Lucia in HD

 

Conductor:  Riccardo Frizza Director:  Simon Stone

Enrico Ashton, Lucia's brother:  Artur Ruciński (baritone) Lucia Ashton:  Nadine Sierra (coloratura soprano) Riamondo Bidebent, Lucia's tutor:  Christian Van Horn (bass) Edgardo, Lucia's fiance:  Javier Camarena (tenor)

Host:  Anthony Roth Costanzo

The HD from the Met today was Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in a new production by Simon Stone. It turns out I've already seen two productions by him:  Korngold's Die Tote Stadt from the Bayerische Staatsoper and Saariaho's Innocence from Aix en Provence.  He likes a lot of detail.  Today there was rather an astounding amount of detail, which, surprisingly, seemed to match the libretto.  He likes a small rotating set.  This one represented a small American town with a pawn shop, a church, etc.  There were two cars:  an orange Pinto and a pick up truck. The prop master was interviewed and said there might be about 1000 props.  The presence of cell phones, used rather frequently, places us in a narrow time period.  Thus the confusion when a drive in film of Bob Hope appeared.

It worked for me.  Lucia's brother was a drunk and a drug fiend whose budget is deeply in dept,  thus explaining his need for his sister to marry Arturo instead of Edgardo, the man she loves.

The singing was magnificent.  Nadine has a gorgeous voice, and Javier is one of the best lyric tenors around.  I've seen Ruciński before only in the La Boheme in outer space.  And Christian Van Horn is always wonderful.  The mad scene is often orchestrated for flute, but we were treated to the wonderful glass harmonica.  It seems the ideal sound to portray madness.

The combination of beautiful singing, great acting, and lots of dramatic detail,made this a wonderful performance for me.  And I need to report that the sound in the theater was much better today.

International Opera Awards

CHORUS
Metropolitan Opera
 
CONDUCTOR
Kirill Petrenko
 
DESIGNER
Małgorzata Szczęśniak
 
DIRECTOR
Robert Carsen
 
EDUCATION & OUTREACH
Birmingham Opera Company
 
FEMALE SINGER
Lise Davidsen
 
FESTIVAL
Salzburg Festival
 
LEADERSHIP
(sponsored by the Good Governance Institute)
David Pountney
 
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
Bernard Haitink
 
MALE SINGER
Javier Camarena
 
NEW PRODUCTION
Tale of Tsar Saltan
(Tcherniakov, La Monnaie De Munt)
 
NEWCOMER
Alpesh Chauhan
 
OPERA COMPANY
Teatro Real, Madrid
 
OPERA FOR PEACE PRIZE
Denyce Graves
 
OPERA ORCHESTRA
Bayerisches Staatsorchester / Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich
 
PHILANTHROPY
Martina Arroyo Foundation
 
RECORDING (SOLO RECITAL)
Jakub Józef Orliński: Facce d’amore (Erato)

RECORDING (COMPLETE OPERA)
Thomas: Hamlet (Naxos) [DVD]

OPERA MAGAZINE READERS’ AWARD
Jamie Barton

REDISCOVERED WORK
Moniuszko: Paria (Teatr Wielki, Poznań)
 
WORLD PREMIERE
Glanert: Oceane (Deutsche Oper, Berlin)
 
YOUNG SINGER sponsored by Mazars
Xabier Anduaga
Vasilisa Berzhanskaya

Met New Years Gala

 

Matthew Polenzani, Pretty Yende, Angel Blue, Javier Camarena

This wonderful Metropolitan Opera Gala concert came to us live from the Parktheater im Kurhaus Göggingen, in Augsburg, Germany.  I used to live near there.

The Program

“Ah! Mes amis ... Pour mon âme” from Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
               Javier Camarena    [I came in at the end where he hits the last high C.  Magnificent.]

