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Opera-Loving Catholic Cardinal Edward Egan Of NYC Dies At Age 82

March 5, 2015, 2:16 pm
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Cardinal Edward Egan listens to opera tenor Bryan Hymel
at the Waldorf-Astoria in October 2014
"Cardinal Edward M. Egan, a stern defender of Roman Catholic orthodoxy who presided over the New York Archdiocese for nine years in an era of troubled finances and changing demographics, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 82. Joseph Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said Cardinal Egan died of cardiac arrest at NYU Langone Medical Center. As archbishop of New York from 2000 to 2009 — the spiritual head of a realm of 2.5 million parishioners, an archipelago of 400 churches and a majestic seat at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan — the cardinal was one of America’s most visible Catholic leaders, invoking prayers for justice when terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001, and escorting Pope Benedict XVI on his historic visit to the city in April 2008. In February of 2009, the pope announced that Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee had been selected to replace Cardinal Egan in New York on April 15, concluding a reign that had not been popular with many Catholics but had come to grips with hard decisions on church finances and had walked the line of Catholic doctrine against winds of change. But a month before retiring, Cardinal Egan seemed to soften his stance on the centuries-old requirement of priestly celibacy by suggesting the church would someday have to consider allowing priests to marry. 'I think that it’s going to be discussed; it’s a perfectly legitimate discussion,' he said on the Albany radio station Talk 1300. He added: 'I think it has to be looked at. And I am not so sure it wouldn’t be a good idea to decide on the basis of geography and culture not to make an across-the-board determination.'" New York residents know that Cardinal Edward Egan was known for his strong Catholic faith, but few had the knowledge that it was his love of opera that carried on a tradition of bringing operatic talent of the highest level to St. Patrick's Cathedral. Annually at services for Christmas Eve Midnight Mass visitors can hear the likes of Susan Graham, Renée Fleming, Hei-Kyung Hong, James Valenti, Danielle de Niese, Carl Tanner, Joyce DiDonato, Stephen Costello, Ramón Vargas, Maureen O'Flynn, Marcello Giordani, and Michael Fabiano. In 2007/2008, the Archdiocese of New York celebrated its Bicentennial with many celebratory Masses and events. Edward Cardinal Egan hosted a much-heralded concert featuring various choirs and stars from the Metropolitan Opera. [Source, Source, Source] Read more biographical information about Cardinal Egan here.
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James Levine Interviewed On "60 Minutes" By Late Bob Simon

March 6, 2015, 9:36 am
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"60 Minutes pays tribute to Bob Simon's love of opera by broadcasting his profile of James Levine, music director of New York's Metropolitan Opera. Watch Simon's report on Sunday, March 8 at 7 p.m. ET/PT." [Source] Watch a preview after the jump. Also read more about Bob Simon's adoration of the MET by clicking here.

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Paris Opéra Director Fails To Identify Opera Excerpts Of Callas

March 7, 2015, 6:48 pm
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A controversial video interview has sparked an international debate about how knowledgable the head of an opera company must be in order to run it as a business. "The director of Paris Opera performed poorly in a surprise opera test during a television interview in France. It was a little bit awkward. Stéphane Lissner, who has previously held posts at Italy's La Scala opera house, was asked to name particular opera arias on a French television show. Despite his history in the opera industry, a visibly uncomfortable Lissner floundered during the unexpected quiz. Although he did manage to correctly identify an aria from Bizet's Carmen, Lissner was unable to connect excerpts with operas like Catalani's La Wally and Puccini's Madame Butterfly." [Source] Watch the video, and read more about Mr. Lissner, after the jump.

"Stéphane Lissner, né le 23 janvier 1953 à Paris (12e), est un directeur de scènes de théâtre et d'opéra français. Fils de dirigeant d'entreprise, il est élève au collège Stanislas et au lycée Henri-IV1. Tout juste bachelier, il crée en 1972 le Théâtre Mécanique dans une petite salle du 7e arrondissement de Paris. Il le dirige jusqu'en 1975. Il débute dans le milieu du théâtre public comme secrétaire général du centre dramatique d'Aubervilliers en 1977, puis codirige le centre dramatique de Nice de 1978 à 19831. Il dirige alors le Printemps du théâtre entre 1984 et 1987, enseigne la gestion des institutions culturelles à l'université Paris-Dauphine en 1984, et est nommé directeur général du théâtre du Châtelet à Paris en 1988 alors qu'il siège au conseil d'administration depuis 1983. Il le demeure jusqu'en 1997 tout en assumant la direction générale de l'Orchestre de Paris de 1994 à 19961. La direction du Festival international d'art lyrique d'Aix-en-Provence lui est confiée en 1998. Il partage également la tête du théâtre des Bouffes du Nord avec Peter Brook de 1998 à juin 2005, et dirige avec Frédéric Franck le théâtre de la Madeleine depuis 20022. Devant conserver la gestion du festival d'Aix poste jusqu'en 2009, il doit le quitter en 2006 pour assumer pleinement les postes de surintendant et directeur artistique du Teatro alla Scala de Milan auxquels il est nommé en avril 2005 et reconduit en novembre 20092. En octobre 2012, il est nommé au poste de directeur délégué de l’Opéra national de Paris après le départ de son actuel directeur Nicolas Joel au 1er août 20143. Le 9 juillet 2014, Stéphane Lissner est officiellement nommé directeur de l'Opéra national de Paris." [Source]
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When Sopranos Inspire Young Singers Like Catriona Murray

