Opera Personality of the Day: Philippe Jaroussky

The counter-tenor Philippe Jaroussky - a little over 30 years old - has already established himself as one of the major singers in the international musical world as confirmed by the french Victoires de la Musique, broadcast live on National TV ("Revelation Artiste Lyrique" in 2004, "Artiste lyrique de l'année" in 2007 and in 2010, CD of the year 2009 ) and the Echo Klassik Awards in Germany in 2008 in Munich.

His technique allows him the most audacious nuances and impressive pyrotechnics. Philippe Jaroussky has an extremely large repertoire in the baroque area, from the refinements of the italian Seicento with Monteverdi, Sances and Rossi to the staggering brilliance of Handel or Vivaldi's music - the latter being the composer he mostly sang these last few years. Philippe Jaroussky has lately decided to explore a very different repertoire both contemporary and modern with the pianist Jerôme Ducros. As a result, they are performing the melodies composed by Marc André Dalbavie from the poems of Louise Labbé and the french melodies of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, in many countries including the UK, Germany, the US etc.

Philippe Jaroussky has worked with the best baroque orchestras such as Ensemble Matheus, Les Arts florissants, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Le Concert d'Astrée, L'Arpeggiata, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie and Europa Galante with conductors like William Christie, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Marc Minkowski, René Jacobs, Christina Pluhar, Jérémie Rhorer, Emmanuelle Haïm, Jean-Claude Malgoire or Fabio Biondi ...

He has been praised in all the most prestigious concert halls and theaters in France - Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Théâtre du Châtelet, Salle Pleyel, Salle Gaveau, Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra de Nancy, Arsenal de Metz, Théâtre de Caen...) and abroad - The Barbican Center and Southbank Center in London, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Grand Théâtre du Luxembourg, Konzerthaus in Vienna, Staatsoper and Philharmonie in Berlin, Teatro Real in Madrid, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York ...

He recently joined Cecilia Bartoli and les Arts Florissants as Sesto for concert performances of Haendel's  Giulio Cesare.  In may 2010 he again joins les Arts Florissants and William Christie in Madrid for L'incoronazione di Poppea. In 2002 he founded l'Ensemble Artaserse, which performs music all over Europe.

Philippe Jaroussky is an exclusive artist to Virgin Classics and has received many awards for these recordings . For Heroes (Vivaldi's Opera arias)  he has received a Gold disc  in 2007,  has been awarded a Diapason d'Or, a 10 by Classica-Repertoire, a Choc of the Magazine Monde de la Musique, , the Timbre de Platine from Opera International, and a Gramaphone Award.

His CD Tribute to Carestini (with le Concert d'Astrée and Emmanuelle Haim)  was CD of the year at the Victoires de la Musique in 2008 and at the Midem Classical Awards in 2009. 

In january 2009, the CD Teatro d'Amore concentrating on Monteverdi with L'Arpeggiata and Christina Pluhar was immediatly a best seller. A few month later, his surprising CD Opium -(French melodies) was once again an international success. 

His latest recording La Dolce Fiamma is dedicated to forgotten castrato arias by  Johann Christian Bach  with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie and Jérémie Rhorer . He is also on Arpeggiata's latest march release "Via Crucis" .

The Tribute to Carestini and La Dolce Fiamma, have both gone gold .  
He has been awarded his fourth "Victoire de la Musique" in 2010  (singer of the year).

[Souce: http://www.philippejaroussky.fr]

Opéra de Paris 2012-2013 Season

Opera Personality of the Day: Maria Callas

Maria Callas was born Cecilia Sophia Anna Maria Kalogeropoulos on December 2, 1923, in New York, New York. She was the daughter of a Greek couple, Evangelina Dimitriadis and George Kalogeropoulos, who had arrived in America in August of 1923. When her mother moved back to Greece in early 1937, Maria went along with her and shortly after began training with Elvira de Hidalgo at the National Conservatory in Athens.

After three years of training, Maria made her professional stage debut in November of 1940 at the National Lyric Theatre in Athens in Suppé's operetta, Boccaccio. Her first success came in 1942 when she was asked to perform in Tosca at the Athens Opera. Soon after, she performed Fidelio, Tiefland, and Cavalleria Rusticana in Athens and returned to her birthplace, New York, in the hopes of starting a successful career in opera.

