Opera Chic

Lost Verdi Letter From 1859 Discovered In Milan's Used Book Open Air Market

Every Sunday morning, right beside the huge gray stone building of the Bank of Italy in downtown Milan, exactly one block from the stock exchange and a very short walk from la Scala,  there's a sweet little open-air market of used books and vintage pens and watches.

And right there, a few days ago, reports Corriere della Sera, a letter written by Giuseppe Verdi in 1859 -- a most important year in his career (Un Ballo In Maschera opens in Rome) and in his personal life (he marries Giuseppina Strepponi and reluctantly begins his short-lived career in politics) --   has been sold to a Milanese collector of antique books.

The letter (in the photo above, from Corriere della Sera) is addressed to the Interior Secretary of the Duchy of Parma and it's a thank-you letter: in it, Verdi thanks the Secretary, named Massari, for the help he gave (a small pension) to a certain Migliavacca, very probably, explains the newspaper, a blind violinist and Verdi acquiantance.

Here is the text, translation by operachic.typepad.com, please credit.

Busseto, 1 nov. 1859

Most esteemed Mr. Massari,

I have to thank You not only for answering my prayer in favor of Migliavacca but even more for Your exquisite tenderness in working towards the approval of the pension. I was deeply moved by the  kindness demonstrated to me by the Leader (note: it could be either Garibaldi or then-Emilia President and later Prime Minister of unified Italy, Luigi Carlo Farini).
I pray you, most kind Mr. Massari, to present to that most illustious Italian, with the necessary grace, my most distinguished thanks. My wife and Mr. Antonio are most grateful for His remembering them: they both pray me  to give to Your Most Excellent Lordship  their respectful compliment. I desire to see you in person to renew with my own live voice these feelings of gratitude and real appreciation.

Your devoted and affectionate

 

G. Verdi

It moves Opera Chic that Verdi, famously cranky, famously proud, constitutionally uncapable of kissing a$$, anybody's, took the time to ask for a favor -- a small pension -- not for himself but to benefit a smalltime, blind musician. This totally gels with what we know about him, an almost obsessive man incapable of forgiving slights, but also the man who gave all his money to charity, established -- in life -- a hospital for the poor (and he kept nagging the directors with harsh letters asking to take better care of the patients) and -- after his passing -- the endowment of a residence for old artists that he had built, "l'opera mia più bella" -- my most beautiful work.   

Vier Letzte Houndstooth: Jessye Norman Pays Her Respects

La signora Jessye Norman -- in serious need of costume help -- at the funeral service for New York socialite/philanthropist Brooke Astor at St. Thomas Church in New York the other day. Obvious advice: not even a woman as naturally stylish as la signora Jessye can seriously rawk the houndstooth thing.

Wiping Bayreuth's Slate Clean, Or Maybe Not

As the war went on, Bayreuth remained an unreal oasis, attended by tens of thousands of workers and soldiers bussed in by the Nazis. The final wartime performances, in 1944, featured SS members drafted into the depleted chorus. What was the opera? Naturally, Die Meistersinger.

Bayreuth, the Wagners, and the Hitler thing in The Times.

Keep The Door Open For Teddy Tahu Rhodes; And, TTR Talks!

Scripture -- doesn't matter if you're Jewish, Christian, or Muslim -- agrees that Elijah was capable of raising the dead, could bring fire raining down from the sky, and was taken up to heaven on a whirlwind.

Frankly, what is nowhere to be found is that he was also an Aryan-looking, buff surfer dude with rock-hard abs and a penchant for wearing too-tight wifebeaters.

But the "tall, tanned, tattoed" (TTT, get it? lol) baritone, with "big voice and muscles to match... 195 muscular centimetres", "hunk du jour" but "not too hot to Handel" that is Teddy Tahu Rhodes, is about to return home to New Zealand to play, yes, the lead role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah – with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra on Thursday 6 September at the Auckland Town Hall.

Watch Teddy talk, not sing (he's fully dressed) here;

May the Lord forgive us all.

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!

Listening To Wagner Mozart Makes Them Want To Invade Poland

  The manuscript on which Mozart wrote with a quill his Piano Concerto No 27 in B-flat is held, within green velvet covers, in a university library in Krakow, Poland. And that makes it, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, one of the "last German prisoners-of-war".

