Opera Chic

Star Spangled Awesome: Renée Fleming Does The 'Bowl

 

'Soprano Superstar' Renée belts it out for America. Elegant, nothing agressive, poise owes its merits to time.

Star Spangled Gown: Renée Fleming and Vera Wang

OC has an addiction. Calm down, it's terribly boring: American television in all of its super-caffeinated, overly-enthusiastic, hyper-preened slick.

On Thursday night's Entertainment Tonight, between daily celebrity breakdowns, we caught a teaser that revealed Renée Fleming will be stitched into a bespoke Vera Wang gown for her Sunday Super Bowl XLVIII premiere (rip above).

Wang -- coveted by fastidious brides for her neutral blush-tone, princess cut gowns swathed in layers of taffeta, crepe de chine, organza, satin and tulle -- has kept the dress under wraps, but we're guessing it'll be something like a recent scarlet gown (below) from the Spring 2013 collection worn by Chrissy Teigen at her wedding to John Legend this past Fall, probably in a dark jewel tone -- c’est Fleming.

To open the Broncos vs. the Seahawks brawl, Fleming's been rotated to the top of the list, stomping on pop idols who've opened the Super Bowl at half her age, have many times the celebrity perks, and three-times her metabolism, such as Alicia Keys (2013), Kelly Clarkson (2012), Christina Aguilera (2011), x infinity.

But this time, bulletproof Fleming, who's already performed for presidents and legends (and the 2003 World Series at Yankee Stadium), has to win the hearts and minds of the adorably opera-ignorant, like this dude here below (NSFW strong language warning, drops the F-bomb):

French Montana on Super Bowl Opera Singer -- 'F**k That Sh*t' -

Listen, we're not expecting miracles, like desperately-needed upticks in Met Opera attendance
(where Renée Fleming coincidentally sings Rusalka later this week in four replications, February 4 to 15, and not even opening night has yet sold out), when she grabs the mic this Sunday at the NJ MetLife Stadium to sing 'The Star Spangled Banner' to enchant hundreds of millions under the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (which just announced its 2014-15 season) mixed with a choir. But we're going to hitch onto the prevailing theme of an event that comes down to binary terms (us vs. them, winners vs. losers, we are the champions) and say: Team Renée = Team Opera. 

The mega-billionaire Super Bowl machine, which plucked unthreatening, accessible Bruno Mars and the declawed-by-middle-age Red Hot Chili Peppers for its halftime show, could have foisted ratings gold crossover stars or Jackie Evancho (who the NFL past-anointed for its Packers vs. Lions Thanksgiving Day game) onto the opera-fearing public who shows no appetite for divas or voices unaltered by autotune and models opera singers on awesomely-outdated caricatures. But they tapped a seasoned opera singer who, you know, actually crawled her way through thorny industry ranks over decades, banked on a career-sustaining slow-burn, learned her craft and adores it, groomed to the last hair, diva-like, minus the hysterics. And in Vera Wang, she'll be dressed for a killing.

There's a Puccini Glitch in The Matrix

Kia's out for an elitist-luxury rebrand via its K900 model with a big budget commercial/Turandot remix to run during this weekend's NFL Super Bowl XLVIII.

In the 1.33 minute spot, Larry Fishburne reprises his role as Morpheus from The Matrix, rebooted as a car salesman/tenor. He belts Puccini's chestnut 'Nessun Dorma' aria in the backseat of a car, melting spoons (a Matrix reference) and exploding lights. A+ for everyone strapped into seatbelts, but it needs more sad Keanu.

Filarmonica della Scala's Final Abbado Farewell to Thousands

About two hours ago in Piazza della Scala, the small courtyard that bridges Teatro alla Scala with Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in downtown Milan, eight thousand penitent (including OC) gathered to bear witness to Claudio Abbado's brilliant legacy -- an elegant, humble gentleman who shaped with great care forthcoming generations of mini-maestri.

Lissner, Pereira and Milan's mayor Pisapia held down the theater's facade while Riccardo Chailly humbly bowed his head among the adoring hoi polloi (and many Scala employees) fringed by via Filodrammatici. The concert was streamed live on Corriere della Sera's and the Comune di Milano's websites. OC captured four minutes for the curious, clip above, photos from Corriere below.

It was a very dignified send-off for a beloved maestro.

Filarmonica della Scala's Final Abbado Farewell to Thousands

About two hours ago in Piazza della Scala, the small courtyard that bridges Teatro alla Scala with Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in downtown Milan, eight thousand penitent (including OC) gathered to bear witness to Claudio Abbado's brilliant legacy -- an elegant, humble gentleman who shaped with great care forthcoming generations of mini-maestri.

