Opera Chic

Cellos Sell Sneakers

Lang² -- as we know -- wears Adidas.

Alexandra Lawn wears Nikes.

Royal Ballet Goes To 02 Arena

Reuters reports that

Britain's Royal Ballet will hold four dance performances at a London arena famed for hosting top rock acts in a bid to bring ballet to a wider audience. 

The performances of "Romeo and Juliet" in June 2011 will mark the first time the Royal Ballet has danced at an arena venue in Britain. They can normally be found at the plush Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. 

London's 20,000 seat O2 arena usually hosts such popular music acts as Arcade Fire, Scissor Sisters and Lady Gaga.

Is this cool? Probably.

Marin Alsop's Thanksgiving

The Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra volunteered.

Tim Smith reports.

Michael Berkeley's & Ian McEwan's "For You" In Rome

Opera Chic is a big fan of Ian McEwan, the poet of "infinite municipal sadness”: a music lover (Zauberfloete is his madeleine), he's also a librettist. The Michael Berkeley opera "For You" has a McEwan libretto and it opened last night in Rome's Teatro Olimpico (the world premiere went down in London two years ago).

Rome's cast: Piia Komsi, Virginia Kerr, Harriet Williams, Hector Guedes, Daniel Broad and Philip Sheffield.

Italian press conference here (bad, bad audio):

More, with NSFW photo, after the jump...

Thanksgiving Day: A Few Things to Be Thankful For, According to Opera Chic

Ryan Gosling:

Mozart's Piano concerto No22:

More things to be thankful for, after the jump.

The Red Poppy Blooms Again

To commemorate the centennial of the awesome Galina Ulianova, a one-week forum is taking place in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. There's also a professional all-Russian ballet contest for forty young artists. OC is quite intrigued by the revival of the ballet “The Red Poppy” by Reingold Glière -- communist flowers in the sky ftw.

Hans Zimmer's Combo

Hans Zimmer created an impressively intricate score for Inception, quite brassy and very spooky, one of the year's favorite films for Opera Chic.

The movie is anow about to come out in BluRay + DVD + digital copy at an amazingly low price via Amazon UK; the American combo on Amazon.com enjoys a nice discount, too.

Opera For The People II: Lincoln Ristorante

Modernism & malloreddus, both overpriced: Lincoln Ristorante reviewed in the New York Times

A single scallop, perfectly cooked alongside sunchokes and almonds, makes up an appetizer dish that costs $24. A wee bit of tripe and strozzapreti, elegantly paired with the crunch of herbed bread crumbs and some sweet tomatoes from San Marzano, goes for $28. (That eggplant parm is a side dish. It costs $16. Geddouttahere.) A blue-red dry-aged prime rib-eye runs $130 for two.

In contrast, for $22, you could get a standing-room place in the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera on Wednesday night to see Elina Garanca singing Carmen.

On the other hand, between Garanca and Sardinian gnocchi, a lot of opera lovers would choose the latter. Even if carbs aren't that good for you to begin with.

"That's The Entire Universe, At That Moment": James Conlon On Conducting

(via the LA Opera YouTube channel)

Alex Ross Goes To England

 
Alex Ross will make the Brits Listen To This in London, reading from his book at the British Library and at Foyles.

Opera For The People: La Scala's "Die Walküre", Opening Night

Do you want to catch the Guy Cassiers new production of "Die Walküre" that is about to open the season at la Scala on December 7, the classic Sant'Ambrogio night?

It's not sold out yet, and one wonders why.

Then, one checks the prices.

Roberto Bolle Dances For UNICEF: His Central African Republic Diary in IoDonna

As goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Roberto Bolle had visited Sudan in the past. At the beginning of this month he has visited the Central African Republic for a week (an experience, he says, that left him "deeply affected and scarred"), sharing his diary with IoDonna magazine, the weekly for Corriere della Sera. Bolle danced for Africa last night in Rome, at Auditorium Conciliazione, and tickets had been sold out forever.

But those who are willing to help -- UNICEF provides anti-malaria medication, promotes HIV prevention, digs wells to provide clean drinkable water among other things -- can do so by donating money over to UNICEF.it website, or by calling the Italian toll free number 800-7450000.

