Owner: Opera Forum URL:http://operaforum.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:09:58 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This blog is dedicated to all the opera lovers. Here you will find the latest news about the world of opera, biographies, opera synopsis, reviews, etc. Site statistics:Click here
Anecdotes about Puccini 2008-03-09 17:52:02 I thought it would be interesting to know some of Puccini's anecdotes and "backstage" stuff:Puccini is fond of female voices, especialy the ones with high register. This is clearly exposed in his opera "Suor Angelica", an opera in which not a single male character appears.The only aria for Bass in his entire production is Vecchia Zimarra from "La Bohème" sung by Colline. Puccini always considered this aria as part of his autobiographical youth. According to what the composer confessed, when he was a poor student in Milano, he had to pawn his own coat in orderto take out for dinner a young ballerina of the theatre, dispte the freezing cold of that day.At the beginning of "Tosca", the bells of the churches of the town that toll with different notes at dawn can be heard from faraway. Such no
"La Bohème" (G. Puccini) - 2nd part: Background & Details 2008-03-09 00:21:15 "La Bohème" is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de Bohème by Henri Murger. It was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio that the world première performance of "La Bohème" took place conducted by the young Arutro Toscanini. In 1946, fifty years after the opera's première, Toscanini conducted a performance of it on U.S. radio, that was eventually released on records. It is the ony recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor.There is another version of "La Bohème" composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo, but with his own libretto. This version, premiered in 1897, focuses more on the Musetta and Marcello relationship, rather than that of Mimì and Rodolfo as in Puccini's version.
Anna Netrebko, the superstar for the 21st century 2008-03-04 05:21:57 Born in September 1971 in Russia, Anna Netrebko is a well reknown soprano, not only for her lovely voice and excellent technique but also for her unparalleled beauty.While studying at the Saint Petersburg' conservatory, Netrebko worked as a floor cleaner as an odd-job at the Mariinsky Theatre (home of the Kirov Opera) where she called the attention of the conductor Valery Gergiev, who subsequently became her vocal mentor. Guided by him, Netrebko made her debut in that theatre as Susanna in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro". She kept on singing prominent roles with the Kirov Opera in "La Sonnambula", "Die Zauberflöte", "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" and "Lucia di Lammermoor".In 1995, the 24-year-old Netrebko made her American debut as Lyudmila in Glinka's "Ruslan and Lyudmila" at the San Francisco
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (sixth part) 2007-11-29 18:41:20 Ok, here's the last part of the Met's new Opera Season productions. Wagner and Prokofiev are the stars of this part."Tristan und Isolde" - 2008 - Mar 10, 14, 18, 22, 25, 28Composer: Richar Wagner - Librettist: Richard WagnerApproximate running time: 5hs. 0min.Isolde: Deborah VoigtBrangäne: Michelle De Young / Margaret Jane WrayTristan: Ben HeppnerKurwenal: Eike Wilm Schulte / Richard Paul FinkKing Mark: Matti SalmineConductor: James Levine"Die Walküre" - 2008 - Jan 7, 14, 28 | Feb 2, 6, 9Composer: Richard Wagner - Librettist: Richard WagnerApproximate running time: 5hs. 0min.Brünnhilde: Lisa GasteenSieglinde: Adrianne Pieczonka / Deborah VoigtFrika: Stephanie Blythe / Michelle De YoungSiegmund: Clifton Forbis / Simon O'NeillWotan: James MorrisHunding: Mikhail PetrenkoConductor: Lorin Ma Read more:Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (fifth part) 2007-11-29 17:49:52 