Lissner, Pereira and Milan's mayor Pisapia held down the theater's facade while Riccardo Chailly humbly bowed his head among the adoring hoi polloi (and many Scala employees) fringed by via Filodrammatici. The concert was streamed live on Corriere della Sera's and the Comune di Milano's websites. OC captured four minutes for the curious, clip above, photos from Corriere below.

It was a very dignified send-off for a beloved maestro.

Grammy Fashion Hits all the Right Notes

In bespoke Giorgio Armani, Lang(x2) peacocked the red carpet earlier tonight in Los Angeles at the 56th Grammy Awards. Later, he'll team-up with the heavy metal rockers who proudly killed Napster in a piano accompaniment to 'One', a +7 minute track from their 1988 CD '...And Justice for All.'

Here's the Langer doing his thanger:

Katy Perry wore Valentino Spring 2014 Couture collection that showed last week in Paris, stamped with Verdi's La Traviata.

At Valentino in Paris, on beauty, the Pat McGath/Guido Palau hair-maquillage dream team gave models a low-hung, center-part worthy of a diva. 'Operatic' said Palau to WWD, but we spy a Maria Callas Traviata throwback.

(backstage photos courtesy of Delphine Achard)

HBIC

Winter Recapitulation

Back like Moriarity, byotches. Winterreise passed with close-flung travel, like in Venice, where we danced by moonlight on a superyacht (FYI Onassis' Christina O had barstools covered in 'an ultrasoft pelt, made from the foreskin of minke whales'), skied glaciers in Kitzbühel and nipped four-course champagne breakfasts in Cortina.

Our menswear appetite was sated on Men's Fashion Week Milan runways, which played to Made in Italy strengths (and Pina Bausch as muse to Miuccia Prada) -- lustrous textiles, meticulous craftsmanship and tailoring savoire-faire -- like we wrote about in a recent cover story feature on Gildo Zegna for Swiss Style magazine. For backstory, we wrote about the recent Milan Fashion Week rehaul here.

We checked out the Museo del Risorgimento exhibition 'Verdi Architetto', photographs by conductor Francesco Maria Colombo of Verdi's old haunts (below) -- Villa Verdi Sant’Agata, Villanova sull’Arda and his tomb at la Casa di Riposo per Musicisti on display through March.

Palazzo Morando hosted 'VENI VIDI VERDI. La donna è mobile', a (sophomoric -- sorry!) play on Verdi's Rigoletto aria through installations and *meh* mash-ups, Verdi prints layered over the museum's permanent collections (below).

We slid into nostalgia with the la Fenice Concerto di Capodanno -- Carmen Giannattasio and Lawrence Brownlee dueling Verdi medley, the former peacocking three, lush wardrobe changes merit to Italian fashion designer Antonio Rivas, complete with matching fascinators (Hershey's Kisses version below).

The Wiener Philharmoniker New Year's Concert set couture against custom, ballerinas in Vivienne Westwood. At the traditional Radtzky March, spirited Barenboim snatched brass from one of the Wieners.

Back in Milan, we sipped Callas Crustas at the Grand Hotel et de Milan -- brandy, cointreau, maraschino, lemon and bitters.

We found a twee mini-lego violin at Milan's +century old music store, Mitarotonda.

We lolled at Justin Bieber's new tat:

And we fell in love again with the interwebz for sweet dreams made like these:

In Cinque Terre between mountain hikes, we regretted not buying this Turandot DVD performed by the Levanto young'uns academy, as advertised at a local bar.

 And not eating in this restaurant...

Or buying this hotplate with Claudio Abbado from the Teatro alla Scala shop:

January sweeps on...

Mourning the Maestro: Abbado's Passing in Milan

The Italian/EU flags have been lowered at Teatro alla Scala's austere facade today in remembrance of Claudio Abbado, the Milanese maestro who passed away in Bologna yesterday morning at 80-years-old. Italy's newspapers have cleared front page property to detail the heartbreaking news, along with multi-page features and editorials bearing witness to Italy's beloved and cherished maestro.

From his four children and a longtime friend-of-the-cloth: "He's departed for the mysterious voyage but he'll remain with us always."

The last couple months, following cancellations, he had been resting at his Bologna home, surrounded by his family and friends. His family decided against a public funeral and his ashes will most likely be scattered in the garden of his adored seaside home in Alghero. In Bologna, until tomorrow at noon, mourners have been gathering at his Bologna church, Basilica di Santo Stefano, including musicians from his Orchestra Mozart.

