Alagnas go pfft?
According to Opera Chic, the Alagnas will announce their plans to divorce tomorrow. (That is, they will make an announcement tomorrow; the actual proceedings are likely a little farther down the road.) You may remember that La Cieca hinted at this sad eventuality several months ago. [UPDATE: As noted in the comments below, Alagna is calling it a separation and "Angela ne veut pas entendre parler de divorce," which could mean a whole range of things.] Image based on a photo by Ken Howard, Metropolitan Opera.
It’s sad news when a couple who have been together for some time split up,,,
Too bad…and , my wishes for future happiness , to both Roberto. and Angela
What prompted the separation and probable divorce?
Ah well, I hope they both find happiness in the future.
Can you cite incompatible feet as a reason for divorce… he could never compete. Who ever could.
Her looks are going, her voice is fading, and who will we remember years down the line?
Sad news, but your sson to be free Roberto.
Get yourself a nice girl who requires less maintenance.
The actual article is found here: http://www.lefigaro.fr/musique/2009/10/08/03006-20091008ARTFIG00663-roberto-alagna-et-angela-gheorghiu-se-separent-.php
Contrary to OperaChic’s report, in the article, Roberto explicitly states that Angela is not considering divorce.
“Angela ne veut pas entendre parler de divorce.”
So what if they are having marital problems at the moment. Name me a couple who doesn’t. Then name me a couple whose jobs entail acting passionately with their colleauges who don’t occasionally have problems. It doesn’t mean they hate each other or are going to divorce.
The way it strikes me is that she might not “want to hear” about divorce… but he seems to be quite happy and much calmer on his own and maybe HE wants one.
It sounds like he just got tired of her antics and realized how calm and happy he feels without her. In other words, he wised up.
The way he has talked in recent interviews he sounds like a guy who loved someone but it just wasn’t good for him or did not make him happy and even tho he might still care for the person, he is able to move on – nostalgic but he sounds pretty resolved.
Also the part published on Thursday night – I think, someone correct me if my French failed me but I think it says here are extracts of the interview to be published on Friday – is only part of the interview
You know no one really knows the story with those two. There is a big facade and god knows what behind it. When I attended the “La Sonnambula” dress rehearsal last year at the Met, Roberto Alagna was there. And he wasn’t alone. Angela? No, a slim biracial model type – almost looked like the young Shari Belafonte-Harper. Many people have said he has had girlfriends. Angela has been linked with Ricardo Chailly. Yet in public they are lovey-dovey. Except that I saw Roberto barely acknowledge Angela during a “Faust” curtain call, she was surprised he kissed her after James Morris already had. Next show was the broadcast and they were both on the plane back to Europe – no more love scenes for them. Also at a pension fund gala for the Met supposedly they were at each other’s throats backstage but were the picture of contented marital bliss onstage.
Yet it was also said that one reason Angela left the “Boheme” rehearsals in Chicago and broke her contract to be with Bobby in NYC was that she didn’t want him alone with Trebs. One source said that she was watching him and Anna in the bedroom scene in “R&J” like a hawk.
Some say the whole relationship is a publicity set-up and they do what they want behind the scenes. Divorces have been announced before with them and then haven’t come to pass. Wait and see. Your guess is as good as mine.
Translation of Figaro interview extract:
Excerpts from the interview published Friday Le Figaro.
• On money:
LE FIGARO. – What is your income?
Roberto Alagna. –I am privileged but not as rich as people think. I live in Switzerland but I pay my taxes in France. I do not know the exact amount of my fortune because I am not a businessman. A gala evening, I reach 60,000. If I need money, I go to Abu Dhabi and Japan, where I get 100,000. I make 25 cents per disk. I do not receive anything on the DVD and live HD broadcasts of operas at the cinema. The tour of Zenith that I entrusted with my brother did not pay me yet. In opera, I earn 13,000 euros gross per night. But in the end, I have nothing left. Half share goes in taxes. The other pay my agent and my daily expenses. There, for two performances of Carmen I’m in London for a month and a half. The rented apartment near Covent Garden costs me 1500 pounds per week. My assistant does the cooking and washing clothes. Other singers in Carmen are my neighbors. We live like a family, people greet each other at the window. Very nice. My only luxury is to find a comfortable place. In New York, this is a real worry: all my Met fees slip through my fingers.
