Bumbry!

The 32nd Annual Kennedy Center Honors 2009 include Grace Bumbry, Mel Brooks, Robert De Niro, Dave Brubeck,and America's Boss.

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Comments

[Linda Smith]

Here is is, Part 8.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5ANDGtbWNw&feature=related

Part 9 has La Gheorghiu singing Vissi d'arte with an approving Grace looking on:).

[Eric]

I was annoyed by Ms. Bumbry's dress... with the overly large, white starched collar. Although the dress is fit for a diva, it made Ms. Bumbry appear a bit un-approchable. That said, she still looked like a real opera star.

I was blown away by Angela Gheorghiu's presentation of Vissi d'arte. The aria was as ravishing as the woman singing it! I mean, Angela, looked and sounded good, really good. I thought... Vissi d'arte doesn't get any better than that! Or was it simply a good sound technician? Bravo, Angela, Bravo! I noticed that Netrebko was sitting in the audience. As much as I like Trebs, she is not capable of singing at the level of Gheorghiu. Angela still has it going on, she ROCKS! And Ms. Bumbry nodded to Angela in complete approval, at the end of the aria.

[Les Mitchell]

Gheorghiu sang the "Vissi d'arte" like a goddess. The voice was gorgeous, and she looked absolutely drop=dead gorgeous. I'm surprised she appeared. Say what you will about her, but she's got a glamour that is very Callas-like. The camera also panned Anna Nebrebko, who looks like she's put on a lot of weight. Meryl Streep, of course, was camera panned more than anyone, save for the nominees.

[Constantine A. Papas]

Eric,

Netrebko's schedule is staggeringly full, beating any other soprano's, and selling out houses all over the world. And that's what counts. BTW, I may be wrong, I think Netrebko is a member of the panel that chooses the Kennedy honorees. And if Netrebko does not sing at the level of Angela G. -I hope not- I'll leave it up to the critics.

[el cajon]

I went to the first two KC honors and during a pre-concert reception at the White House for the first one and chatted with George Balanchine, Suzanne Farrell (whose turn came in 2005), and Peter Martins. Nice evening if you were there.

Over the years, many great talents have had their evening in the KC honors spotlight, though not enough opera stars or dancers. Leontyne, Bubbles, Marilyn Horne, Placido, Luciano Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, and now Grace have been honored. Also James Levine, Zubin Mehta, and Gian Carlo Menotti and a few dancers and choreographers.

Still waiting in the wings: Shirley Verrett, Martina Arroyo, Frederica von Stade, Mirella Freni... plus Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson, Riccardo Muti, Claudio Abbado, etc. (It's possible some of these artists were offered and privately declined.)

I do wonder, though, how much this award/honor and other, more recent (and proliferating awards/honors), mean outside of the northeastern U.S.

Do many people in Europe, the rest of the world, or much of the U.S. care? Or has this and similar honors and awards shows devolved into self-congratulatory, feel good, money raising events. The more of these events that crop up, the less important they seem.

[Linda Smith]

I'm with Eric on the Gheorghiu/Netrebko comparison. Netrebko is very good but the sacred fire is lacking somewhat.

[AskMeAboutOpera]

I'm not sure I want to see Angela's belly button during a Vissi d'arte, or try to see other bodyparts because of the see-trough dress. Anyway it was fun :)
And the orchestra was terrible.

[yappy]

El cajon,

as a European who is interested in American showbiz and culture (opera doesn't need to be mentioned), I'm sorta semi-aware of the KC awards, but this clip was the first bit of them I ever actually watched. It does look to me like the self-congratulatory etc. variety, but Ms Kennedy's speech made it look somewhat more sincere to me. Maybe I'm totally wrong, though.
The German-speaking media had it covered, in the glamour/entertainment sections. Does it get talked about a lot in the US, by actual people?
Am curious now and will watch the rest.

[fignaz]

When I first heard Gheorghiu during Tuesday night's broadcast, I thought she had muffed the words. I just listened again and followed along with the libretto. All the words are there but oh mamma the diction ! What strange vowel sounds... And the scooping. I suppose the peek-a-boo dress distracted enough that most people didn't notice ;-) It's clear, too, from the brief side shot from the wings that "baby's got back."