“Chacun le sait” from Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment
               Pretty Yende 

“Che gelida manina” from Puccini’s La Bohème
               Matthew Polenzani 

“Sì, mi chiamano Mimì” from Puccini’s La Bohème
               Angel Blue

“O soave fanciulla” from Puccini’s La Bohème 
               Angel Blue, Matthew Polenzani

“Quoi! Vous m’aimez?” from Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment 
               Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena 

“Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso” from Puccini’s La Rondine 
               Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena, Matthew Polenzani

“Sì, ritrovarla io giuro” from Rossini’s La Cenerentola
               Javier Camarena

“Una voce poco fa” from Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia
               Pretty Yende

“La donna è mobile” from Verdi’s Rigoletto
               Matthew Polenzani 

“D’amor sull’ali rosee” from Verdi’s Il Trovatore
               Angel Blue

“Son geloso del zefiro errante” from Bellini’s La Sonnambula
               Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena

“Lippen schweigen” from Lehár’s Die Lustige Witwe
               Angel Blue, Matthew Polenzani    [Perhaps I would like this if Angel was the widow.]

“Mattinata” by Ruggero Leonvacallo
               Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena

“Torna a Surriento” by Ernesto De Curtis
               Angel Blue, Matthew Polenzani

“’O sole mio” by Eduardo di Capua
               Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena, Matthew Polenzani

“Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici” from Verdi’s La Traviata
               Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena, Matthew Polenzani

“Auld Lang Syne” (Traditional)
               Angel Blue, Pretty Yende, Javier Camarena, Matthew Polenzani

Very nice.  All my favorite parts.  Lots of duets.  My emotions are getting the better of me.  I need more of all these people.  I sang along to Auld Lang Syne.  Love to all.

__________________________

There has been controversy over this concert.  People argue that Met musicians should have been hired to accompany the singers instead of the Europeans, a pianist and a string ensemble.  The concert took place in Germany.  There would probably be two reasons for this:  1.  Live performances under controlled conditions are allowed in Germany, and 2. The singers are all in Europe where at least occasionally they can get gigs.  Javi is in Monaco and Madrid.  Pretty has been in Barcelona.  Angel will be in Berlin.  Matthew has been in Madrid.  

Other factors concern the accompanying musicians.  It might not be possible for American musicians to just fly in to Germany and play there.  I am not happy about Gelb and his treatment of the marvelous Met orchestra, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss this beautiful concert.

La Fille du Regiment

👍🏻
Conductor..................Enrique Mazzola
Production.................Laurent Pelly

Marie......................Pretty Yende
Tonio......................Javier Camarena
Marquise of Berkenfield....Stephanie Blythe
Sergeant Sulpice...........Maurizio Muraro
Hortentius.................Paul Corona
Duchesse of Krakentorp.....Kathleen Turner

Today's HD from the Met is Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment, a revival of the Laurent Pelly production.  I didn't think this was possible, but it was even more fun than with Natalie Dessay.

Tonio is a Tyrolean, and Marie is a found child raised by a regiment of the French army invading Tyrol.  Marie does laundry and peels potatoes.  She also wanders off into a neighboring village where she meets Tonio.  Pretty Yende does the best job ever of seeming to be a young woman raised by a troop of soldiers.  She swears, though I noticed they didn't translate this.

This was also an historic occasion:  we had the first bis (encore) in any HD performance.   Of course this was for Javier Camarena's performance of "Ah mes amis" with the famous 9 high Cs.  So with a bis that makes 18 high Cs.  Dare we say it?  He is the new king of the high Cs.

This is such a marvelous cast with gorgeous singing and lively acting that swept us along.  We laughed and cried and rejoiced when aunt/mother allows Marie and Tonio to wed.  Wonderful.

I missed the sprouted potato found with Marie's souvenirs in previous performances.

Contrabandista

👍🏻
I first saw Javier Camarena in Zurich about a decade ago in Carmen.  I like him very much and have DVDs of him in Rossini's Otello and Le Comte Ory.  In his Fach (leggiero tenor) he is the best today.  This CD is an homage to Manuel Garcia, the famous tenor who was the father of Malibran and Viardot.  This homage is like similar ones in that Javier performs works from Garcia's singing repertoire.  In addition he also performs works by him; in fact fully half of the tracks are by Garcia.  The ones that sound familiar are all by Rossini.

