Opera News back issues from March 2006:
THE LAUGHING GODDESS
Mar 01, 2006; ... As we were about to close production on this issue of OPERA NEWS, we learned of the death of Birgit Nilsson. The soprano, age eighty-seven, died on Christmas Day, but most of the world did not hear of her passing until the morning of January 11, when her funeral was held in Västra Karups, the ...
On the Beat
Mar 01, 2006; ... Larmore, in demand on disc and in concert but not visible enough on U.S. opera stages; famed artist Kaneko makes his opera debut with Omaha's Butterfly. If I Were a teen Sleuth investigating the world's biggest opera mysteries, one of my big guestions would be why JENNIFER LARMORE ...
The Pop Side: HUGH PANARO
Mar 01, 2006; ... It has taken a while to catch up with busy Broadway singer Hugh Panaro (Broadway's Marius in Les Mis, Ravenal in Showboat, Buddy in Sideshow, and both Raoul and the title character in Phantom of the Opera). It's the morning after a long day spent shooting the commercial for his new show Lestat, ...
The Unquiet Man
Mar 01, 2006; ... As an artist, Matthias Goerne seems to dwell in the winter of his discontent. ANNE MIDGETTE takes a close look at the probing, anxious spirit that informs his music-making. In pictures, Matthias Goerne looks angry: his round eyes dark-rimmed, he stares fixedly, sternly ahead, rarely ...
The Perfectionist
Mar 01, 2006; ... Many New York operagoers may assume that soprano Olga Guryakova, the Maria of the Mets new production of Mazeppa, is a star of St. Petersburg's Kirov Opera. After all, her first appearance in the U.S. was with the Kirov and Valery Gergiev in its own Mazeppa at the Met in 1998. Later, she sang ...
The Manon Variations
Mar 01, 2006; ... Richard Lalli debates the (easy) virtues of the Massenet and Puccini heroines. This is a tough one: Massenet's most beloved creation pitted again Puccini's first hit (although only number six on his eventual hit parade). Both were triumphs, and Caruso sang them at the Met in 1907 and ...
METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST OF MARCH 11, 2006: LA FORZA DEL DESTINO
Mar 01, 2006; ... THE TOLL BROTHERS-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2005-06 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS SPONSORED BY TOLL BROTHERS, AMERICA'S LUXURY HOME BUILDER1", WITH GENEROUS LONG-TERM SUPPORT FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE ...
METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST OF MARCH 25, 2006: LUISA MILLER
Mar 01, 2006; ... THE TOLL BROTHERS-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2005-06 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS SPONSORED BY TOLL BROTHERS, AMERICA'S LUXURY HOME BUILDER(TM), WITH GENEROUS LONG-TERM SUPPORT FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE ...
METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST OF APRIL 8, 2006: MANON
Mar 01, 2006; ... THE TOLL BROTHERS-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2005-06 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS SPONSORED BY TOLL BROTHERS, AMERICA'S LUXURY HOME BUILDER(TM), WITH GENEROUS LONG-TERM SUPPORT FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE ...
In Review: LONDON
Mar 01, 2006; ... The directorial duo of Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier has given the Royal Opera House a number of winning productions, including top-quality versions of La Cenerentola and Il Turco in Italia, so their new Barbiere di Siviglia (December 19) was awaited with eagerness. In the event, it went down ...
In Review: BRUSSELS
Mar 01, 2006; ... Guy Cassiers, one of Flanders's most respected theater directors, achieved uneven results with his new Der Fliegende Hollander for La Monnaie (seen Dec. 9). While the director did nothing to alter the melodramatic nature of this work nor did he try to play down the supernatural elements of the ...
In Review: VIENNA
Mar 01, 2006; ... Riccardo Muti. Few names can conjure such expectations of unforgettable opera. After Mud's highly-politicized departure from La Scala, a series of Figaros at Vienna's Staatsoper was hastily arranged, replacing music director Seiji Ozawa, canceling a Nutcracker to provide an additional ...
HANDEL: Radamisto
Mar 01, 2006; ... FIRST EDITION Conductor Alan Curtis and II Complesso Barocco deliver the premiere recording of the original version of Handel's Radamisto, starring Joyce DiDonato in the title role. HANDEL: Radamisto * DiDonato, Ciofi, Labelle, Cherici, Beaumont; Stains, Lepore; Il ...