[Les Mitchell]

Would love to see Meryl Streep honored, or has she already? But I agree with el cajon. On the subject of opera and dancers, I also agree that the sublime Shirley Verrett deserves to be honored. A posthumous honor for Maria Callas wouldn't be out of order either. Still, it's nice that recognize classical artists at all! AG's stock has definitely gone up since this telecast. I've had several non-operatic friends call me and ask me, "Who was that gorgeous woman who sang like an angel?". La Bumbry herself looked like the Queen in "Alice in Wonderland", with that extreme white collar. Still, she's a classy lady, and deserves a lot of credit for building a somewhat unconventional operatic career (and of course her fabulous voice and stage electricity. I enjoyed Bumbry in Chicago in eight different roles and she was great in all of them.

[Cristina]

Indeed Angela sang wonderfully and looked drop-dead gorgeous!Mrs.Bumbry's eyes said all.
By the way, I'm still thinking that Angela is unfairly regarded.For example I was astonished when in a recent interview in Romanian ,being asked who thought was a diva in opera she said among others Anna Netrebko without hesitation.
And could tell you more interesting things about her.Maybe other time.

[soubrettino]

How fit to sing Vissi d'arte for a diva assoluta such as La Bumbry, though as fignaz has said it it was all the wrong vowels. Fact check: is it true GB's going to play Duchess of Krakenthorp sometime in the future?

[Linda Smith]

From what I could see on You Tube, Bumbry's tribute was edited for broadcast. They cut out the Habanera, also sung by Gheorghiu. Meanwhile, the Springsteen section appeared to be intact. I love the Boss but not when his music is interpreted by the likes of Eddie Vedder, Sting, and Melissa Etheridge. (Why didn't they throw Bono in for good measure?) It seems that opera lost out when stacked against rock and roll. (Could have done without those Broadway show musical numbers, too!)

Yes, Cristina, Bumbry's eyes said it all:)!

[Ed Schultz]

I agree with Lee Mitchell about Gheorghiu, her voice and beauty. And I hope others noticed Netrebko's weight gain as I did and maybe she'll take heed and start a diet after reading these comments. But I love both of them!

Ed Schultz

[Matt Ringel]

Hmmm. I had a few different reactions to this segment of the Kennedy Center Honors. First, why Bumbry? I was pleased to see the committee select an American singer for this award (celebrating contributions to the arts in America) for the first time in 12 years. More recently, it has gone to Sutherland, Pavarotti and Domingo. I happen to think Arroyo or Flicka may be more deserving choices, but that's a toss up.

Second, IF Bumbry, let's really celebrate her and not be scared about the ratings. She had the least airtime of anyone, and apart from her Bayreuth Venus, we learned very little about what made her career historic and influential to this day. How about her tireless work late in her career dedicated to the American spiritual? I bet a musical segment with Denyce Graves (in the audience), Ben Harper and her own chorus could have rounded this out meaningfully.

Which leads to third, why Aretha and Angela? I agree that Georghiu looked and sounded great, notwithstanding the mushy words and the crazy hands. But I couldn't help thinking her performance was directed at HERSELF and not Ms. Bumbry. I felt the producers ultimately could have made better choices to help us understand her greatness and relevance. Worst case, just give us more Bumbry! The 15 seconds of her Eboli had more impact than a whole night of Georghiu.

[fignaz]

yappy-
The Kennedy Center Honors do get a fair amount of publicity & attention in the US & have been televised in prime time since their inception in 1978 on CBS, one of the three original major broadcast networks. They always do well in the ratings, despite being broadcast during the holiday season when viewership tends to be down. Over the years, the program has won 6 Emmys (the TV equivalent of the Oscars) as well. The gala is the culmination of 2 days of official dinners & receptions early in December & does double duty as a fundraiser for the Center itself. The event is taped & edited & then televised between Christmas & New Year's Eve.