One of the Rossini tracks is a duet from Armida with Cecilia Bartoli.  This is charming.  The recording may be regarded as a tour de force.

Cecilia Bartoli is listed as Mentor on this album.  Her orchestra Les Musiciens du Prince accompany conducted by Gianluca Capuano.
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New Releases

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Cecilia Bartoli will release at the end of November a new second CD of arias by Vivaldi.  Here is a sample.






At the end of October Javier Camarena will release a new CD called Contrabandista which includes a duet with Bartoli.




This release by Jonas Kaufmann includes your choice of CD or DVD.  It's number one on the classical charts in Germany.

Lucia from Madrid

👍🏻
Conductor: Daniel Oren
Director: David Alden

Lucia: Lisette Oropesa
Edgardo: Javier Camarena
Enrico Ashton: Artur Rucinski
Raimondo Bidebent: Roberto Tagliavini
Lord Arturo Bucklaw: Yijie Shi
Alisa: Marina Pinchuk
Normanno: Alejandro del Cerro

I've never actually seen a live bis in an opera before (they do them all the time in concerts in Italy, usually of something you'd rather not hear again).  When I realized what it was, I burst into tears.  And an ensemble, the sextet, on top of it.  I'm seriously loving this.  Everyone is a shit except Lucia.  She's already pretty insane before the mad scene.   We had a glass harmonica.

I am speaking, of course, of Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor streamed live from Teatro Real Madrid.  The set is like your high school gym.  There's a radiator.  I think the theme is "you'd go nuts too if everyone you knew was this awful."  We're doing a play within a play.  At the end of the mad scene the chorus claps very slowly.  It's not at all like the loud shouting from the real audience.  The production does nothing to explain the opera but focuses entirely on the atmosphere.

The singing and for me also the acting were very good.  I love Lisette, but she will need to stay light in this role.  I came for Lisette and Javier, two of my favorites of the young singers, and they did not disappoint.  Javier wears a kilt in this, a first for me.

Lisette has also performed the ROH Lucia which I reviewed with Diana Damrau.  This version will be available on OperaVision for a while.  If you missed the live stream, watch it now.

I have to add a comment.  Lisette's physical training gives her a kind of absolute control over the phrase.  It's stunning.

Semiramide in HD

Camarena - DeShong - Meade - Abdrazakov

👍🏻
Conductor...........Maurizio Benini
Production..........John Copley

Semiramide, Queen of Babylon, widow of King Nino, soprano:  Angela Meade
Assur, a prince, descendant of Baal, bass:  Ildar Abdrazakov
Arsace, Commander of the Assyrian army, contralto:   Elizabeth DeShong
Idreno, an Indian king, tenor:   Javier Camarena
Oroe, high priest of the Magi, bass:   Ryan Speedo Green
Azema, a princess, descendant of Baal, soprano:   Sarah Shafer
Mitrane, Captain of the Guard, tenor:  Kang Wang
Nino's Ghost, bass:  Jeremy Galyon

This wasn't my first time with Rossini's Semiramide.  My first time was probably the only time it played at the San Francisco Opera in 1981 with Montserrat Caballé, Marilyn Horne and James Morris.  I sat next to a woman who was a Caballé fan, and we alternated sighing for the two female stars.  This in spite of the weirdness of the costumes.  Richard Bonynge conducted.

I bought a film from the Bel Canto Society filmed in 1980 with a very similar cast which included Sam Ramey.  The singing is amazing if you'd like to hear it.

And then a year ago I watched a stream from Munich starring Joyce DiDonato and Daniela Barcellona which I enjoyed very much for the singing but which was modernized.

Let's just say I had certain expectations today.  For one thing I expected not to like it.  Instead I got surprises.

