Selections from the dress rehearsal, Berlin, October 21, 2009.
Simon Boccanegra – Plácido Domingo
Maria Boccanegra (Amelia) – Anja Harteros
Jacopo Fiesco – Kwangchul Youn
Gabriele Adorno – Fabio Sartori ["Fabelhafte Schneider"]
Conductor – Daniel Barenboim
The best way to pay tribute to a legendary Wagner interpreter? Why, to perform the “Liebestod” as beautifully as Nina Stemme did at the first Birgit Nilsson Prize Award Ceremony just last week.
More details about The Birgit Nilsson Prize Award Ceremony 2009 are online.
… and, by the way, an interesting contrast between a “great” conductor of today and a routinier from four decades ago. Carlo Guelfi (with Gatti) 2009 Giangiacomo Guelfi (with Rescigno) 1969
An old clip, from 2005 in fact, but oddly prescient, perhaps. Who knew that Les vêpres siciliennes could sound so much like Verismo? Not the Greatest of E’s (Don’t thank La Cieca; this stunner was sent in by Our Own Kernita Makilla.)
Following the jump, snippets of all the tracks on the new “Verismo” album, as performed by America’s Soprano.
Cher Public