Opera Chic

"If Schoenberg Were Popular"

"Delightful!"

Stand By Your Man: Rolando Gets Kinky In Salzburg

Even if preggerified Anna Netrebko had to pull out of her commitment for Salzburg's Roméo Et Juliette, the show goes on as planned with the heavily-hyped Nino Machaidze (Public Enemy's words of wisdom have seldom sounded more appropriate) stepping in to replace La Trebka, Rolando goes ahead as poor Roméo.

As we can see in the photo above, during rehersals he got himself involved in some kinkly role play operatic stuff, pretending that bewby Nino (funnily enough, a dude's name in Italian) is faraway Anna.

The duly sold-out production opens Saturday.

The "Philly Sound" (Of Silence): Philadelphia Orchestra Cancels 2009 European Festivals Tour Due To Lack Of Sponsors & Weak Dollar

The ghost of Eugene Ormandy is very, very angry:

Unable to find sponsorship, the Philadelphia Orchestra has canceled its 2009 European festivals tour.

Such a cancellation is highly unusual, and this one is doubly painful. The concerts in Lucerne, Paris, at the London Proms and the Edinburgh Festival starting in August would have brought the orchestra incalculable artistic credibility with audiences and within the classical industry.

And this was to have been Charles Dutoit's first tour with the orchestra in his new role as chief conductor and artistic adviser.

Reasons for canceling the tour are numerous, said an orchestra spokeswoman, but they include lack of sponsorship and the weak dollar. The increased cost of flying was "icing on the cake," she said.

In a word:

:-(

(link via Arts Journal)

Forza Verdi: Philip Gossett's New Critical Edition Of La Forza Del Destino Is In Teh Haus

Big hugs to our dear Uncle Phil, aka Cavaliere di Gran Croce Philip Gossett, Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Music and in the College at The University of Chicago, whose new critical edition of La Forza del Destino has just been shown to the public for the first time in a semistaged tryout, with dear Takesha Meshé -- an Opera Chic discovery, bYoptches! -- as Leonora.

Last Exit To Salzburg: Claus Guth Injects New Ideas In Don Giovanni, Trims Erwin Schrott's Chest Hair

Claus Guth, that gloomy, silly man, did it again: after his Mozart/ Da Ponte Strindberg Nozze di Figaro two summers ago in Salzburg, all desaturated colors, rotting moldy walls, and flower-busting peasant girls in "Ricevete, O Padroncina", here's his Don Giovanni, that opened last night in Salzburg, with fast food gadgets and intravenous substances and general douchebaggery. Netrebko bebbedadde Erwin Schrott (above left; below) is a needle-crazed Leporello with seriously trimmed chest hair

Let's hear it from Claus himself:

What is modern about this opera about a ladykiller from the 18^th century?
I see this piece as a study of man’s fear of death. What is enjoyment, what is panic, how much can we arrange ourselves in life, protect ourselves from danger, etc – those are the questions that interest me. When and where such questions are set is totally unimportant for such fundamental topics.

The good news is, this time Niki Harnoncourt is not conducting.

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"No one at La Scala gave a *&^ about me!". Tenor Michael Fabiano Joins The Club

American tenor Michael Fabiano, who this past March sang Rinuccio at la Scala in Il Trittico (Opera Chic review here), joins the club:

Fabiano's first experience at a major international opera house proved unsettling. "A terrible experience professionally" is how he sums up his two months at La Scala.

Arriving in Milan, he expected to sing the premiere and the telecast after an Italian tenor was fired before rehearsals began. Conductor Riccardo Chailly embarked on what Fabiano calls "a firing jag." Fabiano survived the firings. Then Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo suddenly arrived. Grigolo got the premiere and the telecast.

To make matters worse, the conductor and the coaches at La Scala forced Fabiano to rework his technique.

Midway through rehearsals, Fabiano's grandfather died. He was unable to return home to attend the funeral. "I was like a bird with clipped wings," he explains. "I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know when I was singing. I needed someone to support me and tell me I could do it. No one at La Scala gave a *&^ about me!"

Fabiano finally sang three performances at the end of the run. He was cheered when he took his curtain call.

Fabiano returned to Philadelphia wiser in the ways of the operatic world.

Wings Of Desire: Daniele Gatti's Anschluss In Bayreuth

Cherry-flavored proppers to maestro Daniele Gatti, whose "Parsifal" marathon in Bayreuth got excellent reviews and an especially good one in today's Corriere della Sera: the august Milanese paper hails the "compassion and humanity" of Gatti's reading of the score that "seduced the Wagner faithful".