Semiramide is Rossini's last opera seria.  It may in fact be the last opera seria at all.  This form of opera means serious opera, has serious subject matter, consists of endless rows of da capo arias and ensembles, and usually has a happy ending.  The singing is the point.  You can see from the pictures that this is the first time in my experience that any effort was made to make the costumes look Assyrian.  In Marilyn's version the soldiers looked a bit like playing cards.  In Joyce's everyone seems like modern middle-eastern.  Today's costumes may not be pretty, but they are trying to be period.

I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed Angela Meade in this role.  She has a steelier voice than either Caballé or DiDonato.  In fact that could be said of the other singers as well.  DeShong is steelier and heavier than Horne or Barcellona.  Camarena is heavier than Brownlee or Ariaza.  The result is a shift to a much more intense and dramatic work altogether.  All are working together to set a tone of intense tragedy.

There's only one problem with that:  all that intensity can become tedious.  Sometimes I appreciated it, and sometimes I didn't.  Bonynge and company focused on beautiful singing above all else.  This is pleasing in an entirely different way.

I was surprised by Ryan Speedo Green.  What a voice.  I was surprised by the clarity of the plot.  I saw the Commendatore from Don Giovanni in Nino's Ghost.  I liked it in a surprising way.

I Puritani

I have only a short comment after hearing parts of I Puritani on the radio from the Met.  Diana Damrau is exactly this kind of singer.  I doubt that she would want to limit her repertoire to bel canto, but she and Javier Camarena were glorious.  

Richard Tucker Gala

Instead of making us wait until the end of the year, the Richard Tucker Gala live streamed from Carnegie Hall on medici.tv today.  What a fabulous concert.  The singers were:

Jamie Barton
Javier Camarena
Joyce DiDonato
Joshua Guerrero
Renée Fleming
Anna Netrebko
Kristine Opolais
Nadine Sierra
and this years winner Tamara Wilson
Asher Fisch conducted the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Yusif Eyvazov was expected but broke his foot.

And here is the program:
Wagner: “Entrance of the Guests” from Tannhäuser
New York Choral Society

Wagner: “Dich, teure Halle” from Tannhäuser
Tamara Wilson, soprano
This was an excellent introduction to Tamara.

Renée Fleming, soprano
Massenet: “Adieu, notre petite table” from Manon
followed by
Leoncavallo: “Mattinata”

Rossini: “La danza”
Javier Camarena, tenor

Donizetti: “Regnava nel silenzo” from Lucia di Lammermoor
Nadine Sierra, soprano

Dvorak: “Měsíčku na nebi hlubokém” (“Song to the Moon”) from Rusalka
Kristine Opolais, soprano
Unfortunately for Kristine there were two other sopranos on the program known for this aria.

Verdi: “Tu al cui sguardo onnipossente” from I due Foscari
Tamara Wilson, soprano
New York Choral Society.  Tamara was excellent in this, too.

Saint-Saëns: Mon coeur s’ouvre à ta voix” from Samson et Dalila
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano.  For me this was one of the highlights of the evening, sung in a wonderfully smooth legato.

Rossini: “Ah vieni, nel tuo sangue” from Otello
Lawrenece Brownlee, tenor
Javier Camarena, tenor
Two Rossini tenors in competition.  I think it was a tie.

Giordano: “La mamma morta” from Andrea Chénier
followed by
Cilea:  "Io son l'umile ancella" from Adriana Lecouvreur 
Anna Netrebko, soprano
Netrebko was in form and remembered to thank first the cellist and then the violinist for their solos.  She received a bouquet and then left.

Heggie: “Si, son io” from Great Scott
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
This was particularly and surprisingly beautiful.

Bellini: Finale of Act I from Norma
Tamara Wilson, soprano
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Joshua Guerrero, tenor
New York Choral Society

Donizetti: “Seul sur la terre” from Dom Sébastien
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor

Puccini: “Un bel dì vedremo” from Madama Butterfly
Kristien Opolais, soprano

Handel: “Son nata a lagrimar” from Giulio Cesare
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano

Bellini: “Vieni fra questa braccia” from I puritani
Nadine Sierra, soprano
Javier Camarena, tenor
I liked Nadine and Javier in this.