The obvious solution, of course, is to leave the manuscript in Opera Chic's loving hands until an arbitration decides what's going to happen to it. Because, I mean, "Mozart's writing, small and neat, is perfectly clear. "It just takes your breath away," said Mr Pietrzyk".

And how secksy is that?

Pavarotti "Not In A Hurry" To Get Out Of The Hospital

Italian news agency ANSA reports that Luciano Pavarotti
will remain for the time being in the cancer ward  of Modena's Policlinico, where he has  checked in on August 8. The tenor, according to sources, "is in no hurry to get out" and would rather stay in the hospital where he feels his situation can be monitored more effectively.

It is at this point impossible to say when Pavarotti will check out of the Policlinico.

Kunde In Concerto: Mi Lagnerò Tacendo

Gregory Kunde is not only Otello at Rossini Festival, but, next Sunday, he'll also give a recital concert -- accompanied by Beryl Garver on the piano (Chris Merritt was supposed to sing, but he canceled).

The VERY interesting program: Beethoven's Adelaide; Chanson triste, Le manoir de Rosemonde, Phydile by Opera Chic's beloved Henri Duparc. The Year's at the Spring, Ah, Love, but a Day and I Send My Heart up to Thee by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach; Guitare, Comment, disaient-ils?,  Puisqùici-bas toute, Dieu qui sourit et qui donne by Edouard-Victor-Antoine Lalo; and finally Rossini: Pechès de vieillesse: Vol. XIII, Musique anodine «Mi lagnerò tacendo» n. 1 Prelude, allegretto moderato, n. 4 allegretto moderato, n. 3 Andantino moderato; Vol. I, Album italiano n. 3 Tirana alla spagnola rossinizzata.

Ah, Lo Scandalo: The Times of London Didn't Like Italian Vogue's "Fun Take On Rehab"

Whenever people talk about Milan style, even if they don't know it, they talk about the Sozzani sisters -- Franca, editor of Italian Vogue, and Carla,  the woman who invented the 10 Corso Como store/art gallery/hotel. Their joint awesomeness -- truly off the charts -- makes them  impressive  icons of style and entrepreneurship (not to mention, if you dig fashion photography, and why shouldn't you, really, keep in mind that the sisters have either discovered or made what they are today photographers such as Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, or Steven Meisel).

Steven Meisel himself seems to have landed la signora Carla in a bit of hot water -- following his ripped-from-the-news style that he inaugurated with the Abu Ghraib fashion spread, Meisel shot models "in rehab" for the Summer issue of Italian Vogue.

The Times of London (link may be NSFW) is not amused (but blimey guv'nor, it's spelled F-r-a-n-C-a with a "C", not with a "K", dudes).

Personally, we dig the faux-Britney above.

Back To Nozze: Daniel Harding Does His Thang

Mad props to il maestrino Daniel Harding, who worked that baby-faced mojo of his to pump life and wit and music back into the corpse of last year's Harnoncourt Nozze, showing that the lifelessness of that production wasn't really the fault of the director, Claus "Yes, I Like Strindberg An Awful Lot, Yes" Guth and his monochrome, desaturated staging.

And Harding did it all without la Netrebka.   

Final TPS of Glimmery Glassy

(Alice Busch Opera Theater, home of The Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, Upstate New York, USA.)

Although Sunday afternoon bathed upstate New York in an inescapable humid warmth, the half dozen ceiling fans stationed and circulating throughout the Alice Busch Opera Theater chased it away. Not that it mattered…since the entire audience was under the captivating spell of the Glimmerglass Opera’s sparkling production of Philip Glass' Orphée.

With libretto and composition from Glass himself, the impetus was a carbon copy of Jean Cocteau's 1949 film by the same name, although the Greek myth of Orpheus is interpreted and slightly altered. In this version, the poet Orphée (baritone Philip Cutlip) is sweating La Princesse, the personification of Death sans black robes and scythe (soprano Lisa Saffer). He grows bored with wife Eurydice (soprano Caroline Worra) and spends increasing time with his slick Tivoli radio to escape. Eurydice threatens to leave (and does), hauling around her Louis Vuitton luggage (+8 points…power-up for the retro vintage Poltrona Frau steamer in white leather) Luckily for her, La Princesse has exciting plans for the hausfrau, and sends her henchmen (in the form of two yellow & black neoprene clad motorcyclists) who kill Eurydice in a looped sound track of motorcycles skidding-out. In the middle of all this action is handsome Heurtebise, an auxiliary character inherent to the action, and Cégeste, a rival, oblivious poet that quickly perishes in a drunk vehicle accident and becomes La Princesse’s constant companion.