I'm not too sure if I'm remembering this correctly, but I think the original rules limited the honors to American citizens and were only changed in the last decade or so to include anyone regardless of citizenship. There is a committee made up of past recipients and current artists from the various disciplines, plus producers & administrators, who do the nominating & the choosing. For example Renee Fleming & Meryl Streep are both on the committee. It is my understanding that committee members can't be considered for the honors for as long as they serve.

Though politics usually doesn't enter into the choices, personal links to politicians do sometimes account for some of the more inexplicable choices. For example, Irene Dunne & Claudette Colbert certainly benefitted from their personal friendship with the Reagans in being chosen. Some, like Katharine Hepburn have refused the honor then accepted it later. Others, like Horowitz made demands about how & when they would accept the honor & so were dropped. The honoree has to be physically present as well, so that requirement has excluded some people (Irving Berlin is the most salient example).

[C'est Moi]

I've seen Bumbry in Athens in Medea, of all places.

Anyway, I'm gonna go with most of the US doesn't give a flying hoot about the Kennedy Center awards, and I agree that the sheer amount of awards these days are hard to keep up with even when one is interested in the subject. It's probably just another unnecessarily flashy night to most people. But sometimes, between all the speech-making, someone gives a really good performance that makes an impression.

[B. Philin-Ploplis]

Melissa Etheridge provided the balls for the Boss tribute! Vedder and Sting were kool 2. Who remembered the sopranuh who serenaded La Bumbry after the Springsteen fest?

[walter]

@el cajon: your list is itneresting but Freni??? Pleeeease! No thank you!

[nick]

Congrats to them all and despite the always "low" treatment reserved for classical music and especially opera, big CONGRATS to Bumbry!!
@walter: Totally in agreement.

[Linda Smith]

Melissa Etheridge = Generic. Should have been Patti Smith.

[fignaz]

Just a few random observations--
Bumbry herself sang "Vissi d'arte" at the first Kennedy Center Honors in 1978 when Marian Anderson was honored. As for Gheorgiu's hands-- watch closely & you'll see them trembling when she pauses in her semaphoring. I'm sure it's nerve-wracking to fly in & do two arias-- and 2 very different arias at that --basically cold & with no help from the orchestra. So kudos to AG for doing as well as she did. It's interesting that the Habanera was cut from the telecast. Its inclusion would maybe have cost the producers one commercial at most. Can anyone who was there give us any idea whether there were problems with it live ? When Dolly Parton was honored, Jessica Simpson famously forgot the lyrics to "9to5" ( see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEGfIXh1O1w ). She got a do over. So if AG had trouble, they could have easily accomodated her as they did Simpson.

[Linda Smith]

The KC Honors is not the best situation for opera arias; the snippet of Habanera I saw prior to the broadcast sounded great. (La Gheorghiu have "trouble" with the Habanera? Don't think so!) We live in a "culture" that elevates people like Jessica Simpson to star status for reasons unrelated to actual talent. Who will care if a little opera ends up on the cutting room floor? It's much more important for our society that we hear all the lyrics to a minor pop song sung by someone who can't sing:).

[Eric]

BTW, Angela finally admitted (in a recent TV interview released during Christmas) that the reason she dropped out from the recent CARMEN at the Met, was due to her husband. Roberto's presence in the CARMEN was the "personal reason", for dropping out of the Met production.

Apparently, Angela wanted to separate their careers and she felt it would not have been fair to ask Roberto to drop out so, she did.

As far as I know, this was Angela's first public statement about why she made that decision. Although, most rumor mills figured it out.

Later, Angela "put the breaks" on her divorce proceedings around the time the CARMEN rehearsals were getting under way. She reversed herself telling the press, no divorce plans (at least, not right now... but maybe divorce later ?).

My take is... the two of them act just like Mimi and Rodolfo... they will stay together in the Winter time but Roberto had better shape up before the Spring time... or else it will be Addio, for real!

[Linda Ginsburg]

Adding on to what fignaz said: Stephen Sondheim was offered the Kennedy Honor during the Bush (I)administration and refused it. (Reportedly he refused to be associated with any Republican administration.) Sondheim then accepted the honor in the first group of Bill Clinton's administration.