SMETANA: The Bartered Bride (in English)
Mar 01, 2006; ... SMETANA: The Bartered Bride (in English) Gritton, Y. Banner, Y. Howard, Montague; Clarke, T. Robinson, N. Davies, Rose; Philharmonia Orchestra and Royal Opera Chorus, Mackerras. Libretto. Chandos CHAN 3128-2 This is a frustrating production: all the right pieces have been assembled, but ...
ROREM: Miss Julie/Aftermath (ten songs)
Mar 01, 2006; ... ROREM: Miss Julie/Aftermath (ten songs) Romphf, F. Murphy, Bolier; Ready, Gunnell, Inbar, Unice; Curtis Opera Theatre, Agler. Aftermath: Kee; Eliasen (piano), Blumenschein (violin), Canellakis (cello). Texts. Albany TROY 761/62 (2) Ned Rorem's first full-length opera, Miss Julie, adapted ...
Barbara Bonney
Mar 01, 2006; ... Barbara Bonney "THE OTHER MOZART" Songs by Franz Xaver Mozart. Martineau, piano. Texts and transktions. Decca B0005505-02 Poor Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, born just five months before his famous father died leaving the family penniless, was saddled with an illustrious name and a ...
SAARIAHO: L'Amour de Loin
Mar 01, 2006; ... SAARIAHO: LAmour de Loin Upshaw, Groop; Finley; Finnish National Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Salonen. Production: Sellars. DGDVD B0004721-09, 156 mins., subtitled L'Amour de Loin (The Distant Love), the first opera of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, had its premiere in 2000 at the ...
Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music
Mar 01, 2006; ... Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends. His Music by jane Glover HarperCollins Publishers, 406pp. $27.95 Reading about Mozart's life can be depressing - the child prodigy with the impossible-to-please father, the supremely gifted composer without a steady income, the dedicated artist ...
Sound Bites: Christopher Maltman
Mar 01, 2006; ... Christopher Maltman, in the throes of a youthful identity crisis, went to the Marches of Italy for study with Sesto Bruscantini. "Am I a baritone?" the Englishman, then in his twenties, asked his teacher. "Am I a bass? A bass-baritone?" Bruscantini's answer: "Forget about labels. There's ...
Reunion: Justino Diaz
Mar 01, 2006; ... "I didn't come from a musical family," says Justino Diaz, "but my family loved music. I'll never forget when I was five years old and I accidentally sat on my father's record of Leonard Warren singing the toreador song and broke it. I was heartbroken! I loved that record, and I thought I would ...
Cri de Coeur
Mar 01, 2006; ... How Tchaikovsky's Mazeppa reflects the composer's own dark nights of the soul Mazeppa is, paradoxically, an opera rich with utter loss: a father loses a daughter, then his life; a woman loses her lover, then her reason; a patriot loses his country and the woman for whom he risked ...
Restoration on Record
Mar 01, 2006; ... La Forza del Destino may have been a back number as the twentieth century began, but in the decades that followed, a series of glorious vocal performances showed Verdi's tragedy in the best possible light. La Forza del Destino did not always occupy the favored place in the repertory that ...
Letter from Wexford
Mar 01, 2006; ... BRIAN KELLOW returns to Wexford Festival Opera for the company's last season in the historic Theatre Royal. There's something about the autumn landscape that suits Wexford perfectly. In early November, this town of 17,000 on the southeast Irish coast seems an ideal retreat, like a quiet ...
METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST OF MARCH 18, 2006: MAZEPPA
Mar 01, 2006; ... THE TOLL BROTHERS-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2005-06 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS SPONSORED BY TOLL BROTHERS, AMERICA'S LUXURY HOME BUILDER(TM), WITH GENEROUS LONG-TERM SUPPORT FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE ...
METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST OF APRIL 1, 2006: FIDELIO
Mar 01, 2006; ... THE TOLL BROTHERS-METROPOLITAN OPERA INTERNATIONAL RADIO NETWORK THE 2005-06 METROPOLITAN OPERA BROADCAST SEASON IS SPONSORED BY TOLL BROTHERS, AMERICA'S LUXURY HOME BUILDER(TM), WITH GENEROUS LONG-TERM SUPPORT FROM THE ANNENBERG FOUNDATION AND THE VINCENT A. STABILE ...