Bernstein: “Make Our Garden Grow” from Candide
Tamara Wilson, soprano
Joshua Guerrero, tenor
New York Choral Society

The concert lasted 2-1/2 hours.  I skipped another concert for this and found that it was worth it.  This is a slightly lighter mix of arias than is usual for a Richard Tucker Gala.  There was no intermission.

You can watch this now on medici.tv.

Tenor

This is here to help you learn about the different types of operatic tenors. It's intended to educate listeners rather than singers.

The tenor is the highest natural male voice. Above that is the countertenor which uses an entirely different method of producing a sound.  An operatic tenor might need a high C and might not, but he would seldom need to go above high C.  They aren't known for their low notes.  The sub-categories for tenor are generally listed:

Mozart tenor
Leggiero tenor
Lyric tenor
Spinto tenor
Dramatic tenor
Heldentenor

If there are more categories, we are ignoring them.  I am now going to describe the sub-categories, but please be aware that the same singer may show up in different sub-categories.  A role may also cross into more than one category.  I have tried in selecting these examples to make sure that the singer is actually of the suggested sub-category.

Mozart tenor

A Mozart tenor is known for the beauty of his relatively light tone and for the perfection of his legato.  Examples of Mozart tenor roles are  Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Tamino in The Magic Flute, etc.  The first film is Fritz Wunderlich singing "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" from Die Zauberflöte.




Wunderlich is for some people the quintessential tenor. They will complain bitterly whenever someone doesn't sound like him. He is perfect for what he is singing here.

My current top 14

Angela Gheorghiu
Anna Netrebko
Renée Fleming
Nina Stemme
Anja Harteros

Cecilia Bartoli
Elina Garanča
Joyce DiDonato

Jonas Kaufmann
Juan Diego Florez
Piotr Beczala

Željko Lučić
René Pape
Dmitri Hvorostovsky


It's been a couple of years since Limelight named their top 12 singers, and I feel it's time for a new list.  There have been a few changes.  Natalie Dessay seems to be retired from opera and is focusing on song repertoire.  We can't rank Placido Domingo among the tenors any more, and he doesn't really rank that high as a baritone.  For me Bryn Terfel isn't singing up to his former standard, though I caught part of his Dutchman and found it rather good.

To qualify for this list the artist must be performing now and be rated according to their current performing standard.

People who should also be considered are:

Mariusz Kwiecien
Simon Keenlyside
Ildar Abdrazakov
Javier Camarena
Michael Fabiano
Lawrence Brownlee

Argue amongst yourselves.

Salzburg Cenerentola

 

Very 1950s. 

I did not say I wouldn't post any more pictures.  She (Cecilia Bartoli) is in costume, and maybe he (Javier Camarena) is too.  Toi toi toi.

Or maybe not.  It's a rehearsal.  You can't tell anymore.

I want to express my joy in the continuing glory of Cecilia Bartoli's fabulous career.  She is in my heart even when I stay home.  There is an article in the New York Times today about the soon to begin Whitsun Festival and her management of it.  This article says she would like to sing opera in American again.  We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Buffet Don Magnifico

P.S.  I think every currently active Rossini singer in the world is performing.  Tenors alone included Juan Diego Florez, John Osborn, Javier Camarena, Edgardo Rocha, Barry Banks and Lawrence Brownlee.  And didn't I see José Carreras?  Also Cecilia Bartoli, Vesselina Kasarova, Joyce DiDonato, Carlos Chausson, Alessandro Corbelli, Massimo Cavalletti, Franco Fagioli, Michele Pertusi, Ruggero Raimondi, Erwin Schrott and I'm sure a lot more.

