Opera Chic

La Tosca di Siviglia

Lucky duckies in Seville are getting ready for the Teatro De La Maestranza premiere of Luca Ronconi's indescribably awesome staging of Tosca. Opera Chic, accidenti!, wasn't living in Milan yet, and she missed the beauty of maestro Muti's conducting for that production. And Leo Nucci's Scarpia, on DVD and cd, sounds just, well, perfect. Yes, OC managed to catch the Maazel-conducted Ronconi Tosca last year, with the b3wbalicious Daniela Dessì, much better than Guleghina: it was just not the same, without Muti (no disrespect to maestro Maazel).

Instead lucky Spaniards will enjoy the burnished, dignified voice of Renato Bruson as a very interesting Scarpia (Tosca will be Guleghina, and OC is not really a fan, but what3vs).

Here's a Nucci, because he's our favorite sing-a-long baritone, like, ev4r

Gianandrea Noseda's Follies

Two thumbs up to Milanese conductor Gianandrea Noseda (who is currently enjoying a small, deserved triumph with the Robert Carsen-directed Rusalka in Turin). Cherubic-faced Noseda has been nominated Musical Director of Teatro Regio in Turin, and in his first interview with hometown newspaper La Stampa explains that he'll conduct with "quiet folly". Coming soon in Turin under Noseda's directorship: Falstaff, Carsen's staging of Salome,  and an intriguing staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Mendelssohn's music.

Opera Chic's suggestions to add a bit of folly to the quietness: a Japan-themed, cosplay-heavy Falstaff with manga sets; ditch Carsen's staging and cast pr0n empress Jenna Jameson as Salome and have her lyp-synch, Brecht-style, an old scratchy Birgit Nilsson LP (btw, has anyone seen Jena lately [link maybe NSFW]...she's gotten all anorexic and has the omg-im-loosing-my-hair-Posh-cut); and for A Midsummer Night's Dream Opera Chic has only one word: smurfs ewoks.

Happy Birthday Philip Glass

Opera Chic joins Alex Ross's Lunar Park in a big, minimalist (?) Happy Happy Birthday to Maestro Philip Glass, who turns 70 today. A nice golden Oscar would be  a perfectly fine, if late-coming, gift from the Hollywood community.

^^^update^^^

Ciao e grazie to ionarts!

Rolando Villazon, Opera Cartoonist

The always omniscient Jessica Duchen alerts us that Rolando Villazon, opera's sexiest unibrow, between rehearsals, has also a penchant for drawing quirky cartoons.

Esa-Pekka Salonen Owns a Mac: Take That, Bill Gates!

Opera Chic's favorite Finnish conductor will be selling his soul to Steve Jobs next month, by appearing on February 15 at the Third Street Promenade Santa Monica (USA) Apple Store.

Aside from stocking-up on all the free Apple swag, Salonen will be discussing with fellow neckbeards the upcoming debut of his work, Helix, which was commissioned by Salonen's bff4e&e Valery Gergiev and the Solti/Gergiev World Orchestra for Peace, which will premiere at the end of March 2007 at the LA Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Santa Monica release reads:

"Live at the Apple Store: Esa-Pekka Salonen, Helix Preview."

"An award-winning composer and Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen discusses and presents a sneak peek at his new work, Helix, composed on a Mac. Helix makes its U.S. premiere in March at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and will also be released as part of the iTunes DG Concerts series. February 15, 7:00 p.m."

Salonen says that he is hip to the phenomenon of downloading music via iTunes, which you can read about in this excellent Guardian article on the conductor.

GOD! SOO00ooo unfair! All we get in the SoHo store is freaking Ari Hest (WHO?) and Brett Dennen (WHAT?). What the flip, Kip?

h4x0ring the Future of the New York Philharmonic

The erudite and prolific Lee "CultureGrrl" Rosenbaum has published (a few days ago ::sono in retardo::) an exalted prediction regarding the future leadership of the New York Philharmonic, and Opera Chic is sold.