March 7, 2015, 8:23 pm
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Brunette Ambition: Catriona Murray is on the rise
(Photo: Snooty Fox Images)
In a new interview, young soprano Catriona Murray talks about those she looks up to:

Who, in the contemporary market, do you look to for inspiration?
I think that Angela Gheorghui is gorgeous and amazing. Barbara Bonney, Felicity Lott, Yvonne Kenny, Lesley Garrett - too many, I think each has inspired me in some way at some stage having listened to their recordings and interpretations of the songs I've been trying to sing myself! Katherine Jenkins is stunning - love her style but she's totally opposite to me... I'm a brunette! Ha!

She also discusses her decision not to take the reality singing competition route; why she loves her gay friends; what her ideal recording would be comprised; thoughts on what would make opera appeal to the mainstream; and what inspired her to pursue opera. [Source] Hear Catriona Murray sing "Vissi, d'arte" after the jump.

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Laura Claycomb Tries To Forget Sutherland And Callas "Lucia"

March 7, 2015, 11:36 pm
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Creative Coloratura: Laura Claycomb wrote her
Lucia cadenzas with conductor Patrick Summers
(Photo: Sergio Valente)
"Laura Claycomb dies in the New Orleans Opera production of Lucia di Lammermoor. It happens every time a soprano sings the title role -- and most of the world's great sopranos have done it since Donizetti penned this hyper-romantic, bel canto masterpiece in 1835. So how does Claycomb plan to match Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland and other legends who dwell only in memory or the scratchy recordings prized by opera nuts? 'I had to clean the slate to sing Lucia,' Claycomb said. 'So my first job was trying to forget Callas and Sutherland -- all the great stars on old recordings whose singing has gotten stuck in everyone's ears. People sometimes think that's the only approach, but it's really just the style of the 1950s, the style that emerged more than a century after Donizetti wrote the piece.'... 'If you look at the early performance history of bel canto operas, you can see that the originators chose roles very differently, and that audiences expected lighter, more flexible voices -- my kind of voice -- not the big, inflexible Mack Truck singers that sometimes rumble through this repertoire today,' Claycomb said. Claycomb is thrilled with the New Orleans cast, which includes New Orleanian Casey Candebat, Michael Chioldi and William Burden, among others. She also had praise for stage director E. Loren Meeker, who has helped to set the New Orleans production in the era of Downton Abbey." [Source]
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How A MET Usher Helped Samuel Ramey Learn "Bluebeard's Castle"

March 8, 2015, 1:43 pm
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Castle of Secrets: The recording cover with
Samuel Ramey and Éva Marton
"It was fall of 1963, and Samuel Ramey was a young music student at the Municipal University of Wichita, soon to become Wichita State University. He was rummaging through the LP bins at a downtown Wichita music store when he flipped to a recording of Hungarian composer Bela Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle that featured Ramey’s idol, opera star Jerome Hines, singing the title role. Ramey bought the record and took it back to his little apartment, which was near where the Ulrich Museum of Art is now. Ramey, with his deep, young bass-baritone voice, had just begun to develop an interest in opera the previous year. He became obsessed with his new record, a one-hour, psychological opera that told the story of poor, lonely Bluebeard and his new bride, Judith, who insists on seeing what hides behind seven locked doors in his castle. 'I took it back to my place and started playing it and thought, ‘Wow. This is fantastic,'' he said. 'I wrote off to a music store in New York, and they sent me the score.'....When Ramey heads to rehearsal for Bluebeard’s Castle with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra on Monday, he’ll have that score – which still has notes he made to himself in 1963 – with him. He’s saved it for more than 50 years and has used it every time he’s performed the opera, including in 1988 when he sang the title role for a PBS special at New York’s Metropolitan Opera....Before the 1987 album, which Ramey recorded in Budapest with soprano
Ramey at the Wichita Art Museum
with a Dale Chihuly sculpture 
(Photo: Fernando Salazar)
Eva Marton, he remembers spending months working on the lyrics. Hungarian is a beautiful language, he said, but it’s far more difficult than Italian, French or Spanish to learn. Every vowel, he said, can be pronounced three or four different ways. Marton, a Hungary native, offered to help. 'She said, ‘Now there is a guy I worked with at the Met. He’s the head of the ushers, and I’ve already told him about you,'' Ramey said. He took Marton’s advice and found the usher, who agreed to help. Ramey would sit in his office for hours each day, just speaking the text. During the recording process, Ramey remembers with a laugh, a helpful bassoonist would turn around and correct him if he stumbled or give him a thumbs-up if he did well." [Source] See a photo featuring Dale Chihuly's 9,000-pound glasswork set for the production of Bluebeard's Castle after the jump.



