Opera Chic

Suddeutsche Zeitung: Anna + Rolando = Opera As Product

The Suddeutsche Zeitung on the superp0rny Manon at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin with Rolando Villazon, "at present time the leading Latin Lover of the opera" and "ornament" Anna Netrebko, conducted by "fierce" Daniel Barenboim:

"The performance... confirms what one observes often: ... the surrender of classical music culture to Pop, either covertly or openly. Because Pop means Glamour, Sex, business, advertisements, Pop is fundamentally about the ratings, not art. During the "Manon"... curtain opens and shows Anna Netrebko as an ornament, in front of the mirror... One wants to say, image is everything. Physical beauty, perfectly groomed surface have always been essential for the Opera diva."

heh.

And Rolando is also quoted as pointing out, "I am no longer only a singer, but a product, too". Tell it like it Rolando: Unibrows of the world unite!!!111

Berlin's Staatsoper to Be Renovated; Opera di Roma Stilishly Falls Apart

Gloriously ratty Berlin Staatsoper will undergo a major (read: they're totally going to gut the building), three-year, $174 million renovation starting in September 2010 (but general manager Peter Mussbach is not saying, yet, where will they move the theatre's operations for those 3 seasons).

But the good thing is that pieces of the façade are not crumbling, crashing down on the Under den Linden boulevard.

No, that happened, yesterday, in Rome: a big honkin' chunk (about five feet wide) has somehow dislodged itself from the building façade, falling down on Via Torino where, luckily, no passerbys have enjoyed a close encounter with the stony projectile.