CultureGrrl was in the audience at NYC's Avery Fisher Hall this past Saturday night for the Muti/Oppitz interpretation of Martucci, Verdi, and Respighi (that Opera Chic also attended a few days prior), and was duly entranced by the patented “Muti Mystique”.

She asserts that Riccardo Muti should be an eligible (and leading) candidate for Lorin Maazel's successor as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic (regardless of the fact that Maazel already named [quite publicly] Barenboim as his preferred successor).

CultureGrrl writes of the audience reaction on Saturday night in Avery Fisher Hall after the concert:

"While departing, strangers were exclaiming to one another about what they had just heard. Even the usher posted next to the escalator announced to everyone in earshot that she wanted the Philharmonic to choose Muti as director. And of course, while he's here, we need him to take over the Italian repertoire at the Metropolitan Opera."

As much as I prefer Muti to stay in Italy (for selfish reasons), this is like the best idea I've heard ev4r. Someone needs to get right on this.

btw: CultureGrrl, in her post, wonders about Muti’s Beethoven, and I must respond:

His Emperor will certainly be excellent, and generally remember, for the Beethoven piano works, the younger Beethoven is, the better Muti gets. Beethoven's symphonic work instead, is to me one of the (very very few) weak parts of Muti's repertoire -- if you check out the work that has been recorded (the official releases at least) you'll see a stormy (too stormy for my taste) Pastorale, a big-sounding -- but eventually empty-sounding Ninth.

Beethoven's symphonies are (for me) better left among living conductors: to the flawless Claudio Abbado and the daredevil Danny Barenboim (his Ninth at La Scala on 12/23/2005 almost killed me, and his recent Eroica in Toscanini's memory was just heartbreakingly Apollinean).

Of course, Muti's precision, clarity, and grace remain always, but he just doesn’t “get” Beethoven's symphonies the way he gets most other composers' works. And yeah, Muti’s Beethoven Ninth is not stellar, ok whatevs...but that exaulted work should be left to deceased giants like Furtwängler and Giulini and Jochum and Weingartner anyway).

Muti is a brilliant man, but not an intellectual, and his superhuman power of intuition is also his only major flaw: whenever he doesn't "get" a piece, he just doesn't...and he just won't (anyways, Muti instead conducted at La Scala in 1999 a very beautiful -- if disquieting -- Fidelio, a mighty difficult work).

The only truly problematic composer for Muti, in my opinion, is Wagner: Maestro Muti *really* doesn't "get" Wagner, and he therefore gets all mystical, thundering, and ultimately...leaden. Happily, I have a hard time digesting Herr Wagner anyway (aiight whatevs, I admit I have Furtwängler's Ring at La Scala; and aiight, Barenboim's beautiful Tristan, ok ok, and also Solti, but whatevs) so Muti's Wagner flaw is perfectly fine with me.

It's important to remember that we owe Muti a true re-discovery of Cherubini, a truly overlooked genius. The Muti-conducted Cherubini's Requiem in C Minor makes for a life-changing, transcendent experience. And Muti does a pretty bada$$ Händel, too. (Among the Maestro's quirks: he makes a point of conducting every once in a while Carmina Burana, and he makes it much less of a horiffic embarrassment than one would imagine...Muti's probably all like, "Aw hell...y'all think Carmina Burana is teh suck, eh? I'll show all y'all!").

To sum it up: Opera Chic truly thinks Muti is one of the foremost living conductors, one of the greats, and he is, by far, the greatest living Mozart conductor (especially the Mozart/da Ponte operas, but not just those). And as we all know, his Verdi is unforgettable (his Traviata Violetta dies of a broken heart, *not* consumption, his Trovatore makes you forget the crassness of so many parts -- "le belle zingarelle"!? ok wtf -- with the heartbreaking power and subtlety of the conducting, his Macbeth does true Shakespearean justice to Verdi's Shakespearean fetish: and, not even at thirty-years-old, Young Muti enchanted La Scala with an Attila that *still* has people in awe).

