Opera Chic

More Beef Than a Texas Burger Joint: Zeffirelli's Threat to Florence's Mayor

 

Firenze non avrà la mia eredità artistica! Florence will not have my artistic legacy, says Franco Zeffirelli.

Between his body of work including opera productions, writings, films, and television works, Florence can suck it! 

Frengo's diss list keeps getting longer. After publicly criticizing a slew of opera singers and opera directors and houses in the past couple years, the Italian maestro of hyper-realistic opera productions (and yeah, some movies) lashed out at Florence's Mayor, Matteo Renzi, in an open letter (and an exclusive interview) to be published in tomorrow's Florence-based daily, La Nazione. 

Franco's shopping around a new school devoted to the art of theater -- and he's trying to figure out which city -- and which institution -- will inherit his massive archives (a memorabilia bukkake of papers, sketches, costumes, letters, his library of art books, scores).

Florence seemed to be the front-runner (Moscow, New York, and Rome are apparently part of the game, too).

But now Zeffirelli laments that there are too many unpredictable obstacles and Florence's city hall is not helping. He's therefore threatening to move his school -- and his stuff -- to another city, maybe overseas.

We're sending the cranky Maestro some much needed hugs, and additional pages for his burgeoning ban book!

"Là ci darem la mano": Mario Petri, Graziella Sciutti; Nino Sanzogno, Cond. (Naples, 1958)

Carnegie Hall Tower's Last Tenant

The last resident moves out of the 116-year-old studio apartments in Carnegie Hall Tower. The commerical and residental studios are being demolished to create new spaces for Carnegie Hall.

New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham says goodbye [video].

 

Lincoln Center Spotting!

Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil Blog posted images from a photoshoot which was shot around the slick streets of NYC for the upcoming 2010 edition of Fashion Night Out. Seven models converged in the middle of Lincoln Center, and The Metropolitan Opera House made the cut.

Henry Cotton's: Steampunk Without the Punk

 

It's called brass, which existed centuries before geeks got their hands on steampunk. Here's an update to last month's Corso Venezia Henry Cotton's windows. As much as we love the shout-out to brass, it's not working for us.   

 

 

Keep reading for real steampunk

Style Icons: Stella's Mom

(photos via the unmissable Child of the Moon) 

Rehearsal Photos from the Mantova Rigoletto

 

ZDF offers a slide show of rehearsal photos from the live-action Rigolettothat's taking Mantova by storm on September 4. It's Rigolettowith Placido Domingo and Vittorio Griogolo in the true-to-libretto locations of Verdi's opera (OC posted about it here).

Access it here.

Catching Up With Alessandra Ferri

 

Io Donna spoke to one of our favorite Italian, (semi) retired ballerinas, NYC-based Alessandra Ferri. Since her last official performance three years ago (she still consults with ballet organizations) Ferri's dropped the tights but is almost always in black leggings and t-shirts, a casual uniform that she could wear 24/7. ("Potrei essere vestita cosi' tutti i giorni e quasi sempre lo sono. E' una mise con cui posso andare ovunque"). She confessed her personal likes are scalding-hot baths in silence ("Un bel bagno con acqua molto calda, a una temperatura che mi cuoce la pelle"); her husband's (photographer Fabrizio Ferri) pasta sauce full of herbs, fennel, special almonds, capers, and rosemary ("Un sugo davvero da sogno"); and bike rides or walks in the Northern fields of Central Park ("A New York adoro la parte nord del Central Park, un po' piu' misteriosa e meno affollata").

But she also gave a shout-out to her NYC fans and recalls with fondness her favorite audience: on her last appearance at The Metropolitan Opera house three years ago, they gave her an applause that had a different sound -- an applause that was full of intense gratitude by an appreciative American audience.

Ferri is clearly loving her time away from the stage. Frankly, she deserves it.

 

Luisi in Genoa: Carlo Felice's Massive Financial Crisis Makes Fabio Luisi's "Principal Conductor" Post "Premature", "Not Necessary"

Last month, Fabio Luisi, The Metropolitan Opera's Principal Guest Conductor from the 2010-11 season, had been also named Principal Conductor of Genoa's glorious Teatro Carlo Felice; shortly thereafter, it was revealed that the opera house's finances were in much, much worse shape than everybody was led to first believe.

