They had CVs then
La Cieca has decided she is going insert the the following line into her official biography (names and pronouns varied as necessary): “[Her] personal life was glamorous. [She] rose to fame in tandem with composer Gian Carlo Menotti, whom [she] met at Curtis, and the two had an enviable life together in Mount Kisco, N.Y., even if during parties the often-touchy [La Cieca] reportedly locked [herself] in the bathroom when Tallulah Bankhead arrived..” [David Patrick Stearns]
noctambulist: I would call Sondra a big lyric
with some agility facility — and problems.
Pitch problems. But, then, DellaCasa had a big
international career with persistent pitch problems.
Darling la Cieca- thank you for clearing that up. Some of us had heard that it was Tallulah Bankhead that locked herself in the bathroom when you turned up…as for Wallis Simpson… there were always the rumours that she and “le duc” indulged in strange sexual practices. I forget the details but I do remember it had nothing to do with him wanting to dress up like a queen or anyhing like that.
As for what lay beneath Wallis’s waistline- who knows? Americans can be so tricky
Radvanovsky sang a hugely successfuly (audience loved her) performance of Don Carlo at the Bastille Friday night, not ideal for every facet of the role, not always in complete control of her instrument, but very good in both the big aria and the small aria, great in the quartet. . . there was no Fontainebleau scene, and I don’t know why the French want to do the Italian Don Carlo except that there were three very good Italians in the cast: Giacomo Prestia as Philip, Stefano Secco as Carlo, and Luciana d’Intino as Eboli, but best best best of all was native son Ludovic Tezier as Rodrigo, and I had been thinking of him as a Mozartean. . . we’d be lucky to have a Don Carlo this good next year in New York!
Glad to hear of Radvanovsky’s success in Paris as Elisabetta. It sounds like she has grown into the role since the Met a few years ago. It must be a pleasure to hear a ‘voix corsée’ in a role too often taken by fragile, pushed lyrics!
mrmyster I totally agree with you. Such an abundance of sopranos. Last year we had more male singers and most of them won. This year the tenor was fine though. The baritone forgot the lyrics of “Factatum” on three different occasions and was flat, but I guess the jury did not care, he won too.
When I am king of the world, ‘Largo al Factotum’ will be banned from all singing competitions.
Some comments on Metropolitan Idol yesterday:
Rachel Willis-Sorensen sang the Lohengrin beautifully, and also Come Scoglio, where she showed charm and a winning personality. Lori Guilbeau also sang very well, and the Don Carlo aria was in French, which puts her in advance of both Paris and The Met. Give me some music was her surprising second choice. Leah Crocetto also deserved the prize, with an impeccable performance of Ernani Involami and its cabaletta, and followed it with a beautifully controlled Ch’il bel sogno di Doretta. Tenor Nathaniel Peake showed a beautiful voice, with a serious case of Opera Hands in the Macbeth (I know, it mentions hands in the title, but how about being a little counter intuitive), and a much more focused account of O Paradis. Last winner was Elliot Madure, with a fine performance of Batter my heart, followed by the Largo al factotum, and I say Amerjaquino for king of the world. Besides the annoyance of presenting the aria, it appeared that his tone does not come to full volume quickly enough for the patter to audible at many points, and I don’t think Figaro should be all that cute. There is a real problem when the voice is covered by the sparse Rossini orchestra. Anyway, I guess the world needs another barihunk.
There have been many discussions of style on this forum, and in this regard, some of the singing yesterday was seriously problematic, and in each case the language was French. Soprano Haeron Hong was clumsy in the Massenet, but followed with a beautifully sung and articulated Deh vienni non tardar. The winners who sang in French did better with the language, but the vowels were not French, and without proper pronunciation of vowels, there is no French style. Mezzo Hyo Na Kim sang O mio Fernand, and for the entire recit preceding those three words, I had no idea what language was being sung. At the end, with a slender tone, Von Stade showed how it could be done, in Werther and Perichole.
Except for Willis-Sorensen, all of participants tended to tell the story with their hands, which externalizes, and therefore interferes with the important communication, which should be from the singing. Are singers taught this, or have they just not been shown not to do it? There was also a lot of pointless movement from everybody. Better to just stand and deliver than to busy up the stage with unmotivated movement.
Teresa Berganza celebrates her 75th birthday tomorrow, March 16th – one of the greatest and most musically glorious light Mezzos from 1957 (operatic debut as Dorabella in Aix) on.
I wonder what son ami Pedro has planned.
What’s going on with the opera-L webpage? I only check the archives for messages and now I can’t access the archives page. The front page has been blank for quite some time now. Does anyone have a link to access the messages? ….Thanks