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Television Chef Silvia Colloca Takes On Gluck Orfeo Role

March 8, 2015, 2:20 pm
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Coming Up Roses: Silvia Colloca shows her many
 facets, including opera. (Photo: Robert Gray)
"Is she a television chef? A food blogger? An actor? A singer? With Silvia Colloca, it's not clear exactly what category to put her in, but the Milan-born Sydney mother of two and wife of Richard Roxburgh is happy with the confusion. 'I don't want to be pigeonholed. I think that's a good role model for my kids to show them you can do what you want so long as you are passionate and professional about it,' Colloca said, as she prepared to launch her next incarnation: opera singer as part of the inaugural Spectrum Now arts festival, of which Roxburgh is the creative director. Though Colloca has won a legion of fans across Australia since the launch of her hit cooking series Made In Italy on SBS last year, next Saturday night she will reprise her career as an operatic mezzo-soprano. She takes on the role of Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice, based on the myth of Orpheus descending to the underworld to claim his wife. In this case, however, it is Colloca claiming 'her' wife. 'I've done this role before - it really isn't terribly gender-specific so it still works with a woman playing Orfeo,' she enthused. 'And you know, it's Mardi Gras - the timing is great.''....Colloca has been singing as long as she has been cooking and acting. She studied classical singing for five years in Milan before spending several years working as a professional singer throughout Europe. But it was through acting that she met Roxburgh, when they appeared together in the Hollywood horror flick Van Helsing, playing a couple of vampires." [Source] Watch Silvia Colloca perform the aria "Che faro senza Euridice" after the jump.
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Watch The Entire Maestro James Levine "60 Minutes" Interview

March 9, 2015, 12:48 am
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Looking Back: Maestro James Levine conducts Marilyn
Horne (left) and Leontyne Price (center) as featured
 in the 60 Minutes interview with Bob Simon.
Hopefully with the reminder last week about Maestro James Levine's interview on 60 Minutes it was on everyone's calendar. But in case you missed it, you can watch the full interview below, as well as two web exclusive clips after the jump. Although not Bob Simon's final interview before his death, it was one of the last and the opera world can be happy that it was finished in its entirety. Read more about the interview by clicking here. There are also a few photos after the jump featuring highlights from the interview.









The late Bob Simon

Soprano Angela Meade (left) and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe (right) in a Falstaff rehearsal

Young James Levine (right), with his parents, already adoring such star sopranos as
Robert Peters who hangs on the wall in several photographs.

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Classic "Tales Of Hoffmann" Film Gets New Life With 4K Restoration

March 9, 2015, 10:22 pm
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Back in October 2014, it was revealed in the UK that the famous 1951 film The Tales of Hoffmann, by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, was to be restored with an astonishing new 4K technique. "The Tales of Hoffmann: Revealed afresh in this remarkable Technicolor restoration, Powell and Pressburger’s 1951 musical phantasmagoria is the stuff of beautiful nightmares. Prepare to be astonished by the audacity and inventiveness of Powell and Pressburger’s dazzling take on Jacques Offenbach’s 1881 opera. Drawing on some of the greatest film, music and dance talents of the period, they transform it into a musical phantasmagoria. This revelatory 4K restoration (containing previously unseen footage) from the original 3-strip Technicolor negative unleashes feverish colours straight from the candy box: a cacophony of clashing yellows and purples as disturbing as they are enchanting. Out of this decadent world of surreal, sensual delights Ludmilla Tchérina seduces us as a 19th-century dominatrix ; a menacing chorus of pan-sexual mannequins appear to have raided the dressing-up box of Marc Bolan and, most unsettling of all, there’s the image of Moira Shearer’s dismembered head as it blinks back at us." [Source] Maybe next up for restoration will be Michael Powell's 1963 adaptation of Bartók's opera Bluebeard's Castle! Watch the HD trailer for the restored film The Tales of Hoffmann, see more details of the film including the full cast and synopsis, and look at more than twenty gorgeous movie stills, after the jump.







Directors Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Producers Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Screenwriters Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
With Moira Shearer, Robert Rounseville, Ludmilla Tchérina
UK 1951
138 mins
UK distribution STUDIOCANAL

Restored by The Film Foundation and the BFI National Archive in association with STUDIOCANAL. Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique partnership between the Directors Guild of America (DGA); the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA); the Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique (SACEM); and the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW), The Film Foundation, and the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.