What do you do with your income?
What I earn, I invest in artistic projects that are dear to my heart. I ensure that my family and my friends do not lack anything. I spend nothing for me. Florence, my first wife died when I was 29 years old. Since I do not attach importance to material goods. However, I think of our daughter Ornella, she is 17 now. She just passed her exams. When I left EMI, I bought with my business partner the whole catalog of my recordings for 800,000 pounds sterling. I paid with what I had in the bank and my advance on royalties from the album “Sicilian”. This will be her legacy. Unfortunately, it will not bring her as much as that of Michael Jackson! In classical, you’re happy with 20,000 albums sold worldwide.
• On his relationship with his wife Angela Gheorghiu:
With Angela Gheorghiu, you were a mythical couple like Burton-Taylor. Your separation, both emotional and artistic, has it had an impact on your career?
Long ago we did more things together. Each leads his or her career. I thought it would be hard, but I feel more peaceful and free. I have no concern for accountability and to give advice, every night. I’m in a sort of cruising speed, where everything works for me. It’s hard you know to be in a relationship with an artist. Then two opera singers whose job is so difficult … It’s the first time since the death of my first wife Florence, who died when I was 29 years old leaving me alone with our daughter Ornella who was a baby, I now know a kind of serenity. I finally see the beauty of the moment. Angela will not hear of divorce. We’ll see. The key is to be happy and she has the strength to go on stage.
Find the rest of the interview published Friday in Le Figaro.
Gualtier: La Cieca is perhaps inclined to a more sentimental take on the relationship. Yes, maybe it’s complicated, but that surely goes with the territory of having two stars in the family. In a way the Taylor/Burton comparison strikes me as applicable beyond the superstar thing. Like Ms. Taylor, Gheorghiu I think does have a strongly protective streak. Her jetting to New York for the Romeo seems to me an example of that “mother tigress” inclination: Alagna needed support and she was there to give it.
It’s possible for a couple to have great affection for each other and yet not want to be married any longer. It may just feel more romantic or more secure to have a boyfriend or a girlfriend who is in a different line of work or on a different level of success.
We’ve seen Private Lives and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and even A Star is Born — all about couples who really deeply care about each other but still manage to put each other through hell. So if fiction can manage shades of gray this way, why shouldn’t real life?
Opera singer Angela Gheorghiu: “In love there are no simple decisions”.
Q: Why don’t you perform more songs during the concert?
A: I’m very careful with my voice. It’s a part of me and if anything happens I can’t replace a broken string as you can do with a violin or cello. It’s necessary to know when to stop. Diamonds are not weighted in kilograms.
.
Q: It’s because of this care that you’re talking about you cancelled “Carmen” with Roberto Alagna at the Metropolitan Opera?
A: I will sing “Carmen” at the Met but another time and with another partner. I simply decided not to sing with my husband in the next years.
.
Q: Why?
A: Because in love there are no simple decisions. People after all are very selfish – if love someone you want he or she entirely, and only for yourself. It seems to me, it’s very much the same in Russia.
Extract from Izvestia-Russian newspaper.
More on:http://angelagheorghiu.blogspot.com/
Well, they’ve both been pretty wacky over the years, but I’m sorry they have to go through their difficult time. I hope they will find happiness in the future and maybe they’ll even find time to rest their voices a bit.
I know La Gheorghiu can be nutty, and I’ve read the interviews where she continually refers to herself in the third person, but I’ve seen her twice and she gave good performances both times. I wish them both good luck.