In Review: MOSCOW
Mar 01, 2006; ... Despite a last-minute change of conductors. the Bolshoi pressed on to unveil a thoughtful, fluent new production of War and Peace at its New Stage. INTERNATIONAL On paper, the Bolshoi Theaters new production of Prokofiev's War and Peace looked like the event of the season, given ...
In Review: PARIS
Mar 01, 2006; ... After visiting the Opera National de Paris with Shostakovich's The Nose, the Mariinsky company took its act to the Châtelet under its musical director Valery Gergiev, who with admirable stamina conducted all performances. The company proper presented Boris Godunov, while the academy of young ...
In Review: MILAN
Mar 01, 2006; ... Not long after Riccardo Muti's resignation as music director last April, it was decided that the young British conductor Daniel Harding - who was already wellknown in Italy but had never appeared at La Scala - would inaugurate the new season with a production of Idomeneo. It was a risky choice, ...
In Review: NEW YORK CITY
Mar 01, 2006; ... NORTH AMERICA The first Rigoletto of the Met season (Dec. 10) was offered as a vehicle for two singers, Anna Netrebko and Rolando ViIlazon, whose recent appearances on other stages have triggered a publicity blitz like the pitch given Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu a few seasons ...
HANDEL: Messiah
Mar 01, 2006; ... OPERA AND ORATORIO HANDEL Messiah Schäfer, Larsson; Schade, Finley; Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Concentus Musicus Wien, Harnoncourt. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 82876-72039-2 The most notable aspect of Nikolaus Harnoncourt's recent recordings is how little they sound like "Nikolaus Harnoncourt ...
ROMBERG: Maytime
Mar 01, 2006; ... ROMBERG: Maytime De Leon, McCormick; Kohi, Knox, NeLon; Ohio Light Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Byess. Libretto. Albany, Troy 808-09 Warning: this ain't your great-grandmother's Maytime. Ohio Light Opera has just released the first full (2 CD) recording of Sigmund Rombergs 1917 smash. OLO ...
Ana María Martínez
Mar 01, 2006; ... RECITAL Ana María Martínez: "SOPRANO SONGS AND ARIAS" By Delibes, Gounod, Puccini, Lehár, Luna, López, Canteloube, Villa-Lobos. Prague Philharmonia, Mercuno. Texts and translations avachie at www.naxos.com. Naxos 8.557827 This disc, recorded in August 2000 but released on the occasion of ...
ROSSINI: Ermione
Mar 01, 2006; ... ROSSINI: Ermione Antonacci, Montague; Ford, Lopez-Yanez, Kelly, Howell; London Philharmonic, Davis. Production: Vick. Kultur D2850, 138 mins., subtitled A long-awaited DVD of Glyndebourne's superb 1995 production of Rossini's opera seria Ermione is a must-have for collectors. Set in the ...
Roberto Alagna and Friends: Live in Puerto Rico
Mar 01, 2006; ... Roberta Alagna and Friends: Live in Puerto Rico Arias, duets and ensembles by Verdi, Bizet, Massenet, Bellini, Donizetti, Delibes, Arrieta. With Manfrino, Aldrich; Schaldenbrand; Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Gala Chorus, Kohn. CulturArte de Puerto Rico, 97 mins., no ...
Mozart: the Early Years, 1756-1781
Mar 01, 2006; ... Mozart: the Early Years, 1756-1781 by Stanley Sadie W.W.Norton, 621-pluspp. $35 Stanley Sadie (1930-2005), music critic for The Times of London (1964-81), also served as editor of Musical Times (1967-87), editor of The New Grove Dictionary (from 1970 on), coeditor of The New Grove Mozart ...
THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS OPERA
Mar 01, 2006; ... The good news is that opera in New Orleans will survive. After Hurricane Katrina and the August 29 breach of the levees designed to separate the city from Lake Pontchartrain; after the evacuation and appalling human misery; after the bureaucratic failures and political posturing - after all ...