CAST:
Moira Shearer...Stella / Olympia
Ludmilla Tchérina...Giulietta
Ann Ayars...Antonia
Pamela Brown...Nicklaus
Léonide Massine...Spalanzani/Schlemil/Franz
Robert Helpmann...Lindorf/Coppelius/Dapertutto/Dr Miracle
Frederick Ashton...Kleinsach/Cochenille
Mogens Wieth...Crespel
Robert Rounseville...Hoffmann
Lionel Harris...Pitichinaccio
Philip Leaver...Andrés
Meinhart Maur...Luther


"This a film version of the opera The Tales of Hoffmann, however it is NOT just a film of a staged performance. Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger (and the rest of 'The Archers') work their usual magic here. The opera dramatises the three great romances in the life of the poet-hero presented in a series of flashbacks. Hoffmann's tales depict the struggle between human love and the artist's dedication to his work. Hoffmann loses each of the women he loves but gains instead poetic inspiration -- the ability to transform painful experiences into art." [Source]

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE:



















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Venera Gimadieva To Perform At Royal Festival Hall On April 1

March 10, 2015, 2:01 pm
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"Leading Tartar soprano Venera Gimadieva introduces the music of Tatarstan. Following on from a performance that won her critical acclaim at Glyndebourne this summer ('a sensation' in the words of The Guardian), Gimadieva joins conductor Guerassim Voronkov and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra for a celebration of recent works by composers from Tatarstan, alongside vocal masterpieces by Sergey Rachmaninoff, himself of Tatar descent. Highlights include songs such as 'Vocalise' and 'Ne poy krasavitsa pri mne' and arias from Francesca da Rimini as well as Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden."[Source] Click here to purchase tickets. See the concert program, and learn more about Ms. Gimadieva, after the jump. Watch the soprano sing "Salammbô's Aria," by Bernard Herrmann from the movie score of Citizen Kane, in the video below.




PROGRAM:
Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra
Guerassim Voronkov conductor
Venera Gimadieva soprano

Nazib Zhiganov: Overture, Näfisä
Rezeda Akhiyarova: Symphonic poem, Monly sazym
Farid Yarullin: Ballade from Süräle
Rashid Kalimullin: Symphonic frescos
Interval
Sergey Rachmaninov: How fair this spot, Op.21 No.7
Sergey Rachmaninov: Daisies, Op.38 No.3
Sergey Rachmaninov: Sing not to me ..., Op.4 No.4
Sergey Rachmaninov: Introduction from Aleko
Sergey Rachmaninov: Intermezzo from Aleko
Sergey Rachmaninov: Women's dance from Aleko
Sergey Rachmaninov: Men's dance from Aleko
Sergey Rachmaninov: Vocalise, Op.34 No.14
Sergey Rachmaninov: Prologue from Francesca da Rimini
Sergey Rachmaninov: Francesca's aria (Oh do not weep my Paolo) from Francesca da Rimini
Nicolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov: Procession of the nobles (Cortège) from Mlada
Nicolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov: Aria, To go berry-picking in the woods from The Snow Maiden

Venera Gimadieva at the Glyndebourne Festival where she 
sang Violetta in La Traviata during the 2014 season.
"Young Russian opera singer Venera Gimadieva, hailed as the star of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, is sought after as one of the most talented lyric coloratura sopranos in Europe. She has performed the role of Violetta in Verdi's La traviata at opera houses in France, Germany and Italy, including for her debut at La Fenice, Venice (where La traviata was first performed in 1853). Opéra magazine has described her interpretation of this role as, “extraordinary…with her captivating timbre, her flexible yet powerful voice, her strong stage presence, and her true physical beauty (which never hurts), she will be a star before long.” Venera sang Violetta for her debut at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, UK in July 2014, following her successful UK debut at
The soprano styled by Pavel Vaan in a 
photograph by Leonid Semenyuk.
the 2013 BBC Proms, when she sang with the John Wilson Orchestra in a televised performance. Roles in future seasons include Venera’s first Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette opposite Juan Diego Flórez’s first Roméo in Lima, Peru, and the title roles of Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) and Manon (Massenet). Having studied on the Bolshoi Theatre’s young artists’ programme, Venera has been a member of the company since 2011, performing roles at the theatre including: Marfa in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Tsar’s Bride; Ksenia in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov; Amina in a new production of Bellini’s La Sonnambula; Violetta in a new production of La traviata by Francesca Zambello; the title role of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Snow-Maiden; the Queen of Shemakha in a new production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Golden Cockerel by Kirill Serebriannikov and conducted by Vassily Sinaisky; Sirin in Rimsky-Korsakov’s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and Maiden Fevronia; and Serpina in Pergolesi’s La serva padrona. Concert performances in Moscow include Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev at the Tchaikovsky
The soprano performing at the Finals of the 2015 Paris Opera Competition 
at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. (Photo: Eric Mercier)
Concert Hall. Venera Gimadieva studied singing at the Kazan Music College and the St Petersburg State Conservatoire, later joining the St Petersburg Opera where her roles included the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Lucia in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Serafina in Donizetti’s Il campanello di note, and Genevieve in Puccini’s Suor Angelica. She was a prize winner at the 2008 Rimsky-Korsakov International Competition in St Petersburg, the 2009 Competizione dell’Opera in Dresden, and the 2010 International Shalyapin Competition (first prize). In 2011, Venera was awarded the President's Prize for young cultural professionals by president Dmitry Medvedev of the Russian Federation." [Source]
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Renée Fleming & Matthew Polenzani Perform At Cardinal Funeral