 

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(Above, images from Stefan Herheim's production that, by Bayreuth standards, isn't even that kooky).

Vittorio Grigolo Stars in ChiTown Pavarotti Tribute

(above: photograph of Grigolo by Laurent Guiraud. Sauce.)

Our proclaimed heartthrob tenor, Vittorio Grigolo, could be sipping Cristal & Ribena with Kanye and Common this weekend in dat killa Chi.

The young Italian singer (and Harley Davidson owner/rider) is scheduled to appear in a Luciano Pavarotti Tribute Concert tomorrow night, July 26, live from the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Milennium Park.

The tribute is homage to the late Pavarotti's legacy and is part of Chicago's Grant Park 2008 Music Festival. He'll be singing opera arias, Neapolitan songs, and popera songs from his debut CD, Vittorio. He appears with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alberto Meoli and Mexican soprano Olivia Gorra.

The awesomely delicious 98.7 WFMT, Chicago's fine arts and classical station, will carrying the live broadcast, starting tomorrow at 6:30 pm, Chi-zzle time. Yummy yummy party in my tummy.

Pantelleria

Opera Chic's regular schedule of several, informative, finger-lickin' daily pawsts has been lately interrupted by her little trip to Pantelleria, an island blissfully deprived of wifi Internet, and, sadly, of Starbucks franchises. Besides, her little hands were too busy brandishing big sweaty glasses of chilled cedrata (with the occasional drop of Grey Goose here and there).

Things will hopefully go back to the regular schedule soon, as Opera Chic is about to return to the US of A for the rest of the season (Montauk @ land's end ftw).

In the meantime enjoy this poem, as an hommage to the half-crazed old skooly Pantelleria fisherman whom we heard the other morning whistle the Bolero, and as an hommage to the awesome old half-crazed commie Jew that is Gerald Stern, the closest thing to a Poet Laureate this country has produced since poor Frank O'Hara got shafted  by the envious Muses in Fire Island a very bad day exactly 42 years ago.

In all these rotten shops, in all this broken furniture

and wrinkled ties and baseball trophies and coffee pots

I have never seen a post-war Philco

with the automatic eye

nor heard Ravel's "Bolero" the way I did

in 1945 in that tiny living room

on Beechwood Boulevard, nor danced as I did

then, my knives all flashing, my hair all streaming,

my mother red with laughter, my father cupping

his left hand under his armpit, doing the dance

of old Ukraine, the sound of his skin half drum,

half fart, the world at last a meadow,

the three of us whirling and singing, the three of us

screaming and falling, as if we were dying,

as if we could never stop--in 1945--

in Pittsburgh, beautiful filthy Pittsburgh, home

of the evil Mellons, 5,000 miles away

from the other dancing--in Poland and Germany--

oh God of mercy, oh wild God.

"She is Simply a Goddess on Stage": Schrott on His BB's Mama

Erwin Schrott, who just launched his shiny-new, official website -- via Decca Music Group, of course -- gushes over his future baby's mama, saying: "Even though the baby isn't born yet, Anna is already a great mother. I knew it from the start." **coughs**. We like it when he sings & looks puuurty...like below, str8 e-chillaxing from his e-gallery.

Lang Lang To Auction Off Communist Piano For Charity

Adidas dude and piano man Lang Lang is auctioning off his red piano* for charity: bidding starts from US$ 165,000. (via)

As that funny looking old British man used to sing, paint it black, yo.

* Idea totally stolen from a more proficient entertainer, by the way

Surgery On Levine Successful; Biopsy To Be Performed.

Big bear hugs and kisses and bunnies to maestro James Levine, who successfully underwent surgery for the removal of a kidney in New York; a biopsy will be performed; maestro Jimmy will spend a few more days in the (unnamed) hospital then will recuperate in the quiet of his home.

Béatrice Uria-Monzon's "Carmen" & Her Nipple Impress Les Chorégies d'Orange

Béatrice Uria-Monzon as Carmen experienced a tasty nip slip and almost poked out Marcelo Alvarez's eye.

Thankfully, dear Marcelo's a big boy (bigger and bigger actually) and he survived unscathed.

Mirella's Transparency: "The Voice Is So Beautiful, And It's Unpretentious. It's Honest"

The new school gives a much deserved shoutout to the old skool:

What I love so much about Freni is that she sings with 110 percent heart. The voice is so beautiful, and it's unpretentious. It's honest, and you can't help but cry when you listen to her sing. She is my vocal idol.

Cabell's right, you know -- she nails exactly what makes Freni so special, the clarity and the simplicity and the beauty of her singing, and how they richochet off each other, making it all so memorable.

