Pagliacci from Chicago

Conductor: Enrique Mazzola 
Director: Peter McClintock 

 

Canio: Russell Thomas 
Nedda: Ailyn Pérez 
Silvio: Lucas Meachem 
Tonio: Quinn Kelsey 
Beppe: Eric Ferring

You can see this cast of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci from the Lyric Opera of Chicago is impressive.  This copy has no subtitles in any language, so I have to rely on memory.

My memory, such as it is, tells me that this is the opera where they say "a venti-tre ore." Venti-tre is 23, so that means all are invited to a circus performance that begins at 11 pm. In Italy they might actually do this. They have dinner at 8 or 9 pm and go on from there. The American translations usually pretend it's earlier.

However, this is regie and the things going on have little to do with the original plot.  Here our theatrical troop is the cast of the TV show The Honeymooners.  It might very well be playing at 11 pm. They give out Pagliacci t-shirts to the chorus/audience.

Nedda, wife of Canio in both show and life, is tired of her husband and has become interested in Silvio, apparently a stagehand. She sings about this. The beautifull sung prologue is outside the Lyric Opera, and subsequent scenes are inside. Nedda sings in the wings next to the cables to draw the scenery. It's show business. Tonio wants her too. He goes after her and she hits him with her purse.

The second act is the comedy.  This is the Kramdens from the Honeymooners, apparently.  Forties/fifties furniture and clothing.  It's also in black and white like the TV show.  Adorable.  I believe Ralph was also a bus driver.  I have to say this concept completely works.  When the camera shows the stage and the wings, the color comes back.

These are all wonderful singing actors who bring this all to life.  I'm a Quinn fan and enjoy his work here, but his part is not large.  There is an argument on the internet over who gets to say the final line.  Apparently, in the score it is Canio who has just stabbed two people.  But here it is Tonio who plays Ed Norton.  "La comedia e finita.?  

If you can find it, watch it.

Three Divas in Concert

 

This charming recital with pianist Vlad Iftinca and guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas comes from the newly refurbished opera house in the Palace of Versailles.  It is courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera.  Thank you, Peter.

The Program 

“Je veux vivre dans ce rêve” From Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette sung by Nadine Sierra.  [I saw Nadine sing this role at the San Francisco Opera.]

“Voi che sapete” From Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro sung by Isabel Leonard.[I saw Isabel sing this role in HD from the Met.]

“Ebben? Ne andrò lontana” From Catalani’s La Wally sung by Ailyn Pérez.

“Crudele? ... Non mi dir” From Mozart’s Don Giovanni sung by Nadine Sierra.

“Agitata da due venti” From Vivaldi’s Griselda sung by Isabel Leonard. [I saw Isabel sing this role in Santa Fe.  She was stunning.]

“Stridono lassù” From Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci sung by Ailyn Pérez.

“Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” (Barcarolle) From Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann sung by Isabel Leonard and Nadine Sierra.

“Prenderò quel brunettino” From Mozart’s Così fan tutte sung by Isabel Leonard and Ailyn Pérez.

“Mira, o Norma ... Sì, fino all’ore estreme” From Bellini’s Norma sung by Nadine Sierra and Ailyn Pérez. [Gorgeous.  Thank you for not reminding me of any version heard before.  Bravi!!]

“Marie Theres’! … Hab’ mir’s gelobt” From R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier   [This is, of course, one of my great loves sung by all three.  These ladies can wail.  I need me some Rosenkavalier.]

Isabel Leonard speaks briefly about their shared Latina heritage before going on to the Latina part of the program.

“Près des remparts de Séville” (Seguidilla) From Bizet’s Carmen sung by Isabel Leonard [Why has she never sung this role?  Or she did and I didn't notice.]

“En medio a mis colores” (Canzonetta spagnuola) By Gioachino Rossini sung by Isabel Leonard

“Me llaman la primorosa” From Giménez’s El Barbero de Sevilla sung by Nadine Sierra.  [Fun]

“Estrellita” By Manuel Ponce sung by Ailyn Pérez.

Ailyn brings on the guitarist and music stands appear.  This entire recital is overflowing with love.  Thank you my dears. They all take off their shoes.

“Bésame Mucho” By Consuelo Velázquez sung by all three in harmony.

“Cielito Lindo” By Quirino Mendoza y Cortés sung by all three in harmony.

So much love.  Wonderful.

Thaïs on the Radio

Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume
Production: John Cox

Thaïs:  Ailyn Pérez
Nicias: Jean-François Borras
Athanaël: Gerald Finley
Palémon: David Pittsinger

Because I am an admirer of Ailyn Pérez, I am listening to the Saturday radio broadcast of Jules Massenet's Thaïs.  This production debuted with Renée Fleming in an HD simulcast, so I can still visualize the sets to a limited extent.  Ailyn begins the opera in the blond wig seen below.