Fifth part ef the Met's new season. Great productions! Hope you like them!"Otello" - 2008 - Feb 11, 15, 18, 22, 26 | Mar 1, 4, 8Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Libretist: Arrigo BoitoApproximate running time: 3hs. 5min.Desdemona: Renée FlemingOtello: Johan BothaIago: Carlo GuelfiConductor: Semyon Bychkov"Roméo et Juliette" - 2007 - Dec 8, 12, 15, 20, 27, 31Composer: Charles Gounod - Librettist: Jules Barbier, Michel CarréApproximate running time: 3hs. 5min.Juliette: Anna NetrebkoStéphano: Isable Leonard / Kate LindsayRoméo: Joseph Kaiser / Roberto Alagna / Matthew PolenzaniMercutio: Jeff Mattsey / Nathan GunnFrère Laurent: Robert LloydConductor: Plácido Domingo"La Traviata" - 2008 - Mar 6, 12, 15, 19, 22Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria PiaveApproximate running time: Read more:Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (fourth part) 2007-11-29 17:08:16 Great titles in this fourth
part of the Met's Opera Season!"Lucia di Lammermoor" - 2008 - Mar 5, 8, 13Composer: Gaetano Donizetti - Librettist: Salvadore CammaranoApproximate running time: 3hs. 25min.Lucia: Nataly DessayEdgardo: Giuseppe FilianotiEnrico: Mariusz KwiecienRaimondo: John RelyeaComposer: James Levine / Joseph Colaneri"Macbeth" - 2008 - Jan 5, 9, 12, 15 | May 9, 13, 17Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria PiaveApproximate running time: 2hs. 50min.Lady Macbeth: Maria Guleghina / Andrea GruberMacduff: Roberto Aronica / Dimitri Pittas / Jospeh CallejaMacbeth: Lado Ataneli / Carlos ÁlvarezBanquo: John Relyea / René PapeConductor: James Levine"Manon Lescaut" - 2008 - Jan 29 | Feb 1, 5, 9, 12, 16, 20, 23Composer: Giacomo PucciniApproximate running time: 3hs. 20min. Read more:Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (third part) 2007-11-28 23:12:28 More productions of the Met's new season! As one of the most popular Opera Houses, the Met presents several titles for its Opera Season which I will be publishing in the next posts. Hurry up and buy your tickets! There are very few left!"Ernani" - 2008 - Mar 17, 21, 26, 29 | Apr 2, 5, 10Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria PiaveApproximate running time: 3hs. 40min.Elvira: Sondra RadvanovskyErnani: Marcello GiordaniDon Carlo: Thomas Hampsonde Silva: Ferruccio FurlanettoConductor: Roberto Abbado"La Fille du Régiment" - 2008 - Apr 21, 26, 29 | May 5, 8, 12, 16Composer: Gaetano Donizetti - Librettist: Jules Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Jean-Francois-Alfred BayardApproximate running time: 2hs. 45min.Marie: Natalie DessayMarquise of Berkenfeld: Felicity PalmerTonio: Juan Die Read more:Metropolitan
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The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (first part) 2007-11-28 17:18:49 Here's a brief review on the Met's new season for the ending of 2007 and 2008. Astonishing productions, great titles and excellent singers as only the Met can offer. Don't miss the oportunity to be part of the "Met Experience"."Un Ballo in Maschera" - 2007 - Dec 17, 21, 24, 29 | 2008 - Jan 1, 5, 16, 19, 23Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Antonio SommaApproximate running time: 3hs. 20min.Amelia: Michèle Crider / Angela M. BrownOscar: Ofelia Sala / Kathleen KimUlrica: Stephanie BlytheRiccardo: Salvatore LicitraRenato: Dimitri HvorostovskyConductor: Gianandrea Noseda"Il Barbiere di Siviglia" - 2008 - Jan 12, 22, 26, 30 | Feb 2, 7, 14, 21, 25, 29Composer: Gioacchino Rossini - Librettist: Cesare SterbiniApproximate running time: 3hs. 10min.Rosina: Elina GarancaIl Conte d'Almaviva: Michae Read more:Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (second part) 2007-11-28 17:08:21 This is the second part of the Met's new season. Enjoy it!"Carmen" - 2008 - Feb 4, 8, 13, 16, 19, 23, 27 | Mar 1Composer: Georges Bizet - Librettist: Henri Meilhac, Ludovic HalévyApproximate running