(I mean, come on, she's possibly the best Mimì ever).

50,000 People In The Rain Demonstrate How Elitist Classical Music Really Is

49,999 people + Opera Chic cheered last night the awesomeness of Roberto Bolle's free recital in Piazza del Duomo; Mozart's and Rossini's and Bizet's music, Bolle's and Ulyana Lopatkina 's and Ivan Kozlov's and Arman Grigoryan's and Vahe Martirosyan's and Natasha Novotna's and Vaclav Kunes's and Sabrina Brazzo's and Alicia Amatrian's and Jason Reilly's dancing.

Opera Chic saw a lot of kids, a lot of them, and families, an average age about 35 or 40 years younger than the people she sees at la Scala's shows down at the other side's of Milan's Galleria.

Now one has to factor in Bolle's star power, the free tickets and Jumbotrons for those too far away from the stage and all, but still if only Scala's administrators could manage to take all those people from under the rain of piazza Duomo over to la Scala, the future of classical music here would be a-OK for the next generation at least.

The audience is out there, if you take the time to charm them a little and show them that classical music is cool, and the farthest away from boring, if done right. Bolle has done that -- that's why we need his magic.

Mozart Didn't Have Health Insurance, Either: How The US Nurtures Its Classical Music Talent

Thanks to reader Steve for sending the link to an interesting portrait, in the Denver Post, of the life of your average non-Big-Five musician, with numbers:

For example, the Colorado Symphony musician's core 43-week salary hovers around $47,000 a year, about the same as similarly sized orchestras, such as the Oregon Symphony in Portland.

But section musicians in comparable cities with older, larger orchestras and more established reputations make considerably more. The basic annual salary at the St. Louis Symphony, for example, is $73,500 for a 42-week season, and in Baltimore, it's $76,700 for 52 weeks.

More typical here are musicians like Paul Nagem, principal flutist of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, where annual salaries for most members range from $9,600 to $11,500 for 103 concerts and rehearsals. Because the position is not full time, he has no choice but to take on an assortment of other jobs as well.

"It's a necessity, because a small orchestra like the Colorado Springs Philharmonic doesn't pay a person enough to just do that," he said.

Nagem also teaches part time at Colorado College and gives lessons in his home. In addition, he freelances with the Denver-based Colorado Chamber Players and Colorado Ballet Orchestra and substitutes occasionally in the Colorado Symphony.

The biggest problem for him is that none of these jobs provides health insurance.

Universal health care, of course, would be a Bolshevik idea and is then to be shunned at all costs.

Red Hot Peru Chili Pepper: The Daily Telegraph Is Confused

Chilean (Sea) Bass, Peruvian Light Tenor, per me pari sono: The Daily Telegraph rewrites geography:

"the young Chilean tenor Juan Diego Flórez, possibly the best high lyric tenor in the world,"

Well, he might not be as good as that old Dutchman, Tito Schipa, in all fairness.

Water, Water Everywhere: Acqua Fiuggi, Rain & Roberto Bolle's Liquid Moves Will Leave You Soaking Wet (Yeah, Everywhere)

Remember Roberto Bolle's free dance recital in Milan's Piazza del Duomo, at the feet of the 14th Century cathedral?

Well, OC was there and you weren't. Much more tomorrow.

DaPonte + Pinza + Furlanetto = AAA+++ Would Listen Again!!!

In what is a happy coincidence -- or maybe not a coincidence, it's hard to say whenever Mozart is involved -- OC was listening to some totally bada$$ Ezio Pinza just this morning (his Figaro in the historic Salzburg 1937 Nozze conducted by Bruno Walter) when she read that il maestro Ferruccio Furlanetto has won the Ezio Pinza award and will be singing tomorrow night in Vittorio Veneto (Lorenzo Da Ponte's birthplace, bYotches) a free recital.
Pinza & Furlanetto ftw. Obvs, then one imagines a time traveling impresario able to cast the great Pinza and Furlanetto in the same Don Giovanni production, as the Don and Leporello switching roles on alternate nights, with, let's see, Ferenc Fricsay conducting. *succumbs to a bad case of teh vapors*

Wet In 90 Seconds: Roberto Bolle's Mineral Water TV Ad

Topless Natalie Dessay Shocks Norman Lebrecht

‘So when you’re standing opposite Juan Diego and he is doing nine high C’s…’ ‘I’m not impressed,’ exclaims Natalie Dessay with absolute conviction. ‘Either you have the top or not. If you have it, it’s not that difficult.’