In a recent interview with "la Repubblica", the Genovese maestro had much to say about the financial crisis of the theater, which came as a surprise in its severity. Luisi's appointment, which was the result of his willingness to help Carlo Felice, was tied to certain conditions and programing that never materialized. Of course, he'll help Genova and Carlo Felice in whatever means that they'd ask for his help, but without an Artistic Director and without the prospect of immediate programming, a figure like a Principal Conductor in this moment would be a premature, unnescessary choice.

He went on to say that he's willing to help Carlo Felice as much as he can, but without a firm contract, it's impossible to keep oneself "on call" all the time. Regardless, he'll make himself available for the theater's needs as early as this October and also has batted around the idea of a New Year's Concert.

Continue reading after the jump for Maestro Luisi's ideas to help Carlo Felice out of the economic crisis and what he thinks about the state of Italian opera [all translations OC's kthnxbi].

Opera Chic Breaks Down the Current State of Italian Opera for BBC Music Magazine: Mad Houses

 

Opera Chic was invited by BBC Music Magazine to write a 3-page feature on the state of Italian opera for their September 2010 edition. Under the severe glare of coverboy Maestro Riccardo Muti, OC's proud to be within the pages of the world's best-selling classical music magazine.

So what does OC have to say about the current crisis that's been plaguing Italian (and really, the world's) opera houses? You'll have to buy the September issue to find out! Hey, it comes with a free Mahler's 7th CD (with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Gianandrea Noseda). And if that's not reason enough, there's also an author profile with OC's mug shot.

You can't get the CD tracks for free, but after the jump is a tiny preview...

Tomorrow's Stars -- But You Don't Have to Wait Until Tomorrow: Merola Opera Program

(Above: soprano Nadine Sierra and tenor Daniel Montenegro)

This past weekend at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House, twenty-five young, aspiring opera singers from the 2010 Merola Opera Program sang in the Grand Finale concert after participating in an 11-week training program. Ok guys now that the program is over, get your party on! Eat spicy take-out after midnight, french kiss random strangers, and scream yourselves silly in drafty, all-night karaoke bars! 

(Above: Alexander Lewis and Janai Brugger-Orman)

(Photos:Kristen Loken)

Hotel MilanoScala: Milan's First Eco (and Opera) Friendly Hotel

 

Milan has its share of boutique hotels -- from Corso Como's Maison Moschino to Corso Matteotti's Boscolo -- but as OC was hanging out in deserted Milan the past week, she walked past the latest contender in the city's stake for tourist dollars (pounds/yen/rubles) on via dell'Orso: Hotel MilanoScala [warning: embedded music filez], an opera-themed hotel that opens on August 30.

The 4-star hotel has sixty-two rooms throughout seven floors, with amenities capitalizing on Milan's rich legacy of classical music: a "Prima Donna" bar and a restaurant called "La Traviata" (although there's a neutrally-named "Sky Terrace Bar", too). Suites have been named after Italy's opera theaters and operas (Carmen, Aida, La Fenice, San Carlo, etc.) Starting at 200 euro-a-night and running through 500, frankly we expected worse for this restored 19th century mansion just a block away from La Scala. Props to them (regardless of how they change OC's neighborhood) for being Milan's first zero-emission hotel.

 

   

Live Action Hero Grigolo Heads to Mantova for an Open Air Rigoletto

All the world's a(n) (opera) stage. Verdi's Rigoletto takes it to the streets for a live-action performance of the opera, where the singers will wander Mantova's authentic landmarks noted in Francesco Maria Piave's libretto: Palazzo Te, Palazzo Ducale, and Castello di San Giorgio will be lousy with opera spectators and singers -- among them Ruggero Raimondi, Placidone Domingone (singing for the first time Rigoletto), and Vittorio Griogolo as the Duke. RAI's Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale will provide the soundtrack, conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta.

Directed by Marco Bellocchio, RAI will broadcast «Rigoletto a Mantova» live to 138 countries on September 4 & 5. Although the interactive idea isn't particularly new (there's a live "Tosca in the Settings and Times of Tosca" from 1992 and a "La Traviata à Paris" from 2000), it attracts both opera fans and haters.  