Her auditions had not been going well until she was asked to audition for Edward Johnson, the General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera. Johnson heard her and immediately offered her the leading roles in two productions of the 1946/7 season: Beethoven's Fidelio and Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Maria, to Johnson's surprise, turned the roles down. She didn't want to sing Fidelio in English and she felt that she was too heavy to portray the young, fragile Butterfly. This story may just be a myth, though, since the Met maintains Callas' audition was not a success and that she was never offered a contract.

Maria was, however, able to find work. After an engagement in La Gioconda in Verona, she traveled to Venice to sing Brünnhilde in Die Walküre for the 1948/9 season with Tullio Serafin conducting. I Puritani would be performed in Venice shortly after starring the Italian soprano Margherita Carosio as Elvira. One night, Maria got tired of Brünnhilde's Ho-jo-to-hos and began sight-reading Elvira's music. When Serafin's wife heard Maria, she immediately called her husband and requested that Maria sing for him also. She did just that but Maria did not know that Carosio had fallen ill and that a replacement would be needed. The following morning, Maria sang for the Musical Director of the Opera House who decided that Maria would be the best choice as Elvira. She was given one week to learn the entire opera, a week which contained three performances of Die Walküre. After the first I Puritani on January 19, 1949, Maria became the talk of Italy. It was a huge success, even though she had made some small mistakes, one of them being that instead of singing "son vergin vezzosa" (I am a charming virgin), she sang "son vergin viziosa" (I am a vicious virgin). Three months after her success, she married Giovanni Battista Meneghini, a man almost 30 years older than Maria, on 21 April 1949, in the Chiesa dei Filippini in Verona, Italy.

After her Elviras in Venice, Maria had become a major opera celebrity in Italy but had still not been offered a role at La Scala in Milan. Finally, Maria was offered the lead role in Verdi's Aïda after Renata Tebaldi (who had been cast in the role) became unavailable. Maria and Meneghini expected a huge triumph, but when Aïda opened on April 12, 1950, she received a polite reception and lukewarm reviews. It wasn't until 7 December 1950 that La Scala surrendered to Maria Callas. She had opened the 1950/1 season with I Vespri Siciliani and was greeted with thunderous applause and enthusiastic reviews.

In July of 1952, Maria signed an exclusive recording contract with Walter Legge, director of EMI. A few days after the contract was signed, Legge and his wife, the great German soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, went to see Maria in La Traviata at the Arena in Verona, Italy. Following the performance, Schwarzkopf offered Maria one of the most moving tributes she had ever received: Elisabeth would never sing La Traviata again. When asked to explain her decision, Schwarzkopf replied, "What is the sense in doing a part that another contemporary artist can do to perfection?"

November 17, 1955, was the day that established Maria's image as a tigress. She had just finished performing Madama Butterfly at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and was backstage celebrating her triumph. As the audience continued to applaud, Maria was approached by Marshal Stanley Pringle, who presented Maria with a summons to court. She was being sued by a former manager, Eddie Bagarozy, on behalf of a 1947 contract that named Bagarozy as Maria's sole representative. Though the two had not been in contact for several years, Bagarozy claimed that he was entitled to a percentage of Maria's fees and the expenses he was supposed to have incurred on her behalf - a total of $300,000. The case was settled out of court on 7 November 1957. The terms were not made public.

Maria finally made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera on 28 October 1956 as Norma in Bellini's Norma. Unfortunately for Maria, Time magazine had done an interview with Maria's mother, the woman Maria blamed for robbing her of her childhood. Maria had last seen her mother in Mexico in 1950 and had vowed that she would never meet or speak with her again (a promise she took with her to her death). The Time article portrayed Maria as an ungrateful daughter and the New York public reacted coldly when Maria's Met debut came. In fact, the legendary soprano Zinka Milanov received more applause when she took her seat than Maria did when she made her entrance. By the end of the final act, though, the New York public surrendered and Maria received 16 curtain calls.