Everything you ever wanted -- or needed -- to know about La Nata.

Now It's Chiara's Turn: Muti Hawtness Burns Up Your Summer

It's time for more Muti-spawn hawtness, so suck it h8rs. Ms.Chiara Muti, 35-year-old old daughter of Maestro Riccardo, will be married in Ravenna's Church of Sant'Agata this weekend. On Saturday, July 14, 2008, the Maestro will give away his daughter to 27-year-old French pianist David Fray [pictured above]. Cristina & Riccardo, as well as their parents, were all married in the same church. omg too corny.

Between planning the wedding, Chiara had been pretty busy this past month. For her mother's Ravenna Festival, she spotlighted her vocal talents as la voce recitante for three works, two of those alongside her dad and l’Orchestra giovanile Luigi Cherubini.

Chiara met David in Paris where she was chillaxing to hear one of her father's concerts. Noice. Fabulous grandkids for nonno Riccardo. It'll be birthed in a Cartier placenta and have the voice of a Siren. They should give it the most ridic name ever like Terpsichore Lexus Hybrid Prius Thelxiepeia Muti, because this bb comes from the most gorgeous cheekbones & jaw genes evar.

Well, You Can Tell By The Way I Use My Walk: Walking Around Downtown Milan With Roberto Bolle

 

Primo ballerino del mondo and ballet phenomenon and UNICEF goodwill ambassador and world's hawttest man Roberto Bolle will dance this coming Saturday in Milan's Piazza del Duomo, right on the Cathedral's sagrato, in a free gala: ballet for the peoples, haills yea!

He took the time to share with Corriere della Sera -- big cherry propsicles to the newspaper for giving the world frequent coverage regarding Roberto Bolle's every thing, keep the good stuff coming! -- his favorite places in his adoptive city, Milan (he is officially a native of the Piedmont region, in Trino Vercellese, even if his DNA must have been seriously refined to physical perfection in some supersecret lab in Area 51, NV).

So let's cut to the chase, here, O.K.?

Bolle, besides his grueling schedule of rehearsals and endless training at la Scala, his home since he was still a child, works out at Club 10, the superexclusive gym/spa (with pool) on the penthouse of august Principe di Savoia hotel (generally, membership is unfortunately not open to non-guests, which is a good thing because if you want to ogle Bolle's sweaty, panting, throbbing, Phidias-sculpted body pumping iron, at least pay the 300 euros a night charge, wi-fi not included, for the privilege, what teh hail).

He frequently visits UNICEF's headquarters in via Victor Hugo -- he is their goodwill ambassador and frequently visits the places that need UNICEF the most, Bolle has recently traveled to Darfur with UNICEF -- and is a fan of the many exhibitions at nearby Palazzo Reale, in Piazza Duomo.

He lives close to the Giardini of via Palestro, a very short walk down Via Manzoni from la Scala and the only extravagant habits of the workaholic Roberto are the superfine chocolate sold at Venchi in via Mengoni and the Japanese food at Nobu in Via Manzoni, inside the Armani megastore (where we sincerely hope he enjoys better service than the scandalously negligent, inattentive service mere mortals get there).

Bolle has recently confessed that, as a huge fan of Mikhail Baryshnikov's films -- White Nights a big favorite since when he was a kid & dreamed of becoming a dancer -- and he considers himself open to take the occasional movie role once he retires from ballet. 

The suggestion here is obvious: he's the only man alive who would be able to recreate young Travolta's magic in a remake of Saturday Night Fever. Just imagine Bolle in the opening scene:

And since we cannot really post about him without uploading a photo that rightly underscores Bolle's physique, go nuts:

Juan Diego & Rolando @ Champs Elysees

Last night, Juan Diego Florez and Ronaldo Villazon took Paris by storm in a joint recital:

First inning, opera: JDF as Romeo and Rolando as Tebaldo in Deserto è il luogo, from I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Then JDF in Ah leve-toi soleil from Gounod's Romeo, Ronaldino in O souverain, O juge, O Père from Massenet's Cid, then the All'armi duet from Rossini's Otello.

The second part of the concert, "fue latinoamericana y sentimental".

Get Well Soon Maestro Levine: James Levine Undergoes Surgery To Have Kidney Removed

Opera Chic's most loving hugs & get-well-soon wishes to Maestro Levine, NYC's and Boston's -- and the classical music world's -- treasure.

BSO Music Director James Levine regrets that he will have to withdraw from the balance of the 2008 Tanglewood season. Because of a cyst causing pressure and discomfort, Levine will undergo surgery this week to have a kidney removed. The procedure has been described by Levine’s doctors as curative, with no other treatment necessary and with every expectation for a complete recovery. The anticipated recuperation period is six weeks -leaving ample time to prepare and conduct the season openings of the BSO and the Metropolitan Opera in September.