Here we meet the characters, as the curtain rises on Act I to the scene of a modern loft, with the visible spaces of a kitchen, a large living room and dining room, and a small office. Grey carpet stretched across, with furniture and lighting like a low-grade version of Design Within Reach’s showroom, including homage to bff4e&e Chuck Close and his patented portraiture style hanging on the wall. A party is taking place, and the chorus is dressed as tamed suburban versions of L.A. scensters, huddled in the kitchen around an inebriated poet, Glenn Alamilla’s Cégeste. 

(Philip Cutlip as Orphée and Lisa Saffer as the Princess in Philip Glass’ “Orphée”.)

The orchestra was oh so tiny with one instrument from each group representing: one flute, one clarinet, one french horn, etc. The orchestra was extended peppy conducting by a sequined Anne Manson, but some of the soloists were frankly a bit shaky. All voice onstage, however, were bright and clear.

Via the use of mirrors and invisible borders within the living spaces, parallel universes are formed for the doppelgangers to travel (Eurydice, Cégeste, the two messengers of death, and La Princesse). With Act II, we’re in the same apartment, but three judges seated on the couch reside over the trial of Orphée (with three corresponding coffees), and the stage is crowded with all of the doppelgangers.

When the decree comes down that Orphée cannot look at Eurydice in exchange for her resurrection, it is Heurtebise (gorgeous tenor Jeffery Lentz with teh #1 acting skillz) who uses most of his time tutoring the couple on methods of visual avoidance. Humorous dialogue peppers the action. For instance, after Orphée surrenders to the decree (because Eurydice had spent an exasperating spell dodging around the set trying to avoid him), she declares, “There are advantages…You’ll never see my wrinkles.” Of course, everyone knows how the story generally ends. This version, with opera as tragedy, our hero Orphée like a rock star kills himself with a shotgun at his own party crowded with Act I’s revelers after stealing a glance at his wife before she is carried back to Death.

The strengths and appeal of the production lie in its unsentimental, organic, unforgiving, and edgy direction. The synthesis of Glass’s music/libretto and Cocteau’s inspired screenplay create a perfect atmosphere of delicious tension, questioning life and death and the afterlife. The characters are haunted by their own doppelgangers, hovering to remind them of their own bad decisions. There was nothing fussy or overworked, and the singing was allowed to weave over Glass’s ambient score. Sets, costumes, and direction all fit. Curtain call was enthusiastic, congratulatory, and well deserved on all fronts. Five more performances run until August 27, 2007, so you'd best get your opera-starved butts over there.

(above: Alice Busch Opera Theater, home to The Glimmerglass Opera)

Pavarotti "More Comfortable In The Hospital For The Time Being", Says Wife

Luciano Pavarotti is not getting better as his doctors initially thought: the maestro will have to remain in Modena's Policlinico cancer ward for a few more days; his wife Nicoletta Mantovani explained that "he is more comfortable there for the time being".

Among the visitors to Pavarotti's room, soprano Mirella Freni, Mimi to his Rodolfo, once upon a time.

It is indeed more than a bit jarring -- if not simply pathetic -- the e-mail that Pavarotti's manager Terri Robson sent to The Associated Press.

Robson wrote that a newspaper report that the tenor was suffering from pneumonia was, "completely exaggerated," [...] "He will be leaving hospital imminently," [...] "He is looking forward to getting back to teaching his young singing pupils as soon as he is out of hospital and next month plans to get back into his Modena recording studio to resume work on his new album of sacred songs." Robson visited Pavarotti yesterday and wrote that he was in, "wonderfully high spirits."

Whatever.

Muti + Ferri + Depardieu + Armani = Pantelleria

A reader made Opera Chic realize that, yes, the deal for yesterday's Muti/Depardieu show in Salzburg may have actually been closed on the fabtastic island of Pantelleria, where they both have a dammuso, one of those crazily expensive Phoenician stone shacks that all the cool kids there stay in (hotels in Pantelleria, no matter how pretty, are 4 lamurZ).

Today's Corriere della Sera provided a handy map-of-the-stars (lol) of Pantelleria -- Fabrizio Ferri (Alessandra's partner, Giorgio Armani, and many others). The infographic's here.

Happy Birthday Kathleen Battle!

Let's all throw a big fat tantrum as an hommage to the great diva -- buon compleanno signora Battle!