Milan honors Abbado with a concert of the Funeral March from Beethoven's Eroica with Barenboim and the Filarmonica della Scala on Monday at 6pm. The auditorium will be kept empty with doors open to the streets -- a message that would have been supported by Abbado, who was always on the public's side and carried a deep sense of social responsibility. It's a La Scala tradition as well, reserved for ex-musical directors, as Abbado served from 1968-1996. The last time was in 2005 for the passing of Carlo Maria Giulini.

Through elegance, wisdom and temperance, Abbado impressed emerging generations of talented conductors. Remembrance pours forth from colleagues and friends such as Zubin Mehta, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Antonio Pappano and Riccardo Muti (we'll get to that in a bit).

Some sweet Abbado anecdotes are from Correrie della Sera:

At ten-years-old, while WWII brought on a resurgence of "Viva Verdi" patriotism, Abbado was crazy for Bartok and was caught writing "Viva Bartok" with chalk on his house in Via Fogazzaro, which began an inquest by the Nazis who read the graffiti as a partisan message.

During the war, Abbado's mother adopted the son of Jewish friends who were hiding-out in Switzerland, under the guise of a long-lost 'cousin'. He was eventually caught but saved by an Italian SS who was trained by Claudio's Sicilian grandfather.

Abbado, who held Furtwaengler in the highest esteem, treasured his Berlin years as von Karajan's successor. With the Berliner, he was regarded as a 'father figure'. Because of his taciturn, sage-like calm and his deep spirituality, many colleagues turned to him with personal problems and advice -- 'the psychologist' they called him.

Growing up with impressions of Furtwaenger was a dream. The most moving moment in those years was when Furtwaengler's widow Elisabeth had attended a Lucerne concert, and in anticipation of an upcoming Geneva concert, she wrote Abbado a letter. "As the successor of my husband, I invite you to live in my house." To see himself addressed as "the successor of Furtwaengler" written by Elisabeth was a proud moment.
 
Young Abbado played with a chamber orchestra founded by his violinist father. His parents went often to Toscanini's house in Milan (on via Durini) because his father's teacher was Enrico Polo, an in-law of Toscanini and the pupil of Brahms' most loyal friend, Joachim. One night, Claudio played at Toscanini's house, conducting from the piano while playing a Bach concerto. Afterwards, Toscanini wrote him a note, "You will be very successful.".

Abbado would go to Scala to catch Toscanini rehearsals: "I remember rehearsals were really tough and he treated the orchestra terribly. 'Dogs' was the reoccurring phrase that he used often. Toscanini had a really strong personality, he knew how to discipline an orchestra. But already I had more appreciation for Furthwaenger, who gave deeper significance to every note, and knew how to elicit a more democratic participation."

In addition to recounting Abbado's greatest anecdotes, no one's forgotten about the circus of Abbado's first bid for a Milano-Scala comeback in 2010 after his last appearance with the Vienna Phil in 1986. In exchange for the two 2010 summer dates, he asked Milan's then-current mayor, Letizia Moratti, for approval to plant 90k trees around the city as a gift of green sustainability backed by the seasoned blueprints of Renzo Piano, a longtime friend. It was totally shot down. The two dates were cancelled but Abbado eventually made his comeback concert in October 2012 with Chopin and Mahler. Grey Milan still has its green pockets but there's no living memorial to Abbado.

Claudio Abbado, 1933 - 2014

Claudio Abbado has passed away this morning in Bologna at 81-years-old. Uttterly elegant and exuberant on the podium, he recalled his first moment hearing live opera as, "the discovery of new magic".

The Milanese maestro, a man of deep humanity and artistry, leaves a legacy that rivals heavyweights Furtwaengler, Karajan and Kleiber. We'll be forever charmed by his immense Beethoven, Berg and Mozart, his eternal Verdi Boccanegra and his spellbinding Mahler symphonies -- especially the Ninth, below, with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

Sustainability and solidarity. Abbado, who beat stomach cancer in 2000, was a gentle-mannered maestro who supported numerous outreach programs but never used the podium as a soapbox. He fostered young musicians in Cuba and Venezuela, and had an intuition for tappingg young talent, like Daniel Harding and Gustavo Dudamel. He treated his musicians with deep respect and founded numerous youth orchestras to train young musicians, such as the Bologna-based Orchestra Mozart in 2004 and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra in 1997.