AP story here.

Francesco Muti: Keeping the Hawtness in the Muti Clan

Francesco Muti, son of the üüüber-talented Riccardo, proves that the twigs & berries don't fall far from the tree, and at 37-years-old, he is settling into a successful career as one of Ravenna's top architects. He was asked by Corriere della Sera about his architectural roots and his professional satisfactions, and we'll share some highlights (you can also go here and here for more pictures/coverage):

His first professional work was a job in the park of the Mausoleo di Teodorico in Ravenna, where he currently lives and works. He graduated from Milan's Politecnico and did a post-graduate collaboration with Studio Monti in Milan. In 1999, he opened his own architectural/design firm, Nuovo Studio, with two colleagues (engineer Gianluca Bonini and architect Emiolio Rambelli), which resides in a little piazza in Ravenna that they constructed themselves.

The work that gave him the most satisfaction was for a private home and a palazzo in Ravenna which was published in the Italian magazine, Casabella. His aspirations aren't necessarily centered on his career. He gets satisfaction from doing his own thang, as he pleases, and is proud to call himself an entrepreneur. He says of his family influence:

"Why did i choose this profession? I felt that it was the best way to freely express my creativity. My family is one of artists, my father is an orchestra conductor, my mother is a director, my sister is an actress, and I found via design the way to express myself."

Oh Francesco...you can come and realign our tapestries any time you please. Bring baby bro Domenico, too. It'll be tite!

Positively Gay With Excitement: Seattle Opera Launches LGBT Nights!

(Above: William Burden in Opera Company of Philadelphia's The Pearl Fishers, 2004. Credit: © Kelly & Massa Photography)

Seattle Opera announced today an awesome new addition to their programing. With open arms for new audiences, the 2008/09 season will offer three Friday night operas, which will be part of "LGBT Nights", where LGBTers can meet & greet other Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender opera lovers. LGBT always makes me think of a yummy club sandwich, so there's no way this can fail. The image above, btw, was not curated by OC...rather the Seattle Opera as their header for the LGBT Nights announcement. Magnificent bastards!

The tickets are offered at an easy $100 package that includes an orchestra seat, two private intermission cocktails (first break for drinks, the second for coffee&cake), and free admission to the pre-show lecture. The Friday nighs that are designated are an August 22 '08 Aida, a January 23 '09 Les pêcheurs de perles, and a May 15 '09 Le Nozze di Figaro. Spokesman Alvin Alexander Henry for the Seattle Opera said:

“We are delighted to welcome friends and family from the LGBT community to three unforgettable evenings of entertainment and merriment for an affordable price. Our guests will be able to socialize, make new friends, and network with other opera goers while attending performances at one of the premier opera companies. Opera is for everyone.”

Mezzos We'd Chillax With: Kate Aldrich

We were smitten last April when we went to see Bellini's Norma at Teatro Comunale di Bologna. American mezzo-soprano, Kate Aldrich, won over the cynical been-there/done-that audience with a stellar performance of Adalgisa, and left us reeling over our post-opera tortellini al brodo.

Sign On San Diego (via the San Diego Union Tribune) is currently carrying Ms. Aldrich's profile in their "Walk-In Closet" series, which you can find here. Kate gives us a peek into her [traveling] wardrobe, and shares her system for keeping everything in order. The segment was filmed last February when Kate was in town for the San Diego Opera's Maria Stuarda, where she wowed the audiences with her portrayal of Elisabetta.

Two minutes and thirty-one seconds of heaven! If they did a profile on O.C., you'd need like 10 hours. They call me the Milanese Imelda Marcos. But Aldrich's suitcase offerings aren't too shabby. We'd swap Louboutins with her anytime.

THIS JUST IN: "Exorcist" Director William Friedkin To Direct Al Gore Opera @ La Scala, Sets By Cirque Du Soleil's Mark Fisher, Libretto By J.D. McClatchy

Teatro alla Scala introduced earlier today to the public in a press event the first glimpse into the Al Gore opera that will appear in 2011 at the Milanese opera house: William Friedkin, film (French Connection, The Exorcist) and (sometime) opera director (Salome, Wozzeck), will stage the “An Inconvenient Truth” opera @ La Scala from Al Gore's bestselling book and Oscar-winning film. Music by Giorgio Battistelli, libretto by J.D. McClatchy, who already wrote the libretto for Lorin Maazel's 1984.

