parterre box

100 comments

• Quanto Painy Fakor says:

  What a tragedy for Cheryl (possibly unprecedented in terms of audience lack of interest).

  on November 25, 2009 at 11:04 PM
• squirrel says:

  of course, the final and greatest insult in this story is the fact that the Tagesspiegel article has received a sum total of zero comments since it was authored in 22.07.2009!

  on November 26, 2009 at 1:21 AM
• Cassandra says:

  Cheryl Studer was contracted to sing and recorded many, many roles well outside her scope of talent, and she did none of them well. She was a triumph of what was left of the late autumn of the dying recording industry model.

  Once everyone including audiences and management of houses figured out she actually couldn’t sing, for example say Gilda -or for that matter any other role on a stage- her career ended.

  on November 26, 2009 at 11:43 AM
• iltenoredigrazia says:

  I heard Neves as Abigaille in Paris some nine years ago and she was terrific. I sort of remember reading that she was doing Norma somewhere else around the same time. I would have liked to hear her as Lady Macbeth and other Verdi ladies.

  on November 26, 2009 at 11:51 AM
• Buster says:

  Nasty typo in the Studer wikipedia entry:

  “In addition, the soprano is said to be also preparing the role of Gerturd”

  on November 26, 2009 at 12:01 PM
  • Often admonished says:

    …you’re sure that’s a typo?

    on November 26, 2009 at 1:13 PM
• Buster says:

  yes, since it is not really funny enough for the funny people on wikipedia. I had to remove “Played trumpet with Benjamin Franklin” from the Eva Lind article more than once. That was at least funny.

  on November 26, 2009 at 1:33 PM
• Despina says:

  I attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in the early 1970′s when Studer was there as a senior. I still remember her Yum-Yum in the Mikado. Everyone knew she was going to have a major career. And she herself made sure we always knew in it the dining room, when she would vocalize while waiting in line with her tray.

  on November 26, 2009 at 2:24 PM
• Harry says:

  Amongst all this nit picking about Studer, it has to be said there are a lot lot worse singers around today. Getting top billing yet never even up to Studer’s former standards that some delight in criticizing. The worse fatal mistake I think Studer made , was by mking hersely totally ubiquitous.

  on November 26, 2009 at 6:51 PM
• Krunoslav says:

  “Once everyone including audiences and management of houses figured out she actually couldn’t sing, for example say Gilda -or for that matter any other role on a stage- her career ended.”

  This is unfair, at least as concerns the central part of Studer;s career. I have never been a fan and I always thought she was ill-advised, but the three times I heard her live, she was always quite good ( Eva, Violetta) or even excellent (Donna Anna).

  Certainly a better voice than Annette Dasch. the DREADFUL Nadja Michael or (ahem) Petra-Maria Schnitzer.

  on November 26, 2009 at 7:38 PM
  • Regina delle fate says:

    Krunoslav is dead right. She was a wonderful singer at her best. I heard her first live singing Freia, a Walküre (can’t remember which one), Third Norn and Gutrune in Friedrich’s Berlin Ring and later as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Elsa, Sieglinde, Countess Almaviva, Chrysothemis, Kaiserin and Aida. With the exception of the last, where he constant mixing of repertoire and silly choices of recording roles was evidently taking a toll, she was a lustrous and lovely singer, one of the most beautiful lyric sopranos since Gundula Janowitz. If she had stuck to Janowitz’s central rep – although Janowitz sang Aida, Elisabeth de Valois and Odabella in Attila – she might still be having a decent career. She was a less mannered singer than Fleming, although not as attractive on stage. And her Salome has that youthful silvery sound that Strauss obviously thought was ideal when he suggested reducing the orchestra for Elisabeth Schumann to sing the role. Studer’s voice was obviously bigger than Schumann’s. I think it’s a real pity she didn’t sing the Marschallin, Arabella and Ariadne in her prime, although I think she has sung them since her Aida debacle at Covent Garden.

    on November 27, 2009 at 3:37 AM
• mrmyster says:

  Right on Krunoslav! And certainly Studer was, even in an off moment, a helluva lot better than that tatterdemaleon Janice Watson or whatever her name is — of course she’s English and you know how they are – all sound alike and that ain’t good! Oh, hi Rev. Wakefield!! Come va?

  on November 26, 2009 at 9:35 PM