 

The next time Maria made headlines was when she was scheduled to sing in a gala performance of Norma at the Rome Opera House on 2 January 1958. The performance was to be attended by Italy's president, Giovanni Gronchi and his wife. Unfortunately, Maria had seen in the New Year by drinking champagne and staying up very late at the fashionable Rome nightclub, Circolo degli Sacchi. When Maria awoke, less than thirty-six hours before curtain-up, her voice had gone. She couldn't even whisper, let alone sing. The Opera House was informed that a replacement would be needed. There was no understudy and a cancellation would have been disastrous. What happened instead was worse than a disaster. Maria, against the orders of her doctors, went on stage but it was clear from her first note that her voice was in ruins. At the end of the first act, half the audience jeered while the other half sat in shocked silence. Maria escaped through a back exit and an announcement had to be made that the performance simply could not go on. The public was furious but Maria was relieved to receive a phone call from Signora Gronchi assuring her that neither she nor her husband had been offended.

On 3 September 1959, Maria announced that she would be parting from her husband. She began a 9 year love affair with Aristotle Onassis. The couple was expected to marry but in the end, Aristotle married Jackie Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's widow, on 20 October 1968. His death on 15 March 1975, is considered to be one of the major factors behind Maria's death.

In the meantime, Maria was performing Medea at La Scala on 11 December 1961. She was not in good voice and during her first act duet with Jason (performed by Jon Vickers), the audience began hissing. Maria ignored the crowd until she reached the point in the text where she denounces Jason with a word "Crudel!" (Cruel man!). After the first "Crudel!" she stopped singing. She looked out into the crowd and directed her second "Crudel!" directly to the public. She paused and started again with the words "Ho dato tutto a te" (I gave everything to you) and shook her fist at the gallery. The audience stopped hissing and Maria received a huge ovation at the end.

In May of 1965, Maria's voice once again became the subject of dispute. She was performing Norma at the Paris Opera with Fiorenza Cossotto as Adalgisa. Cossotto knew that Maria was exhausted and her voice was weak so Cossotto intentionally held on to notes longer than Maria could. On the night of the final Norma on 29 May, Maria was at her weakest. To make things worse, Cossotto treated their big duet like a duel. At the end, when the curtain came down, Maria collapsed and was carried unconscious to her dressing room.

In June 1969, Maria began work on a film of Medea (not Cherubini's opera or Euripide's tragedy but the myth of Medea) with Pier Paolo Pasolini. She hardly sang but still worked very hard. So hard that one day she fainted after running on a dry riverbed in the sun for a particular shot. Unfortunately for Maria, the film was not a success.

By 1970, Maria's singing career had come to a quick halt. On May 25, she was rushed to the hospital and it was announced that she had tried to commit suicide by taking an overdose of barbiturates. It seems unlikely that she actually attempted suicide, though by this time she was known to take more sleeping-tablets to find sleep and more barbiturates to find peace.

In 1973, she began a comeback tour with Giuseppe di Stefano. For the first time in eight years, Maria Callas was singing in public. It was clear from the first concert in Hamburg on 25 October that the tour would be an artistic disaster. Callas and di Stefano had as an accompanist, Ivor Newton, who was well into his eighties. During the tour, Newton began having dizzy spells in the street and fantasizing about his death. He once said to Robert Sutherland, who was turning the pages for Newton, "If I have a heart attack while Maria is singing a high note, you are to push me off my stool and take over as though nothing had happened." Maria refused to fire Newton, fearing that doing so would probably kill him. Sutherland eventually took over as accompanist when the tour travelled to the U.S. The final concert took place on November 11, 1974, in the city of Sapporo in northern Japan. That was the last place on earth that would hear Maria sing.

On 16 September 1977, Maria woke up late in her home in Paris. She had breakfast in bed, then got up and started towards the bathroom. There was a piercing pain in her left side and she collapsed. She was put back into bed and drank some strong coffee. After failing to get a hold of any medical help, they called Maria's butler's doctor who started out immediately for Maria's residence. She was dead before he arrived. Her funeral was held on September 20th. She was cremated and her remains kept at the cemetery of Père Lachaise in Paris. In the spring of 1979, the ashes were taken to Greece and were scattered in the Aegean.

 [Source: http://sopranos.freeservers.com/callas.htm]

Rupert the Opera Horse

A 15-year-old horse called Rupert is making his opera debut at the Royal Opera House, in a new production of Falstaff as part of the London 2012 Festival. 

Director Robert Carsen, who has set the tale of Shakespeare's roguish knight in the 1950s, wanted to introduce a horse to reflect English society.

Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri, who plays Sir John Falstaff, says he has bonded with Rupert despite having never ridden a horse before.

[Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-18001796]

The Royal Opera House Announces its New Season:

Some exciting must-sees to be sure, particularly looking forward to the Ring Cycle:

 2012/13 season announced: Opera and Music

The Ring Cycle. Photo: Clive Barda

Opera and music productions to be staged as part of the 2012/13 season have now been announced. Beginning in September with a revival of The Ring Cycle – which sold out on the first day of booking – the season features six new productions including stagings by Royal Opera directors Kasper Holten and John Fulljames. The season also includes celebrations of the Verdi and Wagner bicentenaries, as well as six operas screened internationally as part of the Royal Opera House Cinema season.

You can now watch Kasper Holten and Kevin O’Hare talk about highlights of the Royal Opera House 2012/13 season

Aside from The Ring Cycle, tickets are not yet available with booking details yet to be announced. For more information, please register your details.

Opera and music

 

Der Ring des Nibelungen Richard Wagner
Dir: Keith Warner  Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast: Bryn Terfel (Wotan/Wanderer), Stig Anderson (Loge), Wolfgang Koch (Alberich), Gerhard Siegel (Mime), Sarah Connolly (Fricka),Maria Radner (Erda), Simon O’Neill (Siegmund), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Sieglinde), John Tomlinson (Hunding/Hagen), Susan Bullock (Brünnhilde), Stefan Vinke (Siegfried), Peter Coleman-Wright (Gunther/Donner), Rachel Willis-Sørensen  (Gutrune), Mihoko Fujimura (Waltraute (Götterdämmerung)), Ann Petersen (Freia), Iain Paterson (Fasolt), Eric Halfvarson (Fafner), Andrew Rees (Froh)
Cycle One 24 | 26 | 29 Sept | 1 Oct
Cycle Two 2 | 4 | 7 | 9 Oct
Cycle Three 16 | 18 | 21 | 24 Oct
Cycle Four 26 | 28 | 31 Oct | 2 Nov

In the Locked Room/Ghost Patrol Huw Watkins/Stuart MacRae
Music Theatre Wales/Linbury Studio Theatre (London premiere)
Dir: Michael McCarthy, Matthew Richardson  Cond: Michael Rafferty
27 | 28 | 29 Sept

Albert Herring Benjamin Britten
English Touring Opera/Linbury Studio Theatre
Dir: Christopher Rolls  Cond: Michael Rosewell
4 | 6 | 10 Oct

Christ lag in Todes Banden/The Emperor of Atlantis Johann Sebastian Bach/Viktor Ullmann
English Touring Opera/Linbury Studio Theatre
Dir: James Conway  Cond: Peter Selwyn.
5 | 12 Oct

The Lighthouse Peter Maxwell Davies
English Touring Opera/Linbury Studio Theatre
Dir: Theodore Huffman  Cond: Geoffrey Paterson
11 | 13 Oct

L’elisir d’amore Gaetano Donizetti
Dir: Laurent Pelly  Cond: Bruno Campanella
Cast: Aleksandra Kurzak (Adina), Roberto Alagna (Nemorino – 13, 16, 20, 23, 28 Nov; 1, 4 Dec), Stefan Pop (Nemorino – 7 Dec), Fabio Capitanucci (Belcore), Ambrogio Maestri (Doctor Dulcamara), Susana Gaspar (Giannetta)
13 | 16 | 20 | 23 | 28 Nov
1 | 4 | 7 Dec

Bravo Figaro Mark Thomas
ROH2/Linbury Studio Theatre
Dir: Hamish Pirie.
29 | 30 Nov

Robert le diable* Giacomo Meyerbeer
Dir: Laurent Pelly. Cond: Daniel Oren.
Cast: Bryan Hymel (Robert), John Relyea (Bertram), Jean-François Borras (Raimbaut), Marina Poplavskaya (Alice), TBC (Isabelle), Nicolas Courjal (Alberti)
6 | 9 mat | 12 | 15 | 18 | 21 Dec