[insert Exorcist joke here ]

PS The sets will be created by Cirque du Soleil's Mark Fisher.

Ludwig Van [Considered] The Man.

Listening to classical music is one thing. Wearing it is another. If you're kewl enough to play off the inherent geek quotient, Ludwig could be an option. As if there weren't enough already, str8 outta L.A. comes another "high-end streetwear label" (read: Low-quality clothes with edgy marketing shilled to the cobrasnake/last night's party crowds so they can justify $50 for a cotton t-shirt) , however this time with an unpredictable protagonist as their brand identity. The creative powers behind the Ludwig brand have hailed Ludweegie van Beezie as their homeboi, stating,

"Ludwig draws inspiration from and pays homage to the work and philosophy of one of the greatest minds of all time: Ludwig van Beethoven. Despite being deaf in his later years, Beethoven crafted beautiful music through hard work and a life-long commitment to quality and art. Think Miles Davis' Byotches Brew vs. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony...with a wry Clockwork Orange sense of humor thrown in for good measure."

In their collections, you can find pieces named after dead composers like the Bach shirt and the Elgar jacket, sporting a liberally-translated bust of El-Vee-Bee as mated with Alex DeLarge. I guess you could walk around wearing one of these shirts and be like, pffffff plebeians I know stuff about Beethoven no big deal. l@@k:

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Poor Pav: Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Having Weird Fixations

Celebrity impersonators are like the parasitic scourges of the entertainment industry...karaokeing for their daily bread by aping the idiosyncrasies of legends. Case in point, meet a Pavarotti lookalike who even makes the late Maestro say GTFO. I mean, just look at his face. wtf? It's ok random, bearded, short guy: It doesn't matter how you sing, but what's inside your heart.

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You can also rent the whole tri-faketa.

Also: this guy. vvvvvvvvvvvvvv So apparently it just takes an AARP member with a beard to be a Pavarotti impersonator.

The China Syndrome: Puccini's To Blame!

In anticipation of this year's much-hyped Puccini Festival, comes an obsession with everything Asian. Think Giacomo Puccini's Turandot and Madama Butterfly.

The 54th Festival Puccini is in celebration of the 150th birth year of the maestro, where at Torre del Lago (a gorgeous town between the Massaciuccoli Lake and the Tyrrhenian Sea where the Maestro lived and work), one can find a brand new open air stage which was inagurated a month ago.

From the article above, "Trendy Puccini", the world of the catwalks has been saturated with an Asian fetish, as seen via the styles of Alexander McQueen (in photo 3), a robe by Nalo (in photo 4), a clutch by Bulgari (#5), Shoes by Emporio Armani (#6) and a silk robe by Yamamay (#7).

Here's a close-up of the Alexander McQueen shoes in photo 3 because they're so crazy...

It's Official: Scala Unions Cancel First Three Performances Of Dudamel's Bohème

From la Scala's website (the website, at least, unlike the rest of the theater, is not on strike)

"La bohème - Performances on 7, 9 & 11 July: The management of the theatre deeply regrets to announce that due to a strike organised by the SLC-CGIL, FISTEL CISL, UILCOM UIL and FIALS trade unions, the performances of La bohème due to take place on Monday 7, Wednesday 9 and Friday 11 July 2008 are cancelled."

As already reported by Opera Chic, this extremely lame decision by the unions kills the only really interesting show la Scala was going to offer for the next 12 months -- and considering that the management of the theater has huge public funding available when compared to all the other massively underfunded Italian opera houses, this doesn't make the management and GM Stephane Lissner look particularly good either (not to mention, the already heavily-burdened Italian taxpayers are heavily subsidizing la Scala with these embarrassing results; in a time of deep financial distress for the government, one shudders to think of what would happen if the theater had to try to find its funding without constantly nagging the taxpayers -- most of whom will never set foot in the opera house anyway -- for more cash). 

Dudamel -- just like Daniel Harding, and many other major-league conductors and singers -- is too expensive now for la Scala, so he won't be at la Scala for a while, after this Bohème eventually -- if at all -- has its course in the second half of July (Opera Chic, by then, will be on holiday), in the semideserted city.

July 4

Parade - Hoboken, New Jersey, 1955, Robert Frank

Mozart's Don Giovanni @ the Sydney Opera House, Minus the Peen

Here are the latest shots of the controversial Elk Neidhardt production of Mozart's Don Giovanni for the Sydney Opera House. For the backstory, go here. Sadly, no shots yet of bass-encased tejfeles uborkasaláta. We'll wait.

