Renée Fleming's latest solo CD, Verismo (on shelves for a few months with Renée singing arias by Cilea Leoncavallo, Mascagni and Puccini) has already won the American soprano her fourth Grammy Award, but we're even more psyched for the Chorus and Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi (under the baton of Marco Armiliato), who cut the disc with Renée, and who Corriere della Sera's music critic congratulated in a review from last week: "the biggest praise goes to La Verdi, who sound intense and velvety".
La Verdi, a humble and hardworking group of musicians who thrive despite not having had a Music Director for ages (founded as Giulini's kids, Chailly, Muti, and Maazel all share a special bond with the young and talented musicians, and now they're under the expert care of young Chinese Music Director, Xian Zhang) thrive despite scarily low wages, and thrive despite (even scarier) state funding cuts. Opera Chic will be at La Verdi's gorgeously warm Auditorium di Milano tonight to check out the orchestra against Ian Bostridge and Maestro John Axelrod, and will hopefully be embraced by some of that intense velvet that they found with Renée.