March 10, 2015, 4:00 pm
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Longtime friend to Cardinal Egan, opera star Renée Fleming pays him honor in song
during the funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City today.
The Mass of Christian Burial took place today for Edward Michael Cardinal Egan. As a musician himself, he was a great lover of opera. One of the singers most associated with His Eminence was soprano Renée Fleming. She sang at the Midnight Mass Christmas Eve service and the Mass of Installation for then Archbishop Egan in 2000. He also was by her side when the Richard Tucker Park was inaugurated in 2012. It was only fitting that she would perform at his funeral services. She sang a stirring rendition of Schubert's "Ave Maria" and César Franck's "Panis Angelicus." She was joined on the latter by fellow Metropolitan Opera star, tenor Matthew Polenzani. Other music during the service included Chopin's Prelude in E minor, Op. 28, No. 4, Schubert's Stabat Mater, Perosi's “Introito” from Messa di Requiem, and Barber's Adagio for Strings. View the entire program for the services by clicking here. More pictures of Renée Fleming and Cardinal Egan together, after the jump.

Renee Fleming, Peter Gelb and Edward Cardinal Egan attend Richard Tucker Day 2012 in Richard Tucker Park on August 28, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Cory Schwartz/Getty Images)


Soprano Renee Fleming sings during the Mass of Installation for Archbishop Edward Egan June 19, 2000 at St. Patrick''s Cathedral in New York. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Newsmakers)
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When Rosa Ponselle Was A Wedding Singer At Paterno Castle

March 12, 2015, 2:27 pm
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Society Gal: Rosa Ponselle had friends in high places
"Rosa was rethinking her own life. Early in 1936 she ended her relationship with Russo because they argued, because he did not repay the $13,000 or more than she had lent him, and because Carmela and their father distrusted him. When the Metropolitan Opera tour took her to Baltimore in Carmen that spring, she met Carle A. Jackson, the mayor's son. Their romance, covered in articles in the Baltimore papers that survive in the clipping files of the public libraries in Baltimore and New York, quite naturally attracted the attention of the press. 'Opera star' meets 'prominent socialite' at 'Bori's farewell performance at the Lyric Theatre in Baltimore,' as the papers described it. But they tell only part of the story, for Jackson was the headstrong thirty-year old divorced father of a child, while Ponselle, who had turned thirty-nine the previous January, was facing personal and career challenges that were no less daunting than those of her earliest years at the Metropolitan. Whatever else it was, this was not 'love's young dream' but rather the free association of sophisticated adults. According to all accounts the two fell in love almost on sight and, after a courtship that lasted through that summer, were married on December 13, 1936,
Rosa Ponselle with sister Carmela (left)
in Ponselle's penthouse at 90 Riverside Drive. The man who officiated was New York State Supreme Court Justice Salvatore A. Cotillo, who knew both Rosa and Carmela well, for in November 1934 they had sung at the wedding of his daughter Helen to Carlo Paterno, another of the Ponselle sisters' circle. That ceremony, at 'The Castle,' the Cotillo mansion overlooking the Hudson River in Westchester County, had been amply covered by reporters. Now they were back in force for Ponselle's wedding. She wore 'a gray crushed velvet gown with a cowl and carried a muff of lavender orchids' because lavender was 'her favorite color,' she said. The soprano was giving away by 'her father, Benjamin Ponzillo of Meriden, Connecticut.' Carmela was the maid of honor, while Riall Jackson, the groom's brother, served as best man. The Metropolitan Opera tenor Richard Crooks sang 'Oh, Promsie Me.'" [Source] See more glamorous and rare photos of Rosa Ponselle, as well as some audio samples from 1934, after the jump. 
The castle of real-estate developer Charles V. Paterno, where the wedding was held in 1934,
with the George Washington Bridge in the background.




















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MET Brochure Photographer Kristian Schuller Attends "Manon"

March 12, 2015, 6:23 pm
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Kristian Schuller, the star photographer of the 2015-16 Metropolitan Opera season brochure, was spotted at a performance of Massenet's Manon. This time he was on the other side of the lens as he was captured by Rose Callahan for the website "Last Night At the MET." For more images from the current season of fashion of the eclectic crowd that attends performances, click here. A favorite accessory seen this winter at the Metropolitan Opera performances was fur! Click here and here to see a variety, ranging from full-length to scarves, of the fur that was seen at the opera house. Visit Kristian Schuller's official website to see some stunning fashion photography by clicking here.
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Tenors Anyone? Opera Singers That Love The Game Of Tennis