(Above: Hungarian bass Gábor Bretz as Don Giovanni and Australian soprano Amy Wilkinson as Zerlina.)

(Above: Hungarian bass Gábor Bretz as Don Giovanni and Austrailian soprano Rachelle Durkin as Donna Anna.)

Haydn Go Seek @ Festival d'Aix-en-Provence: L'infedeltà Delusa

(Above: Soprano Ina Kringelborn as Sandrina in Haydn's L'infedeltà delusa)

The burletta, L'infedeltà delusa, by Joseph Haydn, opens on July 5 @ Aix-en-Provence. This production (by Richard Brunel) looks all sorts of awesome. Conductor Jérémie Rhorer leads Orchestra Le Cercle de l'Harmonie. It is my right as a French director to put everyone in antlers, bathrobes, and scythes while prancing around a forest of styrofoam cubes. Parle à mon k00...ma tête est malade.

Soprano Ina Kringelborn as Sandrina, soprano Claire Debono as Vespina, tenor Yves Saelens as Filippo, bass Andreas Wolf as Nanni, and tenor James Elliot as Nencio in in Haydn's L'infedeltà delusa)

(Tenor Yves Saelens as Filippo, soprano Ina Kringelborn as Sandrina, soprano Claire Debono as Vespina, bass Andreas Wolf as Nanni, and tenor James Elliot as Nencio.)

looooooooool @ this guy in the unabomber shades.

Hawt Schrott Dishes on Anna in Das Opernglas: Don't Call Us Opera's Newest Power Couple!

German opera magazine, Das Opernglas, is carrying an interview with Erwin Schrott, where he is also this month's coverboy. If you don't want sexy time with Schrott, check yourself before you wreck yourself. Lusted after still, but I swear I've seen this picture in the window of a Midtown hair salon as "generic ambiguous hair model".

Schrott reveals that after mating with la Netrebko, he's a better cook, and he's learning Russian (while teaching her Spanish). He is mortified to be labeled as opera's new dream team, isn't having any part of it, and claims that they are a completley normal couple. o ok. Just your average couple that travels weekly around the world, gets $$$ tickets to VIP events, and has boxes of Jimmy Choos and 15K Escada gowns hanging in the closet. yah.

Go to Das Opernglas to access the online article...but no direct linkage allowed, so you'll have to dig around yourselves.

The Plot Against America: Kiarostami's Così Fan Tutte Opens On Fourth Of July

Please don't tell Stephen Colbert that an Iranian who, suspiciously, always wears sunglasses and has been denied in the past a visa to the USA went to France to direct a show about marital infidelity and Albanians written by a Jewish heretic/Catholic priest obsessed by sex and by an Austrian kid obsessed by p00p.

Axis of Evil director Abbas Kiarostami's Così Fan Tutte opens on July 4 in Aix-En-Provence: and Opera Chic has the photos from this highly anti-American initiative (Kiarostami has in the past been denied acces to the US for security reasons, something that, for example, has never happened to that Saudi princess who kept wiring money to the 9/11 hijackers in the months before the attacks). All of us 25 American fans of Kiarostami will be disappointed that his staging does NOT take place entirely in a moving car.

Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid: David Cronenberg's The Fly @ Théâtre du Chatelet

 

~^~ ~^~ (Above: Romanian Mezzo-soprano Ruxandra Donose sings Veronica Quaife and Canadian Bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch sings Seth Brundle/Teh Fly.)

We reported it back in February 2007, and can't believe this production ever flew off the ground lol.

Tomorrow night, David Cronenberg's opera, The Fly, will have its Parisian premiere at Théâtre du Chatelet (with Plácido Domingo trying to keep a straight face on the podium to the tune of Howard Shore's composition).

Opera Chic blog carries the exclusive photos of the Akira/Toxic Avenger-inspired offspring between Seth Brundle and a housefly. Try to control the loool. THIS IS ART! It's like a fusion of Rick Baker's wet dream and opera coming together at molecular-genetic level.

If I was in the theater, I'd teleport my a$$ up outta my seat. I truly love the internet because without it you wouldn't get to see how insanely groce this production looks if you can't hop on your private jet to Paris. This opera is going to go places.

~^~ ~^~ (Above: Close up of Ruxandra Donose and Daniel Okulitch.)

 

~^~ ~^~ (Above: Ruxandra Donose and Daniel Okulitch making the BrundleBaby.)

 

~^~ ~^~ ~^~ ~^~(Above: omg Brundlefly!)

~^~ ~^~ ~^~(Above: omg u can't be serious.)