Towards the end her hair gets shorter and rattier.  I've been following Ailyn Pérez since almost the beginning of the blog, and I am a fan.  This is a perfect role for her.  Finley is also very good.  The applause was enthusiastic.

Late Late Show

Ailyn Perez and Luca Pisaroni with James Corden.  In case you missed it.  I think we've decided this is from Elixir of Love.

Selfie of the Month

Ailyn Perez

Sexiest Today

Philippe Jaroussky

Kristīne Opolais

Danielle de Niese

Elīna Garanča

Vittorio Grigolo

Ailyn Perez

Rene Pape

Isabel Leonard

Paolo Szot

Lisette Oropesa

Luca Pisaroni

Noah Stewart

Oh what the heck.  Jonas Kaufmann

L'Elisir d'amore from Munich

Giannetta, Nemorino, Asher Fisch, Adina, Belcore

Conductor: Asher Fisch
Director: David Bösch

Adina: Ailyn Pérez (soprano)
Nemorino: Matthew Polenzani (tenor)
Belcore: Mario Cassi (baritone)
Dulcamara: Ambrogio Maestri (bass)
Giannetta: Evgeniya Sotnikova (soprano)

I commented a few times on line during the live stream of Donizetti's L'Elisir d'amore from the Bayerische Staatsoper.  "It's in Ailyn's contract that she must look gorgeous."  Now I realize that this role was originally played by Anna Netrebko, and that it is probably she who has this in her contract.  Her Nemorino was also Matthew Polenzani.

"Die Öde verschlingt ihn," also popped into my head when the set was revealed.  This means the wasteland engulfs him and is a line from the Alto Rhapsody.  We're in Somalia, or somewhere war ravaged and deserted like that, but nevertheless, Adina always looks gorgeous.  Everyone else looks terrible.

Above are Adina and Nemorino early in the opera.  Though I have searched for quite a while, I have not been able to find a picture of Belcore's soldiers who in this production are in combat fatigues with lots of guns and gear.  They gang up on Adina in a very threatening way, and only when Belcore threatens to kill Nemorino does she agree to marry him.  In all of the versions of Elixir that I have seen this one makes it clearest that Adina always adores Nemorino and is just messing with him. 

The oddest thing in the whole production has to be:

Nemorino singing "Una furtiva lagrima" while up a telephone pole.  Poor Matthew.

I don't quite know what to say about this production with all its aura of menace.  The women's chorus tried to make it all light and entertaining, but for a while in the first act it got pretty creepy.  Area 51?

Don't get me wrong.  The cast was fabulous, with magnificent singing and acting from beginning to end.  Ailyn Pérez is becoming a great singer.  She got the biggest applause.

Our American Singers

Violetta Valéry: Ailyn Pérez
Alfredo Germont: Stephen Costello
Giorgio Germont: Quinn Kelsey

Conductor:  Giuseppe Finzi
Production:  John Copley

This all American trio set the stale war horse La Traviata ablaze at the San Francisco Opera.  They were supposed to be the second cast, but why completely escapes me.  My feeling was that we were lucky to have them.  I switched my ticket to see them.

Quinn came close to equaling my favorite Germont, Thomas Hampson.  For me the perfect combination is a warm tone and warm heart.  This was beautiful and strongly emotional singing.

Stephen Costello was best in the final duet where they sing of Paris.

But I was here for the rising star of opera Ailyn Pérez.  She has beauty of voice coupled with excellent penetration.  She was never covered by the only occasionally too loud orchestra.  She is also beautiful and an excellent actress who acts with both voice and body.  There is great depth already in her interpretation of Violetta.

I felt happy just to have been there.

My one negative thought was about the strange claustrophobic sets.  I don't know how all those women in gigantic skirts made their way in and out.

I don't usually go on a Friday night and was rather amazed to see the full house absolutely packed with attractive young people.  I hoped they were all there to see Ailyn.

La Traviata streamed

On May 20 La Traviata will stream live from the Royal Opera Covent Garden.  This is their first live stream ever.  Here is the cast:

Conductor:  Paul Wynne Griffiths

Violetta Valéry:  Ailyn Pérez
Alfredo Germont:  Stephen Costello
Giorgio Germont:  Simon Keenlyside
Baron Douphol:  Ashley Riches
Doctor Grenvil:  Jihoon Kim
Flora Bervoix:  Nadezhda Karyazina
Marquis D'Obigny:  Charbel Mattar
Gastone de Letorières:  David Butt Philip
Annina:  Gaynor Keeble

She exceeded my expectations.  Which were pretty damned high.

