Opera Chic

Bond Man: John Barry, OBE, 1933-2011

Oscar-winning composer John Barry, has died at the age of 77: he wrote scores for many films, including "The Ipcress File", "Zulu" and "Midnight Cowboy" -- but we'll all remember his Bond theme, music that, like diamonds, is, well, forever.

Who the Devil: "Faust" in Hamburg

Tigran Martirossian (Mephistopheles) and Alexia Voulgaridou (Marguerite) in rehearsal for Gounod's Faust, Hamburg State Opera. The production opens tonight under the musical direction of Cornelius Meister.

(ph. EPA)

Ce N'Est Qu'Un Début: Pazzini Leads Inter To Victory, Eto'o Takes Off His Jersey, Eleonora Abbagnato Weeps

Under Eleonora Abbagnato's sad eyes -- the ballerina was at Milan's San Siro stadium to watch her boyfriend Federico Balzaretti play for Palermo, Internazionale FC's new striker Giampaolo Pazzini led the team to an awesome come-from-behind victory vs Palermo, scoring twice: it was his debut with Internazionale, having been signed about 72 hours ago.

Then Samuel Eto'o scored a penalty and promptly took off his shirt and all hell broke loose.

Click below to see Abbagnato during the taping of a recent Italian TV show (Chiambretti Night) with her soccer-playing boyfriend:

See Ya Later, Alligator! Torino's Parsifal

Christine Goerke as Kundry (photo Teatro Regio di Torino)

Teatro Regio di Torino opened a new production of Wagner's Parsifal by Italian director Federico Tiezzi on January 26 and Tiezzi slapped a big gator head on Christine Goerke's Kundry. Yeah, that looks about right.

Parsifal is Christopher Ventris, Kundry is Christine Goerke, and Bertrand de Billy (making his house debut) conducts the Teatro Regio's orchestra through February 6.

Mark S. Doss as Klingsor and Christine Goerke as Kundry (photo Teatro Regio di Torino)

"Black Swan"'s Gray Areas

"Black Swan" good for "Swan Lake"; bad for the Mulleavy sisters; and Oscar-not-nominated, Rodarte-dissed costume designer Amy Westcott not entirely happy either.

Carnegie Hall 4 Liszt

Today is Liszt day at Carnegie Hall --no better way to start the bicentennial festivities:

The Liszt Discovery Day, on Saturday, January 29, comprises panel discussions, talks, performances, and drama with participants who include leading Liszt scholar and biographer Alan Walker, noted American pianist and author Charles Rosen, soprano Angela Meade, pianist Bradley Moore, pianist and Academy alumnus Gregory DeTurck, and Carnegie Hall's Director of Artistic Planning Jeremy Geffen

In addition, four major stars of classical music feature the works of Liszt in their upcoming concerts at Carnegie Hall. Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Evgeny Kissin each perform all-Liszt piano recital

Happy birthday Ferenc:

 

La Mia Fiordiligi: Margaret Price, 1941-2011

The BBC reports the news of the passing  of Margaret Price: Opera Chic's favorite Fiordiligi passed away at the age of 69.

Anne Midgette loved her Desdemona, and how couldn't you fall for the sweetness of that voice.But we all have our sentimental favorites, and for Opera Chic Dame Margaret's voice will always reflect Mozart's humanity and, well, his music's boundlessness. 

Case in question:

But then she could do Verdi, and Strauss, and Mahler -- the Dame of the British Empire was also Kammersängerin of the Bavarian State Opera and the Vienna State Opera.

Gheorghiu Speaks: No Madama Butterfly On Stage Just Yet

Angela Gheorghiu's the cover-girl of French Classica's February issue in a soft-focus, 8-page tribute to the Romanian diva. Angie says that there are still no plans to sing Puccini's Madama Butterfly live. Although she's given her fans a studio recording (with Jonas Kaufmann and Antonio Pappano), the world still waits for her to sing the role onstage.

Click for the rest!

Why Miuccia Gets It: What Prada Can Teach The Classical Music World

Very few people understand branding -- among many other things -- as well as Miuccia Prada.

As she points out to WWD while discussing "fast fashion",

It’s clear that Chanel is known for the little jacket and Vuitton for the LV and us? Nobody really knows what we are, which is fortunate. Because I try to resist making a banal product. It’s clear that, as the world continues to get bigger, a bit of simplification is necessary but not to the point where it becomes totally useless or uninteresting.