Ok, now that it's akk out of the way: Muti is poised to take over NYC! w00t! I'm gonna go h4x0r the Wikipedia page on The NY Philharmonic (j/k I would never, ever hax0r), but someone needs to draft an IM-esque petition campaign for Lorin, Zarin, and Chairman Paulie B. just to let them know the 411. Here...something like this:

hay guys MUTI 4 Mus1cal Direc0r guys omgz l0l!!111 seNd THis 2 ev3ry1 0N UR buDdy L1st 0r u w1LL diE 2nite!!! :-( :-p l0l j/p j/p j/k 0k 0k 0k.......but plz send newayz! tia.

vvvvvvvUPDATEvvvvvvv

Culturegrrl was responded to by Signore Alex Ross on her Muti pick, and he clearly marches to the beat of his own drummer. Oh dear!

Roberto Alagna: Pure Comedy Gold

Two of Opera Chic's favorite readers (la cucciola Donna Anna and il cucciolo fignaz) alerted me (sry :a few days ago: sry) to pure comic gold that has surfaced in the Italian media regarding the Roberto Alagna La Scala Aida walk-off.

Produced from a RAI Radio show called Viva Radio 2 Revolution, there was staged a series of six phony phone-calls [fignaz predicts nine total in this post's comments!!] to a fictitious "Casa Alagna". One of the show's personalities pretends to be our very own Tato, and is presented à la Adam Sandler's "Opera Man" from the 1990s SNL (YouTube link) "Weekend Update", singing his responses to the interviewer in a hilarious, operatic tenor.

One of the half-dozen phone calls has made it to YouTube in the form of audio, and can be found below along with Opera Chic's translation. Thanks again to fignaz and Donna Anna for the scoop!

Fiorello: We are going to call the house of Alagna to see if he is there. (phone ringing in background) I think this is the house...let's see if he's here...[blah blah blah nothing important].

Fiorello: Hello?

**The first responder is a bit character, and answers [OC isn't familiar with the format of the show] and they're all like, no way! It can't be so! Omg it's you again?! And then the bit character says he was just joking around, and he'll go find Alagna, to which are the replies from Fiorello stuff like, "Thank god, let's get on with it..."

[Update/note: reader fignaz left a comment elucidating the "bit character", and writes, "The stock character at the beginning is supposed to be the switchboard operator at the Quirinale (the residence of Italy's president, for those who don't know). This is Fiorello & Baldini's running joke on the vagaries of the state-run telecommunications system. Since fake phone calls to celebrities (whom Fiorello imitates) are their stock in trade, they often reach the Quirinale."] [thanks, fignaz!]

Roberto Alagna then gets on the line, and sings his opening greeting, which is met with much laughter from Fiorello, who begins the interview:

Fiorello [gathering strength]: I'll try to go ahead, and do this. [To Alagna]: Maestro! Hello/Good Morning. Listen, can you explain to me what happened? [Referring to the December 10, 2006 Aida walk-off.]

Alagna: Those sh*ts!

Fiorello [to the audience]: All in all, it [the interview] began well, eh?...[To Alagna]: Sorry, but do you always talk like this?!

Alagna: No, only in public.

Fiorello: There we are. Instead, [how do you do it] in private, then?

Alagna: In mezzo soprano.

Fiorello: I get it. Listen, when you go to the super-market, how do you speak?!

Alagna: Normal.

Fiorello: Okay, I get it. But can you give us an example, please?

Alagna then pretends he's at the deli counter in the super-market, and sings instructions for the deli guy to give him "un etto di prosciutto", and goes on to sing instructions, like, "I recommend you to slice it thinly, under the fat, and close to the bone. Y'ah ha ha ha ha!"

Fiorello: Let's see. Why did you leave last night? [speaking again of the La Scala Aida December 10th walk-out].

Alagna (acting all torn-up): The loggioni guys whistled at me. I sang the aria, but it wasn't my fault! h0 h0 h0 h0 h0!