La bohème  Giacomo Puccini
Dir: John Copley. Cond. Mark Elder/Alexander Joel.
Cast:Rolando Villazón (Rodolfo – Dec; 3, 7, 10 Jan), Dmytro Popov (Rodolfo – 5, 18 Jan), Teodor Ilincai (Rodolfo – 16 mat, 18, 27 Feb; 2 mat, 5 Mar), Vittorio Grigolo (Rodolfo – 9, 12 Mar), Maija Kovalevska (Mimì – Dec; Jan), Anita Hartig (Mimì – 16 mat, 18, 27 Feb; 2 mat, 5 Mar), Barbara Frittoli (Mimì – 9, 12 Mar), Stefania Dovhan (Musetta – Dec; 3, 5, 7, 10 Jan), Sonya Yoncheva (Musetta – Feb; Mar), Audun Iversen (Marcello – Dec; Jan), Gabriele Viviani (Feb; Mar)
17 | 20 | 22 Dec
3 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 18 Jan
16 mat | 18 | 27 Feb
2 mat | 5 | 9 | 12 Mar

The Minotaur Harrison Birtwistle
Dir: Stephen Langridge  Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast: Christine Rice (Ariadne), Johan Reuter (Theseus), John Tomlinson (The Minotaur), Elisabeth Meister (Ker), Andrew Watts (Snake Priestess), Alan Oke (Hiereus)
17 | 21 | 24 | 26 | 28 Jan

Eugene Onegin* Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Dir: Kasper Holten  Cond: Robin Ticciati
Cast: Krassimira Stoyanova (Tatyana), Simon Keenlyside (Eugene Onegin), Elena Maximova (Olga), Pavol Breslik (Lensky), Peter Rose (Prince Gremin), Diana Montague (Madame Larina), Kathleen Wilkinson (Filipyevna)
4 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 16 | 20 Feb

Written on Skin* George Benjamin
Dir: Katie Mitchell  Cond: George Benjamin
Cast:Christopher Purves (Protector), Barbara Hannigan (Agnès), Bejun Mehta (First Angel/Boy), Victoria Simmonds (Second Angel/Marie), Allan Clayton (Third Angel/John)
8 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 22 Mar

Tosca Giacomo Puccini
Dir: Jonathan Kent   Cond: Maurizio Benini/Daniel Oren
Cast: Massimo Giordano (Mario Cavaradossi – 2, 4, 6, 13, 16 mat Mar), Yonghoon Lee (Mario Cavaradossi – 20, 23, 26 Mar), Aleksandrs Antonenko (Mario Cavaradossi – Jul), Amanda Echalaz (Floria Tosca – 2, 4, 6, 13, 16 mat Mar), Kristine Opolais (Floria Tosca – 20, 23, 26 Mar), Martina Serafin (Floria Tosca – Jul), Michael Volle (Baron Scarpia – Mar), Scott Hendricks (Baron Scarpia – Jul)
2 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 16 mat | 20 | 23 | 26 March
9 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 20 Jul

Nabucco* Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Daniele Abbado  Cond: Nicola Luisotti
Cast: Leo Nucci (Nabucco – 30 Mar; 1, 4, 6, 8 Apr), Plácido Domingo (Nabucco – 15, 20, 23, 26 Apr), Andrea Carè (Ismaele), Vitalij Kowaljow (Zaccaria), Liudmyla Monastyrska (Abigaille), Marianna Pizzolato (Fenena)
30 March
1 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 15 | 20 | 23 | 26 Apr

Die Zauberflöte Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Dir: David McVicar  Cond: Julia Jones
Cast: Ekaterina Siurina (Pamina – Apr), Sophie Bevan (Pamina – May), Charles Castronovo (Tamino – Apr), Andrew Staples (Tamino – May), Christopher Maltman (Papageno – Apr), Simon Keenlyside (Papageno – May), Susana Gaspar (Papagena), Albina Shagimuratova (Queen of the Night), Brindley Sherratt (Sarastro – Apr), Sebastian Holecek (The Speaker), Peter Hoare (Monostatos – Apr)
16 | 18 | 22 | 24 | 27 | 29 Apr
3 | 7 | 9 May

The Firework-Maker’s Daughter David Bruce
Co-commissioned by The Opera Group and ROH2, co-produced by The Opera Group and Opera North, in association with ROH2 and Watford Palace Theatre/Linbury Studio Theatre (London premiere)
Dir. John Fulljames. Cond. TBC.
April

Don Carlo Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Nicholas Hytner  Cond: Antonio Pappano
Cast: Jonas Kaufmann (Don Carlos – 4, 8, 11, 15, 18 May), Anja Harteros (Elizabeth of Valois), Mariusz Kwiecien (Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa), Christine Rice (Princess Eboli), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Philip II), Eric Halfvarson (The Grand Inquisitor)
4 | 8 | 11 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 25 May

