German soprano Diana Damrau covers her sweet goldilocks with an angsty razor cut for Jules Massenet's Manon, which opened at the Wiener Staatsoper last week. Conducted by Betrand de Billy, Damrau is in the title role as Ms. Lescaut vs. Ramón Vargas's Des Grieux. New Yorkers barely have to waitfor Damrau to sing again in NYC because she kicks-off her Big Apple takeover on January 24 at Carnegie Hall, where she's singing against James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for Beethoven's 5th and a Strauss/Schubert program.
Damn-Wow continues in February at NYC's Metropolitan Opera as Marie for Fille du Régiment(with Juan Diego Flórez as Tonio and Kiri Te Kanawa as the Duchess) and Rosina in Barbiere.
OC's still not over a missed Damn-Wow performance at La Scala early Fall 2009 when her friends reported back to her in NYC with tales of smelling salts and tears.