Cooperstown ReCapulet (Now With Less Glass)

Arriving to Cooperstown, New York, from the south, one must cruise through narrow winding roads that run past brown cows and corn fields, faded red barns and rotting 19th century siding. When the Alice Busch Opera Theater finally raises itself grey from the predictably gorgeous green surroundings, a beacon of culture lays in promise via the Glimmerglass Opera. It totally delivers for what and where it is, and usually supersedes. This past weekend sampling three of the summer festival offerings, it did just that. //*end predictable & generic opener* *fade to black*

(Michael Maniaci as Orphée and Brenda Rae as L’Amour in Glimmerglass Opera’s production of the Gluck/Berlioz Orphée et Eurydice. Credit: George Mott/Glimmerglass Opera.)

First up was Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice (Berlioz version). Although countertenors aren't really my thing (I'm more of a girl-on-girl kind of woman O_o), the production was overall strong. Since the OC household favorite of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice is Riccardo Muti's agile, elegant, elemental, and quicksilver version, it is impossible to even begin comparing the endearing, economized, and industrious Glimmerglass orchestra (with Julian Wachner conducting), so we'll just leave it. A few of the soloists left a good impression, especially the lovely and seductive clarinet solo that came shortly after the first intermission.

Michael "Counterternor My A$$" Maniaci as Orfeo had a round, powerful voice for a male soprano, and pushed out his expressive notes almost consistently while he seemed to barely break a sweat. Animated but severe, Maniaci kept the scenes moving nicely. The tragedy of the opera was given a dignified wash, and he commanded a decent balance between the music and the drama. Alas, however tragically gorgeous this production fared, OC just wasn't able to transcend from the opera house that afternoon. Breda Rae as L'Amour was captivating, with clear diction and matching voice, and Amanda Pabyan's Eurydice was equally smooth and practiced. Sets, scenery, and costume were traditional in pale pastels and creamy whites, a real treat for the eyes.

With the afternoon peformance over, Opera Chic headed over to Cooperstown to do some shopping at the new Prada boutique (next door to the Baseball Hall of Fame) and stock up on some Rag & Bone denim for my extensive denim collection at the Barneys CO-OP erstown. playin. played! ok ok I ate 12 hotdogs and drank 3 dr peppers while waiting for an engraved "Opera Chic" wooden slugger from the Cooperstown Bat Company.

(Michael Slattery as Orfeo and Megan Monaghan as Euridice in Glimmerglass Opera’s production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo. Credit: George Mott/Glimmerglass Opera.)

Next on deck (LOOK! BASEBALL LINGO!) was the Saturday evening performance of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo. All abandon hope, ye who enter here. ha ha just playin. L'Orfeo played to a mixed crowd. During intermission and egress, overheard conversations revealed that patrons didn't "get" the direction. The dissatisfaction even elicited an unmistakable smattering of booing during lights out for the curtain call, but all chaos was quickly countered with a partial standing ovation and raucous cheering.

OC will set the curious str8: for every weakness in direction, there were equal moments of brilliance which cannot be omitted.

The steamy hawt crush of the night was young American tenor Michael Slattery talented in the ways of tonsils and technique...and versatility versed as an accomplished media artist, and (not making this up TRUST) "he makes nightly appearances as the operatic voice of the Pillsbury Doughboy." I have no idea what that alludes to, and I'm not going to even pretend I know.

As the curtain raised v e e e r r y slowly on Act I, random couches, loveseats, and chairs were the only furniture littering a large hall with floor to ceiling blond wood paneling, and the only element that changed by scene. Soaring windows stage left served as the exit and entrance onto the stage. The Act I celebration introduced La Musica, signaling the first time OC has seen purple on the opera stage in like 2 years. The shepherds and nymphs are introduced in a mélange of costumes (Elizabethan to Renaissance, 60s mod to Venetian), everyone oozing secks, and even engaging in covert, mimicked couplings. The vocal lines were hollow and affected in 17th century technique, which mostly worked save a few instances where the lack of modulation created crescendi that were just too heavy over the delicate orchestra. 

Act II's Tu se' morta from Slattery was an anguished, tortured, pitiful triumph. The direction of Slattery being so overcome with grief that he cocoons (drawing his gray hooded sweatshirt tightly over his head, and pulling the drawstrings closed to constrict his face) was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Even better that it covered his low-plunging v-neck gray t-shirt (American Apparel? gawd how i hate that hipster deep-v on men.) Slattery continued to writhe around the stage with hood pulled over his eyes, shoes kicked aside and sock-less, which ensured Act III's Orfeo son io as heartbreaking, and Slattery continued to kill us (in a good way) throughout Acts IV and V. 

