Opera Chic

Maestro Nucci's 400th Rigoletto With Three Encores: May We Have 400 More

Our dear irreplaceable Maestro Leo Nucci, we learn thanks to fellow Nucci fangirl Opéra Bouffe, the other night celebrated on stage the 400th performance of Rigoletto of his extraordinary career. In Piacenza, where the audience went so ape that he had to give THREE encores of Vendetta, Sì, Tremenda Vendetta.

To the greatest Italian opera baritone (DUH!) working today, and one of the greatest in history, our humble, loving grazie, Maestro.

(photo credit www.leo-nucci.com)

***update*** A dear reader alerts us: check out the 'stache on il maestro here -- he wins hands down the prize for Silly Opera Facial Hair Of The Week

Juan Diego Cancellation Update: The Fishbone Did It!

Crazy update to the JDF cancellation we reported early this morning:

Star tenor Juan Diego Florez has been forced to cancel all performances in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" because of a throat infection caused by a swallowed fishbone, the company said Thursday.

Doctors in Parma, Italy, have advised the 35-year-old singer that he not perform through mid-March at the earliest, the company said.

WTF???

Tristan Und Isolde @ Symphony Space: Let's Throw A Block Party And Raise Some Money For Tony Tommasini's Air Fare, Since The Times Is 2 Cheapo 2 Fly Him To Milan

Say what you want about that creepy little guy from the New York Times who a few years ago, instead of traveling to cover assignments just stayed home and invented/plagiarized stuff like cwazy: he did save the New York Times a lot of money in travel expenses.

In a shining example of budget-conscious, mean+lean, cuts-are-good journalism -- all those Benjis to cover Judith Miller's severance package and Bill Kristol's stiff-as-an-Iraqi-corpse bills must come from somewhere, after all -- the NYT, that just reported fourth-quarter earnings of $53 millions, instead of spending the few hundred euros necessary to send poor Tony Tommasini over to Milan for la Scala's premiere of Barenboim's/Chereau's Tristan Und Isolde -- the one Opera Chic (who just reported fourth-quarter earnings well under $53 million) went to and Tommasini didn't (Michael Kimmelman went instead) -- the NYT sent the other night Tony down the street over to the Symphony Space on 42nd, where he enjoyed hisself some high-definition Tristan.

"Take away the live element and you take away a lot", il signor Tommasini concedes. But then, thanks to "elaborately edited high-definition video, with riveting close-ups", you know, "the eager audience at Symphony Space was remarkably attentive: during each of the three long acts, there was scant snacking, and few people left their seats"

Now, Opera Chic is obviously not a journalist, she's a girl with a blog where she Photoshops baritones faces over videogame characters & makes dog pewp jokes, but still she'd have understood if the Times had simply sent a reporter to describe the atmosphere of HD opera in the cinema (yawn). So, sentences like "When the conductor Daniel Barenboim made his first appearance in the pit, the Symphony Space audience applauded warmly. Without any warning or explanation, the orchestra broke into the Italian national anthem, which provoked confused looks among people sitting near me. An older woman, flush with patriotism, stood up during the anthem, blocking the view of a couple seated behind her, who grumbled for her to sit down", however lame, are fair game.

But pretending to be able to actually write as a critic -- "Mr. Barenboim drew a superb performance from the Scala orchestra. The string sound was plush yet clear; the brasses played with mellow richness. Though there was impetuous intensity in Mr. Barenboim’s conception, he took spacious, almost timeless tempos when appropriate, and mostly pulled them off" is, frankly, sad, if you assume that the most prestigious paper in the country could actually send Tommasini, last Dec 7, over to Milan instead of sending him down the street to a cinema (there are plenty of JFK-Malpensa direct flights, and it's even cheaper if you book a flight with stop overs in, say, Amsterdam or London).

As a -- expat, OK -- NYC girl and New York Times reader, OC sez, let's respect the paper's need  to cut the unnecessary expenses -- because, of course, opera coverage is expendable -- but we think ther are indeed some 5, 6 performances a year overseas that a paper as once-glorious as the Times should actually cover, then let's raise some money to send Tony, this coming Dec 7, 2008, to la Scala to cover Don Carlos live. From the actual place where the performance is taking place!

A few friends have already offered to sell some old CDs on eBay, and donate the b00ty to the "Send Tony To Milan" fund, and eventually fly him over here at zero cost to the obviously cash-strapped Times.

If he promises to share the household chores, and if he behaves, we have another friend who'll allow il signor Tommasini to crash on his couch, so the Times won't have to pay for those overpriced hotels!

OC could even raffle off an autographed program for the current Scala season.

Florez Cancels Chicago Lyric Opera's "Barbiere" Due To "Small Infection"

Obviously disappointed reader Linda -- who has tickets -- alerts us that our lammy prince, Juan Diego Florez, after canceling his Kansas City recital (as we wrote yesterday) is also withdrawing from the Chicago Lyric Opera production of Barbiere in late February (with Joyce DiDonato and Nathan Gunn) due to a "small infection".

To JDF a big hug from OC on behalf of her readers: torna presto Juan Diego!

***update****

It's official

****~*~*~*SCREENSHOT TYMEE*~*~*~****

Out with the old:

In with the new:

Lebrecht On Karajan: "100 Years Of Suckage"

Herbert von Karajan was a moral and creative nullity. His myth does not survive the test of time.

Norman Lebrecht wishes Herbert Von Karajan a happy 100th birthday

Now, we admit that the Herbie cult gives us the willies, and his actions during the war are inexcusable, but OC serenely concedes that HVK's Salome is the best she has ever listened to -- his Strauss is generally stellar, and his Trovatore, of all things, gives off a dark, shiny, malevolent beauty that always fascinates OC. His Sibelius is not half bad either, even if not as great as Barbirolli's. And young Karajan's Beethoven symphonies cycle has indeed a majestic beauty (the later sets are just embarrassingly pompous). We also dig a Haffner that HVK conducted in his youth.

But, moral issues aside (again, as a huge Oswald Kabasta fan OC has learned how to separate musical talent from moral flaws) the not so short list of conductors who really run circles around cranky Herbie, with all due respect, makes OC wonder what all the fuss about Karajan's anniversary really is. (Besides, as Uncle Normy points out, that Deutsche Grammophon is trying to make a lazy buck out of it).

Mattila And Giordani Go Mano A Mano And Chin To Chin

Karita Mattila with Marcello Giordani flaunt some impressive jawlines as they rehearse Manon Lescaut at the Met, to be precise during the famous aria that goes,

...and the cares that hung around me through the week
Seem to vanish when we're dancing chin to chin.

Flórez on Rest Mode

 

Juan Diego Flórez has pulled-out of his next public appearance, which was scheduled for this February 4 in Kansas City, MO, as part of the Harriman-Jewell Series at the Folly Theater.

Lucky for us in Milan, JDF managed to squeeze out those Peruvian anthems, and gift us 5 encores, albeit with a feverish manner and visible discomfort, as we reported in our review. Between spitting-up phlegm and coughing loudly (not to mention pulling at his bowtie quite a few times), he was vocally distressed in the sauna-like conditions that La Scala provided during the Monday night recital. We smell sabotage! High C this, showoff! High C YA!

The program for Kansas City was supposed to be more or less the same as the one given at La Scala a few nights ago, with the axe falling on Gluck, but additions of “Il mio Tesoro” from Don Giovanni, “Questa o quella” & “Parmi veder le lagrime” from Rigoletto, and “A mes amis” from la Fille.

Flórez has promised to grace MO with a rescheduled performance later this Spring on May 11, when surely Florez will show what’s what to the Show Me state, although it looks like the Royals are playing an afternoon home game, so, well, uknowhatimsayin...

Life Springers Eternal: "Jerry Springer: The Opera" at Carnegie Hall

Jerry Springer, dressed up as Harvey Keitel (or the other way around, it's hard to say), makes Andrew Carnegie regret he ever built the dang place.

Dita Von Teese Veel Teese Your Opernball

Last year it was Anna Netrebko and Paris Hilton.

Tomorrow night, the bright star burning brightly @ the Wiener Opernball will be Dita Von Teese, photographed above at the press conference in Vienna earlier today.

New Music: Spontini's "Fuga In Maschera" Comes Back To Life

Just yesterday, OC spake about how opera died of natural causes in the first decades of the XX Century but it's no big deal because there's nothing to worry about, 350 years of masterpieces are still waiting to be fully appreciated (such as the delightful Don Calandrino unearthed by Maestro Muti and introduced back to audiences last year in Salzburg). That's OC's definition of "new music" -- as much we find John Adams interesting, no disssing intended, we'd still rather check out some lost Cimarosa.

Now we read that La Fuga in Maschera, an opera  by Gaspare Spontini considered "lost", has reemerged from centuries of oblivion and will be staged @ Festival Pergolesi Spontini in 2009. It debuted at Carnevale in the year 1800 in Naples.