From Bolle's diary entry for the final day of his travel:

"Coming home to a Milan that now looks as fake as a reality TV show.  The one thing I can do to make this trip complete is to go back to my work, and dance for Africa"

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Mehta, Conlon, Salonen, Barenboim, Bychkov, Buchbinder, Pizzi, Miller, Friedkin, Ozpetek et al.: Maggio Musicale Fiorentino's Avalanche of Awesome

The 2011 program for Maggio Musicale Fiorentino has been unveiled earlier today and it's so full of awesome one could get totally obsessivo perusing its booklet: from Pizzi directing Monteverdi to talented film director Ferzan Ozpetek (above, Riccardo Scamarcio in Ozepetek's film "Mine vaganti") in his opera debut with Aida to Bill Friedkin creeping us out with the Makropulos Case, from E-Pek to Wayne Marshall. Then Rudolf Buchbinder will buszt some Liszt, and there's Conlon and Barenboim and Bychkov's War Requiem.

 

Esa Pekka Is Bekka: Salonen Back To L.A.

I'm living in the Future So the Present is My Past

My Presence is a Present,

as America's poet laureate wrote.

It's Esa Pekka Weekend in Los Angeles: the maestro is back (he's usually in London these days) to scare us p3wpless with Bluebeard's Castle with the L.A. Phil

Borda missed him, too:

Lenny' Ghost: "Maestro: The Art of Leonard Bernstein" at the Geffen Playhouse

“Maestro,” directed by Joel Zwick, continues at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood through Dec. 12

The Jewish Journal reports:

There is a stunning moment in “Maestro” as Hershey Felder, playing Leonard Bernstein’s alter ego on stage, and the conductor-composer himself, on a large screen in an old film clip, join in a seamless piano duet from Richard Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde.”

This tour de force at the Geffen Playhouse characterizes the fusion between the personas of actor-singer-writer Felder, very much alive and lively at 42, and Bernstein, who died almost 20 years ago at 72.

"Black Swan" in December's "ELLE"

"Black Swan", the new Darren Aronofksy film with Natalie Portman (Opera Chic coverage here and here) will have a limited release on December 3. Next month's "Elle" magazine (above) will carry a very nice review by Karen Durbin:

One one level, Black Swan is a girl fest with terrific dark edges: anorexia, self mutilation, veiled mother-daughter enmities. But it's also a richly textured fable about sex, power, desire and danger that speaks to all women. 

Emma di Lammermoor

OC, radical thinker that she is, always loved the "Madame Bovary" commietastic translation by Eleanor Marx. 

She's not entirely sure the new lean & mean translation by Lydia Davis -- some of the reasons are explained here by Emma freak Julian Barnes -- will replace Eleanor's in OC's heart, but it's well worth a read.

Especially for opera fans, since one of the -- many -- devastating scenes in the novel takes place at the opera.

Here's Eleanor Marx's take, from Part 2, Chapter XV:

Despite Emma's explanations, as soon as the recitative duet began in which Gilbert lays bare his abominable machinations to his master Ashton, Charles, seeing the false troth-ring that is to deceive Lucie, thought it was a love-gift sent by Edgar. He confessed, moreover, that he did not understand the story because of the music, which interfered very much with the words.

"What does it matter?" said Emma. "Do be quiet!"

"Yes, but you know," he went on, leaning against her shoulder, "I like to understand things."

"Be quiet! be quiet!" she cried impatiently.

Valentino for GAP, Lanvin for H&M Overtake Milan

Whether the whole "cheap fashion for the masses" thing will amount to a tragic case of brand dilution or a populist triumph in a time of crisis remains to be seen. What we know is that the frenzy is allo ver Milan -- this coming Friday the spanking new GAP store in Milan -- the first in the country -- will sell the new exclusive collection (only at the Milan store, London's Dover Street Market and Colette in Paris) "Valentino for GAP".

Next week, on Nov 23, two H&M stores will introduce their new (impressively affordable) Alber Elbaz capsule collection. 

L.A. Opera & James Conlon 4ever

That "L" in "L.A."? It's for "Lucky".