Fiorello: Okay, listen, but you went [off the stage], and were substituted by a man, but he was in jeans.

Alagna: NO NO NO!

Fiorello: Okay! What, you don't know who it was?

Alagna: The substitute wasn't my replacement!

Fiorello: Who was it then?

Alagna: He was one of those guys who sells bonbonniere [candy] and coca cola. Y0 h0 h0 h0 h0.

Alagna: But I don't care. I'm going to San Remo. We'll be the three tenors. The three of us.

Fiorello: Sorry, the three of you? Who are the other two [tenors], then?

Alagna: "Zeroassoluto" [a really crappy Italian pop band]. We'll sing something like this, here's a piece of it:

Then Alagna starts singing a lame proverb, "Il buongiorno si vede dal mattino." ["You see the good day in the morning"].

***END SCENE***

I HAD TO POST IT
I JUST HAD TO

i dont know about you guys but i am lollerskating over here.

vvvvvvUPDATEvvvvvv

(fignaz [again] with teh supar sexay superfluous nfo, posts a rapidshare link...to grab six of the nine Alagna spoofs.)

Valentine Day Gift Ideas To Put Your Loved One To Sleep

On February 13, Deutsche Grammophon and Decca/London will give lovers in the US a monster DVD simultaneous release of a box set with "Mozart's entire oeuvre of operas and operatic fragments", recorded live at the 2006 Salzburg Festival as part of last year's 250th-anniversary celebration of Mozart's birth.

It's 51 hours* of hawt DVD action for, ahem, $500$ bucks only, and it's like, a steep 10-clams an hour: if you can splurge, there are "productions of all 22 operas, plus a wealth of bonus interviews with conductors, singers, and other members of the artistic team".

OC, in Italy, has already seen some of the DVDs  (it already came out in Europe, to baffingly good sales considering the price): she really loved Die Zauberflöte with Diana Damrau as the Queen of the Night, René Pape as Sarastro, Paul Groves as Tamino, VPO conducted by Opera Chic's beloved Riccardo Muti.

She quickly fell asleep watching Le Nozze di Figaro conducted (if by "conducted" you mean "moving as if in a scene of Awakenings before De Niro wakes the hell up") in opera-slo-mo by Herr Nikolaus Harnoncourt (too bad for Anna Netrebko and Dorothea Röschmann, part of the excellent cast).

Kudos, instead, to hunky Thomas Hampson's Don Giovanni. In the other titles, there are really cool singers such as Ramon Vargas, Magdalena Kozena, Diana Damrau.

* 44 hours of which are eaten up by Harnoncourt's Nozze lol

Buona Notte, Signor Glen Tetley

*

“I am just using the vocabulary of dance,” Mr. Tetley told his critics.

The maestro of choreography died last Friday at his Palm Beach home. He was 80.

^^^Update^^^

Guardian obit.

* photo Toronto Star

Karita Mattila's Jenufa pwns the NYC MET

 

Mad props to Karita Mattila (and her Tara Reid eyeliner) for singing the title role at la prima of Leos Janácek’s Jenufa last night at the New York City MET, conducted by Jirí Belohlávek.

Mattila has once again proved that she is too cool for school (or any other type of educational institution/process).

Pictures at a Toscanini Exhibition

(From Arturo Toscanin's collection: Giovanni Boldini's "Child’s Face", 1860. With certain, um, Boldini embellishments.)

Before Opera Chic departed this weekend for Massachusetts to spend time with more of her lovely family, the Muti concerto at Lincoln Center allowed a nice opportunity to scope the Toscanini exhibition currently showing at Avery Fisher Hall.

It has been named “Maestro's Secret Music: The Artwork Collected by Arturo Toscanini” (La Musica Segreta Del Maestro: La Collezione d'Arte di Arturo Toscanini). Ewww. The exhibition sounds like it was cribbed from a Hallmark movie about a high school conductor who teaches a deaf student how to play the violin or something.