March 13, 2015, 1:03 pm
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Love All: Grigolo (left) and Flórez go head-to-head on the court during some time off from the MET.
Tenors Juan Diego Flórez and Vittorio Grigolo took a break from their current performing schedule at the Metropolitan Opera to hit the courts for a friendly game of tennis. Mr. Flórez, a Rossini specialist who starred in the MET's first performances of the composer's La Donna del Lago, posted the image of the two men on his Facebook page. This isn't the first time that the worlds of tennis and opera have come together. Two instances are here and here. And tenor Lawrence Brownlee has proclaimed his enthusiasm for tennis; soprano Amelia Farrugia keeps stamina up for the stage by playing tennis in downtime; baritone Michael Chioldi has been known to pick up the racket to stay in shape;  soprano Julianna Di Giacomo grew up playing tennis; tenor Enrico Caruso didn't fair so well lasting through one set; soprano Kiri Te Kanawa keeps busy with a myriad of sports that includes tennis; bass-baritone Teddy Tahu Rhodes built his physique on the game of tennis; soprano Mary Garden had advice for her friend and tennis player Bill Tilden; and tenor Ivan Kozlovsky kept his health up with the sport. It's not the only sport that cross-pollinates opera with athletics, click here for more. See more photos of opera singers with tennis champions after the jump.
Tennis champions Rafael Nadal (left) and David Ferrer on the stage of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, Spain.


Opera soprano Natalie Dessay and tennis champion Carlos Moya
 at the U.S. Open (Photo: Elena Parks/MET)

Opera soprano Natalie Dessay and tennis champion Novak Djokovic 
at the U.S. Open (Photo: Elena Parks/MET)


Tennis stars Rafael Nadal (left) and David Ferrer on stage at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, 
Spain for a promotional match. See more photos at http://www.atpworldtour.com/

Tennis champion Novak Djokovic (left) and opera tenor Vittorio Grigolo

Tennis champion Roger Federer (left) with opera tenor Vittorio Grigolo
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Multi-Cultural Coloratura Soprano Will Represent Armenia At Eurovision

March 14, 2015, 4:35 pm
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Mary-Jean O'Doherty at the Paris Opera Awards
"Opera singer Mary-Jean O'Doherty who is representing Armenia in the 2015 Eurovision contest is revealed to be an Australian citizen. She will enter the upcoming Eurovision song contest as a member of Armenian supergroup, Genealogy. However, talented Opera singer Mary-Jean O'Doherty has been revealed to be an Australian citizen who was trained while living in Sydney. While actually born in Houston, Texas, the performer was born to an Australian father and a Greek-Armenian mother, giving her a very global heritage. Due to her heritage and the fact that ARIA Award-winner Guy Sebastian was announced as the Australian representative last week, Mary-Jean was eligible for selection elsewhere. She was personally picked by the first lady of Armenia, Rita Sargsyan to join the group made up of six members, all from different continents. Only formed this year in support of the annual singing competition, Mary will perform alongside Armenian native Inga Arshakyan, Vahe Tilbian from Ethiopia, American Tamar Kaprelian, Stephanie Topalian from Japan and French-born Essaï Altounian. Mary completed her studies in the States and graduated from high school and college in North Carolina, before receiving a Bachelor Of Music degree in voice and flute performance. She moved back to Australia to continue her music career where she won the ABC Symphony Australia Young Vocalist Award in 2007. The next year she was the first ever recipient of the Australian International Opera Award. Genealogy released the single earlier this week that they will be performing at the competition in Austria this May, 'Don't Deny' which has been received positively by critics." [Source] Watch three performances by the soprano after the jump.





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ID Channel Combines Things Some Fear Most: Opera And Kidnapping

March 14, 2015, 7:00 pm
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The Investigation Channel is airing a commercial for their series House of Horrors: Kidnapped. The spot opens with a man seated with his back to the camera and he slowly drops the needle on an LP. An operatic soprano voice starts to pulsate across the screen. The man slowly turns up the volume as the camera begins to pan down to the basement floor beneath him which indicates he may be hiding his latest victim there. The tagline: "One man's home, can be someone else's hell." It would take some investigating to find actual criminals that were also lovers of opera. In the meantime, learn more about the series by clicking here. Watch the spot after the jump.

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Revisiting Dario Argento's "Terror At The Opera" From 1987

March 14, 2015, 9:22 pm
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Smoking Gun: Cristina Marsillach as Betty as Lady Macbeth
A decade before his film, The Phantom of the Opera (1998), Dario Argento found himself in the opera house shooting another sort of slasher film. Terror at the Opera, or just Opera as it would later be called, featured a glimpse of soprano obsession not seen since the film Diva (1981) and the much later Las Hijas De Danao (2014). The plot of Argento's bloody film is as follows: "A young opera singer (Betty) gets her big chance when the previous star of a production of Verdi's Macbeth is run over by a car. Convinced the opera is bad luck she accepts, and becomes the target (in Argento's unmistakable style) of a psychopath - a man she has been dreaming of since childhood." [Source] The horror film's soundtrack includes original compositions of Brian and Roger Eno, Claudio Simonetti, Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor, The Group Steel Grave, The Group Norden Light, as well as opera contributions from the following: "Vieni t'afretti" from opera Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Maria Callas; "Casta Diva" from Norma composed by Vincenzo Bellini performed by Maria Callas; "Amami Alfredo" from La Traviata composed by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Maria Callas; "Sempre libera" from La Traviata composed by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Maria Callas; "Un bel dì vedremo" from Madama Butterfly composed by Giacomo Puccini performed by Mirella Freni; Macbeth (excerpt) composed by Giuseppe Verdi performed by Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz (as Elisabetta Norberg Schulz) soprano, Paola Leolini Soprano, Andrea Piccinni (as Andrea Piccini) Tenor, Michele Pertusi Baritone, with "Artouro Toscanini" Symphonic Orchestra of Emilia and Romagna. Watch the film, read more about Dario Argento, and see the cast list, after the jump.




