Opera Chic

Renata Tebaldi Winners' Concert on Rai5

Renata Tebaldi, who would have been 90 years old on February 1, left behind a rich legacy that continues with an international singing competition, now in its fourth year. The 2011 edition concluded on September 24, 2011 with a winners' concert that honored first price winner, Canadian Soprano Teresa Sedlmair, second place winner, Italian tenor Davide Giusti and third place winner, Korean soprano Jaeeun Lee.

Tomorrow morning (at 9:44am, Milan time) RAI5 will broadcast the winners' concert, organized by the Renata Tebaldi Foundation. You can watch the live stream if you press the blue and grey button on the right side that says "guarda e commenta la diretta di rai 5".

Above: Niksa Simetovic, President of the Renata Tebaldi Foundation, winner Teresa Sedlmair and Bruno Cagli, President of the Internatinal Jury.

Renata Tebaldi Competition on Air

This Sunday, November 6 at 8:15am, the final concert of Renata Tebaldi International Competition winners will air on Rai5. The 4th annual competition, organized by the Renata Tebaldi Foundation, ended on September 24 at Teatro Nuovo di Dogana after a 10-day trial of conferences and competitions.

The winner was Canadian soprano Teresa Sedlmair (above with Niksa Simetovic, president of the Renata Tebaldi Foundation and Bruno Cagli, president of the international jury). Second up was Italian tenor Davide Giusti and the third prize went to Korean soprano Jaeeun Lee.

United Colors Of Tebaldi: Former Benetton Imagemaker Oliviero Toscani To Design Renata Tebaldi's Museum

Three years without la signorina Renata: on December 19, 2004, Renata Tebaldi ("la voce d'angelo" -- Toscanini's words) left this earth.

Teatro Regio di Parma and some private sponsors have decided to honor the magic of Tebaldi's voice by creating a museum that will present her memorabilia -- more than 50 original costumes, jewels, documents, even her famous vintage travel trunks.

Photographer/Designer/Professional Provocateur Oliviero Toscani will design the Museum. The management of Teatro Regio di Parma has explained that the beautiful castle of Torrechiara on the outskirts of Parma will be transformed into a Tebaldi museum. If you think that Toscani, between épater the public with campaigns centered around photographs of (ALL following links NSFW, repeat, NSFW) horses having secks, meaty human hearts, of pen1ses and newborn babies and men dying of AIDS, of hot priests kissing nuns, and anoxeric women posing as pin-ups, is also a devoted opera fan, think again:

"I never imagined that I'd be involved in a classical music project -- Toscani said -- I am not an expert in the field, I know the names of the biggest singers and conductors, but I never thought I'd be chosen for such a job: that's why I accepted, it's never too late to learn!"

We have no beef with Ollie, we might even like him, but please, please, no horse pen1ses for la signorina Renata's museum. Please.

2007 Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition

Opera Chic, proudly part of Team Tebaldi, is happy to announce that the 2007 Renata Tebaldi International Voice Competition is on!

Euros 80K worth of scholarships & contracts, plus the priceless worth of La Tebaldi's name next to one's resume = teh awesome.

Renata Scotto, The Human Voice

"I like to live in the present. Of course, I watch my DVDs. I enjoyed every second of my career. Now I live with the young singers. I love them so much."

Give it Up for la signora Renata Scotto, winner of the Opera News 2006 Awards.

She even found the time for a serene zinger aimed at her fellow directors: "I had always a very good relationship with directors. Maybe, if I would sing nowadays, I don't know. They have sometimes ideas that don't go with the singing, the music."

She was joined by the other four winners: our sweet James "Jimbo" Levine, Deborah "Suck It h8rz" Voigt, Ben "I Can Almost DeNazify Wagner" Heppner and Rene "666" Pape.

^^^update^^^

The superdorky photo of the ceremony handed outby Opera News is, like, awesome.

Questa o quella per me pari non sono

A (young ) woman under the influence (of jet lag), Opera Chic was surprised to see that this week's Met broadcast came live from 1956. It's the perfect time to award Opera Chic's gentle readers a sneak peek into Opera Chic's new venture: we are expanding our brand with the obligatory T-shirts, coming soon in a new collection on CafePress  and, why not, Kitson.