It is curated by Renato Miracco, who chose the works to represent Toscanini’s "versatility and vibrant receptivity to modernity,” as a majority of the oil work are representative of 19th century avant-garde.

The second goal of Miracco was to highlight the conductor's multifaceted embrace of culture, which was reflected in his collected artwork, and hidden from the public for a long time.

Of course, the real occasion of the exhibition is remembrance of the fiftieth anniversary of Toscanini's death (January 16, 2007). All artwork anecdotes are provided from the Maestro's late son, Walter Toscanini. However, the works are currently owned by Walfredo Toscanini, the Maestro's grandson. The artwork was last seen in New York by the public in 1972 in an exhibit called, “Nineteenth-century Italian Painting".

(Grand Promenade of Avery Fisher Hall, where the Toscanini exhibt currently resides.)

All of the artwork (oil, watercolor, pencil, bronze, and ceramic) was stationed throughout Toscanini's house in Milan on via Durini, and then brought to Villa Pauline in Riverdale, New York. Though the exhibit has roughly sixty works, Toscanini’s collection fluctuated between one hundred and two hundred pieces.

Italian artist and father of Italian Divisionism, Vittore Grubicy de Dragon (RAWR RAWR!), became Toscanini’s critical advisor and purchaser for procuring new art, and the maestro additionally collected quite a few of de Dragon's (rawr) works.

The collection boasted tons of bucolic landscapes, most of them small oil paintings. There was a reliance on Italian 19th century masters such as Umberto Boccioni, Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega, and Gaetano Previati. Landscapes of Lake Maggiore was a recurrent subject in many of the paintings. Toscanini favored the Pointillist style, and early romantic artists that paved the way for impressionism (I’m looking at you Joseph Turner). There were a few works from Ashcan skoolers George Inness and Alfred East in the collection as well.

Outstanding works?

 

Enrico Caruso (yes *that* Enrico Caruso) made himself (and then gave to Toscanini) a "Self-Caricature as Laughing Buddha", 1909 statuette in bronze (seen above). It's really quite spectacular.

Also significant: Riccardo Pick Mangiagalli's "Painting of Cia Fornaroli Toscanini" from 1918. Toscanini's daughter-in-law was a successful ballerina, and the maestro was proud of her. Toscanini had half-a-dozen mixed media representations of Miss Cia in his collection (painting, sculpture, and sketches), with this oil painting (to the left) as the most stunning.

It is stated in all exhibition media that to view the works, the “gallery” is only open to the public on Thursday afternoons, with two viewing sessions (2:00pm and 4:00pm). But here's what I don’t understand: if you go to a nighttime event at Avery Fisher Hall, the works are hanging right there on the walls, because the exhibition is located specifically in the viewing spaces that encircle the Grand Promenade and the First Tier of the concert hall (in plain view)!

The only incentive to follow the tour is that the $20 exhibition catalog (I was told) can only be purchased via the tour guide. The catalog is in English and Italian, has pictures of all the artwork in the exhibition, and half a dozen introductions/essays by family and friends closest to the maestro.

You can call (212) 875-5930 for an appointment or email [email protected]. After the NYC tour, the next stop is in September, at the Teatro Goldoni in Livorno, Italia.

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.

Dress Code @ La Scala: The Final Episode, Part ROFL

(Nota Bene to Opera Chic's radio-loving readers: if you want to read about Opera Chic on the radio -- she took part yesterday in a live panel on teh beeb (BBC) with the juicy awesomeness that is Norman Lebrecht -- scroll down here).

   

You know, first La Scala writes on the tickets that gentlemen should always wear a jacket and a tie (We quote: "Formal dress is required at premiere performances. Gentlemen are requested to wear a jacket and tie at all other performances.").

