*Mistakes? I’ve made a few…* (Filed: 04/10/2004) Pierre Boulez, the greatest and most uncompromising composer-conductor of our time, is mellowing as he approaches 80. He talks to Ivan Hewett However…
Le Monde Reviews Messiaen’s “Saint François d’Assise”
*La mise en apesanteur divine de “Saint François d’Assise”, SDF de la foi* LE MONDE | 08.10.04 | 15h02 A l’Opéra Bastille, les tableaux franciscains d’Olivier Messiaen par Stanislas Nordey.…
“La Voix Humaine” at Vremena Goda Festival
*Voznesenskaya – only too human* by Neil McGowan La Voix Humaine (concert performance) Vremena Goda Festival Vremena Goda Orchestra/Bulakhov 29 September 2004 Bringing down the curtain on the Vremena Goda…
Moscow Times: Entering the Ring
*George Loomis reports on Wagner opera, Russian-style.* By George Loomis Published: October 8, 2004 Last spring the Metropolitan Opera gave three complete cycles of Richard Wagner’s four-opera saga, “Der Ring…
Roger Pines on historic recorded performances of Bizet
Georges Bizet’s Carmen has a distinguished recording history in both complete performances and excerpts. From this ever-popular work, as well as the composer’s Les pêcheurs de perles, there are considerable lessons to be learned from the early decades of recording in terms of balancing dramatic urgency with the needs of the drama. Many singers have gotten by in Bizet with beauty at the expense of text, but a Solange Michel or a Charles Dalmorès demonstrates indisputably that Bizet does not come alive unless the text is commanded in depth.
Deborah Voigt withdraws from Vancouver Opera’s production of Der Rosenkavalier
*Deborah Voigt withdraws from Vancouver Opera’s production of Der Rosenkavalier* Vancouver, BC ~ American soprano Deborah Voigt, who was to make her role début as the Marschallin in the company’s…
Licia Albanese at the Opening of the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum’s Exhibition “Madame Butterfly: From Puccini to Miss Saigon”
*Many a tear was shed when soprano Licia Albanese sang. Now she is celebrating her signature work, ‘Madama Butterfly.’* Allan Ulrich, Special to The Chronicle Monday, October 4, 2004 Was…
FIEDLER: Molto Agitato
I well remember my first performance at the Met. It was a not very distinguished La Bohème with Malfitano and Lima, Domingo conducting, in the winter of 1985. But at last I had made it to the Met. This was the company of Caruso, Gigli, Ponselle, Tibbett and Melchior. This was the house where Corelli and Price had given of their best. So in a sense this is my house too, because the Met is too big, too important to belong to the New Yorkers alone, witness the overwhelming majority of the subscribers to Opera News (circulation around 120,000) who are living elsewhere, a lot of them people in Europe like myself. Therefore anything concerning the Met concerns all opera lovers.
Le Figaro Interviews Felicity Lott
Deux reprises, des tournées, un DVD, le prix de la critique : La Belle Hélène par le tandem Minkowski/Pelly fut l’un des plus grands et des plus durables succès du Châtelet. De quoi donner envie de reconduire l’équipe gagnante dans un autre Offenbach : ce sera La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein. Mais à une condition : que la vedette en soit à nouveau Dame Felicity Lott, la plus française des chanteuses britanniques, dont la classe et le naturel s’imposent de l’opérette viennoise à l’opéra-bouffe français, en passant par la nostalgie du Chevalier à la rose ou le désespoir de La Voix humaine. Nous avons rencontré cette femme délicieuse début septembre, juste avant que le spectacle n’inaugure la nouvelle salle de Grenoble, «rodage» précédant les représentations parisiennes.
Ópera Actual Interviews Anne Sofie von Otter
*El sexo en la ópera no es sólo vulgar: ya nos aburre* *Fuera de la escena, la mezzo sueca es áspera y poco acogedora. Sus escasas sonrisas son un premio…