Rossini's Otello on DVD

👍🏻
Conductor: Muhai Tang
Production: Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier

Otello: John Osborn, tenor
Desdemona: Cecilia Bartoli, mezzo (originally Isabella Colbran)
Elmiro (Desdemona's father): Peter Kálmán, baritone
Rodrigo (man chosen by Elmiro to marry Desdemona): Javier Camarena, tenor
Jago: Edgardo Rocha, tenor
Emilia (Jago's wife): Liliana Nikiteanu

This DVD of Rossini's Otello (1816) from the Zurich Opera records the same series of performances I reviewed here from a live stream on medici.tv.

The plot of this opera is not the same as Shakespeare or Verdi.  It is clearly an opera seria but shows none of the traditional traits.  Twelve years before La Muette de Portici changed opera forever, the two main characters die.  This was unheard of.  My researches tell me that this opera was provided with an alternate happy ending, but we in the English speaking world would be outraged.  There are four scenes.  All of the action takes place in Venice rather than Cyprus.

Act I
In the Doge's palace Otello is presented to the Doge as the hero of a recent battle where he recovers Cyprus for Venice.  He has already married Desdemona, but this is a secret.  Desdemona's father Elmiro has a candidate to marry her in Rodrigo.  Otello announces that he and Desdemona are already pledged to one another, enraging Elmiro.

In this version Desdemona contributes however innocently to her own doom.  She writes a letter to Otello and encloses a lock of her own hair, but the letter falls into her father's hands.  In order to prevent an argument with Elmiro she tells him the letter is intended for Rodrigo.  Jago tells this version to Otello who believes him.

Act II  Scene 1
We are in Desdemona's room in the palazzo. She tells Rodrigo she is Otello's wife. 

Act II Scene 2
We are in Otello's hangout, a dump with a pool table and refrigerator.  Not only is Otello black, but he is not from Desdemona's social class either.  There are simply too many things against him, hero or not.  There are small issues of continuity in this scene but they shouldn't distract from the incredible singing.  Jago stirs the pot.  The ever hovering Emilia is there to save the situation.  Desdemona has a mad scene here and pours beer over her head.  P.S. I now interpret this as defiance of her father who has come to take her home.

Act III
We are in Desdemona's room in the palazzo.  She writes "Nessun maggior dolore che ricordarsi del tempo felice"  ["Nothing is Sadder than the Memory of Happiness."] on the wall.  She sings a very beautiful rendition of the willow song.  She kisses Emilia because she knows she's doomed.  When Otello arrives, she is angry and defiant with him, very different from Verdi.  Otello kills her then himself.

John Osborn as Otello is in black-face.  Since race is the whole point of the story, this seems right.  Black-face is a comic minstrel tradition only in the United States, so criticizing a French/Swiss production for doing it would seem pretty silly.  It is shocking how much Otello hates Desdemona. 

Cecilia is taking on heavier repertoire these days, and Otello seems on the heavy end of her abilities but still well within her grasp.  She is very intense here.  Someone asked me about her the other day.  She was everywhere for a while and then suddenly she was gone.  I explained that her Columbia Artists Management manager moved back to Europe and she along with him.  I followed her there, at least in spirit, but for most Americans she ceased to exist.

This is an outstanding sample of her work now, her emotional intensity turned to serious drama.  This is bel canto at its most serious extreme.  For people who hate regie it won't work, but I'm not one of them.  Perhaps you aren't either.  Love it along with me.
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The Year of the Tenor

With the Metropolitan Opera season now closed Broadway World has called this the Year of the Tenor.  Here is their list.  How can you argue?

Jonas Kaufmann. What is there to say? He's #1 these days, whether in Wagner, Massenet or Verdi. He also excited in his recital debut at Carnegie with German lieder. But his schedule looks a little sparse next year at the Met, other than a few Don Joses. Do whatever he wants, please.  [I'm definitely not arguing with this.]

Juan Diego Florez. The Met's first "King of the High Cs" since Pavarotti, Florez is an utterly winning and boyish performer, whether in LA FILLE DU REGIMENT, LE COMTE ORY or DON PASQUALE. His high notes were wonderful in LA CENERENTOLA, though one wonders what lots of RIGOLETTOs will wreak on them, as he moves away from bel canto.