More-or-less-unintended consequences: people are all like wtf? (especially the chronically under-dressed). Giorgio Armani is all like w00t and sez "buy my stuff youll look sassy and they'll nev4r kick you out". Nobel Prize Dario Fo p00ps on "elitist" La Scala. People start looking for their tuxedos from the 1970s, turquoise lapels and all, afraid that Lissner's Iron Fist will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to make fashion faux-pas.

Eventually Scala General Manager Stéphane Lissner, busy hacking all controversial scenes off of Robert Carsen's staging of Candide, finds the time to actually check out the back of his theatre's tickets.

mmmkay.

And then (if you believe the pro-Lissner camp) he gets kinda pissed, apparently, BECAUSE THE WORDING APPROVED FOR OFFICIAL SCALA DOCUMENTS (like the Programma 2006/2007 that Opera Chic has rite here) WAS, AND IS, QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT. If you belong to the anti-Lissner camp, well, he simply backpeddled.

o rly?

Yes rly. Because La Scala's official documents, in the "Regolamento di Sala", state literally that:

"E' gradito l'abito scuro per le prime rappresentazioni e sempre la giacca e la cravatta per i Signori. Si raccomanda comunque per tutte le rappresentazioni un abbigliamento consono al decoro del Teatro".

In English (and the italics are Opera Chic's): "A dark suit is appropriate; and, as always, a jacket and tie for the gentlemen. Anyway, we recommend for all the shows to wear clothing that is appropriately matched to the theatre's decorum".

To boil it down, wording such as "required" and "requested" do not belong to official La Scala policy -- they just appear on the back of tickets.

That's why Lissner finally spaketh. Officially Lissner stated (in a letter to daily La Repubblica, which cannot be found online) the following:

"...non ho mai emanato alcuna norma nuova né tanto meno restrittiva in materia d' abbigliamento... i «consigli» rivolti al pubblico, che genericamente riguardano un invito a indossare giacca e cravatta e a adottare un «abbigliamento consono al decoro del teatro» per le donne, esistono da sempre alla Scala... Non esistono dunque norme restrittive, se non quelle del buon gusto e del rispetto della storia del Teatro, per l' accesso alla Scala, che proprio su mia iniziativa ha lanciato quest' anno un Progetto Giovani che tende a un democratico allargamento del pubblico".

In English:

"I've never ordered a new, restrictive dress code... the 'advice' to the audience is generic, and aims toward jacket and tie for the gentlemen and appropriate dress for the ladies, have always existed at La Scala... Hence there are no restrictive regulations, with the exception of the respect for good taste and the history of the theatre, to access La Scala. On my initiative La Scala has launched this year a 'Project Youth' to further enlarge and democratize the audience".

So who wrote the, "Formal dress is required at premiere performances. Gentlemen are requested to wear a jacket and tie at all other performances" bit, in pretty clear and harsh wording? Opera Chic has a suspect: Roberto Alagna. He probably hax0red into La Scala's computers and printed that stuff on the back of the tickets. Why? Because those who booed him, he noticed, weren't wearing a tie. 

^^^UPDATE^^^

The last words re: how to dress for an opera show rightly belong to Giuseppe Filianoti (in the linked article's larger photo, he is dressed for an audition to a Starsky & Hutch Broadway musical): "You look normally!".

You cannot say it any better than that.

HELLS NO I WON'T CROSSOVAH! ESP WITH NO UNDERWEAR ON K THX

Alea Iacta Est, as they used to say in some boring Dead Old Languages class while Opera Chic was noisily popping bubblegum, reading French Vogue and listening to Puccini on her Discman: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (just "Kiki" for Opera Chic, we're best buddies and go shopping for Manolos a lot together in Chelsea -- note to our NYC readers: the nice Chelsea, the one in London) got her knickers in a twist and pulled out of 3 concerts with Australian pop singer (unknown to OC, and she suspects she didn't miss a lot) John Farnham.

The flawlessly polite Dame was afraid the audience would -- ewwwww -- throw underwear at her.