Domingo in Alfano's Cyrano @ Teatro alla Scala

OC is back home from another late night spent at Teatro alla Scala...this time for la prima of Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac, which concludes the trifecta of recent awesomeness (La Rondine @ La Fenice on Saturday, Florez @ La Scala on Monday, and earlier tonight Cyrano @ La Scala) that OC has been gifted. Before the Prada heels get put back in their cloth bag, and the Aquascutum belted coat gets hung, OC wants to share a brief synopsis:

With HRH Placido Domingo, he brought to the role all the checklist requirements, and explored a Cyrano that was endearing, intelligent, and compassionate, which truly triumphed, regardless of the quality of his voice. Sondra Radvanovsky was a strong, yet delicate Roxane, and conductor Patrick Fournillier almost blew the roof off the house that Piermarini built with an orchestra that was on hyper-volume overdrive, filling the house with a well controlled, but gigantic, thunderous sound, which provided worthy competition to the huge voices of the principle singers. Sondra Radvanovsky showed-off her large, lovely voice with casual toss-offs that would probably deafen the closest baby, while Domingo adeptly retaliated her vocal lines shouting in, well, the voice that now resides in his body. Huge sets were also in order, which needed one long intermission and three separate 8 minute pauses to facilitate all the changes, along with a smattering of sword fights and sparing soldiers. Using the same direction, costumes, and sets that peppered the stage @ The Metropolitan Opera in both 2005 & 2006 (and that our friends at the Royal Opera House were treated to in 2006), it was finally Milan’s turn for la Francesca Zambello’s elegant vision.

Almost ten minutes of applause for the cast and crew, and OC exited onto Via Manzoni still enthusiastic over the refined, charmed performance, the grandiose conducting, and the legacy of teh Dominger omg...all in all, a seamless production. More tomorrow…

Anytime, Anyplace, Juan Diego Flórez Sticks it to Milan. JDF Scala Recital, The Review

(Since La Scala's lawyers have warned OC in the past that she cannot post any images taken from inside the opera house, here's a file photo of our lovely joo-whan. Btw, you can read the initial review from a few hours prior here)

Expecting anything less than spectacular when going to see Juan Diego Flórez live – whether it be to witness a recital or opera…or even just to watch him washing his car or filing his taxes or setting the correct time on his DVD recorder – and *not* having your mind blow is pure folly. Which is why we arrived to the theater tonight in motorcycle helmets.

Ok not really…instead in the balmy Milan air (compared to the frigid winds earlier this weekend in Venice), OC boogied down to Scala in sky-high Fendi black leather platform pumps, Wolford velvet de Luxe gray leggings, a Stella McCartney gray silk shift dress, and my navy Miu Miu wool baby doll jacket, and was ready to show those Flórez groupies what’s what. No worries to the Trappester, who we spied in the audience, wearing a short black A-line dress with weird lacy shoulder caps and a plunging neckline, long blond hair free to her waist, and who later rushed past our entourage in the hallway to meet her Lamby Prince backstage. We were going to tackle her to the ground and make her give up the make of Flórez’s favorite undawarz so we could send him a pair, but it wasn’t worth scuffing my Fendis. We also admit that we wanted to pass on some recipes for some slammin osso buco or fatty cotoletta, as Flórez was looking tragically thin, and we couldn’t help but worry that Trappe’s Erdnuss-Crème sandwiches haven’t been to his liking these first few months of marriage.

Anyway, Flórez (every time you say his name it just makes him more powerful) took the stage earlier tonight to a rapt audience that was so appreciative and awestruck in front of his talent, that even before he uttered a single note, the bravi was heaped on his shoulders, to which he graciously acknowledged via his graceful idiosyncrasies, swathed in full frac and shiny patent leather shoes. Let's pop in that mix tape and put it on megabass.

He warmed up the house with Mozart's "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" from Die Zauberflöte, which was lovely enough, but OC rather prefers his tenore lirico of the bel canto Italian composers. The audience was tolerant of his delve into German-language repertoire, but we all knew why we really had come here tonight, and waited patiently. Next in line for the Mozart flow was "Si spande al sole in faccia" from Il Re Pastore, which exited to the first magnificent encore of the evening, well deserving as he ate those poor scales and arpeggi like Godzilla devouring Tokyo…the loggione and palchi exploding in applause and bravi. Then Bellini’s "La ricordanza", which was flawless in phrasing and suffused with emotion, to which Flórez reminded us all of his thorough control and effortless negotiations through any operatic score.

Then we had Rossini’s Les soirees musicales. During L’orgia lol, the audience exploded into (an orgy of) applause during a brief piano interlude before the work had completed, which was met with scolding hushes. Then JDF left the stage while excellent pianist, Vincenzo Scalera, played alone a waltzy Musique Anodine Prélude.

The last work before the break was “Deh! Truncate” from Elisabetta Regina d’Inghilterra. Flórez’s voice was a bit taxed at this point, and he had been expressing a dry tone for the first half of the recital. As Scalera played the intro measures, Flórez loudly cleared phlegm from his throat a few times, tugged at his white bowtie, and seemed perturbed. Scala was scalding tonight, arid as a desert and Flórez seemed to be suffering from that ailment, which he nevertheless plowed through professionally. Flawless Flórez always brings the charisma, and although none of that was lacking tonight, he was clearly suffering from the dry, hot heat in the theater, and it was the worst shape OC had ever seen him. Granted, the worst shape for Flórez is like 20x better than any old tenor, and still, he held to his game. After 50 minutes of singing, Flórez was treated to another rousing applause, filled with almost as many bravi as heard when he sang here last in February 2007 for La Fille du Régiment.

Flórez stepped back up to the stage less than a half hour later, and sang five consecutive songs by Rosa Mercedes Ayarza de Morales in clear diction and refreshed energy, animated acting, and feisty blocking. The first, “Cuando la tortora llora” was short and sweet, with an “Ay yi yi” thrown in for good measure. “Si mi voz muriera en tierra” showed-off the patented, impressive range of his voice, although filled with lament. At the end of the five songs, someone shouted, “Bravo Peru” and we all followed JDF’s outstretched hand, which pointed to the first galleria: A group of loggionisti had brazenly thrown over the side railing a Peruvian flag, and somehow didn’t get thrown out of the theater by the surly Scala pages.

French repertory was next, and Flórez sang “J’ai perdu mon Euridice” from Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, which was hauntingly gorgeous. His perfect control and concentrated movement brought this one over the top, and again, the audience went wild at the end. Next, his “L’espoir renaît dans mon âme” wasn’t quite as strong, but it was all forgotten during his “Linda!” from Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix, full on tenore di grazia, and full on fierce.

Bis time, and after thousands of screams from both male and female fans, he gifted us with "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore, which he sung with such great passion, his acting off tha charts, his heart aching and his hands clenched in fists…then Ah Leve Toi Soleil from Romeo Et Juliette, then that one from his Great Tenor Arias disc of Lucrezia Borgia, and then "La donna è mobile" from Rigoletto (to which he began the opening measures by placing a rose playfully between his teeth, Duke styleee). Between each bis, requests came flooding in from the audience as if he were Frank Sinatra on world tour.

His final and fifth encore was "L'Alba Separa dalla Luce l'Ombra" by Francesco Paolo Tosti, which again, brought down the house. For all the flowers that rained down on the stage from the palchi, he gathered them all up in his hands, and acknowledged the audience as personally as his own family. Which is one of the reasons (aside from his skill) that his fans love him so: Every sea of an audience he manages to separate into an individual devotee, with his open glances and waves, humbly accepting without a touch of phoniness or annoyance that his voice indeed carries a true glimpse of the sublime within each note he emits…and it is via these moments, that we classical music followers find an addicting solace. Some have been known to even pee their pants in sheer extasy.

Graham Vick Continues to F*@k Up UR Opera House: La Rondine In Venezia, The Full Opera Chic Review

Fondazione Teatro La Fenice di Venezia opened its stagione 2008 with Giacomo Puccini’s La Rondine. (See initial review here for more information.)

Unless you have an undying Cedolins fetish -- OC doesn't, as she finds Cedolins correct, attractive, and with a good dose of charisma but essentially uninspiring -- or a penchant for operas with boring characters, this production, in the end, was better seen than heard. Not that the Venice populace would have cared anyway, as the 2008 Carnevale holiday had just kicked-off the evening prior.

The opening night of the 2008 season at La Fenice began with an announcement commemorating the recent deaths of two oil refinery workers who had perished in a work-related accident close to Venice, and followed appropriately with a moment of silence. The crowds were greatly mixed, many choosing formal dress while others sat in tourist casual flavor. OC chose her new Louboutins, black Wolford stockings, Giambattista Valli black empire waist baby-doll dress with ribbed sleeves, black Balenciaga wool lady coat, and a tiny Paul Smith black (with white hearts) zipped leather purse to hold a few things (earplugs & tylenol PM hahah aha aaaaa…just playin).

Graham Vick’s direction saved the production, because La Rondine, in Puccini's original idea was a sort of deluxe operetta, but it ended-up plagued by a long list of problems, with many revisions that never made il maestro completely happy. It is one unusual piece of work -- there are only two arias (one of which is pretty meaty), and Act II has moments that go off totally Broadway, which by the way is brilliant, because it's 1917 and opera will soon die its spectacular death after three centuries of beauty (yeah, Nixon In China, blah, blah, Tan Dun, Die Bassariden, yah -- let's face it: opera is dead, and we're OK with it because there's trillions of major works still to dig out of the dust of the centuries, and we'd rather go see a Haendel than a Corghi, sorrie)...so as we said...it's 1917 and opera is about to die and be reborn as the Broadway musical, so it's OK that Puccini already had that sound in his head, because it's the sound of the imminent future, of what opera will soon become. And big sequences of big arias are so 1850 anyway, am i rite?

