placement on the reopening of the company after an absence of two years? Her reviews and reception overseas after being fired from Zerbinetta at La scala, to her recently far less than rapturous reviews in Candide and even worse as Lucia where she was labeled as having serious technical issues at ENO don’t exactly rate her as a returning star like Di Donato or Griffey, now do they? Maybe Epstein just had a little bit to do with that though.
Oh, and by the way, there is just that little strike issue they have to get by, which is not anywhere near being resolved.
I doubt that NYCO is capable of anything “scathingly brilliant” these days.
Bring back the cafeteria under Lincoln Center – that would be scathingly brilliant.
I had read somewhere that Gregory J. Turay, whose run upstairs in the prima of the Met’s bleak staging so impressed the Paper of Record, was the Ottavio here too.
Joelle Harvey does in deed have a beautiful voice, but why is she decorating the Deh Vieni?
As for Ottavio, Alek Shrader would be wonderful. He was the young tenor we saw in Central Park the other night.
“Bring back the cafeteria under Lincoln Center – that would be scathingly brilliant.”
Footlights AKA “Foodlights”
” It’s a bit like every African-American soprano with a lyric voice of any substance … expected to sing Aida.”
I’d have thought that the BUTTERFLY instance was more like: “every African-American soprano with a lyric voice of any substance … expected to sing Bess.”
No stand-out débuts, No.21? With exciting singers like Cyndia Sieden or Kelly Markgraf (to take one of each sex and two different age-groups)? Someone above complains about the inclusion of veterans in the retrospective first night and takes that as evidence of a neglect of young singers. (Isn’t that what a celebration of past singers there necessarily is?) Then the relative lack of established stars is criticized as a want of stand-out débuts. Hmm.
Maybe many of the reactions above illustrate why a big press push was not mounted for an incomplete cast-list? (I don’t know what the thinking was, but reactions here sure don’t give me to think that such a release would have bought them a lot of raves from us.)
Joelle Harvey– I agree, fantastic. I’ll never forget when I saw her as Cupid as a young artist at Glimmerglass. I knew they’d found a star.
Let’s talk/speculate Ottavios. Love that role and hope they fill it with someone worthy!
I’m a little stunned that Yunah Lee is being allowed to return. It’s a lovely voice, at least it was when I knew it, but she was fired from a production of Boheme at City Opera because she was always arriving late to rehearsals and calls, and most notoriously, didn’t show up to a performance of Mimi. When the production manager was finally able to reach her about half way through the show after the cover had been thrown on at the very last minute, she apparently said “Oh, I have a show today?” That was pretty much the end of her career there, and well, everywhere else as far as I know. Yeah, there’s been a regime change, but I would find it hard to believe someone somewhere didn’t fill them in on her reputation.
Yunah Lee commanding Butterfly? Hmmmmn she sure didn’t in Roanoke a few years back, and in a 300? seat theatre she wasn’t soaring over a 20 piece orchestra. I did hear Guipeng Deng sing a lovely Butterfly about 6 yrs ago and she did more then justice to the role.I will always cherish my first Butterfly who was a soprano by the name of Pamela Myer’s(She was on the original cast recording of Company).A stunningly beautiful woman with a gorgeous voice, don’t know why she never made it big.