Vittorio Grigolo spoke to Corriere della Sera (above) about the possible backlash from critics and opera purists who could crankily pan the unconventional Rigoletto as a detraction from the Opera is Serious Business ethic. Grigolo doesn't really care as long as the event has the potential to bring young people closer to opera. He also says it's important for him to sing and develop his career when he's young so that it attracts teens and new audiences to opera -- because if he doesn't e/insure a loyal following now, who will come to see him in 2035 when he hopes to still be singing? Don't worry, OC will be there in 2035 to hear him in Alfano's Cyrano...in vintage Alaia and orthopedic Roger Vivier.

Abbado's Magic: Lucerne Goes Silent for Mahler's Ninth

There are nights when the music you just listened to simply overwhelms you, when you just don't feel like doing what you've been trained to -- to clap your hands, stand up, cheer, whatever. The music is still with you, within you, even when the sound stops. The music still echoes, in a way, and breaking the silence simply seems wrong. Because what you just experienced is so deep and, in a way, fragile, that you want to hold on to it just a bit longer, and you know the applause will somehow break the spell.

Opera Chic experienced this phenomenon last year, at la Scala, with the Barenboim/Quasthoff "Winterreise". Apparently, very much the same thing happened the other night in Lucerne, for Claudio Abbado's performance on the podium, conducting his beloved Mahler's Ninth.

The always perceptive Carla Moreni, in Il Sole 24 Ore, a financial newspaper with an excellent arts coverage, was present. And her review in today's paper, unfortunately not available online -- the headline reads, beautifully, "Mahler's Ninth, The Perfect Silence" -- indicates that the audience was so stunned by the finale that, literally, nobody clapped their hands for three minutes after the final notes dissolved in the air.

And, eventually, an ovation lasting twenty full minutes rocked the auditorium.

But then, in a way, this is just Claudio being Claudio.

 

Zeffirelli: How Puccini Made Oriana Fallaci Cry

Gianandrea Gavazzeni, that underrated conductor and incredibly interesting musicologist (those who can't read Italian are unaware of this fact because his many books and essays about Italian opera haven't been translated), once said that La Bohème makes us cry not because the music is especially moving but because it's just truly awful to see Mimi die. We just want those kids to be happy, and that's why the ending always slays us, said Gavazzeni. And Mimi's magic is so powerful that she, as we'll see, can make even the most jaded hard-a$$es cry.

And Franco Zeffirelli just told "Corriere della Sera" a fantastic story: back in the 1980s, he invited his friend Oriana Fallaci -- who wasn't particularly an opera fan -- to his La Bohème at The Metropolitan Opera (with Teresa Stratas as Mimi) (translation copyright Opera Chic kthnxbi!): 

She made a bizarre entrance: dressed all in black, wearing a giant hat as large as an umbrella, to the dismay of those who were sitting behind her. Naturally, she didn't take it off. After curtain calls, she came to my dressing room and hugged me. I realized she had been crying. Mimi's story had moved her deeply. That was Oriana: tough on the outside, but a closeted Romantic. Take off that hat and show us your tears, I told her. She wiped off her tears with the back of her hand and said: "I'm furious -- I never cry".

Bonus anecdote: Fallaci once asked Zeffirelli: "Did we ever sleep together?". Frengo gracefully answered, "Sadly, no". Can you just imagine a Fallaci-Zeffirelli love child?! Run!!!

 
 
Opera Chic doesn't really care what anyone says or where anyone stands on the political spectrum. She's a huge fan of Fallaci's writings -- up to 2002 ("The Rage and the Pride"); OC has the greatest admiration for Fallaci's determination in becoming wildly successful in an appallingly sexist men's club such as Italian big league journalism in the 1950s and 1960s;  Fallaci's war reporting, her famous "Interview with History", her "Inshallah" novel, are simply stunning. In her final books (by then she insisted, unwisely, on doing her own English translations, and that did not do her any favors, btw), not to mention in the opinions she cheerily shared with various interviewers. There's much to disagree with, but Fallaci had a great life, wrote some unforgettable, incredibly powerful, deeply personal journalism; and when New York needed her, and Israel needed her, and America needed her, she always stepped up to the plate. 

One does not have to agree with everything a writer ever said to consider that writer a hero -- this is the case with Fallaci, for Opera Chic. 

