Opera Chic

OC & Opera Now Magazine, November & December Highlights

Bring the dazzle, bring the bling. For November's Opera Now magazine, OC wrote a piece on opera's  longstanding tradition with haute joaillerie and watchmaking dynasties: Swarovski and Maria Callas; Van Cleef & Arpels and Danielle de Niese; Chopard and Anna Netrebko/Erwin Schrott/José Carreras; and Ann Ziff for Tamsen Z and Renée Fleming, among many others. You can download the piece in three parts: Opera Now Jewels 01 Opera Now Jewels 02 Opera Now Jewels 03

In December's issue for Opera Now magazine, we rounded-up our favorite opera and symphony themed gifts, such as the Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust timepieces awarded to winners of this year's Operalia 2013 Audience Award, downloadable here.

 

We also commented on the recent La Scala/Barenboim music director shakeup, available here.

Support your opera and symphony glossies!

OC in September Print: Auditorium Magazine & Opera Now Magazine -- Pisaroni, Naples & Verona

OC loves her opera/performing arts glossies so much that she would sucker-punch a shark's toothy snout if he tried to swim off with them. (No Animals Were Harmed ® in the making this metaphor.)

This summer, between G&Ts at Armani's 7th floor masculine-grey lounge (with Monkey 47 Schwarzwald, Mr. Armani's favorite gin) and rosemary mint juleps, OC escaped Milan's oppressive heat to even more oppressively-steamy domestic cities -- Naples and Verona -- on behalf of her beloved, darling glossies.

For Auditorium Magazine, we spent a couple sweltering, fragrant days in jolly Naples at the historic, opulent Teatro di San Carlo for the world premiere of NYC-based Chinese choreographer Shen Wei's Carmina Burana, the ubiquitous Carl Orff scenic cantata that's been spun into hilarious parodies (like 'Gopher Tuna'). For more vicarious adventures, follow the Ed-in-Chief's rich travels through its official twitter account. PDF here. O fortuna!

For Opera Now Magazine, we put on Balenciaga silk and Jil Sander heels for the Fondazione Arena di Verona's 100th birthday celebration on August 10th, the feast day of San Lorenzo marked by Perseid meteor showers, la notte di stelle cadenti. Onstage, a century-old art deco Aida by 20th century architect Ettore Fagiuoli rolled out under shooting stars. PDF here and here. 

We also chatted with spirited Italian bass-baritone, Luca Pisaroni, who was raised in Verdi’s hometown of Busseto, and despite the dearth of native Verdian bass-baritones (let's face it, tenors, too), he's only sung in Italy four times since his international debut in 2002 (Salzburg, Don Giovanni Masetto). In fluent English that bubbled with sardonic Italian wit, he spoke about his absence from his native 'terre verdiane', especially during this 200th bicentennial Verdi birth year, with the exception of a one-off Verdi Gala held in Busseto's sweet Piazza Verdi in June, where he sang against father-in-law Thomas Hampson. PDF here.

Now, go support your opera and performing arts magazines with digital and print subscriptions.

Two Masterpieces, One Winnable: Montblanc Meisterstück & Opera Now Magazine

 

Thank you Milan for teaching OC about understated elegance, streamlining,  paring down to the essentials and tapping into the classics. If it's not bespoke, like with accessories, we dip into legacy designs, right down to our vintage Montblanc Meisterstück, so when we have to sign those super-lame or delicious contracts (it's always binary, isn't it?), at least we can do it in style.

Opera Now Magazine lets you bypass the Meisterstück club guest list with a chance to win one of its ‘Signature For Good’ LeGrand Ball Point models. All you need to do is submit a 350 word anecdote about your favorite opera experience before August 30th. In addition to the Meisterstück, your story will appear in its November issue. More details here.

Opera Chic's Latest for Sinfini Music, Grazia.it & Opera Now Magazine

A great man once said, or he didn't, or whatever -- the point is that we tend to criticize those who we love the most. Which is why we've been wondering what's up with the soggy pity-party that Italy's thrown for its most famous opera hero, Giuseppe Verdi, in his bicentennial birth year? Read about it here for Sinfini Music, cutting throught classical. It's like, yeah, the country that churned out geniuses like Dante & Brunelleschi & Da Vinci & Fellini is holding the elevator for that bearded opera dude? COME ON!

Then head over to Grazia.it for OC's review of the new, minimalist Teatro alla Scala Daniele Abbado Nabucco (co-production of the ROH, LOC & the Liceu) with the stellar Verdi baritone Leo Nucci and the rock-solid musicianship of Nicola Luisotti.

Then grab March's Opera Now (with Montserrat Caballé on the cover) to read reviews of the December 2012 season opening La Traviata starring Carmen Giannattasio at Naples' Teatro di San Carlo and the January 2013 season opening Lohengrin at Dresden's Semperoper with Christian Thielemann on the podium.

Opera Now Magazine & OC: Carmen Giannattasio February Cover Feature

Last month in the garrulous kingdom of Naples, Neapolitan bel canto superstar Carmen Giannattasio chatted with OC on behalf of Opera Now magazine (in perfect, British-inflected English), between grueling La Traviata replications that had unfolded since Teatro San Carlo's big-bang December 5 season opener a week earlier. 

Onstage, Giannattasio projected a towering, slash & burn Violetta who smashed protons like that car-destroying bonus stage in Street Fighter II. Offstage, still under the shadow of a diva, she's adorably petite.

She's currently at Milan's Teatro alla Scala as Alice in the Robert Carsen production of Verdi's Falstaff, taking over all replications from her split-role counterpart Barbara Frittoli, who withdrew from illness. Giannattasio jives with Ambrogio Maestri and Bryn Terfel who split the Shakespearean title role. After the January 15 premiere, Corriere della Sera's notoriously cranky critic Isotta gave Giannattasio glowing reviews, calling her "la deliziosa", which earns her the OC moniker "Gianna-tasty-o".

You can read the cover feature, penned by OC, in this month's Opera Now. The Neapolitan diva shares a heartbreaking story of an almost-career-destroying eating disorder, pens an inspiring message to young singers, divulges her most coveted (future) roles and recounts days and nights with London glitterati where she currently resides. In the same issue, you can also read OC's official Lohengrin review of the Teatro alla Scala season opener from December 7, 2012.

OC & Opera Now Magazine: Covergirl Nino Machaidze

Opera Chic snagged 29-year-old Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze during rare downtime in Milan (where she lives with her Italian husband, baritone Guido Loconsolo) for Opera Now magazine's November cover feature. In the profile, Nino shares tons about her romantic personal life, career philosophies and future roles. Drop it like it's hot.

Opera Chic for Opera Now: Don Giovanni Recap

(Don Giovanni at Teatro alla Scala, credit Brescia e Amisano)

Opera Chic reviewed La Scala's Mozart season opener Don Giovanni in Robert Carsen's new production for Opera Now. A pared-down online abstract of a forthcoming print review can be found on Opera Now's website. You'll have to shell-out some LSD //librae, solidi, denarii// to read the longer, juicier, girth-ier print review when the January 2012 edition of Opera Now hits the newsstands!