La donna del lago Gioachino Rossini
Dir: John Fulljames  Cond: Michele Mariotti
Cast: Joyce DiDonato (Elena), Juan Diego Flórez (Uberto), Daniela Barcellona (Malcolm), Simon Orfila (Douglas), Colin Lee (Rodrigo – May; 4 Jun), Michael Spyres (Rodrigo – 7, 11 Jun)
17 | 20 | 23 | 27 | 31 May
4 | 7 | 11 Jun

Gloriana* Benjamin Britten
Dir: Richard Jones  Cond: Paul Daniel
Cast: Susan Bullock (Elizabeth I), Toby Spence (Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex), Patricia Bardon (Frances Devereux, Countess of Essex), Mark Stone (Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy), Kate Royal (Penelope, Lady Rich), Peter Coleman-Wright (Sir Robert Cecil), Clive Bayley (Sir Walter Raleigh), Ben Bevan (Henry Cuffe), Brindley Sherratt (Blind Ballad Singer)
20 | 22 | 24 | 29 Jun
4 | 6 Jul

Simon Boccanegra  (1881 Version) Giuseppe Verdi
Dir: Elijah Moshinsky  Cond: Antonio Pappano/Christopher Willis
Cast: Thomas Hampson (Simon Boccanegra), Hibla Gerzmava (Amelia Grimaldi), Ferruccio Furlanetto (Jacopo Fiesco), Russell Thomas (Gabriel Adorno), Dimitri Platanias (Paolo Albiani), Jihoon Kim (Pietro)
27 Jun
1 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 16 Jul

Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Concert
30 Jun

OperaShots Scott Walker/The Orb
ROH2/Linbury Studio Theatre*
June

La rondine Giacomo Puccini
Dir: Nicholas Joël  Cond: Marco Armiliato
Cast: Angela Gheorghiu (Magda de Civry – 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 Jul), Ermonela Jaho (13 mat, 20 mat, 21 Jul), Vittorio Grigolo (Ruggero Lastouc – 5, 8, 11, 14, 17 Jul), Sabina Puértolas (Lisette), Edgardas Montvidas (Prunier), Pietro Spagnoli (Rambaldo Fernandez)
5 | 8 | 11 | 13 mat | 14 | 17 | 20 mat | 21 Jul

Capriccio in Concert Richard Strauss
Cond: Andrew Davis
Cast: Renée Fleming (Countess Madeleine), Christian Gerhaher (Olivier), Joseph Kaiser (Flamand), Peter Rose (La Roche), Bo Skovhus (The Count), Christine Rice (Clairon), Mary Plazas and Barry Banks (Italian singers)
19 | 21 mat Jul

[Source:www.roh.org.uk]

Opera Personality of the Week: Renée Fleming

One of the most beloved and celebrated musical ambassadors of our time, soprano Renée Fleming captivates audiences with her sumptuous voice, consummate artistry, and compelling stage presence. Known as “the people’s diva” and named the number one female singer by Salzburger Festspiele Magazin in 2010, she continues to grace the world’s greatest opera stages and concert halls, now extending her reach to include other musical forms and media. Over the past few seasons, Ms. Fleming has hosted a wide variety of television and radio broadcasts, including the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series for movie theaters and television, and Live From Lincoln Center on PBS.  

 

As a musical statesman, Renée Fleming has been sought after on numerous distinguished occasions, from the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to performances in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games. In January 2009, Ms. Fleming was featured on the televised We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial concert for President Obama. She has performed for the United States Supreme Court, HRH The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace, and, in November 2009, celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Czech Republic’s “Velvet Revolution” at the invitation of Václav Havel. An additional distinction was bestowed in 2008, when breaking a precedent, Ms. Fleming became the first woman in the 125-year history of the Metropolitan Opera to solo headline an opening night gala.