Holding it Down in Boston and NYC, Is Levine Still up to Task? Opera Chic in Maclean's Magazine

(photo from article, credit Richard Termine/The New York Times)

Jaime J. Weinman's "The case of the missing conductor" discusses in Canadian weekly magazine Maclean's  the dual-city (super)conducting (super)efforts of Maestro James Levine under the duress of not-so-great health.

Opera Chic contributed a quote.

Read the piece here!

OC only half-jokingly refers to The Met as "The House That Jimmy  Built", because the Levine era meant everything -- vision, integrity, and incredibly high quality of the conducting. Levine changed the karaoke mentality of the old school Met, the irrelevant conductor beating time and the music as mere accompaniment for the singers and whatever action was happening on stage.  He's the American star conductor who took over the greatest American orchestra -- Bernstein never cared enough about conducting opera, he maybe had too much stuff going on at the same time, and Schippers died way too young. This means no American giant of the podium, before Levine, had turned a big opera institution into a beautiful musical machine. The Met is what it is today, musically, thanks to Levine.

Arguably, there are three giants left conducting music nowadays -- Abbado, Muti, and Levine. Everybody else -- as wonderful as they are -- is either not as good as them, or just too young. The problem, obviously, is that Levine's declining health  (it has been declining for a while now, unfortunately) means that it's one thing to have to conduct sitting down or stop using one's left arm as he had to do -- this would be bad enough.

But surgeries, cancellations, and a general air of uncertainty is by now a significant problem.

Major, wonderful conductors have had to scale down their commitments to due health problems lately -- from Abbado to Temirkanov to Janssons. And one only has to think about the devastating effect of Carlos Kleiber's emotional problems on his career -- and we're talking about the greatest conducting talent since, well, probably Furtwaengler.

It's sad but conducting is such hard physical work that health problems can truly do a lot of damage. If Levine can't solve his long-standing health issues, a less stressful Guest Conductor post could be created for him.

OC's contenders for a hypothetical new Met MD? 

La Katia's Solution to the Italian Opera Houses Crisis: Kick the Bums Out!

Never one to go quietly into retirement, Katia Ricciarelli has been keeping herself busy off the opera stage: television appearances (she's been guest on a handful of Italian cooking shows), movie cameos, theater (she acted in Peter Quilter's "Glorious", a theatrical production about Florence Foster Jenkins). The 64-year-old Italian soprano spoke with Panorama magazine and confessed that she's been blessed to have lived out her dreams although she always realized it could all be gone one day (all translations are under Opera Chic's copyright and credit kthxbi!):

Ricciarelli on being gracious:

"Sometimes I think that I have nothing to dream about, because life gave me everything. And I thank God for it, he gave me dreams and allowed them to become real".

She also spoke about the state of opera, a subject that makes la signora Katia have words:

"Opera singers should never forget that we are dealing with an art that's often dramatically incoherent -- like the guy who yells 'Allarmi! Allarmi!" and then stands still -- or like the lady who has only a few minutes to live and she's still singing, singing, singing... Opera is riddled with incoherent stuff. And it repeats hundred-year-old shows over and over for an audience that never changes, either."

"We need change, we need to renew. Send the old people home, let them retire. Unless we want Italian opera houses to slip into chaos, filled as they are now with stuffed shirts. The present situation is this: opera is an old lady with no makeup on. I train young artists in my Accademia, and as Artistic Director in Lecce (ed: Teatro Politeama Greco) I always promote young artists. I did the same and at Sferisterio di Macerata (ed: she was Artistic Director from 2003 to 2005)."

Ricciarelli has interesting ideas re: budget cuts for Italian opera houses, too:

"We need to accept them. Workers need to be guaranteed, but so much money is wasted pointlessly. Very high fees are paid to old singers who don't have it anymore, who lack any real motivation to be on stage. Don't make me name names, but I remember this singer, in Vienna: as soon as he had a significant break, he ran over to the casino. Still wearing his costume."

Rich people, La Ricciarelli, says, are part of the problem:

"They're cheapasses (in Italian: 'pulciosi'). They never give money to the arts, they park their Ferraris in front of the opera house then ask you for free seats. They never honor their responsibility to be patrons of the arts."