Before social responsibility was a marketing tool, he carved deeply into environmental advocacy. In 2010, in anticipation of a La Scala concert after a 16-year-absence (he was fired by the orchestra in 1986 and prior to 2010, his last performance at Scala was in 1993 with the Berliner Philharmoniker), he squared-off with Milan over a tree-planting proposal in lieu of a paycheck. With architect Renzo Piano, he sought to seed 90,000 trees across Milan, which was pitifully shot down by then-mayor, Letizia Moratti.

He led a music directorship at La Scala from 1968 to 1986 and founded the Filarmonica della Scala in 1982, then led the Wiener Staatsoper from 1986 to 1991. He also served high ranks at the London Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Wiener Philharmoniker.

Post-Karajan wth the Berliner Philharmoniker, Abbado's open framework and selflessness redefined the conception of modern maestro. 

His death follows recent 2013 cancellations, which included an October Japan tour with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and November concerts with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra Mozart. Last year he was granted Senator for Life by the President of the Italian Republic for his significant contributions to classical music.

In the twilight of the most elegant maestri -- one shade from Von Bulow and Kleiber and de Sabata -- may Abbado's best lessons endure for the young lions roaring around the hallowed concert halls.

We can only hope that Abbado finds peace in 'the silence that follows the music'.

Here's a a great two-hour documentary on Abbado, in Italian.

Putting La Scala into Zegna

Italian luxury menswear giant Ermenegildo Zegna uses a La Scala playbill into its current Christmas campaign, which seems like it's that interminable Stéphane Braunschweig Don Carlo from October. 

We've caught luxury brands grabbing the Scala coat tails in the past, like this campaign for DSquared2.

The menswear brand, coveted by celebs like Robert De Niro, also dresses Gianandrea Noseda, Valery Gergiev and Placido Domingo and has been a longtime patron of the Mariinsky.

How to Act in the Presence of a Diva: Jessye Norman

The acceptable behavior is to shut up and listen. Earlier last week, multi-industry heavyweights including Jessye Norman supped in Manhattan's Greenwich Village for ACRIA's 18th annual holiday dinner and fund-raiser.

As a longtime supporter of the AIDS research foundation, Norman spoke to an audience that included fashion and entertainment celebs such as Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Bernadette Peters. Commanding the microphone like Carmen, Norman toasted late ACRIA philanthropist Judith Peabody. From WWD's party reportage:

But when Jessye Norman, regal in an elaborate gown, rose to deliver remarks, one could hear a pin drop. Table conversations stopped, forks went down and the room was still, silenced by the privilege of an audience with the diva.

Norman was paying tribute to the late Judith Peabody and she talked like....this...enunciating...each...word. It left the room hanging on her every turn of phrase as if she were still on an opera stage, one towering grand dame tipping her hat to another.

Diva born and bred.

Bolle & Zakharova in Pomellato Benefit

Vogue Italia and Pomellato have teamed for a charity project "Lock your love. Don’t lock your heart" to benefit the Italian Fondazione Ieo, a non-profit org to benefit the European Institute of Oncology. Three couples were choosen to model the lock and silver charm engraved with inspirational words, among them Roberto Bolle and Svetlana Zakharova, frequent La Scala ballerina partners. The bracelet's on sale from 10th December for 90 euro on Pomellato's website or in Italy-based boutiques, and available on Valentine's Day at Yoox.

Play One Note Wrong And You Die: Grand Piano

Grand Piano, a thriller about a concert pianist, recently had its Italian premiere at the Torino Film Festival. With an American debut this past Fall, and a very limited release in Spain and the UK, it rolls out February 2014 in domestic theaters.

It stars our favorite hobbit, Elijah Wood, who's threatened by a sniper, played by our favorite '80s underdog, John Cusack. The trailers and teasers are only in Spanish, like this behind-the-scenes clip below. ¡genial!

Officially Official: Chailly New Scala MD in 2015

Chailly was rumored as front runner as La Scala's next music director by Corriere della Sera back in October and now it's official. Chailly will be sworn in on January 1, 2015, taking the post from Daniel Barenboim.

The Lady of the Whaaaaaa?: La Traviata Season Opener at La Scala

(Corriere della Sera has excellent screenshots here)

Who: Diana Damrau, soprano. Piotr Beczala, tenor. Daniele Gatti, conductor. Dmitri Tcherniakov, director + extras, an orchestra, journalists, media crews, security, police and impeccably-groomed spectators.

What: Opening night of Teatro alla Scala's 2013-14 Season, La Traviata

When: December 7, the traditional Sant'ambrogio feast day of Milan's patron saint.

Where: Milan, Italy.

