On the occasion of Bellini's La Sonnambula opening at Paris's Opéra Bastille (on January 25), it's been a week of heavy rotation for Natalie Dessay, singing Amina in the Marco Arturo Marelli production led by Italian maestro Evelino Pidò.
The petite French soprano spoke to Elle France about her Sonnambula and more: that fateful 2001 Sonnambula in Vienna where she first realized there was a serious problem with her nodes ("it felt like there was a permanent grain of sand stuck in my throat"), her three cats ("Kyste, Polype et Nodule"), what it's like to be a mom with teenagers (aged 11 & 14), and Marelli's production (like Thomams Mann's The Magic Mountain). She also spoke to Le Figaro in depth about her career and the Paris production.
I'll have to go then, won't I.
Posted by: Barbara | January 30, 2010 at 04:41 PM
She's fabulous. I can't get enough of Dessay. Thanks for mentioning her La Sonnambula.
Posted by: Sim | January 30, 2010 at 04:55 PM
Oh dear, friends of mine were there and, uh, they weren't paid to say how great she was and uh, they, uh, didn't really like it...
Posted by: walter | January 30, 2010 at 05:20 PM
Hey, it's sold out, so don't feel guilty for not making it.
Posted by: Susan | January 31, 2010 at 05:53 PM
I quite love her Amina. And I am one of 3 people who loves that Mary Zimmerman production from the Met (granted I saw it on video and not live), but I adored it nonetheless and constantly pull up clips from YouTube to watch her and JDF go at it--I wish they had recorded the opera together. I have to make do with my MP3 of the Met Broadcast.
I can't wait to see her in Hamlet this Spring. I am so, so, so excited.
Posted by: Alex | February 01, 2010 at 05:19 PM