The characters, as per Giuseppe Adami's libretto are obvious flaws, and are all too vague; it's a "Traviata Lite", without Germont's scheming, with an Alfredo who's even more of an a$$hole, and with a Violetta who's not really that complex a creature, but instead she simply wants to have some clean fun the way she wanted to have as a young girl, before she starting turning trix. And here to avoid Verdi's big downer-thing, and keep the opera light and funny, Puccini figured out that the girl doesn't have to die at the end (contradicting Puccini's standard modus operandi, "ze geerl must DIE BWAHAHAHAHA").

But yeah, the ending where the soprano just walks away from the relationship (as opposed to dying a tragic heroine’s death like Butterfly, Traviata, Boheme, et al) is terribly anti-climactic -- try staging that. This opera is a by0tch of an experience for OC. The love between our two main players, Magda and Ruggero, is reduced to the novice epiphanies you’d hear between two smitten preteens who are drowning in catastrophic hormones guised as rapturous love. Magda has flashbacks, though, and this is interesting -- Puccini sticks simple musical themes to her flashbacks, and the same themes come back later, in disguise, sometimes just a few bars to bookmark the action: now I'm sad, now I'm happy -- the way composers for film scores will learn how to do in later decades with the same sprezzatura.

Anyway, Vick -- who trained as a conductor, by the way, before choosing directing as his profession -- was able to supersede all limitations (for this versione 1917 of La Rondine), and gave an overall wash of Old Hollywood/Broadway fabulousness, executed tactfully with a light hand. The entire opera had been pulled into a mixed compromise between Parisian flair and American chic, resulting in a nostalgic late 40s-very early 50s infusion between the two settings. Act I, instead of a scripted salon in a 19th century Paris apartment, appeared as a penthouse apartment imagined in the Thin Man series, all sleek glass towers, metallic accents, Martini tumblers, higballs, tuxedos and soaring glass windows. Costumes by Sue Willmington had been melded as a synthesis of the 1940s, with austere wartime cuts (early 40s) mixed with fuller skirts and silky satin puffs from post-war abundance.   

(Above: Sketch taken from the La Fenice program for La Rondine)

Carlo Rizzi’s conducting was trying to be sumptuous, painting lush shiny dashes of sound but given the wrong touch when held up against Antonio Pappano’s flawless read in the Alagna/Gheorghiu version. Although Rizzi was in decent control he still drowned out the blandness of the vocal lines quite a few times, he ended up giving the composition a more earthbound, sentimental, at times corny feel.

Act I introduced us to poet Prunier, sang by an uncharismatic Emanuele Giannino as demonstrated with his “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta”. Magda's three friends, Yvette, Suzy and Bianca weren’t terribly impressive, with one of them even failing to remember key Italian gender agreements in the libretto. Fiorenza Cedolins sang a flawless Magda, but again...the whole Cedolins thing doesn’t really flow with OC’s vernacular, although she can understand the appeal.

Puccini’s noted Easter egg in Act I was roundly delivered -- when Prunier shares with Magda the type of woman who is worthy of conquering his guarded heart. “La donna che conquista,”….must be a Galatea, Berenice, Francesa, or Salome…and with that we have the famous leitmotif from Strauss’s Salome “Ah! Ich habe deinen Mund geküsst, Jokanaan” inserted into the score, a delicious poke at Strauss. This is like the old skool version of the East Coast vs. West Coast rappers snappin on each other in their rhymes. Like Notorious B.I.G vs. 2Pac, Jay Z vs. Nas, LL Cool J vs. Jay-Z, and we’re all waiting to see who steps next.

(Above: Image from La Fenice program of La Rondine.)

Act II’s curtain rose after a half-hour pause (one bYotch of a scene change, a Vick trademark) on Bullier’s, which had been restructured by Vick as a funny sendup on La Bohème’s Café Momus, updated to an American early 1950s sock hop. The stage was flooded with dozens of extras, flowers, balloons, and crammed in every spot with café tables splayed from a 1950s VW van turned fast-food joint (Bullier’s now a hot-dog vendor), complete with matching Vespa scooters parked onstage. Giant cut-outs of four Moulin Rouge cabaret women overcame the stage, their bare limbs outlined in vanity bulbs. Sock-hop dancers and swingers strutted all over the stage, delivering the “love, joy and pleasure” promised at Bullier’s. Hot sailors dancing with buxom women. Little tables overflowing with beer glasses. Sexy (foxtrot) time!

(Above: photo by Michele Crosera for La fenice)

The duets between Magda and Ruggero -- she's the 'ho who meets the nice guy who reminds her of the nice boy she fell in love once upon a more innocent time -- went well enough “Io non so chi siate voi…” but of course, as is the main problem inherent to the opera, nothing was greatly moving. Ruggero’s “Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso” was embarrassingly derivative and made OC squirm with discomfort. It was followed later by Magda’s affirmation that she was upset at herself for loving Ruggero because she was afraid to be so happy. Yawnzies.

Act III opened after the last half-hour pause to a stark terrace overlooking the French Riviera sea, a splay of sand on stage with two gigantic umbrellas – one sheltering a table for two, and the other sheltering vases and vases of red roses. Magda was in a mint green dress, and Ruggero was in white pants with a gingham red short sleeved dress shirt. They both rolled around barefoot in the sand like bathing chinchillas. When Lisette and Prunier entered (he the Pygmalion of the maid who wants to become a singer, bah), it was unmemorable. They were both so unanimated and awkward.

Then, towards the end, when Magda comes clean and tells her boi that she cannot marry him because of her past, she abandons the blubbering Ruggero, strutting offstage. At that moment, the hanging backdrop of the blue, cloud-filled sky plummets to the stage floor,  crashing down with a shocking THUD! -- the sky has literally fallen, after the death of love. Revealing a penitent Magda walking slowly and mournfully to a waiting Packard and motorcycle escort. The former backdrop of an idealized, halcyon day on the French Riviera, made Ruggero’s laments of “Non lasciarmi” even more chilling.

It was a fantastic, bada$$ ending to a very difficult to realize opera, and Vick demonstrated his elegant genius, which unlike an equally-gifted Robert Carsen, he didn’t foist into your face with hammy bareknuckled fists.

Vick slam dunked it like Jordan, and the audience went wild. We were content to golf clap for the voices of the evening, but after a few curtain calls, Vick & Co. appeared from backstage and took their much-deserved applause. The house went wild for a few minutes, and bravi all around, with Vick surrounded by the chorus and the extras who gave him the applause he deserved. Then OC took in a well-deserved fish-galore meal at La Fenice, the very nice restaurant adjacent to the theater, and there was much rejoycing. amen hallelujah!

It’ll probably take the second coming of Jesus to bring OC back to Venezia for la prima @ La Fenice again, though, as Carnevale is the Italian equivalent of the American furry fandom and cosplay, RPGers, otaku fanboys & girls emulating their favorite anime characters, while grown women run around the city with glitter smeared on their faces, designs that emulated scarred birthmarks or traumatic burns.

OC doesn’t h8 the players, just h8s the game. She *hearts* Graham Vick though, because he knows that opera seriously needs to have its s#1t f*çked up real bad.

And doesn't he deliver.

Peruvian Flags, Screaming Fans, A Carpet Of Roses For Juan Diego: Il Signor Florez Takes La Scala, Again

Whenever Renata Tebaldi sang in Napoli's Teatro San Carlo, fans would wait for her at the stage door and, as she was about to come out into the street, they would throw flowers on the ground (insert joke re: historically bad trash-collecting Neapolitan habits here) because she was so sublime that they wanted La Signorina to step on a carpet of flowers instead that on the ground and dog pewp.

A few minutes ago, about 45 actually, Juan Diego Florez has finished -- after 5 very generous encores -- his recital at la Scala in Milan under a shower of roses raining down from the palchi and gallerie (a small bouquet thrown from the gallerie has actually accidentally beaned him -- as he was bending down to pick up some roses -- on the back of his head), while screams of "Sublime!", "Fenomeno!", "Bra-vis-si-mo!" "Sei un mito!" kept booming down from the rows of palchi, from the loggione, and from the usually very blasè platea seats, in a prolonged happy standing ovation the kind this "Roman arena" (Roberto Alagna's words) of a theater is usually very, very stingy of.

A Peruvian flag was even exposed from the central loggione the way soccer fans wave flags at the San Siro soccer arena, as someone yelled "Viva Perù".

Our personal favorites, among the many arias, "Troncate i ceppi suoi" from Rossini's Elisabetta, Si spande al sole in faccia from Mozart's "Re Pastore", and obviously "J'ai perdu mon Eurydice" from Gluck's Orphée and Bellini's La Ricordanza.