Obviously, this is a lesson for the classical music world.

Prada, like classical music, is a bit complicated. A bit more than other fashion houses. Just like classical music is a bit more complicated than, say, rock. Or hip-hop. It's also expensive because almost always you need a big orchestra -- as opposed to a small band or even a simple laptop full of music -- and the unique sexiness of the unamplified sound also means smaller venues, fewer performances. There's a limit to how much simplification you can take -- you'll dilute your brand, eventually, or even change it for good.

(ph. Guido Harari)

Kennedy Center Tribute to JFK and Casals

Anne Midgette reports.

Let's hear it from the late Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr:

White House dinners afforded opportunities to recognize and celebrate the importance of the arts and of artists. In November 1961 Pablo Casals, who had long declined to play his cello in public until democracy was restored in Spain, agreed to perform at the White House on an evening honoring Governor Luis Muñoz Marín of Puerto Rico. Kennedy said with emphasis in introducing Casals: "We believe that an artist, in order to be true to himself and his work, must be a free man."

Other dinners followed: for Igor Stravinsky; for the western hemisphere's Nobel prizewinners (whom Kennedy famously called "the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone"); for André Malraux (at which Kennedy began his toast by saying, "This will be the first speech about relations between France and the United States that does not include a tribute to General Lafayette"). And dinners in honor of visiting statesmen or monarchs always included artists and writers and entertainment of high quality The administration, Thornton Wilder said, had created "a whole new world of surprised self—respect" in the arts.

Carreras In Davos

Opera Chic does not fetishize old recordings because much of the magic of opera is the unamplified voice that is best enjoyed live, here and now, but it's always sweet to listen to an old Carreras recording. And it's nice to see that splendid gentleman still on stage: Carreras just performed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he was awarded the "Crystal Award".

White Swan: Kazuo Ohno Inspires Riccardo Tisci, Givenchy FTW

Opera Chic's favorite, Riccardo Tisci, slays Paris Fashion Week with his Ohno-inspired haute couture collection: 

The Spring/Summer 2011 Givenchy Haute Couture collection by Riccardo Tisci draws its primary inspiration from Japan and particularly the work of the late legendary Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno. Ohno's art was defined by languid, melancholic yet powerful choreography and a distinctive masculine/feminine contrast. At once fragile and flamboyant, Ohno's characters were often female and always forces of nature. To crystallize his vision, Riccardo Tisci chose the crane, a symbol in Asian art and cross-cultural harbinger of good luck and immortality, which he offset with elements borrowed from the hard-edged, futuristic world of Gundam fighters. The result is a collection of 10 ensembles that appear delicately romantic when seen from the front, but are grounded by a technological, robotic charge in fluorescent yellow or fuchsia when viewed from behind.

 

Smetana, "Má Vlast"; Fabio Luisi cond., Wiener Symphoniker

Black Swan, The Oscars, and the Weird Best Costume Design Nomination

The Oscars are unfair, unpredictable as usual: "Black Swan" got a bunch of nominations but was snubbed for Best Costume Design; Opera Chic's beloved Milan-licious "I Am Love" got snubbed for everything but was awarded a Best Costume Design nomination for Antonella Cannarozzi. Too bad they don't have a "Best Ending In A Long, Long Time" category because "I Am Love" -- and John Adams -- would have won it handily.

And by the way Tilda wore Jil Sander and the guys wore Fendi.

And by the way Clint Mansell's score for "Black Swan" wasn't eligible for the Best Original Score nomination due to some obscure Academy rule.

Daniel Harding's January Turn-Ons

 

You can't take the English pride out of Oxford-born conductor Daniel Harding, even after he's been hanging out in Italy for a bit. He's currently in Milan after starting his 2011 La Scala engagements on January 10th with an extraordinary concert of Strauss' Alpensinfonie (OC was there) and now leads the double-bill of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci/Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana through February 5.

