Bellini’s Norma is the story of a love triangle involving Norma, the Druid high priestess, Pollione, the Roman proconsul and father of Norma’s two children, and Adalgisa, a Druid acolyte and Pollione’s new conquest whom he intends to take to Rome. The role of Norma is generally considered one of the most difficult in opera literature. Few have succeeded in mastering it. Now Edita Gruberova, has taken on the role at the Bayerische Staatsoper. Here are two reviews.
Month: January 2006
Mozart at Lincoln Center ó Three Reviews
Earlier this week, Sir John Eliot Gardiner led the Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique and the Monteverdi Choir in two immortal Mozart works: the C-minor Mass and the Requiem, followed by an evening of Mozart’s orchestral works. Here are three reviews.
Violeta Urmana ó Lieder
ìCarmen, un bon conseilî warns Frasquita in the last act of the opera. So friends, heed my advice and donít play this CD in your car when you are accompanied by someone who likes opera but is not crazy on lieder.
Soprano Vaness to leave the UW
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002757688_vaness24.html
Glasgow gets the scale just right
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/ff6c7966-8c7d-11da-9efb-0000779e2340.html
MERCADANTE: La vestale
It is now slightly over 40 years since the first recording of a complete opera by Saverio Mercadante (an Il Giuramento with Maria Vitale and Amedeo Berdini) was released on LP. I quickly fell in love with his music, and realized that, while not necessarily on the same level as Bellini and Donizetti, he was not far behind, and that more of his works would be extremely welcome.
Paris braced for Michael Haneke’s ‘mystery’ Mozart
http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,,1693547,00.html