Another fine mezzo
Awesome Anita Rachvelishvili (top) will be the Principessa di Bouillon opposite the Maurizio of Jonas Kaufmann (bottom) and—presumably—Angela Gheorghiu in the title role of Adriana Lecouvreur for Opera Orchestra of New York on November 8, or as we call in here at parterre, “Die Nacht des Sternstunden.”
Now, if Ange could manage to get the conductor replaced…
Why? He’s paying for this night of underwhelming verismo. Cilea will make it wonderful they will all do the best they can.
If she looks like in those pictures taken yesterday(?),
not only the conductor will have “a problem”…:-))http://www.facebook.com/angelagheorghiuofficial#!/media/set/?set=a.226826030707200.61621.118438574879280&type=1)
OK, I know Ange is promoting cinema showings here, but someone should have told her not to tear down the ruched curtain from in front of the screen to wrap round herself. And just as Elizabeth I’s wig got redder as she got older, so Ange’s hair gets blacker as the years pass.
Was Ginger Costa-Jackson unavailable?
Rachvelishvili? Can she rage?
Dear deceased, and much missed Muriel Costa-Greenspan would have been a more outlandish choice. I bet Mignon Dunn could still sing the hell out of it and make Bouillon cubes out of the competition. Paging Regina Resnik! Calling Rise Stevens!
I wonder if Freni could chug out some of those Boullion cubes? At least there would be battling divas on stage.
Recording quality is very rough but here’s an idea of her Principessa.
The third and fourth notes are already severely flat. There’s no excuse for that.
I could not listen to it beyond lentissima agonia, which is what she sounds like.
I heard Ms Rachvelishvili’s Carmen several months ago at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. She has a HUGE voice, well-produced right through her range, that can fill a big hall with the greatest of ease. But incredibly boring -- no individuality, and no flexibility. And no stage presence. In spite of being a reasonably attractive woman, Rachvelishvili doesn’t project much sexuality across the footlights. Carmen is a man eater, but Rachvelishvili’s Carmen couldn’t eat an orange.
I think she has oodles of potential, but she has been overhyped too early. It must be tough.
Not a patch on Commonwealth Artist Sarah Castle!
The last time OONY did this was with Millo, Zajick, and Giordani. For me, it stands as one of the most exhilarating nights of opera ever. Each aria/duet/trio was hit out of the ballpark!
I doubt this even has the potential to beat that night.
Hm…I disagree. I saw her carmen at the Met with alagna last season and I thought it was wonderful, certainly the best carmen I’ve seen in the eyre production. She was totally natural and authentic. She was never over the top nor detached, just totally comfortable playing Carmen. Her singing was not perfect, but it was juicy and full-blooded, which I vastly preferred to Garanca or Aldrich blandness.
Indeed. I saw that Met Carmen, and Rachvelishvili sang very well, was natural, authentic, and quite sexy. Maybe the production and partner have a big influence on her at this point in her career; she is, after all, very very young.
I suppose I’m either repeating an earlier post I haven’t seen or else someone has already reported it- but the Alagna/Georghiou firestorm is back on. Now they are going to concentrate on their individual careers and go home to fight. I love beautiful stories.
Mon cher mari and I were also at the Deutsche Oper Carmen back in April, on Family Night. Yes, she has a huge voice and yes, she is a physically attractive woman but her Carmen was as sexy as an old floor mop. She has only one volume: loud, and that was considerably louder than everybody else on stage. For the first time ever, we walked out on an opera at half-time. It wasn’t bad enough to be funny, but it was just so damn mediocre. What with Anita continually singing on “11″ (yep, that’s a Spinal Tap reference), several chorus members imitating Germany’s favourite meat and holding a “who’s the best at upstaging everybody else” competition, and an obviously second-string cast because the primary cast clearly weren’t keen on doing Family Night, it was an easy decision to make. Thank God we got to wash our ears out a couple of night’s later at the Komische Oper’s new production of Salome with Morenike Fadayomi!