parterre box

177 comments

• 161
  NYCOQ says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:32 AM

  Again I say, 85% of the people watching the broadcast have no clue who those singers are. While we are blessed to be among the opera cognescenti and discuss singers like Zvetkova; the KC Honors broadcast is on the verge of being cancelled. Georghiu is a “household” name amongst people that dont even attend the opera.

  I am also along the lines of thinking that there may be some sort of personal connection with Angie and Grace. Lord knows that media-whore Renee wouldn’t have passed up an opportunity to be seen by her adoring public at such a high-brow event if her schedule allowed. Wasn’t Trebs in the audience. BTW it certainly was a star-studded affair. Everytime the camera panned the audience I was playing the “Oh my, that’s blah blah” game.
• 162
  Regina delle fate says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:33 AM

  Bianca

  This could have been from Wembley. As far as I recall, Grace only sang Turandot in the Wembley performances, not in the house. But I may be wrong. I saw so many of those Turandots with every soprano under the sun. My only recollection of Grace in the role is at Wembley. Armerjacquino probably has a better memory of these things….
• 163
  Regina delle fate says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:36 AM

  You’re wasted as a tenor, Lindoro. You should be writing comedy sketches and making bazillions!
• 164
  NYCOQ says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:43 AM

  Kashania I am in total agreement. Angie certainly is camera ready. Glam hair, glam figure and the attitude to pull off whatever she is wearing.

  Brewer while a great singer is certainly not known for her Italian rep and again I say 95% of the viewing audience would have been clueless as to who she was. Let me preface this next statement by saying that I love, love, love her ( I actually flew to Paris a few seasons back to catch her in FrOSch after flying to Chicago to see her and Debbie perform in the opera) but she is not “camera ready”. Ratings people, its all about the ratings.
• 165
  Regina delle fate says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:43 AM

  Hear, hear Monty – she was just fabulous. The Ebolis at Covent Garden in – I think – 1976 were better than any other I’ve heard before or since. I never saw Shirley in the role, however. The Selikas in L’Africaine were pretty hot, too. Most of her soprano appearances at CG were disappointing by comparison.Damn that I never saw Grace as Amneris or Carmen!
• 166
  Regina delle fate says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:49 AM

  Wait until Echalaz gets to sing at the Met, or even Houston, and the Vicar will be using her name to cast nasturtiums on the reputations of Zinka, Maria and Leonie.
• 167
  Regina delle fate says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:50 AM

  I’d be curious to hear a Brewer Aida, as well.
• 168
  The Vicar of John Wakefield says:

  December 31, 2009 at 7:08 AM

  Boer or no, she is British-based, came up professionally at the English Touring Opera, and is a Puccini singer in the great tradition of Victoria Elliott.
• 169
  NYCOQ says:

  December 31, 2009 at 7:47 AM

  my bad – cognoscenti
• 170
  brooklyndivo says:

  December 31, 2009 at 11:52 AM

  Why did she sing at all when they could have had Denise sing something from Carmen. He singing sounded miked and very broadwayish. There are other sopranos to sing this aria it was horrible I might add.
• 171
  Lindoro Almaviva says:

  December 31, 2009 at 12:49 PM

  You guys are way too generous. Thank you.

  I started writing some this year again. So thank you very much for the positive feedback.
• 172
  Lucky Pierre says:

  December 31, 2009 at 3:19 PM

  well, a few years ago, mrs. claggart wrote a piece for opera news mag on her good friend, grace ann. in it, she goes on to tell that she and jimmeee did not see eye to eye after a forza in 1983, and she was hardly invited to sing at the met after that (i think she only did bess and some amnerises after that at the house). she did however get invited back to his 25th anniv. gala in 1996 (she was after all his tosca when he made his debut). i don’t think she had sung there for 10 yrs by then.

  domingo? they probably hadn’t worked together in decades although that wouldn’t have been an impediment.

  i wonder if there was a singer today that could have been chosen to honor bumbry, that could have been said to have been influenced by her and followed in her footsteps. maybe urmana? somewhat a different singer, but she’s pretty much taken up the same fach. don’t know if voigt or renee could have been a more appropriate choice.

  overall, i think angie was a pretty good choice.
• 173
  callasorphan says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:48 PM

  L have to agree with NYCOQ and always question as to why a performer “of color” Is only compared to another performer “of color”. I can remember in the 1970s that Aretha Franklin was exclusively compared to Dionne Waricke (sp?) and later only to Roberta Flacke (again sp?).
• 174
  Ruxton says:

  December 31, 2009 at 6:48 PM

  Where was Urethra’s hat with the bow?
• 175
  armerjacquino says:

  January 1, 2010 at 12:14 PM

  Your faith is pleasing but misplaced- I was away from London at university during the period concerned so didn’t get to Covent Garden, Wembley or anywhere else.
• 176
  callasorphan says:

  January 1, 2010 at 12:29 PM

  Aretha has never been known to have too much of a “fashion sense”. Down through the years, she has appeared in some rather “frightful frocks”; however, I have never seen her appear in one of those “frights” twice. Grace Bumbry, on the other hand, has always looked ravishing as she did the other night.
• 177
  MontyNostry says:

  January 4, 2010 at 1:56 PM

  I caught up with this rather belatedly. Where does Ms Geeorgeeoo (to quote Mr Estes, whose pronunciation was never his forte) get those vowels from?