Opera Chic

Party in the Desert: Homage to Pavarotti in Petra (Now with Screenshots)

Here are screenshots from the October 12, 2008 "Omaggio a Pavarotti" in Petra, Jordan to commemorate the first year of Pavarotti's death. The memorial concert and benefit was organized by Princess Haya of Jordan & Nicoletta Mantovani, and included performers from "Pavarotti & Friends": Andrea Bocelli, Lorenzo "Jovanotti" Cherubini, Laura Pausini, Sting, and Zucchero. Other performers included: Angela Gheorghiu, Andrea Griminelli, Cynthia Lawrence, Sherrill Milnes, José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Aleem Quandour.

Gruppo Mediaset transmitted the concert via Retequattro on October 22, 2008, and O.C. took some nice pictures to share with her readers. Enjoy!

• Song 1: Zucchero went first with "Miserere". He tried to do this sort of virtual duet with Pavarotti, so they showed footage of an old duet between him and Pavarotti on the jumbo-screen. Picture below.

Click the link below for a song-by-song recap, and to see like a million pictures of Laura Pausini, Andrea Griminelli, Bono, Andrea Bocelli, Angela Gheorghiu, Aleem Quandour, Cynthia Lawrence, Sherril Milnes, José Carreras, and Plácido Domingo

Angela Shines Again: Pavarotti's Tribute with More VIPs Than You Can Shake a Stick At

 

In an article on the Petra Pavarotti event in Corriere, we get a glimpse of Angela Gheorghiu and Sting in their "La ci darem la mano" duet during the Sunday, October 12 concert in memory of Luciano Pavarotti. But such a grainy, small dpi won't be necessary, as OC has dug up for her lovely readers a steaming buffet of technicolor jpegs. The article summarized the concert events, which OC already relayed (see posts below) -- but we're eager to report that the concert will be played on Italian television on Rete 4 on October 22, 2008 (for those of us unlucky 500 attendees who couldn't shell-out a minimum of $2,000 USD up to $9,500 USD for a single ticket). 

If you thought yesterday's batch of VIPs from the Petra Pavarotti tribute were impressive, wait until you see this installment! Angela Gheorghiu flaunts a Louis Vuitton steamer trunk full of sparkling costumes, and despite the desert sand, Domingo & Carreras look impeccable in black.

(Above: Angela Gheorghiu and José Carreras)

(Above: Angela Gheorghiu and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan)

(Above: Angela Gheorghiu)
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**Click on the link below for MOAR ANGELA (in Chanel wraparounds), Andrea Bocelli (with girlfriend Veronica Bertoli), American baritone Sherrill Milnes, Cynthia Lawrence, Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Sting, and more Nicoletta (sans cigarettes)!!

Old Skooler Sherrill Milnes 2 Kewl 4 Skool

(photo Chad Pilster)

"Renowned opera singer Sherrill Milnes, background, listens as junior Ryne Cherry acts out the character Papageno from Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' on Friday during an opera master class at Stetson University in DeLand. Papageno is under a spell where his lips are locked. Once freed, he was able to sing for Milnes."

Link here. The most recorded American opera singer, Sherrill Milnes, spoke about a recent master class at Stetson University in Florida. The above picture leaves us wondering when a director is going to do a whole S&M version of Zauberflöte, where the three ladies are covered in head2toe leather bondage gear, and shove a ball gag in Papageno's mouth. Any takers?

Speakng of ideas that OC is too lazy to execute: Santeri Ojala, who was bullied off YouTube with claims of copyright infringement from various guitarists, has recently resurfaced. The 30-something Finnish media/guitar artist created the "Shreds" video series, where he takes classic concert footage shot at venues hosting Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Eric Clapton, etc...and overdubs the famous guitar solos with his own specially synched versions. His overdubbing is intentionally egregious, sloppy, and amateur, and he further expounds, "When I overdub, I like to leave the licks unfinished, over-bend, come up with stupid arpeggios, and throw in a borrowed riff or two." You can see some of his lol-worthy stuff on YouTube, his rendition of Paco De Lucia and of Eric Clapton.

Someone sooooo needs to do this with opera. Like take a pristine concert aria performance of Fleming, Florez, Netrebko, or Dessay, and synch it up with their own craptacular version, singing into Fruity Loops or Audacity or some crap and overlaying the tracks. This is an instant hit. Aida know. You'll be a YouTube ^*supahstah*^. Famous. On the internets. Like the Tron costume guy or Ellen Feiss or Mahir or Ill Mitch.