In the 2011-12 season, Renée Fleming reprised her celebrated portrayal of the title role in Stephen Wadsworth’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda at the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Harry Bicket. She began the season as Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia under the baton of Riccardo Frizza at San Francisco Opera; sang Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos at Baden-Baden in a new production by Philippe Arlaud, conducted by Christian Thielemann; and will appear in the title role of Arabella at both the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, and at the Paris Opera, conducted by Philippe Jordan. In the fall, at the invitation of the Sultan of Oman, Renée Fleming headlined a gala concert celebrating the grand opening of the new Royal Opera House in Muscat. She joined Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sir Andrew Davis in a duo concert at Lyric Opera of Chicago, sang Strauss’s Four Last Songs with Christoph Eschenbach and the London Philharmonic, and returned to Carnegie Hall with the MET Orchestra in Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder. Her concert calendar includes galas at the Providence Performing Arts Center and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, as well as concert appearances with the Seattle, Vancouver, Oregon, Colorado, and San Antonio symphony orchestras, and with San Diego Opera and Fresno Grand Opera.

A three-time Grammy winner, Ms. Fleming won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance for Verismo (Decca/September 2009), a CD featuring a collection of rarely heard Italian arias. In June 2010, Decca and Mercury records released the CD Dark Hope, which features Ms. Fleming covering songs by indie-rock and pop artists. Recent DVD releases include Massenet’s Thaïs and Rossini’s Armida, both part of the Metropolitan Opera Live in HD series, and Verdi’s Traviata, filmed at London’s Royal Opera House. Ms. Fleming's 2010 DVD Renée Fleming & Dmitri Hvorostovsky: A Musical Odyssey in St. Petersburg follows Ms. Fleming and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky to Russia, where they explore and perform in some of St. Petersburg's most historic locations. In recent years, this thirteen-time Grammy nominated artist has recorded everything from Strauss’s complete Daphne to the jazz album Haunted Heart to the movie soundtrack of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Her recording honors range from the 2009 Echo Award for Strauss’s Four Last Songs to the Prix Maria Callas Orphée d’Or by the Académie du Disque Lyric for TDK’s DVD production of Capriccio. In February, 2012, Ms. Fleming received the Victoire d’Honneur, the highest award conveyed by the French Victoires de la Musiique.

Renée Fleming’s artistry has been an inspiration to many other prominent artists, such as Chuck Close and Robert Wilson, whose portraits of her were included in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2007 fundraising auction. Two portraits of Ms. Fleming were also created by Francesco Clemente, who revealed one in Salzburg in spring 2007, with the Metropolitan Opera displaying the other in 2008. Photographic portraits include works by Brigitte Lacombe, Annie Leibovitz, and Irving Penn, among others.

Ms. Fleming is a champion of new music and has performed works by a wide range of contemporary composers, including recent compositions by Henri Dutilleux, Brad Mehldau, André Previn, and Wayne Shorter. Among her numerous awards are the Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal (2011); Sweden’s Polar Prize (2008); the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur from the French government (2005); Honorary Membership in the Royal Academy of Music (2003); and Honorary Doctorates from the Eastman School of Music (2011) and The Juilliard School (2003), where she was also commencement speaker.

An advocate for literacy, Renée Fleming has been featured in promotional campaigns for the Association of American Publishers (Get Caught Reading), and the Magazine Publishers of America’s READ poster campaign for the American Library Association. She was honored by The New York Public Library as a “Library Lion.” Her book, The Inner Voice, was published by Viking Penguin in 2004, and released in paperback by Penguin the following year. An intimate account of her career and creative process, the book is also published in France by Fayard Editions, in the United Kingdom by Virgin Books, by Henschel Verlag in Germany, Shunjusha in Japan, and by Fantom Press in Russia.

In addition to her work on stage and in recordings, Renée Fleming has represented Rolex timepieces in print advertising since 2001. In 2008, she launched La Voce by Renée Fleming, a fragrance designed for her, with the proceeds benefiting the Metropolitan Opera. Master Chef Daniel Boulud created the dessert “La Diva Renée” (1999) in her honor, and she inspired the “Renée Fleming Iris” (2004), which has been replicated in porcelain by Boehm. Having been added to Mr. Blackwell’s best dressed list, her concert gowns have been designed by Reem Acra, Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano for Dior, Douglas Hannant, Christian Lacroix, Oscar de la Renta, Angel Sanchez and Vivienne Westwood. In addition to serving as the face of opera for two public transit campaigns in New York and London, Ms. Fleming has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…, The View and Prairie Home Companion as “Renata Flambé,” among numerous other media outlets.

Ms. Fleming is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the Board of Sing for Hope, and the Advisory Board of the White Nights Foundation of America. In 2010, she was named the first ever Creative Consultant at Lyric Opera of Chicago. She is currently curating the creation of a world-premiere opera based on the best-seller Bel Canto for Lyric Opera's 2015-2016 season.