The L.A. Times reports:

Conductor James Conlon will be staying on as music director of the Los Angeles Opera at least through the end of the 2012-13 season, the company said Monday. His contract was set to expire at the end of the current 2010-11 season. Conlon joined L.A. Opera in fall 2006, succeeding conductor Kent Nagano.

Mad props to L.A. Opera and with Maestro Conlon -- who in March was interviewed by Opera Chic.

Strehler's "Nozze": Always A Treat

Above, a 2006 version of the magic 1973 production (in this case, from la Scala). This dude on Youtube has uploaded most of the Opera Bastille production that was elegantly brought back to life by Nicolas Joel (bravo!) after Gerard Mortier had destroyed the sets and tossed away the costumes.

"There Is Only The Color Red": National Ballet of China's "Raise The Red Lantern"

Dancers from the National Ballet of China performed "Raise the Red Lantern" in Sao Paulo's Bradesco Theater.

In the performance, created by Chinese director Zhang Yimou inspired by his old film there are elements of ballet, modern dance, and Beijing opera, 

The C*ck In The Hat: Riccardo Muti's (Dirty) Joke On Italy's Most Popular Talk Show

One thing you need to know about Riccardo Muti the man (as opposed to Muti the conductor) is that he can turn on & off his charm switch with amazing ease. You don't want to be on the receiving side of one of his trademark scowls or icy stares; but when the man chooses to be warm and funny (for example, at a post-performance dinner when the performance went well or very well), he's just that -- warm and funny and amazingly self-effacing.

Earlier tonight, showing up at the Che Tempo Che Fa talk show on Italian TV, the country's leading TV talk show, to promote his autobiography, Muti chose to be, well, very, very funny.

His opening gambit -- prodded by host Fabio Fazio -- was to tackle the topic of his famous, preternaturally black hair (as of late, grey at the temples). Not the result of a dye job but of good DNA: "My father died at 85 with a full head of jet black hair". But then he immediately told a hilarious story of his arrival in Milan as a young student on 11/2/1962 (btw, November 2 in Italy is the Day of the Dead). He mentioned how the Milanese cold weather and fog left the Southern boy horrified ("a scene out of a Totò movie"). 

He was wearing a heavy overcoat, a long scarf and a wide-brimmed fedora hat: then Muti explained that he went straight from the train station to the Conservatorio where he ran into a Neapolitan friend of his who made fun of Muti's fedora. And Muti quoted verbatim his friend's taunt in Neapolitan dialect: "You look like a c*ck in a hat".

Muti never wore a hat again in his life (the little story brought the live studio audience down; once again when he apologized for mentioning "a body part").

Muti also explained how he feels guilty for missing his sons' births -- he was conducting and he didn't feel right betraying his commitment with his orchestras (his two sons, now grownups, were in the audience), therefore "to this day I wonder -- did I make a mistake?"

Muti also mentioned how Verdi is the composer closest to his heart, the one whose approval, in a hypothetical afterlife, would mean the most to him. "But then -- Muti smiled, looking up -- Verdi is up there, and I'll end up elsewhere... so unfortunately I'll never meet him".

Riccardo Muti Pops His Che Tempo Che Fa Cherry

Tonight at 8:10pm Italian time, RAI's Che tempo che fa will host Riccardo Muti, writer/actor Giorgio Faletti and jazzy piano man Stefano Bollani.

Muti will talk about his new Italian-language autobiography "Prima la Musica, poi le Parole" that came out a couple days ago, filled with anecdotes from his fifty-year long career, through his native Naples and his positions at Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Philadelphia, Florence's Maggio Musicale, Milan's La Scala, and his Orchestra giovanile Luigi Cherubini. We look forward to the Maestro's wit drawn from host Fabio Fazio.   

Opera Scribe in Principe Di Savoia's Display

Milan's elegant Principe Di Savoia hotel currently has on display Montegrappa 1912's opera pen sets from the past few years in the lobby, although it only makes us miss even more the old Giardino d'Inverno bar that was remodeled last year -- where the display cabinets now stand was once immense fish tanks. We'll still gladly drink, but in less fishy company.

Dior, Bellucci, Catalani, Callas