Harding was grilled by Corriere della Sera in a Q&A about his recent favorites, and his list sticks mainly to the classics with a heavy hand of British taste. The last movie he saw? How To Train Your Dragon with his kids. And the last DVD? He loves television series and one of his favorites is A History of Britian. OC needs to replace that series with the BBC Sherlock (Sherlock as an Aspie? Brilliant). Here's the rest of the list:

The film that he's watched the most? "All the President's Men -- three times -- maybe it's just a shameful waste of time, but I loved the slang and the fact that it was an introduction to American politics."

The last iTunes download? "The Godfather -- I hadn't seen it in 10 years and it was a nice surprise to re-watch it since at this point almost all of the scenes have become classics of cinema."

Your favorite movie?: "The Age of Innocence. I saw it when I was a teen and it left a special mark on me."

Your favorite actor? "Anthony Hopkins: He could have been a great conductor -- he would have been able to conduct with his eyes only."

What are you reading? "Who Are We - And Should It Matter in the 21st Century? by Gary Younge."

What book should you never be without? "One of Gordon Ramsay's books.You can't even imagine the greatness of this English chef."

The most sage of books you've read? "Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time".

A pop CD that you've recently downloaded? "The complete works of The Beatles."

Your favorite composer? "Schumann, the most under-valued."

Your favorite instrument? "The orchestral symphony: magnificent and diverse."

"Smooth Criminal" Done Smoothly

Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal on the secksiest of all string instruments.

Bangable Dudes in History, Shostakovich Makes the Cut

Gawd bless the internet for creating a website that ranks the hot-or-not-ness of famous dead guys -- a website where the genius of Dmitri Shostakovich comes down to his viability as a "hot, brooding b!tch" on a ~historic b0ner~ scale. Conclusion: radicals are radical.

(Thanks, Amanda White!)

Saruman Drops in at Dresden's Semper Opera Ball

(Above: Christian Wulff, wife Bettina and Christopher Lee!)

Opera lover Christopher Lee attended the 2011 Semper Opera Ball at Dresden's Semper Opera House. The 80-something actor has opera in his blood (his great grandparents formed Australia's first opera company) and honored his opera roots a couple years ago with his CD "Revelation" that featured opera tracks (and the crappiest photoshop we've seen in a really long time, gawd bless him).

Apollo's Angels Blowout

As of now, "Apollo's Angels" is 67% off on Amazon UK.

Jennifer Homans podcast here.

 

Mergers And Acquisitions: Kennedy Center Takes Over Washington National Opera

Anne Midgette has everything on the Washington National Opera - Kennedy Center merger:

It's official. In a move that had been discussed for months and openly rumored as long ago as last summer, the Kennedy Center announced Thursday that it is taking over the Washington National Opera.

Gore Vidal Sells His Hollywood Hills Home

America's biographer and our foremost man of letters and Opera Chic Style Icon, Gore Vidal, is selling his Hollywood Hills home.

It can be yours for less that US $ 3,500,000.

Unplugged Age of Aquarius with Elīna Garanča

The Latvian mezzo does a cabaret sing-a-long of Age of Aquarius from Hair.

Thanks, Amanda Ameer!

Hall of Fame: Rebecca And Her Dad Do "The Twelfth Night"

Opera Chic girl crush Rebecca Hall is working with her dad Sir Peter (her mom's Maria Ewing) on the London stage (above, the front page of today's The Times). According to The Daily Telegraph::

...I don’t think I have ever seen a Twelfth Night that made the text clearer or its bittersweet mixture of laughter and pain more apparent. Rebecca Hall, willowy, sexy and combining sadness with a lovely wit and warmth, is one of the finest Violas I have seen and at moments of ardent love and hope she seems to glow. The scene in which she is reunited with her twin brother, Sebastian, is overpoweringly moving.

Best of Milan Menswear Fashion Week: What Rocked, What Sucked, What F#ç|ed Our S#^t Up

MIlan Menswear Fashion Week is over, and FW11 gave us some serious moments of cool. Among them, off the top of OC's head:

Carbon coal shearling, wool denim, gray flannel, beat-up boots  and rumpled white linen shirts at Dsquared2

Rugby players on Moschino's catwalk inside the city's Arena:

Happy Birthday From Angela to Placidone

Another year, another birthday. Placido Domingo turns 70 on January 21st. We're worried that too much world travel has influenced Angie's wardrobe -- and not in a good way. Flight attendant Angela wants to know if you'll be having the chicken or the beef.