Big props to Maestro Vincenzo Scalera, whose sensitive, beautiful playing made a huge impression on everybody -- and when you're the accompanist for the greatest  tenor in the world, one of the alltime greats, and you still make an impression, well, that's a very big accomplishment indeed.

More later, because Opera Chic needs to recover from the sheer beauty of it all.

JDF In The Haus, And All Is Well In The World

c ya later to all OC readers because it's Juan Diego Florez night at la Scala, with a seriously awesome recital full of Gluck and Mozart tasty morsels.

On behalf of OperaChic readers, we have to be there.

Later for a quick recap of what went down, and maybe, only if you're good, a full review of the other night's Rondine at la Fenice in Venice, too.

Graham Vick Will F@?k Your S#^t Up: How To Bring A Dead Stuffed Bird Back To Operatic Life

A few words -- full review coming much later or better yet, tomorrow, because Opera Chic is tired after a champagne-fueled Carnevale weekend in Venice -- on Graham Vick's staging of La Rondine that last night opened the season at Teatro La Fenice.

La Rondine, a very interesting, surprising Puccini that in modern times hasn't really found the audience it deserves -- suffice to say, in its 1917 premiere in Monte Carlo, the opera had the best conductor of the 20th Century and the best tenore di grazia, Marinuzzi and Schipa of course, and so much for "minor" works -- has been staged by our main man Graham Vick with Act I as commedia brillante, a sophisticated comedy from Hollywood's golden era that could have been made by Gregory La Cava or Jean Negulesco, Act II as a funny sendup -- with Jayne Mansfield lookalike supervixens, hawt sailors and giant Moulin Rouge pinup girls neon statues -- on  Puccini's own Cafe Momus scene, and Act III as a minimalist, abstract  beach where the end of love makes -- literally -- the sky fall down to earth. And Vick adds a final scene -- Casablanca in reverse -- that gives depth to a truly problematic libretto (that after 1917 was revised many times, since Puccini himself was far from satisfied).

Fiorenza Cedolins was Magda -- a correct Magda, with strong dramatic presence and good looks and undeniable charisma, but then OC does not subscribe to her cult, as I'll explain later. The rest of the cast, we'd rather not discuss.

But then, it was Signor Vick's night.

La Prima @ La Fenice: B There Or B Square, And OC Is Not Square

Tonight in Venice, Teatro la Fenice opens the season with the new Graham Vick staging of Puccini's La Rondine, with Fiorenza Cedolins.

OC will be there, and you won't.

Historically Informed Hot Tubs: La Clemenza Di Negrin & Gimpel

Marika Schoenberg (Vitellia) & Kathrin Goering (Sesto) have fun in the tub for La Clemenza di Tito at Leipzig. A co-production with Gran Teatre del Liceu, conducted by Christopher Hogwood and directed by Francisco Negrin & Derek Gimpel.

If Bach Was Still Alive, He'd Prolly Wear UNIQLO

   

Above, Michael Pitt, Hollywood actor (remember him as Tommy Gnosis in 2001's "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"? Or as Kurt Cobain in that b0ring Gus Van Sant movie? Or as the dorky American guy who does the hot French girl in Bernardo Bertolucci's great The Dreamers?), models his UNIQLO t-shirt for creepy/inexhaustible/I’ll-show-u-mine-if-u-show-me-urs photographer Terry Richardson [attn: NSFW site may not be safe for work]. We got bored of Mr. Richardon after like the 100th full frontal pen0r shots and horrible tattoos, although we have undying respect for his late, talented father.

Michael Pitt was shot in a design from the signed series of UNIQLO t-shirts, with his featuring the CD cover of Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer’s Fall 2005 release of violin solos for J.S. Bach’s sonatas and partitas [see image below]. The series also offers a t-shirt by the late Dr. Osamu Tezuka, prolific manga artist, best known for Astro Boy, and Araki, Japanese photographer of all things erotic.

UNIQLO was designed in 1984 by Tadashi Yanai and inaugurated with the launch of his first store in Hiroshima. When OC is in NYC, she always visits their massive 36,000 square foot store in SoHo to browse the selvedge denim and GAP-esque basics. She also has Japan-based friends who keep her alert on the latest Tokyo coolness & send over via EMS -- the truly awesome Japan Post that is like everything that the appalling Italian postal service will never, ever be -- what's not 2 b found here in the old West).

Macbeth In Oviedo: Because Francesco Maria Piave Totally Ripped His Stuff Off Of "Ringu"

Micha Van Oeche's staging (photo above) of Verdi's Macbeth in Oviedo opens tomorrow night at Campoamor theatre; Carlos Alvarez is Macbeth, Tatjana Serjan the Lady, Miguel Ortega conducts, Japanese horror cinema (below) fans rejoice.

Simon Says: "Rigoletto's Next". Dr Keenlyside Will Pick Your Brains

'I'm not sure it's what the opera-going public are interested in or that you could really explain it to them. My father used to say, "I wouldn't go into a room with a brain surgeon and expect to have a conversation about brain surgery when he's spent his whole life doing that", yet everyone expects to be able to talk about music as if it's something you can pick up overnight.'

Simon Keenlyside, that beautiful piece of big honking handsome British meat, talks about his future plans for Italian opera, Lieder, and world domination.

NY Philharmonic Ready for Televised Fête

The Opera Chic blog earlier reported on the NYC press conference held by the New York Philharmonic last month, which was held to announce their foray into the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as the first American orchestra to ever make music within the country currently being pwned by Kim Jong-U. B. Illin.

The NY Phil orchestra announced yesterday that the culminating concert of their DPRK appearance, which is to be held on February 26, 2008 from the East Pyongyang Grand Theatre (which comes after a two-day musical festival in Pyongyang with Maestro Maazel), will be broadcast live. Oh noes! On High Def?? Free Restylane 4 every1!! All of Europe gets the green light, with the concert streaming on EuroArts and ARTE France (among other providers), while details concerning the USA broadcast will come at a later time. The program will include the North Korea and USA national anthems, Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin, Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, and Gershwin's An American in Paris.

This will surely please The Jonger, as according to his official biography, not only was he born on a mountainside under a double rainbow, but he's apparently already gifted the world with the original composition of six operas...that he somehow managed to write in between swigging cognac, fluffling his hair, and polishing his platform orthopedic shoes.

Come for the Recital, Stay for the Award: Villazón’s Trailblazing Comeback

Rolando Villazón, who will be giving a recital in Paris on Monday, January 28 for an evening of Boito, Cilea, Gomes, Ponchielli, and Verdi, must make sure to pace himself well to the end.

Later that evening, he will be presented at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées with the chevalier dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his significant contribution to the arts.

This should be good practice for his upcoming award ceremony: Villazón was also named in the category of "Lyrical Artist of the Year" at the 2008 Les Victoires de la Musique, which will be handed out February 13 @ la Halle aux Grains de Toulouse, beating out Natalie Dessay and Sandrine Piau.

homeboi’s on a roll!

Kiarostami Fan Tutte: Iranian Maestro Of Cinema Debuts As Opera Director

Props to le directeur général du Festival d'Aix, Bernard Foccroulle: his Aix En Provence festival has hired Abbas Kiarostami as director for Così Fan Tutte this coming july (in a co-production with ENO): the humanist maestro of cinema (and awesome photographer) has told France presse news agency that "at the first meeting I said no, that I was not worthy. But then Bernard has convinced me... it's an immense pleasure".

What Teh Hail? Mefistofele Goes To Vegas, Scares Teatro Massimo di Palermo

Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele will tonight open the season at Teatro Massimo di Palermo: the new disco-dancing, Vegas-happy, 1970's-kitsch-heavy staging is created by Giancarlo Del Monaco; Ferruccio Furlanetto, after canceling his recital at la Scala (we had tkts, cripwes!) is well enough to unleash the MechaGodzilla-like powah of his mechavochal chords; dear Giuseppe Filianoti is Faust; Filianoti's understudy is Walter Fraccaro of Alagna_Leaves_Aida (in)fame.

This production, heavily inspired by bad oldskool American TV, invokes just two words:
Dan Tanna!

Valentino Has A Dream: To Design Costumes For The Met. He Also Slams D&G, Dismisses Donatella Versace. He Likes Elbaz, Though.

(If you want to read all about Opera Chic's interview in Classical Singer magazine, scroll down here)

Valentino, maestro of design, opera fan and oldskool favorite of Opera Chic, freshly retired from the job after a legendary career, has a dream, he confessed to Corriere della Sera:

"I have a dream... designing costumes for the opera.    I'm in talks with the Metropolitan Opera. I'm crazy for Traviata"

We have just one word to say to Signor Gelb: WHUTRUWAITIN4???

In the same interviews, spreading a bit of tasty bYotchiness, he slaps around poor Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana ("They were shy, when they started out. Now they're a tiny bit arrogant, arrogantelli"), gives polite praise to Giorgio Armani ("He created something that has been very important. He has been a revolutionary"), Miuccia Prada ("Amazing how she's been able to build such an empire: I admire her even if she makes things very different from my ideas"), gleefully dismisses Donatella Versace ("Gianni's talent was unique: Donatella has a lot of energy"). The deadliest rhetorical bullet hit poor Alessandra Facchinetti, set to design Valentino's line now that he's effectively retired. "Sometimes clothes for women designed by other women lack in inventiveness and curiosity... I've met Facchinetti, I gave her some advice, she will find her own way to do things".

