Opera Chic

Party Party in Centro! Bocelli's Festa della Republica Concerto

*looks down from a lofty skyscraper of kewl* -- *~JEALOUS BYOTCHES~*  ~__||*booyah*||__~

"... one of the great artist of our time: Luciano Pavarotti"

Thanks to reader Gesztenye.

The curse of Alagna strikes Opera Chic again!

I promise I will post about Muti’s Don Pasquale later, but first I must report now on two interviews that have been published in today’s Italian press.

First, from La Stampa, “singer” Andrea Bocelli goes on the record, defending Alagna’s actions and calling him a great musician, with the headline, "Andrea Bocelli defends his friend Alanga”. Here Opera Chic translated a few choice quotes.

Question: "Pippo Baudo, who has been your mentor in Sanremo, has invited you to the Sanremo festival again this year."

Bocelli: "No, I won’t go. And anyway, Alagna will be there, and that’s enough [of a star presence for one festival]."

Question: "What do you think of Alagna leaving the stage at La Scala during Aida?"

Bocelli: "I suffer deeply when such things happen. Alagna is right. Singers are not protected anymore. The world that boos them is a very sad world. When an artist has studied, has trained, and has been green-lighted by a conductor like Chailly, they should not be afraid of anything. Maybe Alagna was sick that night. It’s just not civilized behavior to boo. But I don’t know what I would have done had I been in his shoes."

Question: "But is the right thing to do to leave the stage?"

Bocelli: "We all react in our own personal way. To leave may simply mean that you don’t feel like going on anymore. Behind what appears, there is always much more. Alagna is a great singer. In the United States, I have even bought one of his albums. I am quite positive that he did not deserve those boos."

Question:" What about the cancellation of Alagna’s following commitments for Aida?"

Bocelli: "Those cancellations stemmed from purely political issues."

Also in today's Corriere della Sera is a long interview with Franco Zeffirelli, that asks again for the director to speak about Alagna’s behavior the night of his booing at Teatro alla Scala. Here are some quotes:

Zeffirelli says, “Alagna’s coup de théâtre? It has really been a grave folly on his part. He is impossible to defend. It is useless that he blames other situations on his failure. Maria Callas once left Norma because she had a very high fever, and her voice was just not there. But she completed the Act anyway, and loggionisti were screaming things like, ‘You are a hen, and you get paid for it!’”

“Boos belong inherently to the history of musical theater, and almost all singers have been booed at least once. Even Carlo Bergonzi, one of the greatest Radames was booed. Radames is a terrible role, and it’s just not ideal for Alagna, who managed to pulled it off very well regardless. But some sort of dissent must always be accepted. What a shame, really.”

“In April in Rome, I will direct La Traviata with Alagna and his wife Angela. I have always loved them both, even now after everything.”

“In the meantime, Alagna will go to Sanremo where, after his sceneggiata [ed: Zeffirelli uses this word to describe Alagna’s poor actions at La Scala; the Italian word is a very popular, low-brow Neapolitan traditional, sentimental theater for the average working guy] at La Scala, he will really enjoy a triumph. But that is a different profession. If he wants to gain his credibility back in the world of opera, he will have to commit very seriously.”

“La Traviata could be the perfect occasion. I’m thinking of staging a very erotic La Traviata. It will be like the one that Verdi certainly imagined, but was not able to make explicit living in his historical times.”

“Violetta suffers from tuberculosis/consumption, and those who suffer from that sickness are famously over-sexed people. I would like Eros to be palpable on stage, and since I have two very beautiful singers who really love each other in real life, there is no better occasion to do it.”

Oh great. Now that I have washed my hands of the Alagnas, I can't wait for the Rome La Traviata.

Here is a personalized mix-tape. For your wedding.

From today's edition of Corriere della Sera, we have confirmaiton that Bocelli served the Cruise-Holmes with a little dose of Catholic dogma, as well as a very, um, special wedding gift.

The translation reads:

"Bocelli: I am a Catholic"

"Here I won't sing Ave Maria"

"No Schubert's Ave Maria for Tom and Katie, but instead [he sang] celebrated pieces from his own repertoire: "I am a Catholic, and their ceremony follows the rites of Scientology", said Andrea Boceli to Sky Tg24. And his gift to the wedding couple: a little gold box that contained a special compilation CD."

heh. good lord. Tom and Katie got a cheap-ass CD compilation from Bocelli! I am so not inviting Bocelli to my wedding evar.

Bocelli shows TomKat what’s what!!

SUP4R EXCLUSIVE NEWS! As Opera Chic is privy to inside gossip sources, it has been revealed to her that Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli snubbed TomKat earlier this evening during their wedding reception at Castello Odescalchi di Bracciano by absolutely refusing to sing, "Ave Maria".

Bocelli, a very devout Catholic who has performed many times for the late Pope John Paul II, backpedaled furiously upon realization that the TomKat wedding was to be conducted by a Scientology minister. Instead of singing religiously-based arias, Bocelli decided upon a medley of secular arias.

I'll bet you that Tom was all screaming at Bocelli like, "WTF SING AVE MARIA, B*TCH", and they were all like, "HAY TOM, HAY TOM, HE'S BLIND not DEAF."