She also takes the time for an impression of her beloved Herbert Von Karajan's heavily-accented Italian, and she says something that impressed Opera Chic a lot. That she's always considered singing for conductors like Karajan, Abbado, Kleiber as "assuming a distinguished responsibility". It's a beautiful way of putting it, and they're probably words to live by.

Eleonora Abbagnato's Mediterranean Holiday, Part II

In Stefano Gabbana's cool photo diary of his Mediterranean holiday, uploaded in real time via the designer's iPhone, we just found this gem: aperitivi with Eleonora Abbagnato, prima ballerina at Opéra Garnier.

More about Abbagnato's holidays here.

"Do You Think You Could Sing... Pagliacci?"

See also:

Black Swan Preview Now Online

Darren Aronofsky's upcoming thriller Black Swan takes us backstage in NYC's competitive ballet world where Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis star as two rival ballerinas to net the lead role in Swan Lake. The long-awaited trailer is up!

Dancing For Lenny in Sicily

This October marks twenty years since Leonard Bernstein's death and on the occassion, Taormina's Teatro Antico hosts a dance gala devoted to his memory. Tomorrow night, an international roster of ballerinas from ABT, NYCB,and Hamburg Ballet will dance to the choreography of Jerome Robbins and John Neumeier. The first half of the gala is dedicated to Lenny's Broadway works (West Side Story, Candide, and On the Town), and after the pause is Jerome Robbins/Lenny's ballet, Fancy Free. Enrico Castiglione conducts Lenny's greatest hits while principals model costumes by Giorgio Armani and Broadway collaborator Oliver Smith.

The Comeback Kid Came Back: Rolando Villazón in Salzburg

Above and below, ORF's coverage of Rolando Villazón's Sunday night Salzburger Festspiele recital with pianist Gerold Huber. The Mexican tenor's (reportedly triumphant) return to the stage after whatever the hell went down in Copenhagen (~seven minutes to heaven~) earlier this month. Villazón sang Schumann's Dichterliebe woven after a program of Duparc, Tosti, Faure, Massenet, and Obradors.

Photos here, thanks to El Blog Villazonista (also for the linkage).

The Atelier Shines (Not Always the Star)

Singers, sit down. This time it's all about the costumière. From the vaults of Teatro alla Scala's atelier comes "Il costume veste la musica", a free exhibition in Milan's Palazzo Morando (which closes on September 12). On via Sant'Andrea #6, it's just steps away from Roger Vivier, Hermes, Church's, and Chanel's windows, but the items are not for sale. The clothes, hats, and jewels from the atelier of Teatro alla Scala are on display as a celebration of the workshop: fabrics, cuts, design, and embroidery from fifty+ La Scala productions (opera and ballet) of the past decade. OC gives you the tour:

 

Click for more!

Vintage Maazel Flaunts his (Now Vintage) Rolex

"Musician" Lorin Maazel poses with his Rolex from January, y2k.

Nicoletta Mantovani & the New Dude

Thank you Italian gossip magazine, "Chi", for all the deliciousness you have bestowed on us. This week's edition reports not only on Eleonora Abbagnato's perfect azz, but on the developing ~love affair~ between Pavarotti's widow of almost three years, Nicoletta Mantovani, and Bologna man, Filippo Vernassa.

One month ago the new(ish) couple went out of their way to state they were not hanging out. One month later, they just don't give a fuq. Forty-year-old NIcoletta was papped in a lip-lock with 36-year-old Vernassa (a "direttore organizzativo" at a Bologna-based theater) in the tranquil waters of seaside resort, Marina di Massa. Mantovani and Vernassa played with Mantovani/Pavarotti's daughter, Alice, and later took her to Aladin, the musical.

Hmmmm. 1990s' silver cross on a leather cord? Faded bicep tattoo? Grown man wearing Abercrombie? Love is blind or at least near-sighted and kind of forgetful. 

Those old enough to remember (sorry, OC isn't part of that club) can time-travel back to February 1996 to the epic kiss between Mantovani and Pavarotti in the Barbados, caught by paps. Luciano was 60-years-old at the time. Nicoletta Mantovani was 26-years-old and Luciano's secretary. The pictures sparked a scandal as Big Pav was still married to his first wife, Adua Veroni (although he was allegedly in the process of separating).

 

Many more scans are waiting under the cut...including a grown man in an Abercrombie tshirt.