I was star-struck
Opera Orchestra of New York will jump-start its new incarnation in 2010-11 with a double bill of La Navarraise (Roberto Alagna, Elina Garanca) and Cavalleria rusticana (Alagna again, with Maria Guleghina and Mignon Dunn[!!!]), conducted by Music Director Designate Alberto Veronesi at Carnegie Hall on October 25. Eve Queler returns to the podium for L’Africaine on March 2 at Avery Fisher Hall, with Marcello Giordani and lavishly-bevowelled Italian soprano Chiara Taigi.
The “Highlights from . . .” album format was invented for L’Africaine.
I suppose you are correct about that. The arias are the only thing that I can remember from it.
I was hoping to drum up some enthusiasm tonight for a Saturday Chat Room, but the folks at Operacast seem to be taking some time off. Not that I begrudge them, but, you see, I have no other life than this.
So far the options are :
AIDA from Covent Garden with Marcello Alvarez and Marianne Cornetti. We had a lot of postings about the bloody and savage David McVicar production but relatively little about the performances. I suspect that the harpies among us would have plenty to dig their talons into.
MANON from Opera Ottawa features Michael Schade and Nathalie Paulin, not negligible vocalists by any means, but not the sort of cast to make queens wet their jeans.
LA DAMNATION DU FAUST from Chicago I found quite excellent when I heard its first airing last year. Susan Graham and John Relyea repeat their roles from The Met’s production, and Paul Groves surpasses Marcello Giordani with a solid, even exciting Faust.
I have also heard THE BARTERED BRIDE from Prague being re-broadcast on NPR. I can guarantee that of the four, this is the one that sounds most like BARTERED BRIDE.
Just a note that the Royal Opera Manon is scheduled to be broadcast on July 10.
La Cieca will post a poll of tomorrow’s broadcasts later today.
Our doyenne would like suggestions as to what five operas should be on the final ballot. What do you think? Do you want something to savage or something to salve? Pick five from this list and send them to
ditzbobble@gmail.com.
I’ll tabulate your votes and give the results to La Cieca as THE BALLOT. Just to sweeten the pot, I’ll supply downloads of the Top Five*, available on request, same address.
*Except commercial releases.
1:00-5:00 CBC TWO MANON from Ottawa
1:00-5:00 BBC 3 AIDA
1:00-4:30 DRK Furrer’s “Wustenbuch” and J.L. Bach’s Funeral Music
1:00-4:00 FRANCE VIVACE – SEMIRAMIDE, the Sutherland/Horne commercial release.
1:00-5:00 KBYU, KUSF, WRTI TOSCA form Chicago. Not the most subtle of performances, nor even all that enjoyable.
1:00-5:00 NPR THE BARTERED BRIDE
1:00-5:00 RCE Song and Dance from Granada and a commercial Max Cencic recital.
1:00-5:00 RTP I DUE FOSCARI. We don’t get much opportunity to hear this opera. Bruson and Casanova.
1:00-5:00 WFMT Network. THE DAMNATION OF FAUST.
1:30-4:00 NRK FLYING DUTCHMAN, London, Rysanek, Bohm.
2:00-5:00 CESKY ROZHLAS. I PURITANI from Vienna with Rancatore, Bros, Kwiecien. I thought this sort of lacklustre.
2:0-6:00 RADIO TRE Haydn’s LA VERA COSTANZA, Jesus Lopez-Cobos conducts a largely unknown cast.
Oops, sorry, Betsy: as you can see above, La Cieca has already done a “final ballot,” which includes all of your suggestions, plus the Puritani. Your doyenne promises she will coordinate this with more coordination next week!
Thanks, Hippolyte. Add DIE WALKURE and DON CHISCOTTE to the list of options above. I know the WALKURE is recent, but do you have any information on the Conti? Is it the 2005 performance or a revival thereof? A charming piece of music either way.
La Cieca will allow write-in votes for operas she neglected to include on the ballot, and she begins to see why representative democracy doesn’t work.
Beings as how the end result will be a roomful of people listening to ten different operas, making bad puns, and submitting periodic reports of how good or bad their particular opera is doing, I scarcely see that it matters much.
The Conti is “live” as my original posting said.
Don’t sell democracy short, Miss Cieca, Ma’am. Look how pleased everybody is at having made the worst possible choice. It’s so American I could cry.