Lots Happier

If you want to keep up with what's going on in American opera, the Richard Tucker Gala is a must.  I found it on the PBS website.

A lot of previous winners were on the program:

Isabel Leonard, 2013 Richard Tucker Award Winner 
2012 Ailyn Pérez
2011 Angela Meade
2009 Stephen Costello
2004 Matthew Polenzani
2002 Joyce DiDonato
1999 Stephanie Blythe 
1990 Renée Fleming

Other equally wonderful people on the program:
Susan Graham
Greer Grimsley
Eric Owens
Maestro Riccardo Frizza

Program

• Isabel Leonard "Gracia mia" by Granados.
• Stephen Costello and his wife Ailyn  Pérez did a scene from The Elixir of Love.  She gets more and more beautiful.
• Eric Owens sang "Te Deum" from Tosca.  I find his voice very beautiful but not very evil sounding.
• Renée and Susan sang the Flower duet from Lakme.   Gorgeous.

               Renée, "Olympics of Singing."
               Susan, "We are slowly morphing into each other."

• Matthew Polenzani "Kleinzach" from The Tales of Hoffmann.   He recently sang Hoffmann here and was marvalous.  I shouted for him.
• Angela Meade "No, mi lasciate... Tu al cui sguardo." I Due Foscari.  The audience loved her best.  Her vocal gifts are truly astounding.
• Isabel Leonard "Ombre vane" from Griselda.  She was spectacular in this at Santa Fe.  It's too bad she couldn't sing the whole role, but maybe that would be too much.  She was wonderful.
• Stephanie and Greer sang a scene from Samson and Dalilah, the heaviest item on the program.
• Susan sang "J'aime la militaire" from La Grand Duchesse de Girolstein by Offenbach with soldiers, uniform and everything.  I should have gone to Santa Fe last summer.
• Stephen Costello sang "Salut demeure chaste et pure" from Faust.  I hear weight coming into his voice.
• Renée "ombra di nube" by Refice.
• Joyce DiDonato "Tanti Affetti" from La Donna del Lago.  I guessed it from the first 2 chords.
• Finale from William Tell.

This was a wonderful concert with a lot of spectacular singing.  I would have liked more.  I flagged this as television even though it wasn't for me.  My favorites are Matthew, Joyce, Ailyn, Isabel, Renée and Susan, but truly I think I love them all.  These people with maybe here and there others are the cream of American singing now.  I don't know who picks them, but they have their shit together.

I'm going for Jamie this year.  Who do you pick?

Poeme D'Un Jour

My copy arrived today.  The whole thing is in French and Spanish, and all of it is gorgeous.

Ailyn Pérez is a lyric soprano with a range of colors at her disposal.  In her 40s she will probably become more of a spinto, but for now she is firmly in the lyric Fach.  She probably most closely resembles Victoria de los Angeles who sang a little Wagner for no reason that anyone can recall.  Ailyn is already slightly heavier, slightly darker than Victoria.

They also share the gift for French and Spanish repertoire.  Ailyn uses her colors to great effect in this very stylish album.
#ad

Blogging

I notice now that I am posting a list of most popular blog posts, certain perennial favorites have fallen off the list.  Most notably now missing are "14" and "Maria Ewing."  "Camille Claudel is still going strong."  A few have risen and then disappeared, a more expected behavior.  A surprise is the increased popularity of a film of Sondra Radvanovsky singing an aria from Anna Bolena.

Cecilia Bartoli will miss her Ory opening in Vienna.  I hope she gets well soon.  She will be replaced by the rising Pretty Yende, recently in Ory at the Met.

Some time this spring Ailyn Pérez will release her first album titled Poème d’un jour.  This will include music in both French and Spanish.

Big weekend:  Ainadamar, Rigoletto and Philharmonia Baroque.

Larry Brownlee and Pretty Yende triumphing in Vienna.  I was interested to read in a review that during Rossini's lifetime Le Comte Ory was very popular.