Valentino doesn't seem to like many young designers. Except Alber Elbaz: "He's doing very interesting things for Lanvin". Stefano Pilati, instead, is not a fave. "He's good but he shouldn't stray away from the path created by il maestro, Saint Laurent".

"Life as a Netrebko fan is not easy": The Observer's Peter Conrad Joins Club Treb, Spends "White Night"

Another entry in the "Most Embarrassing Valentine From A (Professional) Critic" Anna Bananna Contest:

" I watched her through my tears, added some hoarse yelping to the hubbub of acclaim that greeted her when it was over, then stumbled home to spend an entirely white night re-enacting it all in my head.

(...)

Now we all love her - and, not wanting to be outdone by the multitude, I personally adore her".

Next Sunday free Kleenex box with your copy of The Observer

Opera Chic Invades Classical Singer

The days of crossing-out headlines and drawing OC RULZ TEH WURLD on the front page of the NYTimes with a black sharpie are over! Early last month, Opera Chic got on IM and chatted live with the erudite Amanda White, a NYC-dwelling soprano and contributing writer for Classical Singer magazine. The scribbled, late night chat – starting with “28/f/Lou Ferrigno Memorial High” and ending with “brb brah moms iz calling me 4 dinner,” has been deliciously morphed into a pretty kick a$$ article, which appears in the January 2008 edition of Classical Singer (with the lovely Barbara Bonney on the cover). Titled, “Taking Opera to a Whole New Level of Chic,” OC shares in a 3-page article all things pertinent to opera blogging and singing, as part of Amanda White’s new series called, “The Techno-Savvy Singer”.

Hurry and buy your copy, as OC can’t share the article in all its glory with you readers since Classical Singer online access is by subscription only. Also, you'll finally have something for OC to sign when you meet her in person. Read all about how OC rose to fame from her humble beginnings mopping floors at the Mariinsky, her stellar advice to aspiring opera singers, and the coolest part: her OC dream (it involves Villazon @ 7-11 spilling slurpee all over his shoes, and a photog being there to capture the moment). yah, I wish. you know he goes straight for the big gulps instead :-(

Here's a teaser:

Weekend Show 'n Tell (Or, "Cleaning Out My Memory Card")

OC cleaned-up her weekend digicam's memory card earlier tonight, so you get to see all the fun stuff...

^^^^Here’s an orchestra-themed ad campaign put out by Ford for their new model, the Focus, capitalizing on the whole, “We've created the perfect instrument” angle. It's running in magazines and newspapers, in recent competiton with [warning: link has music] Fiat's new Lancia Musa ads, staring Carla Bruni. There’s also an on-air commercial that shows like 30 of the seated musicians playing an entire orchestra of car parts. Oh teh lame. Last time I tried to play the cello with a windshield wiper I had just drank three bottles of Nyquil and then screamed the cyrillic alphabet for 5 hours. Q(o_oQ) ok ok I know you're staring at the image below, so here goes:

^^^^This has nothing to do with music OR DOES IT?? (no it doesn't), but it almost made me p00p my pants when I saw it in yesterday's paper. The ad amazingly isn't for scorpion pest control poison, but for coffee. OC likes her coffee like she likes her men: Smuggled from Bolivia in a dirty burlap sack. Not in the form of poisonous, brain-scrambling scorpions that crawl into your nose and scrape your eye-sockets with their stingy tail appendages. Could you imagine sucking out the poison? Groce.

^^^^^Casa Ricordi, the famous Italian classical music publisher (and Italy's largest) is currently celebrating its 200 year. Since last weekend, and running until February 10, you can get your hands on a special 2-disc confection, available via Corriere della Sera @ the newsstands. The CD set, "Le più belle Arie di tutti i tempi" ("The most beautiful arias of all time"), has a track list of arias that shaped the musical history of Milan, boasting composers such as Bellini, Verdi, Rossini, and Puccini, and arias like, “Va’ pensiero”, “Casta diva”, and “Largo al factotum”. It’s 12.90€ only @ newsstands. No, you can’t have my extra 10 centesimi, newsstand attendant.

^^^^^Here’s an advertisement for La Scala's February 18th concert, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Hmmmm, nothing funny about that.

^^^^^I <3 this image. In an attempt to reach out to younger, more hip audiences, La Scala RAISES DA MOTHERFATHER ROOF UP IN THIS BYOTCH!! ITS GONNA B TITE!!

Saldi!!!! Mi Avete Salvato!!

In Milan, the second and third weeks of January are coveted. No, not because some patron saint of the city was canonized in a morbid tale of bravery and courage, and not because a soccer championship has turned ordinary businessmen into chanting zombies – but rather because it’s seasonal sale time, when the previously-eyed winter offerings from Chanel, Prada, Miu-Miu, and Gucci are marked down to more affordable payments (as opposed to monthly rent checks).

OC, who's one of the luckyduckies (and ur not *:-p~~~*) who gets invites to some sample sales and, ahem, certain pre-sales (no we're not gonna tell you which ones), being a little bit of an addict was nevertheless among the throngs of tourists who pushed their way through the sales racks at Costume National, Prada, Etro, and Balenciaga (although their store on via Santo Spirito is always pretty vacant, the Milanese have a way of punishing some Frenchie brands), all offering the past winters styles at a remarkable 50% discount (usually it’s a paltry 20-30% at best).

One of the better haunts this saldi season was the brainchild of the very awesome Miss Carla Sozzani, who runs the boutique (cum bookstore cum art gallery cum café), 10 Corso Como, a must-visit destination on any trip to Milan -- heyll, a must-see destination on any trip to Italy. Boasting slashed prices on Ms. Sozzani’s Garage Sale (as I am fond to call it), Chloé and Prada bags were a steal at 700€, Manolo Blahniks beckoned at 300€ (although in Milan, at this point they are so undesired, you can’t even give them away), and Alexander McQueen’s silk screened tee-shirts were down to 150€.

OC couldn’t resist (I’m only human), and stocked-up on the basics… Comme des Garçons white t’s, Stephen Jones winter skullies, and a few Balenciaga knits to name a few. The best purchase from the winter sales? A kickin pair of Louboutins for that sweet, sweet reminder that one of the more satisfying trade-offs for suffering through periods and 24-hour labor pains is being able to feel that silky, light as air, delicate as a kiss, *yet firm* ensconce of Christian Louboutin’s creations hugging your ecstatic little feet. Check dem sh**ts out:

Hell Is White: Un Ballo In Bordeaux

James Westman as Renato, Julian Gavin as Riccardo and Daphne Touchais as Oscar in "Un ballo in Maschera" now at the Bordeaux Grand Theatre, conducted by Paolo Olmi and directed by Carlos Wagner.

There's so much to go all wtf about, but the crazy looking hairy guy in a white wig and the girl in white sneakers are OC's favorites (Holy crap! Those are totally Etnies Calli Slims! Reprezentin' wit da kicks!)

Welcome to teh jungle.

The Secret Diary Of Jonas Kauffmann

Children with the kooties. Costars with the kooties. Long transoceanic calls to agents. German babysitters.

Can an opera star's life be more b0ring?

You decide.

It's much funnier to try to guess what JK's week was really like.

"Woke up vaguely nauseous after a long night of teh secks with A. Oh my goodness what are these scratches on my throat? Better get tetanus shots later today"

"Nuclear-powered curling iron is totally fried. Again. Call the concierge, schnell"-

"MTV said that Audioslave is still without lead singer. I'm cuter than Chris Cornell, aren't I? Remember to ask agent for Tom Morello's number".

"Book Brazilian wax for next Thursday. Ask for that smoky-eyed waxer I saw last time".

"Received offer to appear this coming summer in a production of Orphéè where Amore is a baritone and Eurydice gets gangbanged on a coffin. Laughed in agent's faces. What kind of a moron would take that role, come on".

***clarification***

"A.", of course, as everyone knows, is not Anna. It's that other A.

The <3 of Milano: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele & u = bf4e&e

These recent days, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, the luxurious passage that connects the Duomo to La Scala, covered over since the 1870s by architect Mengoni in glass and iron (the first stone was laid on March 7, 1865), has been poppin. Clustered with luxury shops like Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton, (and frankly, very shameful cafes that will rapz0rs your wallet without blinking), the arcade passageway has always been one of the cultural hearts of the city, ever since Café Campari opened back in the day where Puccini and Boito would throw back whisky.

Right across from the centrally-located McDonalds (yeah, no Starbucks in Milan, or all of Italy for that matter, but we’ve got plenty of Ronald) and butting against the Vuitton boutique sits some very prime real-estate. Visitors to the Galleria (since even before it was covered in the 19th century) were greeted by Savini, one of the most famous restaurants in the city where the musically gifted likes of Puccini, Maria Callas, Toscanini, and Milan's most influential would dine at their regular tables, picking at plates of pate de foie gras, and legendary queues would form out front after every Scala opening to sate the hungry crowds.