How: Euros & couture, fake tans & kiwi-sized jewels.

Why: Dmitri Tcherniakov, why do you hate Giuseppe Verdi so much?

(Corriere della Sera's breakdown)

The aftermath: After all was booed and politely applauded in ten minutes of thanks for months of labor, another war erupted as the VIPs filed out of the theater to check-out minks from the coat check while companions checked-out legs over peach marble floors. Loggionisti who hadn't hightailed out of the upper decks cried 'buffone', eager to lure Gatti et al. for additional curtain call flogging. On the platea floor, the response from a passionate white tie was 'Vai a casa'. Go home.

A few hours earlier, the usual suspects arrived at Scala's marbled, mirrored foyer -- debonaire Robeto Bolle, sprightly Carla Fracci and dignified Giorgio Napolitano -- navigating deep décolletage, architectural up-dos, angry video crews and anxious security apes. Longtime Scala patron Marta Marzotto, reliably dripping in Pucci and Bulgari was MIA with Amazonian sidekick Valeria Marini and her vintage Braccialini purses. We could have used the humor. 

The evening began optimistically. After a moment of silence for Mandela, before the curtain rolled back and the opening notes of Traviata swept forward, 'Viva Verdi' was shouted from the galleries. In the month leading-up to opening night, nary a whisper escaped from Scala's backstage about last minute cast changes or stranger-than-fiction conspiracies. The most scandelous rumor encircled Violetta's death, surmised by overdose or atop a washing machine (freak hausfrau accident?) Don’t exhale just yet.

For all of the Italian media press clippings that exited this week detailing Dmitri Tcherniakov's deep respect and meticulously-scoured pages of La Traviata's manuscript, and for all of Daniele Gatti's intelligent remarks on characterization and his restoration of all things Verdi-sacred, the final product was baffling at best. Neither Italian nor French, Tcherniakov borrowed the whitewashed 19th century continental chic that giftwraps dozens of modern stages and trimmed it with dissonant costumes, like his woman in full Native American headdress. Was the Josephine Baker banana skirt costume on loan? Isn't Traviata supposed to be the height of haute bourgeois elegance?

There was technically-solid music making from everyone, including Damrau, although she was as close to Marilyn Monroe as Christina Aguilera's rose-lensed pipe dreams. Misfires here and there in a score marked with affectation apnea, Damrau/Barone flubbed the Act II 'Ah perché qui venni incauta' with a late cue. With eyes wide open, Beczala took the most serious hits for an unintelligent, charmless Alfredo, preparing pasta and chopping vegetables as Germont served trauma and then bringing Violetta sweets and flowers as she lay dying, everyone preoccupied with a vase. If Tcherniakov had a point, he didn’t quite make it.

The most critical held Gatti responsible -- the Milanese maestro who spent his junior years watching the podium from afar in La Scala's loggione -- for allowing such a misguided production. Or maybe it was his in-joke. Outside of Milan, Tcherniakov's shortcoming has been shifted to the public. Boys will be boys, whores will be whores, but dogs usually bark for good reason.

After so many years of non-Italian opening nights -- Wagner, Bizet and more Wagner -- and especially after Lohengrin greeted Verdi's bicentennial birth year at last year's opening, Scala finally welcomed its native son back to the fold, with arms wide open, regardless of Wagner transgressions. But when they rolled back the rock, it was a Frankenstein monster. Seal it back up! 

Native Italian opera risks extinction, domestic talent gone fair-weather for Europe and America, although blameless, we've all gotta pay the bills (or find bankrolled Swiss lovers). The public isn't angry, they're afraid.

Paolo Isotta, in a teaser column signed "persona non grata" in today's Corriere, called the whole thing ridiculous and totally unrealistic. He titled his piece "Quelle Camelie sbagliate" (not online), those befuddled camellias, citing the red camellia placed in Damrau's hair during the first and second acts. As everyone knows, says Isotta, the courtesan protagonist of Alexandre Dumas, fils' La Dame aux camélias wore a white camellia at her chest when she was accessible to her lovers and a red one when she wasn't.

He's critical of Gatti, whose Verdi is almost always correct, respectful, informed and enlightened. But Isotta accuses Gatti of playing to the director’s/singers' whims by allowing ridiculous giggles and pauses that sacrificed tempi and for affecting a big band sound, comparing it, at times, to Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado (like the Lucic/Damrau 'Ah non udrai rimproveri').