Opera Chic, who would never ever part with her handmade, custom-made Cadolle  (crappiest le website ev4r with the cheesiest muz4k, but best lingerie in the world) undies just to throw them at some hairy, overfed tenor, cannot understand the ruckus (except for Juan Diego: she buys cheap panties at her neighborhood open-air Via San Marco market, and throws them happily at her Peruvian opera crush).

^^^update^^^

John Farnham video here. More here.

Opera Chic has managed not to throw her panties at the screen. She almost threw a (full) can of Diet Coke, though.

^^^^^update^^^^^

Our dear Jessica Duchen, the most generous woman on the Internets, finds the time -- in her schedule busy with the writing of beautiful novels & erudite newspaper stories, and the feeding of Solti the Cat -- to give OC a shout out in her Kiri post: thanks Jessica!

Critics Love Devia's Pirata -- wouldn't you?

Rave reviews in the Italian press for divinelycious Mariella Devia: her Il Pirata in Ancona  -- stage direction by the always interesting Pier'Alli -- seems to be really, really cool and overflowing with tasty Bellini goodness. She will always be our Lucia, we love love love her Fille, and she also has Imogene down. Hopefully, she'll get a blog soon so Opera Chic can retire in sunny Provence, dozing in the shade of a beautiful pear tree, dreaming in the colors of Pierre-Auguste Renoir while blasting at eardrum-perforating volume some bada$$ DMX rapping on her McIntosh vintage sound system. Sound system that she has and that, as always, you don't.

OOOOOPS! Materazzi gets it again!

Opera & fashion fan, friend of Frengo's (and Coolio's) and soccer world champion Marco Materazzi, who got headbutted by Zinedine Zidane last july at the World Cup, yesterday got another head check, this time from Sampdoria midfielder Delvecchio.

Marco!

(sequence via Corriere della Sera)

Symphony Orchestra websites and blawgs

Our dear signore Alex Ross reviews redesigned (and not so much) websites of American orchestras: which reminds Opera Chic that the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra has a blog (blogspot!), where they  write, among other things, about their European tour (OMGEurope!) with the always cool Roberto Abbado.

Opera Chic on BBC Lebrecht Live

BTW Opera Chic is on BBC right now talking shop with Norman Lebrecht.

heh

The stream is here.

^^^

Thanks to Mr. Lebrecht, to BBC and Her Majesty.

Nancy & Zubin's Flying Circus

Opera Chic has long been a fan of the wonderful Nancy Kovack: today's Los Angeles Times interviews her conductor husband, Zubin Mehta. Nancy's husband (our favorite Yiddish-speaking Zoroastrian) has great anecdotes about his 46 years of work with the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and -- from the patio of his Brentwood mansion -- gives an interesting insight into a world-travelling condcutor's life:

"I arrived yesterday from Tokyo, I'm going tomorrow to Florence, and I thought Los Angeles is on the way. Two days in my home is my rejuvenation process."

Holy First Class Lounge, Batman!

Metallica to Morricone: W *heart* U

As Scarlatti would cross himself respectfully whenever people mentioned his hero Haendel, James Hetfield of Metallica is inspired by maestro Ennio Morricone. Today's New York Times carries the news -- previous Opera Chic posts here and here -- of the baffling Morricone tribute cd (Sony Classical) with artists such as Renee Fleming, Andrea Bocelli, Metallica. Here's what the metallic rock composer from California has to say about Morricone:

“To me his music is just absolutely inspirational, corny as that may sound (...) He has taken so many risks, and his music is not polished whatsoever. It’s very rude and blatant. All of a sudden a Mexican horn will come blasting through and just take over the melody. It’s just so raw, really raw, and it feels real, unpolished. You hear mistakes in it, and that’s just great — if they are mistakes. Who knows? There’s so much character in it, and I appreciate that in such a polished world of soundtracks.”

Who knows, indeed. Coming soon: Morricone gangsta rap tribute album.