Piotr Beczala. He thrilled as the Duke in the Met's "Ratpack" RIGOLETTO, Lenski in EUGENE ONEGIN and RUSALKA's fickle Prince. A cautious artist, he's moving into heavier roles, with UN BALLO IN MASCHERA next season, as well as IOLANTA with Netrebko.

Lawrence Brownlee. Brownlee was an audience favorite in I PURITANI and the opera's high F held no fear for him. Yet he seems a little placid when more ardor would do better. Still, the notes were there and that means a great deal.

Javier Camarena. Tenor Camarena had a great spring at the Met, as Elvino in Bellini's LA SONNAMBULA then stepping in for Florez in the first three performances of Rossini's LA CENERENTOLA. It took the Met way too long to bring him back after his notable debut in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA--let's see what they come up with as a follow up (and sooner rather than later, SVP).

Dr. B:  These are the guys, all fabulous artists.  There can never be too much tenor.  As almost an afterthought they add Matthew Polenzani, Roberto Alagna, Vittorio Grigolo, Michael Fabiano, Stephen Costello, Yonghoon Lee.  They put in David Daniels, but we know he is a countertenor and doesn't count.  We might add Bryan Hymel.

New Three Tenors

 

Camarena.......................................Brownlee ........................Florez

The New York Times headline by Zachary Woolfe today reads "Three Stars Who Navigate on the High C's."  These new three tenors are Javier Camarena, Lawrence Brownlee and Juan Diego Florez.  They are all on the bel canto end of the tenor spectrum and all fantastic singers.

My favorite quote from the article is when Marilyn Horne says "I'm delighted because we need good singing.  There's all this talk that the Met is not selling enough tickets, but apparently when the review of 'Cenerentola' came out, about Camarena, the next performance was packed.  What is that saying?  We want voices.  That's why people want to go to the opera."

I couldn't agree more.  Opera companies--pitch your singers and then pitch them again.  Tell us how wonderful they are, and then tell us again.  I don't care how much money you spent on new productions, it's the singers we want.

All three of these guys are very familiar to me with Camarena the newest addition.  But he isn't all that new since I have seen him in Cecilia's Rossini Otello and Natalie's Paris Sonnambula.


More, please.

Bis

Love this guy. Too bad we won't see him. This is a film of Javier Camarena's encore at the Met.

Education:  "bis" is what you shout in Italian if you want an encore.  In Italy an encore is the same piece played again.

Zurich Le Comte Ory

👍🏻
Timed perfectly to coincide with the opening night of Rossini's Otello in Paris, my DVDs of Le Comte Ory and Otello from Zurich (that is the Opera Awards winning Zurich Opera) have arrived.  Since I saw Otello stream on medici.tv, I am watching Ory first.

Conductor: Muhai Tang
Production: Moshe Leiser & Patrice Caurier (they are growing on me)

Le Comte Ory:  Javier Camerena
La Comtesse Adele:  Cecilia Bartoli
Isolier (Ory's page):  Rebeca Olvera (Adalgisa in Cecilia's Norma at Salzburg)
Ragonde (La Comtesse's companion):  Liliana Nikiteanu
Le Gouverneur (Ory's tutor):  Ugo Guagliardo
Raimbaud (Ory's co-conspirator):  Oliver Widmer

The opera begins with Ory and his assistant Raimbaud brushing their teeth in flip flops and shorts.  Then they go into the trailer and Ory changes into his outfit as a blind hermit who lures young women.  The men of the town are away on crusade and have left a token force at home to guard the women.  Cough, cough.

I notice I said that Florez did not get an aria at the Met, but here Camarena opens the opera with a lovely aria which he sings in his blind hermit outfit.

Cecilia drives up to visit Ory in a blue Peugeot, called an Ente when I lived in Germany.  I have been searching diligently for a photo of Cecilia in her entrance outfit, in vain.  She has her hair back, steel rim glasses, a fancy collar, white pearl earrings, a dark suit, a handbag and a pair of white gloves, in every way the perfect woman of 1959.  I love this.  Rebeca Olvera in her soldier's outfit as Isolier is also adorable.  This is as close as I could get. 