[Source: www.reneefleming.com}

Opera Personality of the Week: Caruso

Enrico Caruso (February 25, 1873 – August 2, 1921) was an Italian tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and North and South America, appearing in a wide variety of roles from the Italian and French repertoires that ranged from the lyric to the dramatic. Caruso also made approximately 290 commercially released recordings from 1902 to 1920. All of these recordings, which span most of his stage career, are available today on CDs and as digital downloads.

Caruso's 1904 recording of Vesti la giubba was the first sound recording to sell a million copies.^[1]

Caruso's 25-year career, stretching from 1895 to 1920, included 863 appearances at the New York Metropolitan Opera before he died from an infection at the age of 48. His fame has lasted to the present day despite the limited marketing and promotional vehicles available during Caruso's era. (He was, nonetheless, a client of Edward Bernays, during the latter's tenure as a press agent in the United States.)^[2] Publicity in Caruso's time relied on newspapers, particularly wire services, along with magazines, photography and relatively instantaneous communication via the telephone and the telegraph, to spread a message and raise a performer's profile.

Caruso biographers Pierre Key, Bruno Zirato and Stanley Jackson^[3][4] attribute Caruso's fame not only to his voice and musicianship but also to a keen business sense and an enthusiastic embrace of commercial sound recording, then in its infancy. Many opera singers of Caruso's time rejected the phonograph (or gramophone) owing to the low fidelity of early discs. Others, including Adelina Patti, Francesco Tamagno and Nellie Melba, exploited the new technology once they became aware of the financial returns that Caruso was reaping from his initial recording sessions.^[5]

Caruso made more than 260 extant recordings in America for the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor) from 1904 to 1920, and he earned millions of dollars in royalties from the retail sales of the resulting 78-rpm discs. (Previously, in Italy in 1902–1903, he had cut five batches of records for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company, the Zonophone label and Pathé Records.) He was also heard live from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House in 1910, when he participated in the first public radio broadcast to be transmitted in the United States.

 

Caruso appeared in newsreels too, as well as a short experimental film made by Thomas Edison and two commercial motion pictures. For Edison, in 1911, Caruso portrayed the role of Edgardo in a filmed scene from Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor. In 1918, he appeared in a dual role in the American silent film My Cousin for Paramount Pictures. This movie included a sequence of him on stage performing the aria "Vesti la giubba" from Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci. The following year Caruso played a character called Cosimo in another movie, The Splendid Romance. Producer Jesse Lasky paid Caruso $100,000 to appear in these two efforts but they both flopped at the box office.

While Caruso sang at such venues as La Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London, the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, he was also the leading tenor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City for 18 consecutive seasons. It was at the Met, in 1910, that he created the role of Dick Johnson in Giacomo Puccini's La fanciulla del West.

Caruso's voice extended up to high C in its prime and grew in power and weight as he grew older. He sang a broad spectrum of roles, ranging from lyric, to spinto, to dramatic parts, in the Italian and French repertoires. In the German repertoire, Caruso sang only two roles, Assad (in Karl Goldmark's The Queen of Sheba) and Richard Wagner's Lohengrin, both of which he performed in Italian in Buenos Aires in 1899 and 1901 respectively.^[6]

What is Opera?

Opera:

(English plural: operas; Italian plural: opere) is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting.^[1] Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.

Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition.^[2] It started in Italy at the end of the 16th century (with Jacopo Peri's lost Dafne, produced in Florence around 1597) and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Schütz in Germany, Lully in France, and Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century. In the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, except France, attracting foreign composers such as Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. Today the most renowned figure of late 18th century opera is Mozart, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas, especially The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, as well as The Magic Flute, a landmark in the German tradition.

The first third of the 19th century saw the highpoint of the bel canto style, with Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini all creating works that are still performed today. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Meyerbeer. The mid-to-late 19th century was a "golden age" of opera, led and dominated by Wagner in Germany and Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Puccini and Strauss in the early 20th century. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Bohemia. The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism (Schoenberg and Berg), Neoclassicism (Stravinsky), and Minimalism (Philip Glass and John Adams). With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso became known to audiences beyond the circle of opera fans. Operas were also performed on (and written for) radio and television.

[Source: Wikipedia.com]