CAST:
Cristina Marsillach...Betty
Ian Charleson...Marco
Urbano Barberini...Inspector Alan Santini
Daria Nicolodi...Mira
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni...Giulia
Antonella Vitale...Marion
William McNamara...Stefano




Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members, including an aunt who told him frighting bedtime stories. Argento based most of his thriller movies on childhood trauma, yet his own--according to him--was a normal one. Along with tales spun by his aunt, Argento was impressed by stories from The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allan Poe. Argento started his career writing for various film journal magazines while still in his teens attending a Catholic high school. After graduation, instead of going to college, Argento took a job as a columnist for the Rome daily newspaper "Paese Sera". Inspired by the movies, he later found work as a screenwriter and wrote several screenplays for a number of films, but the most important were his western collaborations, which included The Rope and the Colt (1969) and the Sergio Leonemasterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). After its release Argento wrote and directed his first movie, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), which starred Tony Musante and and British actress Suzy Kendall. It's a loose adoption on Fredric Brown's novel "The Screaming Mimi", which was made for his father's film company. Argento wanted to direct the movie himself because he did not want any other director messing up the production and his screenplay.

After "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" became an international hit, Argento followed up with two more thrillers, The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971), starring 'Karl Madlen' (qv" and 'James Fransiscus', and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) ("Four Flies On Black Velvet"), both backed by his father Salvatore. Argento then directed the TV drama La porta sul buio: Testimone oculare (1973) and the historical TV drama Le cinque giornate (1973). He then went back to directing so-called "giallo" thrillers, starting with Deep Red (1975), a violent mystery-thriller starring David Hemmings that inspired a number of international directors in the thriller-horror genre. His next work was Suspiria (1977), a surreal horror film about a witch's coven that was inspired by the Gothic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson, which he also wrote in collaboration with his girlfriend, screenwriter/actress Daria Nicolodi, who acted in "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red") and most of Argento's films from then to the late 1980s. Argento advanced the unfinished trilogy with Inferno (1980), before returning to the "giallo" genre with the goryTenebre (1982), and then with the haunting Phenomena (1985).

The lukewarm reviews for his films, however, caused Argento to slip away from directing to producing and co-writing two Lamberto Bava horror flicks, Demons (1985) and Demons 2 (1986). Argento returned to directing with the "giallo" thriller Opera (1987), which according to him was "a very unpleasant experience", and no wonder: a rash of technical problems delayed production, the lead actress Vanessa Redgrave dropped out before filming was to begin, Argento's father Salvatore died during filming and his long-term girlfriend Daria broke off their relationship. After the commercial box-office failure of "Opera", Argento temporarily settled in the US, where he collaborated with directorGeorge A. Romero on the two-part horror-thriller Two Evil Eyes (1990) (he had previously collaborated with Romero on the horror action thriller Dawn of the Dead (1978)). While still living in America, Argento appeared in small roles in several films and directed another violent mystery thriller, Trauma (1993), which starred his youngest daughter Asia Argento from his long-term relationship with Nicolodi.

Argento returned to Italy in 1995, where he made a comeback in the horror genre withThe Stendhal Syndrome (1996) and then with another version of "The Phantom of the Opera", The Phantom of the Opera (1998), both of which starred Asia. Most recently, Argento directed a number of "giallo" mystery thrillers such as Sleepless (2001), The Card Player (2004) and Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005), as well as two gory, supernatural-themed episodes of the USA TV cable anthology series Masters of Horror (2005).

Having always wanted to make a third chapter to his "Three Mothers" horror films, Argento finally completed the trilogy in 2007 with the release of Mother of Tears (2007), which starred Asia Argento as a young woman trying to identify and stop the last surviving evil witch from taking over the world. In addition to his Gothic and violent style of storytelling, "La terza madre" has many references to two of his previous films, "Suspiria" (1997) and "Inferno" (1980), which is a must for fans of the trilogy.

His movies may be regarded by some critics and opponents as cheap and overly violent, but second or third viewings show him to be a talented writer/director with a penchant for original ideas and creative directing.