Conductor Antony Walker drew out a purified sound from the historically accurate setup, including bebee trumpets, some viola da gamba, wooden recorders, and other olde timey instruments that frankly, we could care less for. Give me bass & bump & thump...not the tinny, wheezy, compressed flat lines. ugh. wooden recorders. ugh. it was like a knitting club under the stage it was so small.

Low points?: flat, tepid, sallow yellow lighting that evoked not earth dwellers or hell, but like it was set in that Disney Haunted Mansion elevator...and equally, lighting that did not once change before the intermission. Also: the curtain rising on Act I that moved like -5 millimeters every second, agonizingly painful to watch and equally distracting.

Strengths: Aside from everything above, we liked the interpretation of Charon, who was lulled asleep in a chair while simultaneously reading a newspaper. Also: upon the renouncement of women, each nymph leaves the stage with looks of disgust, but the final spirito gives Orfeo an angry and aggressive middle finger to his back. heh. We also liked the nerdy and cranky Apollo, a character straight out of a Chris Ware graphic novel.   

Sleeping. Bed Time. Opera Chic promises a full review on the third performance, Philip Glass' Orphée, tomorrow that you don't want to miss. Plus pictures from Glimmerglass and Cooperstown. You know you want it.

Come Nembo: Bartoli Replaces Netrebko @ Last Minute, Saves Teh Day

As we had said ages ago, lame denials from the Tuscan Sun Festival notwithstanding, Anna Netrebko canceled her engagement for Pergolesi's Stabat Mater there. With such short notice, Cecilia Bartoli, our dearest Ceci, has been so kind as to save the Cortona festival from a very very humiliating situation (and we hope she raised her already appallingly high fee for the occasion).

Here's the program for la Ceci's concert tomorrow night, the 13th at 9PM:

Antonio Vivaldi: Concert in C major for string and continuo RV 114
Antonio Vivaldi: Symphony in G major for string orchestra and continuo  RV 146                  

Handel: Rodelinda Aria di Bertarido 'Dove sei'
Handel: Giustino Aria of Giustino 'Se parla nel mio cor'
Handel: Il Trionfo, HWV 46a Aria del Piacere 'Chiudi, chiudi i vaghi rai' 'Lascia la spina' 'Come nembo che fugge col vento'
Antonio Vivaldi: Concert in A minor for cello, string orchestra and continuo RV 419                  
Handel: Il Trionfo, HWV 46a Aria del Piacere 'Un leggiadro giovinetto' ' Io sperai trovar nel vero'
Antonio Vivaldi: 'Cessate omai cessate'- Cantata for alto, string orchestra and continuo RV 684

Gérard + Riccardo BFFE&E!!!111

This morning in Salzburg, Maestro Muti has conducted the Wiener P. in an all-Berlioz-all-teh-time program: the Fantastique (not Opera Chic's favorite piece) and Lélio. With recitation by that wonderful fatty, Gèrard Depardieu, maestro of acting.

More later when our Salzburg spies report back.

^^^^UPDATE^^^^

More than two hours and 15 minutes of music and words, Depardieu sweetly hammy, Muti surprisingly (thank heavens) relaxed and upbeat: and a looooooooong ovation at then end of the concert.

A concert that hasn't been televised because Depardieu, for no apparent reason, refused to agree with the releases ($$$$) and withheld his permission to broadcast the concert.

:(

Getting Our Stockings in a Bunch in Central Leatherstocking

Opera Chic is heading out this weekend, not to Montauk or Newport, but to the quaint upstate New York destination of Cooperstown (actually, about eight miles north of Cooperstown proper, at the Alice Busch Opera Theater).

We fear that there won't be enough time to visit The Baseball Hall of Fame, as we have crammed in an efficient itinerary of All Things Orpheus that the Glimmerglass Opera has organized for this year's festival, and are totally looking forward to meeting the lovely faces behind the organization.

Sampling three of the opera works inspired by the Orpheus myth (although Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld gets the axe, and we are regrettably unable to attend Haydn's treat L'Anima del Filosofo), OC will be at Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice (Berlioz version), Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, and Philip Glass' Orphée (Glass' libretto based almost word-for-word from Jean Cocteau's 1949 film Orphée).