Richard Tucker Gala

This television presentation is selected from the entire concert for the Richard Tucker Gala which took place on November 11, 2012.  We saw:


Gerald Finley, baritone, "Sibilar l'angui d'Aletto", Handel Rinaldo
Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano, "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix", Saint-Saëns Samson and Delilah
Ailyn Pérez, lyric soprano, Gavotte and Scene, Massenet Manon
Ildar Abdrazakov, bass, and Quinn Kelsey, baritone, Attila and Ezio's duet, Verdi Attila
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano, "O mon Fernand", Donizetti La Favorite.
Erwin Schrott, bass-baritone, "Ave, Signor", Boito Mefistofele
Giuseppe Filianoti and ensemble, Giuletta Act, Offenbach Tales of Hoffmann
Ailyn Pérez and Stephen Costello, tenor, cherry duet, Mascagni L'amico Fritz
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone, "O du mein holder Abendstern", Wagner Tannhaeuser
Ildar Abdrazakov, "La calunnia", Rossini, Il barbiere di Siviglia
Liudmyla Monastyrska, dramatic soprano, "Nel di della vittoria... Vieni, t'affretta", Verdi Macbeth
Marcello Giordani, tenor, "Recitar! ... Vesti la giubba", Leoncavallo Pagliacci
Ailyn Pérez and Stephen Costello, tenor, Act II Finale, Verdi La Traviata
Ailyn Pérez and Stephen Costello, tenor, "Libbiamo", Verdi La Traviata
Chorus, "Va Pensiero", Verdi Nabucco

Some of the omitted numbers can be seen as shorts on this website. 

As is usual with the Richard Tucker Society, there was a strong emphasis on heavy repertoire and heavy singing.  To carry the flame of Richard Tucker is to carry the flame of the old style of opera of his era.  Borodina and Barton are very heavy for the modern mezzo Fach.  Barton gave a barn burning performance that received the first shouts of the evening.

Finley is the lightest of the basses and baritones, who are quite well represented.  And Liudmyla Monastyrska is about the heaviest soprano out there today.  She emphasizes Lady Macbeth and Abigaille, indeed sang the extremely heavy letter aria from Macbeth.

Ailyn Pérez is the lightest of the singers on the list above.  She overcomes all with her lovely tone and wonderful charm.  I wish her, indeed expect from her, good things.

Between the musical numbers are short interviews with Audra McDonald and clips of various types.  The clips with Ailyn Pérez are the most interesting.  Before her first aria she is shown marking in a rehearsal.  Marking involves singing very lightly in a kind of imitation of real singing in order to practice timing and pronunciation with the other participants in the rehearsal.  I'm trying to think when I have seen a film of someone marking.  My own voice was not very loud, so the conductors would ask, "Markieren Sie sich?"  Sigh.  It is common and normal to rehearse in this half voice style of singing which is easier on the voice.  It is unusual but not unknown for a singer to mark in a rehearsal that has an audience.  The audience usually gets annoyed.

The other clip shows Ailyn singing with her dog, not the same clip as the one I posted.  What makes this interesting is her husband Stephen Costello sitting patiently next to them waiting for this embarrassing moment to pass.

P.S. More things. It's over for Marcello Giordani.

Audra says "Someday you will say 'I first saw Ailyn Perez here.'" Sorry. I will say "I first saw Ailyn Perez at the Santa Fe Opera."  Ailyn was most impressive in the excerpt from La Traviata.  This opera will feature her next season in San Francisco.

Perez, Costello and Dog

Here you go.  Her name is pronounced Eileen, like in Farrell. Who knew?

When I was young, my two younger brothers both played the trumpet.  They would take our dog into the bedroom, shut the door and play their trumpets, and he would sing loudly along with them.  My mother was sure they were torturing him and made them leave him outside the bedroom when they played.  Then he would sit outside the door howling as loudly as he ever had and scratching to get back in.

Opera News for August

I am enjoying very much the new copy of Opera News featuring an article titled "Opera's Next Wave."  I am surprised to see that there are a lot of familiar faces in this list.  I'm going to talk a bit about the ones I know.

I saw soprano Angela Meade in Ernani in HD last season.  Their take on her is about the same as mine.  She has a fabulous niche voice--spinto with agility.  For me to go mad over her she's going to have to get the musical parts of her work to a highly polished state in order to compensate for her lack of charisma.  The Met isn't searching primarily for charisma, but I think maybe I am.

I saw tenor Michael Fabiano in Lucrezia Borgia at the San Francisco Opera last fall where he played Gennaro, Renée Fleming's son in the opera.  Michael was good but was hampered by the fact that the tenor doesn't really get to do tenory things in this opera.

I am already a fan of the very sexy Italian bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni.  As Leporello, he stole Don Giovanni from the Don of Mariusz Kwiecien.  He was also adorable in his very weird makeup for The Enchanted Island.  I'm going to Santa Fe in a few weeks where he will sing the title character in Maometto II.  He actually wants to sing this so much that he suggested the opera to the Santa Fe Opera.  I'm starting to get excited.

Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard completely stole the show for me last summer in Griselda at the Santa Fe Opera.