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Mary Garden Rocked The Amphitheatre Before The Beatles

March 16, 2015, 1:40 pm
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One With Nature: Mary Garden singing at Red Rock
"This week marks the 100th anniversary of touring acts playing live concerts at Red Rocks Amphitheater, Denver's iconic venue of the West. Shortly after internationally acclaimed opera singer Mary Garden crooned 'Ave Maria' on Stage Rock this week in 1911, she gushed: 'Never in any opera house the world over have I found more perfect acoustic properties.''I predict that someday, 20,000 people will assemble there to listen to the world's greatest masterpieces,' she wrote. Garden's sentiment proved prophetic. The dramatic twin fins of monolithic sandstone that harbor a historical record dating back 250 million years have hosted a much shorter but equally inspiring record of musical performances in the past century. 'It makes your hair just stand up when you think about the artists who've been here,' says Erik Dyce, who has shepherded Red Rocks marketing for Denver's Theatres and Arenas Division for the past 23 years. 'This place is a temple. It's overwhelming when the venue overpowers the artist.' Red Rocks has well served Denver, which acquired the venue in 1941 for $50,000 and quickly elevated the 868-acre park and venue to its crown jewel in an already impressive trove of mountain parks. Culturally and financially, Red Rocks plays an important role for the city, contributing $1.85 million in tax revenue last year. This week, Denver leaders merged the Theatres and Arenas Division, of which Red Rocks is a part, with the city's Office of Cultural Affairs, saving Denver's strapped general fund $1.2 million a year." [Source] For more information about The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Jethro Tull, The Carpenters, Jimi Hendrix, and many more that have performed throughout the history of Red Rocks, click here. Scottish-American soprano Mary Garden's setlist for May 10, 1911, included "Ave Maria" and "Annie Laurie." Learn more about the soprano and her singing, after the jump.
The Red Rocks Amphitheater as it appears today for Rock and Jazz concerts in Colorado.






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Buy Kiri Te Kanawa Former Twin Ponds Lane Home For $2.2 Million

March 16, 2015, 4:17 pm
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Gate Not Included: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as Donna Elvira
 in Joseph Losey's film of Mozart's Don Giovanni
"Soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa has performed in the world's best known opera houses, and she called an Oyster Bay Cove Colonial home in the 1980s, when performing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. The house with six bedrooms, five bathrooms and a half bath is now on the market for $2.2 million. Seller Judith Tytel, who bought the house from the New Zealand opera singer more than 25 years ago, says she remembers viewing it during an open house and seeing opera posters in the kids' rooms. 'She bought the house when she came to sing for long periods of time for the Met and in the United States in general,' Tytel says."...."A rare and gracious 3 story Colonial set on almost 4 acres in a quiet cul-de-sac. Once owned by the soprano Kiri Te Kanawa. This magnificent home boasts formal rooms filled with many original details, including 6 fireplaces, french doors, and wide plank floors. Other features include bluestone patio & pool. New roof, windows, and doors." [Source, Source] See a photo of the home, after the jump.

Kiri's Castle: The home at 80 Twin Ponds Lane where the soprano stayed 
while at the Metropolitan Opera (Photo: Keller Williams Realty)
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MET Cover Tenor Taylor Stayton Takes Center Stage At PBO

March 16, 2015, 4:57 pm
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Tenor of the High Seas: Taylor Stayton
shows off his top C's in Florida
"Life is good for tenor Taylor Stayton. Wearing baggy shorts, t-shirt and a boyish smile, he was celebrating his 30th birthday last Friday when he arrived for an interview at Palm Beach Opera’s production center in West Palm Beach. On Friday and Sunday, he will make his role debut as Tonio in the company’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera The Daughter of the Regiment....Not many tenors are up to portraying Tonio. That’s because of the nine high Cs in his first act aria 'Ah, mes amis…Pour mon ame.' It’s the aria that rocketed Luciano Pavarotti to stardom when he sang it in 1972 at the Metropolitan Opera. 'The thing is, it’s like a secret among us tenors,' he said. 'If you have a high C, it’s not that difficult'....But it wasn’t just his facility with high Cs that persuaded Palm Beach Opera to cast him. Beauty of voice, tone and line are paramount in bel canto opera. 'His voice has such a lyric quality that the parts that aren’t high Cs are also beautifully sung,' said Scott Guzielek, director of artistic operations. As a teenager, Stayton sang, played guitar and performed in school musicals and choirs. He grew up listening to bands such as Aerosmith, The Beatles, Steely Dan and The Band and still loves classic rock. He was steered into opera at Ohio State University. In addition to performing with smaller companies, he’s covered several roles at the Met. One memorable night in 2011 he wound up on stage as Percy in Anna Bolena alongside soprano Anna Netrebko, when Stephen Costello fell ill in the middle of the show. 'Within five minutes, they threw me into costumes and makeup,' he said. 'It was better that way. If he’d canceled two days before I would have had to sit for two days and gotten my nerve up.' In April, he will return to the Met to cover Costello in The Merry Widow. At this stage of his career he prefers comic roles. 'That’s my personality,' he said." [Source] Click here for more information about the Palm Beach Opera production of Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment by clicking here.
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