time: 3hs. 35min.Micaela: Maija Kovalevska / Krasimira StoyanovaCarmen: Olga Borodina / Nancy Fabiola HerreraDon José: Marcelo ÁlvarezEscamillo: Lucio GalloConductor: Emmanuel Villaume"La Clemenza di Tito" - 2008 - May 3, 6, 10, 15Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Librettist: Caterino MazzolàApproximate running time: 2hs. 50min.Servilia: Heidi Grant MurphyVitellia: Tamar IveriSesto: Susan GrahamAnnio: Anke VondungTito: Ramón VargasPublio: Oren GradusConductor: Harry Bicket"Die Entführung aus dem Serail" - 2008 - Apr 26, 30 | May 3, 7Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Librettist: Chisto Read more:Metropolitan
Opera & Pornography 2008-03-12 15:56:22 It would not take long for Opera and Porn to have more aspects in common. As it was expected, regiseurs, current owners of the opera business, do nothing but astonish us with their mises en scène, which rather than transgress could be taking out of style a spectacle in order to introduce it into another context.Many things have change in Geneva, but certainly not so many to avoid a great shaking of the most strict puritanism basis for the appearance of a porn actor in the new production of Wagner's "Tannhäuser". Not so much for the character himself but for the fact that the scene director, Olivier Py, had shamelessly exhibit him, and without the minimum decency, in a full erection.Having passed his forties, Olivier Py is still a sort of enfant terrible. Eventhough he made good collabora Read more:Pornography
Anecdotes about Puccini 2008-03-09 17:52:02 I thought it would be interesting to know some of Puccini's anecdotes and "backstage" stuff:Puccini is fond of female voices, especialy the ones with high register. This is clearly exposed in his opera "Suor Angelica", an opera in which not a single male character appears.The only aria for Bass in his entire production is Vecchia Zimarra from "La Bohème" sung by Colline. Puccini always considered this aria as part of his autobiographical youth. According to what the composer confessed, when he was a poor student in Milano, he had to pawn his own coat in orderto take out for dinner a young ballerina of the theatre, dispte the freezing cold of that day.At the beginning of "Tosca", the bells of the churches of the town that toll with different notes at dawn can be heard from faraway. Such no
"La Bohème" (G. Puccini) - 2nd part: Background & Details 2008-03-09 00:21:15 "La Bohème" is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de Bohème by Henri Murger. It was in Turin on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio that the world première performance of "La Bohème" took place conducted by the young Arutro Toscanini. In 1946, fifty years after the opera's première, Toscanini conducted a performance of it on U.S. radio, that was eventually released on records. It is the ony recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor.There is another version of "La Bohème" composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo, but with his own libretto. This version, premiered in 1897, focuses more on the Musetta and Marcello relationship, rather than that of Mimì and Rodolfo as in Puccini's version.
Anna Netrebko, the superstar for the 21st century 2008-03-04 05:21:57 Born in September 1971 in Russia, Anna Netrebko is a well reknown soprano, not only for her lovely voice and excellent technique but also for her unparalleled beauty.While studying at the Saint Petersburg' conservatory, Netrebko worked as a floor cleaner as an odd-job at the Mariinsky Theatre (home of the Kirov Opera) where she called the attention of the conductor Valery Gergiev, who subsequently became her vocal mentor. Guided by him, Netrebko made her debut in that theatre as Susanna in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro". She kept on singing prominent roles with the Kirov Opera in "La Sonnambula", "Die Zauberflöte", "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" and "Lucia di Lammermoor".In 1995, the 24-year-old Netrebko made her American debut as Lyudmila in Glinka's "Ruslan and Lyudmila" at the San Francisco