Bets, were there any votes on your poll for the ‘Foscari’, or enough for you to make a downloadable recording? (I’d love to hear that opera…)
Stevy, hit me during Chat. I’ll see what can be arranged.
A few additions on Operacast:
TEATRO COMUNALE DI TREVISO presents
LA VERA COSTANZA – by Haydn
I Puritani
Flying Dutchman( not live – 1963 production from the Met)
Sémiramide ( not live -1965 Sutherland and Horne)
More details on Operacast website.
A quibble, Havfruen. Very few of the broadcasts are “live.” It’s usually a question of how cold the corpse is.
Radio France is broadcasting on Saturday the new Paris Opera Walkure with Dalayman, Merbeth, Dean Smith and the new baritone who replaced Struckmann whose name escapes me, conducted by Philippe Jordan. Also Radio 4 from the Netherlands is doing Conti’s Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena from Amsterdam live conducted by Rene Jacbos, but it appears that almost no one on Parterre “does” anything before Bellini.
Yeah, Hippolyte, nobody here’s ever heard of Mozart…
Of course you’re right – I meant “live” rather than studio recording but nothing is really “live” if it’s not real-time , and even then some real-time performances I’ve attended seemed pretty dead.
I saw a very delightful “Don C”/Conti, a few years back, at Caramoor..
My poor ‘ol eyes are giving me some trouble, lately, and I don’t see this one listed on Operacast… can anyone give time/ info for this b’cast?
It’s not listed on OperaCast yet; you have to go to the website to find it. And then, you have to be able to read Dutch, which is a skill similar to the ability to peel pomegranates with your belly button.
“DU FAUST”?
Is he now like The Donald?
I am at a loss when dealing with French propositions.
Pray allow me to doubt that!
Oh it’s true. I stammer and hesitate and say “We . . .” and later wake up not knowing where I am.
It looks like the Medea or Medée with Aprile Millo is off – and, as we all know, she is not singing Santuzza (unless she is the understudy). Does that mean that she has NO upcoming engagements AT ALL?
Would you offer her a contract?
Mignon Dunn!……Now there’s a name that brings back great memories. It was the late 70′s and I was a conservatory student in Boston. That was back when the Met used to tour. They played the cavernous confines of the Hynes Auditorium. I remember in one week seeing her twice. First as Venus in Tannhauser with Rysanek as Elisabeth. Then as Amneris in Aida, though I can’t remember a single other person in the cast. Mignon was absolutely FAB in both roles. I remember the Oper Queen critic of the Boston Globe going into raptures over her Cheekbones of all things. I wish she was an artist who left a more extensive recorded legacy.
Boston, Massachusetts
June 9, 1980
AIDA {895}
Aida………………..Rita Orlandi-Malaspina [Last performance]
Radames……………..Giorgio Lamberti
Amneris……………..Mignon Dunn
Amonasro…………….Cornell MacNeil
Ramfis………………James Morris
King………………..Julien Robbins
Messenger……………Charles Anthony
Priestess……………Elizabeth Coss
Conductor……………David Stivender
FYI: Eve Queler has just been named a recipient of the NEA Opera Honors for this year.
The other recipients are Martina Arroyo, Philip Glass, and David DiChiera.
in regards to l’africaine, it’s an utter bore… like most meyerbeer. out of the 5 hours, there’s about a half hour worth of nice tunes here and there. that’s it. the tenor gets one, and selika has the lullaby. the rest, you could should lock up your enemies in a broken elevator and play the music nonstop.
on another note, what the fuck is she wearing here?
I think it’s dryer lint.
This is from the same production as the infamous Hedgehog-Ulrica (where it looked like a Pokemon was singing ‘Re dell’abisso’).
For those of you who missed it the first time….
Isn’t it great when PCP addicts stage opera???
WTF, stevey… the singing in this production is as bad as the design. geezusbechrisis. i almost got kicked out of the public library for laughing out too hard.
It looks like King Kong dropped his rubber on her. After he used it.
Eve Queler owes me five bucks.
The Washington (D.C.) Concert Opera offers the best opera in the US Capital mostly because of their excellent music director, Anthony Walker. They have announced their 2010-11 season and it sounds fun: ADRIANA LECOUVREUR with Mary Elizabeth Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, James Valenti and Donnie Rae Albert (October) and WERTHER with Giuseppe Filianoti and Jennifer Larmore (May) http://www.concertopera.org/