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.

Conversation

Q. Here is a question for you: Can you differentiate country/culture of origin of a singer solely by listening to them?

How about an Asian singer vs European or even American?

Me: I would guess not. Unless they're singing in their native style. If you mean people singing opera, today they are from everywhere.

Q.They are from everywhere- mostly. So you cannot tell a Russian soprano singing Puccini from an English woman singing Tchaikovsky? A German singing Gershiwin? We were also trying to call to mind Big Name singers from Asia?

Me. Kathleen Kim is from Korea. Sumi Jo also. Yonghoon Lee tenor also. These are the main ones I know. The biggest hot singer today is Pretty Yende, a black woman from South Africa. And yes, she is very pretty.

Some foreigners sing other languages quite well. If I'm listening to Song to the Moon, I know that only Lucia Popp is Czech, but the other people don't have accents from their own countries. I for instance have no trace of an American accent in German. I don't speak Czech so I can't tell. People on YouTube who speak Czech complain a lot.

Q,And Pavarotti could sing in another language without a trace of Italian accent?🤗

Me. I know he sang in English in his pop singer phase, but I don't know if he bothered to try to sound American. He was famous for Daughter of the Regiment which is in French. This is very wowie.



If you speak the language, the crucial bit is to understand what they are saying. If you are in Munich and they are singing in German, and you speak German, you will understand a lot more than you will other places. This can be attributed to the coaches.

Q.And wasn’t Fledermaus one of his roles? German?

Me. In Fledermaus there is a party scene.  He appeared with Sutherland as one of the entertainers at the party.  No role.  No dialog.  He also appeared in Rosenkavalier as The Italian Singer. He sings in Italian in both places.  

P.S.

If you see a film of people rehearsing for a professional opera recording, in the circle of professionals will be the language coach.  It is very important that everyone seem to be speaking the same language.  There is a very wide variation in how singers perform in foreign languages.  In every professional company there are coaches.

In Ulm we did everything in German, and the coaches came from the theater part of the house.  We learned Buehne Deutsch. The main person who did this was from Berlin and spoke an almost incomprehensible dialect in real life.  This always made me laugh.  Her stage German was very beautiful, but it would be like learning a foreign language.

PPS.
It is important to distinguish language and style.  I took this question to mean language, and maybe there would be a completely different answer if it referred to style.  OK.  Pavarotti is the very definition of Italian style and shows it in everything he sings.

So where do you think this woman is from?

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.

Sopranos from Platea Magazine

Top row:  Anna Netrebko (m2-HD), Pretty Yende (y3-HD), Anja Harteros (m4)
Middle row:  Lisette Oropesa (y4-HD), Sondra Radvanovsky (m1-HD), Sabine Devielhe (y5)
Bottom row:  Nadine Sierra (y1-HD), Lise Davidsen (y2), Angela Meade (m5-HD)

Platea magazine is in Spanish.  They have subdivided these sopranos into mature and young and ranked them within each category.  Mature 3 is Nina Stemme who is missing from the picture.  I have heard Lise Davidsen only on YouTube and Sabine Devielhe not at all.  You will notice some people are missing, like Diana Damrau and Sonya Yoncheva.

2018 International Opera Awards Winners Announced

See all the winners below!

CHORUS MusicAeterna
CONDUCTOR Vladimir Jurowski (He conducted Wozzeck at Salzburg)
DESIGNER Paul Steinberg
DIRECTOR Mariusz Treliński
EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Opera Holland Park
FEMALE SINGER Malin Byström



FESTIVAL Festival Verdi Parma
LEADERSHIP IN OPERA Bernd Loebe
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Teresa Berganza



MALE SINGER Piotr Beczala



NEW PRODUCTION Britten: Billy Budd, d. Deborah Warner (Teatro Real, Madrid)

NEWCOMER Barbora Horáková Joly (Director)
OPERA COMPANY Bayerische Staatsoper [every year]
OPERA ORCHESTRA Teatro alla Scala, Milan
PHILANTHROPY Annette Campbell-White
READERS' AWARD Pretty Yende


RECORDING (COMPLETE OPERA) Berlioz: Les Troyens (Erato) [with Joyce DiDonato]
RECORDING (SOLO RECITAL) Veronique Gens: Visions (Alpha)
REDISCOVERED WORK Krenek: Drei Opern (Oper Frankfurt)
WORLD PREMIERE Brett Dean: Hamlet (Glyndebourne)
YOUNG SINGER Wallis Giunta

L’Elisir d’Amore in HD

👍🏻
CONDUCTOR:  Domingo Hindoyan
PRODUCTION:  Bartlett Sher

ADINA:  Pretty Yende
NEMORINO:  Matthew Polenzani
BELCORE:  Davide Luciano
DULCAMARA:  Ildebrando D'Arcangelo

We saw in HD today the excellent Bartlett Sher production of Donizetti's L’Elisir d’Amore.  I've seen this production before and know that the top hat worn by Adina proclaims that she is the landlord of this country property seen at the beginning of the opera.  Matthew was Nemoriino the last time.