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (sixth part) 2007-11-29 18:41:20 Ok, here's the last part of the Met's new Opera Season productions. Wagner and Prokofiev are the stars of this part."Tristan und Isolde" - 2008 - Mar 10, 14, 18, 22, 25, 28Composer: Richar Wagner - Librettist: Richard WagnerApproximate running time: 5hs. 0min.Isolde: Deborah VoigtBrangäne: Michelle De Young / Margaret Jane WrayTristan: Ben HeppnerKurwenal: Eike Wilm Schulte / Richard Paul FinkKing Mark: Matti SalmineConductor: James Levine"Die Walküre" - 2008 - Jan 7, 14, 28 | Feb 2, 6, 9Composer: Richard Wagner - Librettist: Richard WagnerApproximate running time: 5hs. 0min.Brünnhilde: Lisa GasteenSieglinde: Adrianne Pieczonka / Deborah VoigtFrika: Stephanie Blythe / Michelle De YoungSiegmund: Clifton Forbis / Simon O'NeillWotan: James MorrisHunding: Mikhail PetrenkoConductor: Lorin Ma Read more:Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (fifth part) 2007-11-29 17:49:52 Fifth part ef the Met's new season. Great productions! Hope you like them!"Otello" - 2008 - Feb 11, 15, 18, 22, 26 | Mar 1, 4, 8Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Libretist: Arrigo BoitoApproximate running time: 3hs. 5min.Desdemona: Renée FlemingOtello: Johan BothaIago: Carlo GuelfiConductor: Semyon Bychkov"Roméo et Juliette" - 2007 - Dec 8, 12, 15, 20, 27, 31Composer: Charles Gounod - Librettist: Jules Barbier, Michel CarréApproximate running time: 3hs. 5min.Juliette: Anna NetrebkoStéphano: Isable Leonard / Kate LindsayRoméo: Joseph Kaiser / Roberto Alagna / Matthew PolenzaniMercutio: Jeff Mattsey / Nathan GunnFrère Laurent: Robert LloydConductor: Plácido Domingo"La Traviata" - 2008 - Mar 6, 12, 15, 19, 22Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria PiaveApproximate running time: Read more:Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (fourth part) 2007-11-29 17:08:16 Great titles in this fourth
part of the Met's Opera Season!"Lucia di Lammermoor" - 2008 - Mar 5, 8, 13Composer: Gaetano Donizetti - Librettist: Salvadore CammaranoApproximate running time: 3hs. 25min.Lucia: Nataly DessayEdgardo: Giuseppe FilianotiEnrico: Mariusz KwiecienRaimondo: John RelyeaComposer: James Levine / Joseph Colaneri"Macbeth" - 2008 - Jan 5, 9, 12, 15 | May 9, 13, 17Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria PiaveApproximate running time: 2hs. 50min.Lady Macbeth: Maria Guleghina / Andrea GruberMacduff: Roberto Aronica / Dimitri Pittas / Jospeh CallejaMacbeth: Lado Ataneli / Carlos ÁlvarezBanquo: John Relyea / René PapeConductor: James Levine"Manon Lescaut" - 2008 - Jan 29 | Feb 1, 5, 9, 12, 16, 20, 23Composer: Giacomo PucciniApproximate running time: 3hs. 20min. Read more:Metropolitan
The Metropolitan Opera' 2007 - 2008 season (third part) 2007-11-28 23:12:28 More productions of the Met's new season! As one of the most popular Opera Houses, the Met presents several titles for its Opera Season which I will be publishing in the next posts. Hurry up and buy your tickets! There are very few left!"Ernani" - 2008 - Mar 17, 21, 26, 29 | Apr 2, 5, 10Composer: Giuseppe Verdi - Librettist: Francesco Maria PiaveApproximate running time: 3hs. 40min.Elvira: Sondra RadvanovskyErnani: Marcello GiordaniDon Carlo: Thomas Hampsonde Silva: Ferruccio FurlanettoConductor: Roberto Abbado"La Fille du Régiment" - 2008 - Apr 21, 26, 29 | May 5, 8, 12, 16Composer: Gaetano Donizetti - Librettist: Jules Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, Jean-Francois-Alfred BayardApproximate running time: 2hs. 45min.Marie: Natalie DessayMarquise of Berkenfeld: Felicity PalmerTonio: Juan Die Read more:Metropolitan
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