PS Priceless correction appended at the end of the NYT story:

An article on the front page of Arts & Leisure today about the composer

Ennio Morricone

incorrectly lists Enya among the performers on a tribute album to be released in February, “We All Love Ennio Morricone.” She does not appear on the album.

Dang!

Licitra @ the Met: Uno alla volta, per carità!

In a "classic double bill" (yahokrite), Salvatore Licitra was both Turiddu and Canio at the Met the other night. Opera Chic is ambivalent about Licitra (say "lee-CHEE- tra," like cheese rofl): his Cavaradossi at La Scala in 2000 made her  think omg we have finally, oh Lord yes, FINALLY found another Di Stefano omg. Then, unfortunately, he lost his way, and as of today he's just a pro with  some great qualities who didn't study enough. But we'll always have <strike>Paris</strike> that Tosca.

vvvvvupdatevvvvv

The New York Times reports here.

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EXCLUSIVE: EXTREME CROSSOVER -- NEW METALLICA LINEUP WITH LEAD SINGER FLEMING

Opera Chic has received an exclusive image of Metallica's new lineup taken during the recording of the Ennio Morricone tribute cd discussed below (with, besides la Renee Fleming and Metallica, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Denyce Graves, et al.).

Qual suono ferale, indeed.

Dudamel's Don Giovanni on RAI television

Tonight, lucky Italians will be able to catch on RAIDUE Gustavo Dudamel's supercool Mussbach-directed Don Giovanni we saw at la Scala last October. Any kind readers who feel like sending poor Opera Chic an .avi file or something will receive her neverending gratitude, and a shout out on this blog. kthnxbi.

Fleming, Graves, Bocelli, Celine Dion & Metallica sing Morricone!!!

The famously dopey Goffredo Mameli-written Italian National Anthem, Fratelli D'Italia, has finally found a way out of musical lameness: Lifetime Achievement Oscar winner, maestro Ennio Morricone (website with music), in today's Corriere della Sera, explains that he is going to write a new orchestration for the poor, musically supercheesy & justly neglected national anthem.

In the same interview, Maestro Morricone explains that despite creating the immortal scores for Sergio Leone's spaghetti western films, he only met Clint Eastwood once, briefly, just a few years ago, on an Italian TV talk show. And a Morricone tribute album is coming soon, with artists such as, I kid you not, Renée Fleming (lolomglol), Metallica (heh), Andrea Bocelli (ok), Celine Dion (riteonok), Denyce Graves (umwhut???!!).

Track listing:

01. I Knew I Loved You - Celine Dion
02. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Quincy Jones feat. Herbie Hancock
03. Once Upon a Time in the West - Bruce Springsteen
04. Conradiana - Andrea Bocelli
05. The Ecstasy of Gold - Metallica
06. Malèna - Yo-Yo Ma
07. Come Sail Away - Renée Fleming
08. Gabriel's Oboe - Ennio Morricone
09. Conmigo - Daniela Mercury feat. Eumir Deodato
10. La Luz Prodigiosa - Dulce Pontes
11. Love Affair - Chris Botti
12. Je Changerais d'Avis - Vanessa and the O's
13. Lost Boys Calling - Roger Waters
14. The Tropical Variation - Ennio Morricone
15. Could Heaven - Denyce Graves
16. Addio Monti - Taro Hakase
17. Cinema Paradiso - Ennio Morricone

Catch Maestro Morricone at Radio City Music Hall on February 3.

Dario Fo vs. Stéphane Lissner: No Jacket Required

As Opera Chic reported on January 16, the latest step in Scala General Manager Stéphane Lissner SuperFlyTNT hardline against, well, everybody and everything, is his decision to enforce a dress code at la Scala for the gentlemen.

Today's Repubblica carries a story about the dress code where Milanese Nobel Laureate and Opera Fan, the awesome, naturally elegant Dario Fo, expresses his deep disappointment: "This is a bad omen: the man makes the clothes, not the other way around. I think La Scala's management would rather have the same type of people in the audience, all lookalikes, all the better if they belong to the upper class. It's discrimination".