Beczala, aside from an incredible cadenza before "O mio rimorso, infamia" was given over to sobbing, bleating and braying throughout the remainder of the opera. Damrau, undeniably an amazing coloratura, made an uneven first act full of vocal and acting ticks that simply weren't in the manuscript, seeming not to know when she should cry or laugh. Her 'addio del passato' was solid, but 'Prendi quet'e' immagine' was impeded by bad direction. Isotta also cites her 'amnesia' on flubbed entrances.

Still, for anyone who's been to opening night at La Scala, there's no such thing as a bad night. After all, who could complain? We hope not the singers who garner small fortunes nor the audience whose (admitedly expensive) tickets guarantee equally savagery and delight in a setting that's a tone poem of elegance. What's to hate?

Armani (in Armani)

Bolle

Fracci

Pereira and his wife

Stop -- Grammy Time

The 56th Annual Grammy Awards Nominees have been listed, but you have to scroll

 

all

 

the

 

way

 

down

 

to see the classical music idols who've netted 2013 nominations. Winners will be announced on January 26, 2014 at the award ceremony, live from Los Angeles.

La Scala Traviata Teasers, Violetta Echoes Monroe

La prima della Scala fever spikes and the only medicine is Verdi (and more cowbell). Last night, La Scala opened its doors to an under-30 neophyte litmus in the final La Traviata dress rehearsal before Saturday's official season opener. Applause pounded for Daniele Gatti's Verdi, Diana Damrau's Violetta and Piotr Beczala's Alfredo, with less enthusiasm for Željko Lučić's Germont.

The new production, signed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, places less emphasis on the scenery (scrubbed-up, modernized, mid-19th century throwback) and more 'fantasy' into modern day costumes -- notably Damrau who's been capped with a platinum blond wig of Marilyn Monroe curls (like that Aix-en-Provence Mireille Delunsch Violetta) and wrapped in a costume that oozes glamor (a low-cut blue dress, decolletage dripping with Swarovskyish ice), sexy but naive. In Act II, when Germont comes to tell Violetta that he's got 99 problems but she ain't 1, she's preparing homemade pasta in a well appointed kitchen.

The big shocker, from today's Corriere della Sera by journalist Pierluigi Panza, is that Violetta dies in a wooden chair, in a bare room with one window -- at her side an empty bottle, a telephone (lol landline) and a winter comforter. Austere, Ikea death. The death chair echoes (intentionally or not) the iconic, now-exemplar 1955/56 Scala-Visconti Traviata with Giulini, Di Stefano and Callas, when the world's most stylish diva died in a chair, at the time, very controversial. 

Tchernaikov spoke to Corriere della Sera's Giuseppina Manin and explained that his conception of Traviata was inspired by Ingmar Bergman and the psychological games of the protagonists, represented by an intimate, claustrophobic world of closed spaces where nothing is seen beyond the windows. He said:

The social context stays in the shadows. Since Traivata was first staged, 160 years have passed. Everything's changed from then to now.  First and foremost, morals. Words like 'reputation', 'honor' and 'sacrifice' sound very different than they did in the mid-19th century. Today no one's without sin and therefore who can judge a prostitute? Violetta of today could totally resemble a movie star. A seductive Marilyn Monroe, a bit irrational, beyond any kind of moral judgement.

Tchernaikov analyzed every page of the score with Gatti and said of the collaboration, "His observations were very useful. What was the trend in the 19th century is no longer the trend today [...] It's better to seek the deep motivations of everyone. You will find that even the terrible Germont has his reasons and justificatons."

While we wait for Saturday night, there's an excellent interview in Corriere della Sera's ViviMilano between Milanese conductor Daniele Gatti and journalist Gian Mario Benzing. This will be Daniele Gatti's second Traviata at La Scala and his second Scala season opener. Gatti's professional Verdi roots were planted when he was 20 with Giovanna d'Arco, then a Rigoletto in Bologna with Nucci and June Anderson. As a former La Scala loggionisti, the Milanese maestro grew up with Verdi in his blood and studied Falstaff often with his composition teacher.

Gatti says that Verdi's Traviata isn't necessarily an Italianate opera as it speaks of the influence of European cultures, notably Parisian, like the opening brindisi with a touch of 'folies bergères' and the waltzes and dances have overtones of French gaiety. The waltzer steps are intertwined with Greek meter -- two short and one long with the accent on the third syllable -- and the Greek tragedy manifests itself in the passage of time, especially towards the finale of anguish/death.

On his particular interpretation, Gatti said:

Everyone has their own ideal Traviata and it's difficult to be convincing. I however will not be a conductor who pulls the chariot of tradition: if you come to hear me, don't expect tradition. I feel pure in front of such a work of art -- when I re-study a score, I push myself to interpret it just like as if I had picked it up fresh from delivery.