Since its birth in 1867, Savini has been riddled with problems and closures, but it keeps bouncing back regardless of gutting kitchen fires and WWII bombing damage. Milan hasn’t seen its doors open since June 2004, when it was caught up in dirty meat scandals.   

But there has been a revival, and the gr8 lawd rejoiced. Valcuvia Virgilio Savini’s restaurant is slated to reopen Monday, January 21, 2008. It has been completely redone, with an informal restaurant on the ground floor, and a more formal setting on the first floor. The renovation boasts a new head chef (Christian Magri, who worked under Carlo Cracco, head chef of Milan’s prestigious Cracco Peck restaurant), new interiors, new menu, and a completely new space.

So I hope no one minds if OC starts cutting out of Scala performances early so that she can beat the lines to dinner ;-p

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yesterday evening as OC was heading back home after a long day of retail therapy, she cut through Galleria Vittorio Emanuel II, and was greeted by the sound of a lone piano player, which cut lightly through the drilling and banging emitting from the Savini façade. In the center of the Galleria was erected a platform with a studio upright, an impromptu concerto in open air. OC stopped and threw some change at her and was like, "Here. Now get yourself a hot shower and a job, and stay offa the junk." just playin.

Il Concerto in Galleria is currently sponsored by entrepreneur Alessandro Rosso, owner of The Town House Galleria, the only 7-star hotel in Europe (certification and smarminess pending). All the suites have been named after Italian composers: Bellini, Rossini, Puccini, Donizetti, Vivaldi. The cheapest room is € 800 a night, and the rates go well into the € 2600 range. Included in the price? Rooms that overlook the Galleria, and a staff at your beck&call: they will find the impossible-to-find tickets to a Scala opening night, organize private tours of The Last Supper, get you tables to the most coveted restaurants in town, or seats at one of the closed-to-the-public fashion shows, all via your own personal butler.

Thanks to homeb0i Rosso for the free concerto, but next time we’ll take a comped room instead k tnx bi. 

Pier Miranda Ferraro, 1924-2008

In this year 2008, after losing a wonderful, wonderful voice such as Sergej Larin's (and at such an unjustly young age), opera lovers also bid farewell to Pier Miranda Ferraro -- a Otello specialist, but it's the Callas 1959 live "Pirata" with Ferraro that is often playing at Casa Opera Chic.

Another Stop on the Milan Supertour: David Beckham's Package

(Above: Everything is bigger & better when clicked)

At the top of Corso Garibaldi awaits a panoramic treasure. With an ad campaign shot early November 2007 in Los Angeles by photo-duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, David Beckham proves his yumminess as the new face of Giorgio Armani's new line of underwear. Not to be outdone by wife Victoria's Spring 2008 Marc Jacobs ads (shot by Juergen Teller), Beckham signed with Armani for the Spring and Summer 2008 ad campaigns, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store...especially hearing that next month, Armani is slated to launch a David Beckham underwear line.

//The buzz behind this ad is that when it was unveiled two weeks ago, claims of jock-stuffing and digital pen1x enhancing instantly surfaced. His wife, Victoria, went on record to vouch for her husband's blessed manhood, saying, "He does have a huge one, though. He does. You can see it in the advert. It is all his. It is like a tractor exhaust pipe!"

She's all like look @ me i've had teh secks...ever heard of it, losers? i just thought i would let u virgin lamers know. but c'mon, if u saw that walking down the street on that huge a$$ billboard & ur all like o hai ooo shiii....im in the promised land! That wall behind the billboard is totally breaking out into a sweat from the Beckham awesomeness. u can't breathe. ur in heaven. thares n o air in here, son.

Stuffed package or not, Beckham is no fashion icon, although his website gets a bit congratulatory, writing:

"David is regarded as one of the most stylish men in the world. Whether wearing a sarong or a leather jacket he is never less than impeccably dressed. Together with wife Victoria, the Beckham’s lead the way in the fashion stakes."

vvvv We're not so sure about that, granted, below is vintage becks vvvv. Personally, we prefer him in a white bathrobe and those white Armani undawears, and we think you'll agree...

Daniele Gatti Goes To Bayreuth And You Don't

Arturo Toscanini.

Victor De Sabata.

Alberto Erede.

Giuseppe Sinopoli.

Daniele Gatti.

Only five Italians have ever been called to conduct at Bayreuth, more or less like winning the Oskar of the Wagnerite world (the statuette is, of course, a little goose-stepping  golden man).

The 46 year old Milanese maestro has spoken to Corriere della Sera about his date with destiny, his debut on July 25 with Parsifal at Bayreuth.

Gatti, an intelligent, serious maestro whose mild manners have not necessarily helped him in the appalling classical music business, already talks the talk:

"Parsifal is one of the greatest creations of human spirit. In its presence, one can only feel like a tiny little ant".

He even sent a small valentines greeting to Riccardo Muti, who on December 6 will open the season at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, one day before Gatti opens la Scala season with Don Carlo.

"I never conducted at la Scala during Muti's years (ed: zing!) but I have the greatest admiration for all his accomplishments, that shall remain forever. As conductors, we had the age of Mahler, the age of Toscanini, the age of Muti. And maybe one day, who knows, we'll have the age of Gatti".

Ditch the 'Stache And Conducting/Composing Contender Alessandro Cadario Is Doable

 

While leafing through a magazine at the nail salon waiting for the lacquer to dry, OC found a story on Alessandro Cadario, 28-year-old aspiring conductor and composer from Varese, Italy, who studies under guidance of Aldo Ceccato and Gianluigi Gelmettio in Siena's Accademia Chigiana. Although he looks like he should still be chillaxing on his parent's couch playing Ninja Gaiden and experimenting with controlled substances, he's currently training himself to invade your (opera) house.

He's never really fallen on the OC radar, having played a few free concerts around Milan (such as the inauguration of the xmas tree this past December in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele) but promises to begin 2008 with a big bang.

One of his original works is to be given a world premiere in NYC this May 2008, la prima assoluta of his Cantata for Revival. The Cantata was written for soprano, mezzo, baritone, double chorus, seven cellos, percussion and piano, and takes its cue from the Book of Revelation. kewl....apocalyptic literature gets me hawt, especially psalm 69. New Yorkers and Tri-staters can witness the work (with the Musica Sacra Chorus & Orchestra) in a double-header of Carmina Burana at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater. 

Those in Milan can catch him next week on January 25, 2008 at Conservatorio G. Verdi for a special concert, "The Unanswered Question", honoring the Italian day of remembrance of the Shoah ([*warning*: link ahead has embedded music file] il Giorno della Memoria, which actually falls on January 27). Cadario will direct l’orchestra I Musici Estensi in a sampling of Mendelsshon, Bloch, Williams, Ives, and Shostakovich, free to the public. He will also perform la prima assoluta of his own work called, "Emet", (a Hebrew word that literally translates as "truth") which he wrote for 15 strings.

We're ready to join Team Cadario, although he needs to get rid of the Lourdes Ritchie 'stache. Seriously pretty much prolly basically not sexay.

San Francisco Opera: The full 08-09 season schedule

Good stuff in the cartellone for the new season of San Francisco Opera:

   The fall season opens Sept. 5 at the opera house with "Simon Boccanegra," starring Hvorostovsky and Frittoli; Runnicles conducts. "Simon Boccanegra" continues through Sept. 27.

The season, the company's 86th, runs 9/5/08 to 7/5/2009, with 78 performances of 11 operas.

Method Acting: La Trebka's Lungs Give Out, Cancels Tonight's Traviata In London

No Star Trebka 4 U

lulz

Frengo's (Almost) New Tosca: How To Stage An Opera Without Corn Syrup Or Harmful Additives: Real Opera. Real Taste. Honest.

Tinkering only slightly with his trademark production of Tosca (aka the oldskool-y one with Callas) , and with a lot changes in the singers stage directions, Franco Zeffirelli's new Tosca has won raves by the Roman audience and very flattering reviews in the Italian press.

Now he's sometimes cranky and his 2006 Aida at la Scala was an example of how, given a big budget, Frengo can totally lose his marbles and give free rein to his crazy-potato instincts.

But the recent butchery of Orphée perpetrated by the Alagna brothers has given us a bit of perspective. Because it's easy to sometimes forget that at this point of krazy direktor antiks in opera, well, Cranky Franco's respect for the main thrust of the libretto, the historical framework of the action, and for the dramatic sense of what's happening on stage, is very well deserving of our respect.

For all his crankiness, his wrongheaded premptive contempt for directors who try new things, and other peculiarities we're not very fond of, we hereby admit our girl crush for Frengo. Who'd never delude himself to the point of thinking that he knows more than Da Ponte or Piave about the meaning of what's supposed to take place on that stage.

(All photos courtesy Teatro Opera di Roma)

La Stampa Follows La Chic: No Gilliam, No Alvarez, No Oren, Farewell Chenier, Welcome Ole Butterfly

Opera Chic told her readers ages ago; the Italian press reports today (in La Stampa). No Gilliam, no Alvarez, no Chenier, no Oren. La Scala's old Butterfly sets will be dug out of the Ansaldo warehaus, and Fiorenza Cedolins will be Cio Cio San. The conductor? La Stampa guesses it'll be maestro Chung.

