At tonight’s Faust performance, two events of note: René Pape, upon his re-entrance after the Jewel Song, ad-libbed the spoken line “Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.” The performance, a broadcast, was the basso’s final one of this production.) After this moment of comedy, drama followed at the curtain calls. Read more »
In what is without doubt the final chapter of their on-again, off-again romance, Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna are on again, she says.
This is certainly not the lusty, passionate, mercurial Carmen of many interpreters. There is no overt hip-swinging sexuality here. It strikes me that this is a Carmen for the head, and not the gut—the most intellectual Carmen of my experience. Rather than following her whims and desires, this Carmen acts with a glorification of self worthy of an Ayn Rand hero. Making decisions based on self-interest, she seems manipulative rather than passionate with her lovers. I found her fascinating, though she seemed charming rather than sensual; obsessed with fate rather than accepting; and, ultimately, suicidal rather than defiantly free. Read more »
“…whenever he was joined by the baritone Simon Keenlyside, who sang Rodrigo, the Marquis of Posa and Carlo’s devoted friend, Mr. Alagna opened up in every way.” Well, wouldn’t you? [NYT]
After a rather long afternoon at the Met, a member of the cher public writes: “The Don Carlo final dress was worth catching.” Our spy has more to say after the jump.
In 1890 Cavalleria rusticana had taken the whole world by storm and in the next decade or so, hordes of composers, willing or unwillingly, jumped on the Verismo bandwagon. La navarraise (1894) is generally considered Jules Massenet’s homage to the genre, and for a long time the two works were often performed together. Emma Calvé, the creator of the title role in Massenet’s opera, and one of the most illustrious champions of the Verismo movement, frequently appeared in the two operas in the same evening.
Roberto Alagna, star of tonight’s pair of one-acters by Opera Orchestra of New York, discusses divorce and desserts with Our Own JJ. [New York Post]
Roberto Alagna dips his toe into the avant-garde, participating in Calixto Bieito‘s controversial production of Carmen at Teatro del Liceo de Barcelona. [El País]
Cher Public