[...]

La traviata is an opera that's been most performed and most abused. It's difficult to scrape off all the cliches that have famously accompanied it. Instead, cliches need to be avoided. I'm looking for a style that's dry. Expressive, but dry, and less redundant. I wrote out some mini-variations in the 'ripresa' of some of the cabalettas. For example, the one for the baritone, "No, non udrai rimproveri," you sing it two times and I'll make it much quicker, like a song that's anxious and throbbing -- Germont wants to be an affectionate father, but in reality he believes as an instrument in the hands of gawd and knows only how to put on a sense of guilt.

Gatti doesn't believe that Traviata is verismo and considers it more as realism and he wants none of his singers to use an excessive vocality. "It's a tragedy, but intimate and dignified." He continues: "Violetta is Rigoletto in a skirt who also has this 'hump' -- but her hump is a social deformity that sings about love."

This is Tchernaikov's first Verdi production for La Scala -- he's only exhibited Russian titles for Piermarini in the past -- Prokofiev's The Gambler, Tchaikovsky's Onegin and in March 2014 he's signed to a Rimsky-Korsakov The Tsar's Bride.

Coverboy Gatti

Beautifully Barre'd with the FT's How to Spend It

Fashion photographer Andrew Yee has shot some gorgeous work for the FT's 'How to Spend It' supplement in the past, and his latest spread, 'Called to the Barre', is equally aspirational. Models in ballet-inspired gear (like an Oscar de la Renta gown paired with Repetto ballet shoes) has reignited our latent ballerina. Lots more photos at the source, all photos Andrew Yee.

Abbado's Pure Magic: the Silence that Follows the Music

It's the title of a 1996 Abbado documentary by Paul Smaczny that captured the deep artistry of the Milanese maestro with the Berliner Philharmoniker among interviews with colleagues and lifelong friends such as Barenboim, Boulez and Mehta.

And you can see it for yourselves in this YouTube clip above of the forty seconds of magic that followed a summer 2012 Mozart Requiem Mass in Lucerne after the final Lux Aeterna. Wait for it (or the impatient can skip to minute 5:25). You can find the whole work here.

La Repubblica reports from last night's concert at Bologna's Teatro Manzoni, where Dutch master Bernard Haitink stepped in for an ailing Claudio Abbado. The concert -- Beethoven's Pastorale with Abbado's very own Orchestra Mozart (founded by Abbado in 2004) and Pollini's Imperatore -- exited to a solid review, but we wouldn't expect any less from a Pollini/Haitink monolith.

Although Haitink's Beethoven was 'austerely conducted with purity' and 'without bucolic rhetoric', the concert was dampened by Abbado's absence following cancellations of key fall dates. 'La salute del maestro preoccupa,' said La Repubblica, 'the maestro's health is troubling', the evening a stark departure from Abbado's last appearance in Bologna over the summer in a jubilant concert for the Italian president Giorgio Napolitano.

[UPDATE: DECEMBER 4]: Abbado's donated his honorary Senator for Life award to the School of Music in Fiesole, which will go to fund scholarships in a bid to recruit new talent of future generatons. He was awarded the title earlier this year by the President of the Italian Republic for his significant contributions to classical music.

Piero Fornasetti's Muse, an Italian Soprano

Opera singer as music muse? Nothing new. Opera singer as art muse? Much cooler.

On the 100th birth year anniversary of the late Milanese artist, Piero Fornasetti, Milan's coordinated a centenary retrospective with more than 1,000 objects at the Triennale. A prolific artist, Fornasetti's most iconic work reappropriated Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri's portrait onto objet d'art like plates, above.

According to Fornasetti's son, Barnaba, Piero discovered the 20th century soprano's image in the 1930s in a magazine and was charmed by her perfectly-proportioned face.  

(Lina Cavalieri)

“There’s just something magical in the expression in Cavalieri’s eyes,” he [Barnaba] suggests. Growing up surrounded by her face, he wasn’t terribly interested in who she was. “I never asked my father about her,” he explains, “For a long time, I didn’t know her name.” It wasn’t until later in life, when he started to read about Cavalieri, that he developed his own interest. “One day I’d like to make a movie or an opera about her. She was like a rock star.”

OC checked out the Milan exhibition this weekend, and in addition to Cavalieri, opera showed up frequently in Fornasetti's pieces.