 

(Above:  Placido Domingo, Howie Shore, Ruxandra Donose, and Daniel Okulitch)

VVVVVVVUPDATEVVVVVVV

A few more shots:

 

Bayreuth? Beirut? Same Thing: La Repubblica delle Donne Needs GPS

What a thrill @ perusing our June 28th weekly supplement of La Repubblica delle Donne to find an article on American mezzo-soprano, Nicole Piccolomini. La Piccolomini was kind enough to share a few words with Opera Chic about her opera-ballet, Padmâvatî, which opened the 51st Spoleto Festival this past weekend to rave reviews...even from Corriere della Sera's toughest music critic.

But we are srsly loooooling @ the La Repubblica writer and editors, who mistook "Bayreuth" for "Beirut" when Nicole shared her thoughts on tackling the next Wagner milestone (having already successfully passed two season with Deutsche Oper Berlin and continuing for a third this Fall). See below:

...canta Wanger meglio di una teutone, essendo in forza stabile alla Deutsche Oper di Berlinio per la seconda stagione di fila. Palcoscenico wagneriano per eccellenza. "Dopo Beirut, naturalmente." Un altro festival a gestione familiare.

....She sings Wagner better than a Teuton, and has been a steady force at Deutsche Oper Berlin for two seasons in a row. Wagnerian stage par excellence. "After Beirut, obviously"? Another festival with a similar administration.

Anyway, here's a nice translation of Nicole's interview:

The headline reads, "La Piccolomini, the young voice from New York, and the star of Padmavati, the premiere of an opera that begins a new deal."

Here's the rest.

Prepare yourselves to get familiar with Nicole Piccolomini, Italian American form New York: it's the appeal, fatally and vocally, of Padmavati, the opera that opens the 51st Spoleto Festival (June 27 - July 13).

Nicole, whose family originates from Bari, knows that she shares her last name with popes and humanists. To be at Spoleto, for her, "Is a dream. I'm a girl from the United States, I don't come from a family of musicians. Since I was a little girl I loved the musical and wanted to dance. Opera fell into my life a bit later." Nicole, who loves The Sopranos [the show] ("I don't get it why the Italian community protests it. If it's something you don't like, don't watch it!").

Her maternal grandfather loved Lanza and Caruso: like this, she describes: "For me, my mother put on opera records under my pillows when I was a baby: Scotto, Tebaldi, Callas, Te Kanawa."  When she was a good teenager, she totally listened to Mariah Carey and Sade. It's useless to expect that she would turn up her nose at crossover. She says, "I believe that classical music in stadiums is a good thing, it opens up music to a new audience."

Padmavati, an opera by Albert Roussel with libretto by Louis Laloy, directed by the wizard of Bollywood, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, at Spoleto for its Italian premiere, is an example of the perception that the bourgeois Europeans of the 1800s had of the exotic India. "Mine is the classic female opera figure, a princess that stops everything for love, a stupendous musical part, perfect for me. Also I can't wait to play one of those rebellious heroines that kills her own man: like Dalila.

Nicole, we've got our eyes on you! O_o

BREAKING NEWS: Strike @ La Scala Sinks Dudamel's Boheme, Premiere On July 7 and July 9 & 11 Shows Canceled

The upcoming Bohéme, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, is the last OMG-IT'S-UNMISSABLE show to appear at La Scala for the next, like, year, considering how weak, on-the-cheap, repertory-heavy and star-deprived next season will be (the already really expensive tickets, on the other hand, will cost 10% more).

Scala workers, today, have duly decided to go on strike and sink the first three shows of the boy wonder of the podium (who, like another rising star, Daniel Harding, has not been booked to appear at la Scala next season and possibly neither in the 2010-11 season): anyway, the premiere of July 7 and the second and third show, on the 9th and 11th will not happen unless the unions decide to cancel the cancellation. 

O.K., the production is the old dusty one by Zeffirelli since the theater clearly didn't want to shell out the cash to rent a newer production to give Dudamel, but still, this is pretty sad in so many ways.

:-(

Alessandro Cadario and the Order of the Phoenix

Alessandro Cadario, a 30-year-old aspiring composer/conductor from Varese, was recently given a featurette in one of the Italian weekly supplements. He's worked with Anna Caterina Antonacci, transcribed songs for Carl Anderson, and you probably read about him last January on the Opera Chic blog when we featured him here. 

It looks like he's taken our advice and ditched the 'stache and he looks o so cute...but now we lament that our budding Italian composer might have a latent Harry Potter fetish. Petrificus Penix Totalus! omg he cast the lameness o a Harry Potter themed-PR glossy!!