We'll see. But how sad that an allegedly first-tier house such as la Scala has to lower themselves to recycle singers and sets after they prove themselves unable to keep a production together.

Maria Stuarda La Prima @ La Scala: DOWNGRADE!

First off, tonight's la prima of Gaetano Donizetti's Maria Stuarda (in a new production by Pier Luigi Pizzi) at La Scala boasted a substitution of Talbot. Ailing bass (or, bailing a$$ loalz) Carlo Cigni was replaced tonight by Simone Alberghini, who formerly starred on the Opera Chic blog as Anna Netrebko's ex-fiancé, after they called it quits in May 2007, victims of the seven-year itch. Alberghini was there IN SHOCKING GREEN!!!

OC ran down to La Scala earlier tonight in the Milan rain (that hasn't let-up since last Thursday) super casual and cozy in a pair of knee-high black Costume National heeled boots, black leggings bought @ Boule de Neige, a vintage YSL black silk blouse, a Miu-Miu dark gray cashmere cardigan (super huge and long...from the men's line), and an Isabella Tonchi black wool overcoat (black Chloé Paddington bag, Loro Piana dark grey cashmere scarf, and a Paul Smith umbrella). Too bad the new Louboutins bought in saldi last week will have to wait until nicer weather... :(

On with the show: The curtain rose on the scene of the Westminster court, which was materialized by Pier Luigi Pizzi as a large black platform in the middle of the stage, elevated by stairs on all four sides. Kinda like the Kaaba in Mecca. Mecha lecca hi. All around the stage walls had been erected scaffolding (as the scenery), which comprised of a ground level and a second level above the stage, where ramps ran, which singers were able to use as egress. They were backlit by screens that projected either white or orange light. YOUR CHOICE! 1 OR 2! The minimal staging was frankly, quite boring and unimaginative.

A dozen male guards (Cavalieri) circled about holding flaming torches. Pier Luigi Pizzi, who was responsible for direction, scenery, and costumes, managed to blow the entire trifecta all over the stage. OC's biggest beef with the production was encountering Pizzi's incongruity between the costuming of women and men. On stage, if you had balls, you were put into a tight pair of black leather pants. If you had breasts, you were swaddled-up in reams of cloth, not unlike Amish school marms. Women were totally desexualized in this production, de-divaized, de-fierceized, and totally fe-masculated…while the men were all totally empowered. wtf? So yeah, we had a dozen alternate males in the background in thigh-high black leather boots, which were tucked into tight, black leather pants, with tight, black leather jackets -- all topped with jaunty black leather berets. ugh. Their costumes were totally non sequitur within the whole production, but if that's what gets Pier Luigi Pizzi hot, so be it.

Act I gave us a view of the chorus and Dame d'onore, who were dressed sumptuously in gorgeous magentas, browns, and subdued gold period dresses, full length skirts and matching bodices, without a hint of cleavage, neck, or any flesh-colored things showing. Out came Elisabetta, Anna Caterina Antonacci, wrapped in layers and layers of white cloth.

Pizzi didn't even give the women's costumes any Elizabethan flair, and instead of exaggerating the hips, waists, or shoulders, the fabric was boringly draped over the hips in a, well, non-form form. These divas on stage were costumed to be shockingly less fierce than their larger-than-life references, which is what pissed me off. Pizzi stole their thunder. thare were no divas were n e whare 2 be found. Totally lame. No Sills-like awesomeness. The two queens were given careless wraps of fabric. I know this was the 16th century, and modesty was kinda what the kewl kids did, but we want diva power! Not some mousy queens dragging lead around the stage. Elisabetta was at least donning a Seamonkey white crown and collar, although she was slapped with a wash of white Kabuki foundation. In Engerland.

Act I, and the problems began immediately with Antonino Fogliani and Scala orchestra in an uncooperative brawl. Fogliani and the orchestra tampered Anna Caterina Antonacci with her Scene II appearance, and rudely barged over her voice, both in tempi and volume. There were loads of unsynchronized measures between the singers and the orchestra, and the orchestra was just overall too loud. It wasn't a matter of crescendi, but the volume was just too strong-armed and inelegant for this bel canto masterpiece. To be fair, I saw numerous times Fogliani shushing the orchestra, hand raised to his lips, but they weren't having it, so at the end of the night, both parties are guilty.

Scene III introduced Roberto, Earl of Leicester in thine tightie leathery, blacke pantaloonies, sung by tenor Francesco Meli who was off to a pretty rough start. His upper notes were fraught with straining. Scene IV, during "Se fida tanto colei mi amò", he pushed it way out, and the results were not pleasant. Thankfully, he did like a 180 degree switch for Act II, and gave much more. Yay for intermissions. Contrasting with the petite frame of Meli was Simone Alberghini, singing Talbot. Did I mention he was outfitted in tight black leather pants? He sang well and rounded-out the entire lineup, and his "Questa imago, questo foglio" with Meli was worth mentioning.

Enter Mariella Devia and Fotheringay Park, where the new scenery appeared from under stage, raised on a mechanical level. This act brought the one memorable effect of the entire performance: a thick, leafy grove of trees slowly materialized…the foliage a nice break from the stagnant steel cages in the prior acts. Devia appeared as frumpy as the other women on stage, in dark grey swaths of cloth. However, her dress and outer dress were so large and convoluted -- with a large white collar obscuring her breasts and neck -- that her head just looked like a little peanut. Pizzi wanted to put these queens out to pasture and rule the stage himself. Neigh, I say. Neigh, neigh, neigh. 

But nothing mattered to the loggioni, who were out in huge numbers filling the loggione, and lauded Devia with countless brava at every single aria she caressed. Not that she didn’t deserve any of it…we had fallen in love with la Devia ages ago, and caught her live last year at her La Scala recital (which we reviewed here). Devia had perfect control over her sweet, flawless coloratura, and left the audience breathless. Her first aria, "O nube!" made the loggione go insane. Let's face it...the last two gallerie were there just for Devia, and they made it clear they were there to support her.

BREAK TIME! As Fogliani made his way back to the podium after the first and only intermission, he was booed by the loggioni, which echoed throughout the auditorium over the applause. They shot hate lazers from their glowing, cat-like eyes all over his back! The booing seemed to have shaken the orchestra into suitable shape, and Act II was a bit more put together than Act I, with gentler control over the orchestra. Act II also showed a modicum of OMG IS THAT A WOMAN'S FLESH I SEE?!! Elisabetta came out with a stellar "Alla tua voce", although dressed in a tapestry. I’m not kidding. She had a giant orange tapestry wrapped around her body in the form of a dress, with a toned-down the white face. Also, the tapestry dress showed omg her NECK!! I think I have the vapors. Again we had the scaffolding and cavalieri holding torches. oh noes. Roberto had left his cape backstage, and was dressed in tight black leather. This time, Meli’s "Deh! per pietà sospendi" was gorgeous, and he had gotten his groove back. He was probably scared str8 after the loggioni booing, and didn't want to get tomatoes thrown at him.

Devia then appeared again in her boring giant dark grey frock, and fondled her egregious ruby-encrusted cross that hung around her neck… à la Madonna '80s. It's official. Pizzi is so senile that his popular culture references ended in the '80s. The costumes betrayed him! Even during the Confrontation scene, one of the queens was in a boxy white jacket, rawking a total '80s silhouette. Ewwww. Live in the now! Unfortunately, the orchestra fell out a few times, especially during the Confession scene between Maria and Talbot, and during "Tolta alla Scozia", the orchestra got way too loud again.

Devia’s “Quando di luce rosea" was outstanding, and was met with tons of brava from the audience. After her duet with Talbot, the stage was flooded with light, and out came the family of Maria for one of the most chilling and wrenching "Vedeste? Vedemmo," I’ve ever heard. The women were in black gowns, covered to the gills with black transparent veils over their heads, and the men were dressed like Puritans (finally...men sans leather). The executioner, however, was in the de rigeur tight leather outfit, this time topped with a shaved head. Aside from the executioner, the scene was too beautiful. Devia came out for "Io vi rivedo alfin" in a Heinz ketchup-colored red dress, a nice change from her gray capes. When she comforted her family, I was almost in tears. "Tolta al dolore, tolta agli affanni" made me sob like a little girl who just got trampled in the annual Barney's Madison Avenue summer sale.

Then we had "Roberto! Ascolta!", addio&addio&addio, Devia layed her head down, and it was all ovah.

The audience went wild for the curtain call, and Devia and Antonacci came out alone, with Devia giving her competing queen a huge hug, and then brave poured down. The curtain then rose on the chorus, who took their well-deserved bows, with the sweet Bruno Casoni as their chorus master.

As Pier Luigi Pizzi -- who gave us such craptacular sets, derivative lighting, and a touch-of-misogyny costumes for the ladies -- received loads of booing from not only the loggione, but from lots of $$money (and normally well-behaved) orchestra patrons. Booing all around! More boos than cheers! Then as conductor Fogliani stepped-out in his ill-fitting frac, more boos erupted! Just when it was getting out of hand, the curtain thankfully fell, and OC witnessed one of the shortest opening night curtain calls yet.