I find the plot much easier to follow here, and less offensive for some reason.  Perhaps hanky panky among the moderns seems better.  It actually seems funny.  Camarena plays everything straight which makes him seem less slimy.  Pardon me.  I hated the Met version, didn't laugh even once.

In the castle the women are holding up a picture of Charles de Gaulle who was president of France from 1959 to 1969.  We may presume that the husbands are off fighting in Algeria.  I was ready to throw this opera out on its ass, but this is charming.  Bartoli and Camarena are marvelous in French, very suave and cute.  Musically it could not be more sweet and graceful.  This is, of course, the new critical edition, and the Met used the old souped up romantic edition.  I am in danger of becoming a convert.  Perhaps this lightness and graceful subtlety is due at least in part to the lighter orchestration obvious here.  The orchestra is La Scintilla.

The staging of the bedroom trio was also very much superior.  It is clear here that Isolier and the Countess are conspiring against Ory.  They exchange clothing, and Isolier places the Countess lovingly on the floor where it is presumed a mere page would lie.  There is no ambiguity about what is going on. 

Everything is staged and sung, and indeed played to perfection.  If you want an Ory, try this one.

And now the prompter has crawled out of his hole in the floor and is receiving a bow.  That generally means his services were needed.  He faces upstage until one of the actors turns him toward the audience.

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The Barber of Seville

Rosina receiving her singing lesson

Conductor:  Giuseppe Finzi

Director:  Emilio Sagi

Figaro:  Lucas Meachem (1), Audun Iversen * (2)
Rosina:  Isabel Leonard * (1), Daniela Mack (2)
Count Almaviva:  Javier Camarena * (1),  Alek Shrader (2)
Doctor Bartolo:  Alessandro Corbelli (1), Maurizio Muraro * (2)
Don Basilio:  Andrea Silvestrelli
Berta:  Catherine Cook
Ambrogio:  A.J. Glueckert
Fiorello:  Ao Li
An Officer:  Hadleigh Adams
Notary:  Andrew Truett

I went to the first and second performances of Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the San Francisco Opera because I wanted to see both casts.  This is a new production.  This photo of the first scene will give you an idea of how it looks. 

First we are outside Doctor Bartolo's house, then we are in the back garden, and last we are inside the house.  The slanted floor is a kind of door where people and objects enter and exit.  There is dancing that is fully integrated into the action.  There is a storm complete with water.  There is extreme ambiguity about the precise period, but it must be long after Rossini.  The action was very busy, but I found it charming and entertaining.  Berta and Ambrogio, Bartolo's servants, maintained a constant flow of silly, entertaining business.

Perhaps this is the long version which I first saw in Met simulcast where Count Almaviva sings the long aria from La Cenerentola at the end.  The opera used to be performed without it, but perhaps this is now the new standard version.

I felt that the first cast was the more successful, but this was mainly due to the fact that the War Memorial Opera House has somewhat bad acoustics, and they were louder.  One of the primary criteria for a successful opera career is how loud your voice is.  Is this a silly topic?  From the second cast Daniela Mack and Maurizio Muraro were adequately loud.  I apologize for bringing this up.  The loudest person on the stage was probably Andrea Silvestrelli who played Don Basilio in both casts.  He has an incredibly large and resonant bass voice.  I would like to hear more of him.

I was charmed.  I felt lucky to hear Javier Camarena whom I saw in Paris with Natalie Dessay.  He was making his San Francisco Opera debut.  As was Isabel Leonard who appeared here recently in recital at the San Francisco Conservatory.

It was fun.  Sometimes this opera takes a somewhat gloomy turn but that did not happen here.  I yelled a lot.  Bravissimi tutti.

Forgive me for not reviewing them separately.

Javier Camarena

Here you go.



The fun part of this aria is at the end.