(Trays painted with Teatro alla Scala interior and exterior)

And as we were watching the Russian docu-dramz on Anna Netrebko, we noticed that she's got a few Fornasetti plates in her UWS aparment

Emilia Wickstead S/S 2014 Piano Prints

At last night's 2013 British Fashion Awards, English model/socialite Poppy Delevingne (above) wore a piano shirt-dress from Emilia Wickstead's S/S 2014 collection. All looks below range from $780 to $1,245.

Milan Supersizes Verdi: Would You Like Traviata With That?

(Image from the 'Verdi e Milano' app)

Better late than never. In the runup to Teatro alla Scala's Traviata 235th season opener on December 7th, Milan's in full rally to celebrate the bicentennial birth year of its opera superhero, Giuseppe Verdi. The new Dmitri Tcherniakov production stars Gatti on the podium, Damrau as La dame aux camélias and Beczala as the dude. ”

Notable exhibitions around Milan include 'Veni, Vidi, Verdi, La Donna e' Mobile' at Palazzo Morando, 'L’impresa opera – Verdi. Boito. Ricordi' at Palazzo Moriggia and the WOW Museum of Comics presents 'Sempre Verdi', a collection of vintage, Verdi-themed comics in titles such as Mickey Mouse, Dago and Donald Duck.

Giuseppe Verdi's Milan haunts have been tracked, thanks to an app, 'Verdi e Milano', like the Via San Marco church where his Requiem Mass premiered, the Hotel et de Milan where he died and the Casa di Risposo G. Verdi retirement home that he founded.

Violetta in città: Around the city, strains of Traviata are being pumped in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, some of the city's subway stations and at the Linate airport.

If you're not one of the lucky 3k in-house spectators on opening night, you can catch a live stream on Rai5 or in seven movie theaters and a handful of museum auditoriums (including the la Casa di riposo per musicisti Giuseppe Verdi).

Next door, the Trussardi alla Scala restaurant offers a special post-Scala menu at €180.00 per person, offering goose broth, cuttlefish, steamed lobster, duck and dessert, with an option for white truffles at an additional cost.

May The Force Be Verdi

We spotted a Verdi/Star Wars double-bill in the Milan metro where an exhibition of Star Wars collectibles at the Still Image Museum was juxtaposed with an exhibition in Palazzo Moriggia on the working relationship between Verdi, Boito and Ricordi. "Il mito" in Italian is "the legend", which calls for a Verdi-as-Darth-Vader mash-up or at least a lightsaber duel between the two myths.

Daniele Gatti on Scala Traviata: Looking for Salvation

Not Gatti. Violetta. Although up against La Scala's grizzly loggionisti, only the foolhardy (or arrogant) would shun redemption. Think buoyant. Calm & confident, 007 in Brioni, a martini in one hand and a baton in the other.

As the Milanese maestro dusts off his Traviata white tie for his second Sant'Ambrogio Teatro alla Scala season opener, let's take a moment to remember that spectacular 2008 Don Carlos meltdown when Filianoti was replaced overnight and Gatti was turned into a piñata. Want to kill/time/travel? Linkage here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Gatti knows what he's up against and he's seen firsthand an opera house soured and bitter as Campari. Yesterday he spoke to Il Giornale and said that he was up to the challenge of Traviata, notoriously sacred to the loggionisti: "Lots of people have asked me, why the hell would you do something like this? My morality makes me do it. It seems like it's impossible to pull off, but instead I consider it a gift from the heavens [...] I'm going to conduct it like 'Mr.Gatti' would, end-of-story. It'll be an intimate Traviata, both in setting and in the numbers of onstage characters."

On Violetta (to be sung by Damrau), he sees her as someone who's suffered an injustice and is looking for salvation. Although she chooses to frequent a certain type of environment, she still wants to save herself and has aspirations to have a husband and kids. He thinks that Alfredo (to be sung by Beczala) is honest, sincere, a bit naive, provincial and doesn't know how to keep his promises.

Meanwhile, deep in the heart of Italy, Riccardo Muti's had his hands full as Teatro dell'Opera di Roma peacekeeper. Strikes and grumbles was last week's news, but tomorrow his Ernani will bow the new season, as originally scheduled, in a Hugo de Ana production with Francesco Meli in the title role.

R. Kelly Plays Cello (But Also Not Really)

When R&B singer R. Kelly [NSFW] released the cover art for his [NSFW] upcoming CD late last week, we lol'd. Between the Moonwalker fedora, the Phantom of the Opera mask and the Yeezus leather pants, he's all over the place.

OC slapped some strings over the image above, but the real version's not safe for work.

[NSFW] version below the cut.