Something happened this time that hasn't happened for me:  in the second scene in town before Dulcamara arrives Adina and Nemorino tease and play with one another.  Clearly she already has eyes only for him.  What we with our egalitarian perspective don't notice is that penniless Nemorino is far too much lower in class for land owner Adina.  I felt tremendous rapport between Pretty and Matthew in this performance, and it changed the dynamic of the opera for me.  Pretty is charming and beautiful.

This is the sixth time I have blogged about this opera, and I think I have enjoyed this one the most.  It was extremely cheerful, and I think I prefer it that way.  The prompter's arm was seen as he struggled with the elixir. Lidia Bastianich appeared in the intermission to tell us about her new pasta dish called "pasta d'amore."  Food and opera are her great loves.  She did standard opera bragging by telling that her first live opera was Aida at the old Met with Leontyne Price and Franco Corelli.  Dulcamara ate the pasta on stage.

Richard Tucker Gala 2014

This year the gala appeared on my local PBS station. Perhaps this was due to my complaining, perhaps not. I'm showing the program that was on tv. Maestro Emmanuel Villaume conducting.

GIUSEPPE VERDI, “Tutto parea sorridere…Sì! de’ Corsari il fulmine” from Il corsaro, MICHAEL FABIANO, Tenor.  Michael is the current Richard Tucker Prize holder.

VINCENZO BELLINI, “Qui la voce…Vien diletto” from I puritani, PRETTY YENDE, Soprano.

GIUSEPPE VERDI, “Infelice!..e tuo credevi” from Ernani, ILDAR ABDRAZAKOV, Bass, NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY men.

GIACOMO PUCCINI, “E lucevan le stelle” from Tosca, JOSEPH CALLEJA, Tenor.  This piece is very short.

JULES MASSENET, “Esprits de l’air” from Esclarmonde, ANGELA MEADE, Soprano; JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO, Mezzo-soprano, chorus.  Angela is the only former prize holder to appear on the program.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART, “Là ci darem la mano” from Don Giovanni, INGEBORG GILLEBO, Mezzo-soprano, ILDAR ABDRAZAKOV, Bass.

UMBERTO GIORDANO, “Nemico della patria” from Andrea Chénier, ŽELJKO LUČIĆ, Baritone.

JULES MASSENET, “Pourquoi me réveiller” from Werther, JOSEPH CALLEJA, Tenor.

JULES MASSENET, “Toi! Vous!…N’est-ce plus ma main” from Manon, JOYCE EL-KHOURY, Soprano, MICHAEL FABIANO, Tenor.

GIUSEPPE VERDI “Pace, pace” from La forza del destino ANGELA MEADE, Soprano.

PIETRO MASCAGNI, “Regina Coeli…Inneggiamo” from Cavalleria rusticana, ELENA BOCHEROVA, mezzo-soprano, NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY.  There needs to be some serious complaining on this item.  The large chorus covered the mezzo most of the time.  Normally the choir is offstage here, if I remember correctly, so you are going to have to tone them down.

LEONARD BERNSTEIN, “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story/ PRETTY YENDE, Soprano.  Pretty singing a song about being pretty.  Very cute.  The conductor burst in with what sounded like prompting toward the end.  What was that about?

GAETANO DONIZETTI, Finale of Act II from Lucia di Lammermoor, ANGELA MEADE, Soprano, JENNIFER JOHNSON CANO, Mezzo-soprano, MICHAEL FABIANO, Tenor, ANDREW STENSON, Tenor, NICHOLAS PALLESEN, Baritone, ILDAR ABDRAZAKOV, Bass, NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY

Michael Fabiano put on an excellent showing here.  He held his own against big stars of the opera world and exceeded most of them in the passion department.  Michael isn't one of those American opera singers who put all their energy into correct singing.  He gets down.  Bravo.  I expect to see a lot more of him.

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.

New Sexiest List

The Huffington Post suggests these opera singers as the current Hot List.

Jonas Kaufmann, of course, soon in Parsifal.

 Kristine Opolais has been seen at the Met in La Rondine.

Anna Netrebko is another of course.

Surely I've listed Charles Castronovo.

Piotr Beczala, soon to be in Rigoletto.

Daniel Okulitch.  Forgive me for saying I'd never heard of him.  Research indicates that he was the savage in The Last Savage at Santa Fe.  And yes, he is very sexy even with clothing.

Pretty Yende in Le Comte Ory.

Vittorio Grigolo will appear at the Met in Rigoletto later in the season.

We don't really count the above nameless person.

Jacques Imbrailo is playing Billy Budd somewhere.

I think their artistic requirements are a bit less stringent than mine.

Pretty

Currently appearing at the Metropolitan Opera in Le Comte Ory is this South African soprano, Pretty Yende.  The New York Times says she is from Mpumalanga, while The Huffington Post says she "grew up in Cape Town."  Above she is singing the Song to the Moon from Rusalka.  And below is Come per me, sereno from La Sonnambula.



You can surely guess what I like about her.  She works at La Scala and is completely on top of her Italian style.  So far she is famous for falling flat on her face at the beginning of the first performance of Ory.  Remember, there is no bad publicity.