I want my $$$ back, tia. You can mail my check to Opera Chic, 420 Fartcrack Ave. Apt #69, Balls Falls, F.U. 50505 Republic of Poopistan. Unless you're a Devia/Antonacci fan, have a thing for scaffolding, or a black leather fetish, I'd wait this one out.

 

(Scala last night before the show. Click for bigger.)

Maria Stuarda, La Prima: At La Scala, New Production By Pier Luigi Pizzi Gets Booed, Almost As Much As Rookie Conductor; Devia Saves The Night

Much more to come later, OC is just back home from a long day of Milano Moda Uomo fashion shows + Maria Stuarda at la Scala. In short, except for Devia, it pretty much suXed.

A few impressions:

Mariella Devia, always in top form, always flawless, saved the night; a lukewarm minimalist production by Pier Luigi Pizzi got booed, rookie 30-year-old Antonino Fogliani mostly drowned the singers and couldn't really seem to tame the unruly orchestra (the orchestra, we hear, generally can't stand him, so maybe they didn't help him out much anyway). Anna Caterina Antonacci, usually stunning but very badly dressed and painted in inexplicable whiteface, unfortunately didn't impress much, esp. having to try and fight back the orchestra that constantly overpowered her.

The chorus, as always, ruled. Maestro Bruno Casoni's crew is like that, you just can't mess with them.

ABC ya.

Once You Go Trebk You Never Go Back: La Gran Trebka Shakes, Stirs Times Critic; Kauffman Not So Much, Or Angela'd Be Jealous And There'd Be Hell To Pay

But now that I’ve seen, heard, and inwardly drooled over the sensational 36-year-old Russian soprano at first hand, there’s no going back. Shaken, stirred, and still quivering at the knees, I’m an altered man.

Anna Netrebko Leads Male Critic To Publishing Embarrassing Valentine Under Own Byline, Part XXXVIII

Riccardo Chailly Hospitalized With Heart Trouble In Milan Clinic

Milanese Maestro Riccardo Chailly has been hospitalized in Milan to undergo a series of exams for heart trouble (on top of kidney stone problems he had already experienced over the Xmas holidays). The situation does not appear to be threatening but he has canceled a tour abroad with his Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra.

To the wonderful maestro, OC's best wishes of a speedy recovery.

Marcelo Alvarez Triumphs In Rome, Gives Encore; Kudos For Franco Zeffirelli, Martina Serafin

An encore (E Lucevan Le Stelle) for Marcelo Alvarez; mad props to Franco Zeffirelli's new staging, pleasure at the discovery of Martina Serafin, a surprinsingly good Tosca; polite applause for maestro Renato Bruson's Scarpia -- the great veteran's voice is not always brilliant, obviously, at this point in his career, but you can always appreciate the style and the intensity of the interpretation.

More later today re: the premiere of Tosca at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma last night: the fashion shows of Moda Uomo are going on at full blast in Milan right now, AND tonight OC has to show up at la Scala for the premiere of Devia's and Antonacci's Maria Stuarda. 

(All photos courtesy of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma)

Marilyn Horne Str8talk

 

"In an interview with The Associated Press, [mezzo-soprano Marilyn] Horne — who has never discussed her experimental cancer treatment publicly — said she wanted to talk about it to help others facing the same illness."

Rolando Villazón Is The Undisputable Comeback King (No Offense to LL Cool J); update, Rolando To Alternate With Alagna In Carmen At Liceu In 2009

(Above: Rolando takes his triumphant curtain call last night during his recital at Gran Teatre del Liceu. Image courtesy of generous OC reader, yvette. Scroll down for three more!)

Our recently reappointed tenor crush, Rolando Villazón, is wasting no time wooing back his smitten fans after his blazing reappearance across the European opera stages. Cold killin' it last night in Barcelona, Villazón defeated his demons and successfully vanquished any concerns that he wasn't up to snuff for a renewed recital season. Homeboi represent. Recital rapture!

The Opera Chic blog is proud to present firsthand accounts str8 from the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's opera house on the event of Rolando Villazón's comeback recital yesterday evening, Sunday, January 13, 2008, where two Opera Chic readers, yvette and pepa guardiola, generously shared their impressions and *squeals* photographs from that very special night, which sounded like a treat for the Barcelona fans. 

From pepa guardiola comes this awesome & thorough recap:

"Rolando came with plenty of energy and will, smiling and spreading his charm. The first act of the concert was devoted to Robert Schumann [Dichterliebe op. 48] -- which he sang all in a row with no interruptions!"

"He started out a bit nervous (he was swallowing a lot), but he went into a crescendo, and then his voice started to heal. I never thought the German language song cycles could sound so smooth! I’d say he feels very at ease with this repertoire, but the best was yet to come..."

"He came back after the interval for the popular songs: Francesco Paolo Tosti's Non m’ama più, Jules Massenet's Ouvre tes yeux bleus (incredible, and in a crescendo), and a bunch of Spanish popular songs [four songs by Fernando J. Obradors]."

"Then he felt a bit *coughy* and left the stage for a moment...he came back, and then left for 2 eternal minutes...and all of us start suffering! When he was definitely back, he touched his heart with his hand, and told the audience that he’d kinda preferred to have this inconvenience happen with us in Barcelona, for he felt he was at home!"

"There was a great applause, and from this moment till the end of the concert, he put his body and soul into his voice, almost as if it was the last concert and the last song he was to sing in his entire life, and he wanted us to be in paradise. He wanted to galvanize everyone's heart, blood, and bones...and then he smiled, and wanted to rectify."

"And then he said that on the contrary he WOULD have preferred this little disruption not to happen in front to Barcelona’s audience, because he loves Barcelona sooo much (you should have seen all the young and old women go crazy in the audience when he said that!) He’s a sweetie!"

"Then two bis: Muñequita Linda (a Mexican song); and then the final bomb (!un tiro mancino hehe¡), which was a special present for Barcelona’s people, a popular Catalan song called Rossó (which is the name of woman, and also a Maestro José Carreras favorite and a very dear song for us Catalans). When Rolando announced the song, the audience went wild, and I think there are still people on Las Ramblas clapping hands! Then after ten minutes of applause, Rolando ended up in tears, and the house was turned upside down. How generous voice and what a smart soul..."

And from reader yvette comes these lovely words:

"The recital was beyond words, so fine and moving! A beautiful Massenet, 'Ouvre tes yeux bleus', and to finish, a standing ovation for a special treat in Catalan called, 'Rossó (o Pel teu amor)" (pps: I've just checked in a book/record shop - the Catalan song is called Rossó and it was apparently recorded by José Carreras.)"

"Rolando's voice is so colorful and I was almost in tears when he started the Spanish part at the end. He had to stop at the end of the recital because he was too emotionally concerned, and said that in Barcelona, he felt, 'like at home,'".

Yvette also reported that during an after-recital autograph meet&greet session, wife Lucia was close to his side, and charmed the pants off the many adoring fans!

w00tles all around! w00t w00t! Let's hope somebody made some tite bootlegs in da :::files::

(Above: Image courtesy of generous OC reader, yvette. Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's opera house.)

(Above: Image courtesy of generous OC reader, yvette. Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona's opera house and placard for Rolando's recital.)

(Above: Image courtesy of generous OC reader, yvette. Rolando post-performance signs a few autographs. He's da mang!)

VVVVV~~~~***UPDATE***~~~~~VVVVVV

Gtl torn t, aka Catalan Awesomeness, reviews Rolando In Barcelona. Where we learn that the "bittersweet" recital should have been broadcast on the radio but Rolando did not allow that, & that Rolando will alternate with Roberto Alagna in Carmen in July 2009 at Gran Teatre de Liceu.

Daniel Barenboim, Palestinian Citizen

Maestro Scaligero Daniel Barenboim, who has just given a recital in Ramallah, has accepted from the Palestinian authorities there a Palestinian passport: he considers it "a great honor".

Now we always leave politics out of this blog, because the lord knows the topic is already quite well covered on the Internet, and we generally support Barenboim's sincere commitment to peace in the region (we still think conducting Wagner in Israel like he did was probably uncool, but maybe it's just us) but Opera Chic cannot avoid thinking that Maestro Barenboim, who already carries Argentinian, Spanish, and Israeli passports, now needs to go to Valextra or Prada and get himself a custom-made passport holder that is big enough to contain his many national identities.

Also, ne needs to sweet talk signora Merkel into giving him German citizenship as well; so that he may run for Chancellor there.

Now wouldn't that be fun.

Elina Garanca Shakes The Met From Winter Lethargy, Points Out To Harnoncourt: I Am Not A Pig, I Am Rosina In Teh Haus

"I disagree with Maestro Harnoncourt when he says that singers are like pigs in a slaughterhouse, some stamped for goulash, others for steak," she added. "Once singers get stamped for roles and repertoire, singing becomes routine — and routine is the most horrible thing. You have to keep yourself alive."

Unsurprisingly for such a aria bustin' young lady, "Elina Garanca woke up the Metropolitan Opera from its January slumbers". And last night turned NYC into a decidership, and she's the decidah.

Humbly submith to her powah.