I have already traveled to see soprano Ailyn Pérez in La Bohème at the LA Opera. This was because I liked her so much in Faust at the Santa Fe Opera last summer.  She's gorgeous, charismatic and has a beautiful voice.  Unfortunately she doesn't seem to fall into my path any time soon.  David Gockley!!  Are you listening?

Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey is the person in the top hat standing behind Anna Netrebko in the Met HD of Tales of Hoffmann where she played Nicklausse, Hoffmann's muse.  Nicklausse is rather a trans-gender individual who hovers around all of Hoffmann's loves and basically destroys them.  Kate Lindsey completely transformed this character into the lead.  I have also seen her in Don Giovanni in Santa Fe.  She is what I would call a singing actress and a definite candidate for sexiest in drag.

I saw baritone Quinn Kelsey in 2009 in Il Trovatore in San Francisco and then again earlier this month in Attila.  I detected significant growth, both in his command of his voice and in his presence on the stage in his second Verdi character.  He already has a classical Grammy listing for Mahler 8 with the San Francisco Symphony.  I was very impressed and hope to see him again soon.

This is tenor Javier Camarena whom I saw in Otello.  Maybe I should post all of them behind someone else, someone more famous today.  I have also seen him as Elvino in La Sonnambula in Paris with Natalie Dessay.  That makes him a bel canto tenor, and a very nice one, too.  I should find him a better picture.  If you ever read this blog, you will know that I have a perverse sense of humor.

I am surprised to see how many out of their list of singers I have already seen.  There were no violent disagreements.  I did not write about tenor Alek Shrader, soprano Latonia Moore or soprano Eglise Gutiérrez because I haven't seen them.  Forgive me.  Anthony Roth Costanzo I have seen, but he is a countertenor. I also did not write about conductors, composers, etc.  Read the article yourself.

Ailyn Pérez

I like her a lot. And here's the aria from Faust.

La Bohème in Los Angeles

La Bohème at the Los Angeles Opera was preceded by a very nice lecture.   I did not write down the man's name.  He talked about the literary source for the opera, Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henry Murger, and how Leoncavallo also wrote a La Bohème which Puccini stole the plot of.  He told us that women with tuberculosis, especially when they appeared emaciated and close to death, were believed to be intensely sexual.  Thus all the operas about them.  He said Puccini tried very hard to make the story of Mimi not sound like Violetta.  His examples were all from the recording with Jussi and Victoria.

I went for Ailyn Pérez, the soprano who sang Mimi.  She sounds, looks, acts and phrases extremely well.  So is she the next big thing?  The answer is probably.  Her singing is very high class, and her voice is gorgeous.  I heard a lot more sotto voce than I like, but this can always be blamed on the coaches.  Sing big, and ignore anyone who says not to.

Other not insignificant people in the cast are her husband Stephen Costello and the Musetta Janai Brugger.  Ailyn and Stephen are well matched as a singing couple.  They both have the budding spinto sound everyone is looking for.  They look and sound well together.

This was the most romantic La Bohème I have seen.  When it comes time for "O soave fanciulla," they step out onto the roof overlooking the Eiffel Tower, and the house moves back to reveal a giant moon.  This production feels the most like Paris of any I have seen.

Most outrageous is Musetta whose scene is dramatically enhanced to the point of slapstick.  I loved it.  Mimi died on her chord.  Mimi dies when no one in the cast is paying any attention.  Musetta brings in the muff, puts it on Mimi, and then turns back to talk to the others.  What else could this chord possibly be?  I hate it when the director doesn't know this.

I often get tired of seeing the same operas over and over, but this one was worth the trip.

[See Kinderkuchen History 1890-1910]

News

I read that Nadine Sierra repeated her Scwabacher Debut Recital in New York at Carnegie Hall this past week.  She was pretty favorably reviewed in the New York Times.

I'm going next week to see Ailyn Pérez in La Boheme at the LA Opera.

Ailyn Pérez wins the Richard Tucker Prize

Soprano Ailyn Pérez, last summer's rollerskating Marguerite in the Santa Fe Opera's Faust, has been named the winner of this year's Richard Tucker Prize.  Her husband, tenor Stephen Costello, won in 2009.  Was it a psychic coincidence that I included both of them in my "New Candidates for Sexiest" list last October?

Of my three Marguerites last year, Ailyn, Patricia Racette and Marina Poplavskaya, I most enjoyed Ailyn's performance.

Here is a longer article about the award.

P.S. to Faust

Could we please have Jonas in Tosca next time?



And when casting about for a replacement for Angela, the Met might have considered Ailyn Pérez.