With the blessings of enabled blackjacks and wireless macbooks, reports from the road will hopefully follow. This weekend, I'm it. I'm Glimmerglass.

Voi Che Sapete Cosa E' Mozart

Opera Chic would have loved to be present, tomorrow night @ the Haus Fur Mozart in Salzburg, for la premiere of Daniel Harding's Nozze di Figaro. It's the same -- bafflingly Strindbergian -- production that was staged last year for Mozart's Birthday, but luckily Niki Harnoncourt is not on the podium anymore to suck all the life, the air, and the joy out of  l'opera perfetta. And OC loves the way il maestrino Harding handles Mozart -- check out the recording of his Idomeneo at la Scala if you haven't already.

In bocca al lupo signor Harding!

The Night Of The Shooting Stars: Alessandra Ferri's Farewell

How fitting that Alessandra Ferri has chosen San Lorenzo, the night of the shooting stars, to bid adieu to the world of ballet. The 44 year old dancer has danced for the last time last night in Taormina's Teatro Antico: her performance has been saluted by 30 minutes of applause, a neverending standing ovation by the 3,000 ballet-lovers in the audience.

How cool that she leaves while her body is at its peak, with untouched ability and spotless grace -- how smart that Ferri'd rather leave too soon than too late, to avoid the sad spectacle of dancers dragging overworked muscles through subpar performances, like too many of the other étoiles have done in the past.

Opera Chic joins the standing ovation, and feels privileged to have witnessed in person, last year, the magic of Ferri's last performance at la Scala. Grazie signora Ferri for 25 years of incredible career.

Pavarotti Should Leave Hospital On Monday, Tuesday At The Latest

According to ANSA news agency, Luciano Pavarotti will be discharged from the oncology ward of Modena's Policlinico, where he had been hospitalized last Wednesday, no later than next Tuesday -- and possibly already next Monday. The tenor has been visited this morning by his sister Gabriella, ANSA reported.   

I Am Dudamel Hear Me Rraar

The puppylicious replacement for E-Pek Salonen at the LA Phil talks to the Times of London about his forthcoming Proms engagement:

“They play with this . . . rraar!”

Elīna Garanča: Shine On You Crazy Diamond

Are you a half-crazed, 100% busted, washed-up pop queen?

Elīna Garanča thinks ur awesome. Or at least she used to, and wanted to be you.

The hawt blonde mezzo who just canceled her Salzburg commitment but will be at the Tuscan festival in Cortona on the 16th to spread some Carmen magic, just spake to Corriere della Sera, and revealed her love for musicals ("We couldn't see them in Soviet times"),  her traumatic first experience at the opera ("I was seven, my parents took me to see Tannhauser... it bored me to tears")  and her old passion for two particularly appalling pop divas -- Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey: "I used to love them, and wanted to be like them: I sang their songs in front of the mirror".

She severely disappoints the horndogs in the audience because she said that "I'll never appear naked on stage, nowadays people upload your picture on the Internet and they end up everywhere" (o rly?).

And she reveals that she had been cast by Riccardo Muti for his Così Fan Tutte at la Scala that was supposed to open the 2005-2006 season; but then Muti was forced to leave la Scala, Così was canceled, and Garanca is still waiting to appear there.

Daily Netrebko Cancellation Post

Today the Tuscan Sun Festival has confirmed that Anna Netrebko, who has canceled -- because of a throat infection -- her Salzburg commitment, leading Salzburg's Kaiser-In-Chief, Herr Doktor Jurgen Flimm, to blow a gasket, will indeed sing Pergolesi's Stabat Mater in Cortona on the 13.

As of today, she's still in Vienna, not in good shape. We'll see! To paraphrase Barry Bonds, thank heavens for antibiotics!

breaking: Luciano Pavarotti hospitalized in Modena

Luciano Pavarotti, 71, suffering from a high fever, has been hospitalized in Modena and is in "satisfactory condition", his doctor said to Italian news agencies. He's being treated in the cancer ward (he suffers from pancreatic cancer) of Modena's Policlinico and will probably come home in the next few days.

Il Resto del Carlino newspaper wrote that Pavarotti had gotten worse and is suffering from pneumonia; his doctor hasn't commented on that report.

A nurse told Italian TV that the maestro is resting, listening to music, and doing a bit of reading.

An Associated Press report is here.