Opera Chic

Ben & Janice @ The Met; Voigt Not

Ben Heppner is back; last night he finally appeared in the Met's unlucky -- in many ways -- Tristan; no Voigt in sigt.

Isolde was once again Opera Chic's Queen Janice, aka la signora Janice Baird.

Meanwhile, for those keeping score, here's a rundown of the casting so far:

* March 10: Voigt and John Mac Master;

* March 14: Voigt, replaced by Baird during Act 2, and Gary Lehman;

* March 18: Voigt and Lehman (he slid into the prompter's box in Act 3, but resumed the performance after a brief pause);

* March 22: Voigt and Robert Dean Smith;

* March 25: Baird and Heppner.

Queen Janice Approximately: La Signorina Baird Will Spill Your Blood

Hawt "chanteuse américaine" Janice Baird is about to spaell some serious blaed in Strasbourg at the Opéra National Du Rhin in Elektra: as a big Strauss fangirl, as a big supporter of Americans abroad, and a JB admirer, OC sends a shoutout to Queen Janice.

(both photos courtesy of www.janicebaird.com)

Rome's "Wozzeck" In Memory Of Rome's Victims Of The Shoah

On November 3, 1942, Alban Berg's Wozzeck, banned in Germany as degenerate art, had its Italian premiere at Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (then Teatro Reale). Rome's opera house has gracefully chosen to dedicate their recent season premiere -- another Wozzeck, this time staged by Giancarlo Del Monaco and conducted by maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti -- to the memory of the 1,024 Roman Jewish citizen who in October 1943 were kidnapped by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz. Ticket prices for the performance had been heavily marked down to a very affordable 20-30 euros.

Corriere della Sera hailed the production's minimalist staging as a "genius" premise, Jean-Philippe Lafont's "impressive" "voice" and "charisma", Gelmetti's "natural" talent for conducting music written by very different composers; big props to Janice Baird's "musicalissima Marie", "most musical Marie".

(production photos courtesy of www.janicebaird.com)

Janice Baird Invades Seattle in 2009: Verweile, süssestes Weib!

Even if Opera Chic is on the record as a bit of a h8er of most things Wagner -- a more successful antisemite than a composer, if you ask OC, not to mention a wildly successful precursor of various neckbearded hipsters -- it makes her very happy that la signorina Janice Baird is the new Brunnhilde of the Seattle Opera replacing in the 2009 Ring our dear Jane Eaglen (Eaglen's Norma live in Florence, conducted by Muti, is playing all the time in Opera Chic's sound system and in her mp3 player as well). Baird has been a delicious Elektra in Seville and a great Isolde in Rome, that Oc has appreciated thx to various bewtleg in-haus recordings.

In bocca al lupo for her Seattle Brunnhilde, we're sure she'll be a hawt Wagnerian heroine for a new generation!