Opera Chic

Yay for a May Round Up!

• Jimmy saddles up! The American conductor prepares his comeback tour after two years of bed rest and physical therapy. Levine speaks about his spinal injury aftermath and upcoming NYC performances with Marilyn Horne on WQXR’s Operavore.

• Springtime for Hitler in Düsseldorf -- To help rinse the taste of genocide and gimmick out of our mouths after that (sh*t-canned!) Tannhäuser, The Guardian's stitched together a list of the top ten most shocking opera productions, with a predictable shout-out to Calixto Bieto (but no mention of Robert Carsen's scandalous, provocative 2007 Candide, heavily censored by Scala's Intendant during its Milan run.)

• Music at The Other Met: The New Yorker addresses this season's musical highlights at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Glamming-Up Umbria: The House of Fendi has sunk $1.5 million into Gian Carlo Menotti's 56-year-old Festival dei Due Mondi festival, which takes place in Spoleto in late June/early July. In the run-up to this year's festival, Carla Fendi's on a mission to sex-up the post-legendary fesival and woo dollar-flush Americans, who make up less than 10 percent of ticket sales.

• Men in (shiny, metallic) Tights: The latest fashion designer to battement frappé onto the ballet stage is Joseph Altuzarra, who debuted his costumes at Wednesday's season opening curtain-up of New York City Ballet's Spring Gala for the world premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's A Place for Us. Queen Latifah shone bright for Gershwin's The Man I Love set to a romantic pas de deux. Welcome back, ballerinas!

Prada Vorspiel

And while we're at it, here's the latest episode of Die Hard, set (as always) to Beethoven's 9th.

Ladies in Red: Bayreuther Festspiele Opens its 100th, Katharina Gets a Make-Under

Wagnerfest officially opened its 100th opera festival today in Bayreuth with a performance of Doogie Howser.

The normally camera-friendly Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Katharina kept a low profile (to the American paps at least). A newly-svelte Katharina shelved the overflowing bewbs and p0rn curlz from the past couple years for a sober look. A suggestion of bewb.

Here she was in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Home girl's called in a stylist and has been passing up the Wiener.

Other guests included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Maria Furtwaengler, Eva Lind, German singer Margot Werner and her husband Jochen Litt, Ulrike Huebner, and Veronica Ferres.

Maria Furtwaengler

German singer Margot Werner and her husband Jochen Litt

Eva Lind

Merkel

Ulrike Huebner

Veronica Ferres

John Martin's San Francisco Opera Ring Portraits

(Above: Swedish soprano Nina Stemme by John Martin)

It's only fitting that in a city as cool as San Francisco you'd have an opera super who devotes his off-stage career to even cooler things. Putting the super into super, San Francisco Opera Supernumerary John Martin shares his intimate portraits of the SFO's Wagner Ring headliners, currently running at the War Memorial Opera House.

San Francisco Opera's Ring Cycle opened a couple weeks ago on May 29th with Siegfried, followed by Götterdämmerung. Last night, Das Rheingold premiered to be followed-up by tonight's Die Walküre, one of the Ring operas that we have a sweet spot for.

Donald Runnicles conducts the Francesca Zambello production, in co-production with Washington National Opera. Brünnhilde is sung by Nina Stemme, Wotan by Mark Delavan, Sieglinde by Anja Kampe, and Siegmund by Brandon Jovanovich.

(Above: Amelia Earhart's got nothing on the Valkyrie sisters -- photo by John Martin)

Douche of the Week: Lars "I'm a Nazi" von Trier

Lars von Trier in 2004: Wagner's Ring exceeds my powers.

Lars von Trier earlier today in Cannes: "I'm a Nazi".

A bit more context after the jump.

Rimsky-Korsakov's Piece, Berlioz, and Wagner

We love the Tate for its immense Turner collection, Kunsthistorisches Museum for its delicious Bruegel, The National Gallery for its fantastic Copley, Cortona's Museo Diocesano for Fra Angelico, and all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Firenze's gli Uffizi -- but Paris' Musée d'Orsay is one of our favorites for the heavy hitters of the French schools.

Aside from the sumptuous Manet, Monet, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Van Gogh (we love the blue crispness in Paul Cézanne's La femme à la cafetière and Gustave Courbet's fleshy The Origin of the World [NSFW]), we always say hello to the portrait of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's wife, Nadezhda, by F. Xavier Winterhalter (image above -- currently in Russia at the Pushkin Museum for an “Inspiration Dior” special event) and Gustave Courbet's 1850 portrait of Hector Berlioz, especially for the backstory:

It was through mediations of Francis Wey, a great friend of Berlioz, that the musician agreed to sit for a portrait at Courbet's studio in 1850. Courbet must have been delighted at such an opportunity. Berlioz, then aged about forty-five years old, was an important figure on the artistic scene, and was a good friend of Victor Hugo, whom Courbet admired.

However, the meeting was not a success. Berlioz was a secretive man, easily offended. Courbet, on the other hand, prided himself on his musical ability, and took advantage of the composer's presence to demonstrate his talents as a singer. "During the sittings", recounted Georges Kial, "[Courbet] took it into his head to sing his songs, "tuneless laments" […] and to offer them as examples of popular music. At first Berlioz thought it was a joke; then, realising that to Courbet it was nothing of the sort, he took him for an idiot". We do not know if it was his annoyance over this that caused Berlioz to refuse the portrait once it was finished.

So cranky! Another lol goes to Courbet's "Protestant minister" portrait of Richard Wagner where you can almost smell him through the canvas.

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)

OC's Review of Barenboim's Baby: Die Walkure's Premiere at La Scala's La Prima

 

Before the final curtain call on December 7th -- a few minutes after the conclusion of five ginormous hours of Wagner's Die Walkure that opened La Scala's new season on Milan's holiday to celebrate the city's patron saint, Sant'Ambrogio -- the night was engraved as a triumph before the first strains of Wagner's famous leitmotifs hit the adoring, vaguely taxidermied, Milanese public. Maestro Daniel Barenboim's victory was sealed when he stepped from the orchestra pit onto the platea floor to inaugurate the evening and spoke out, in Italian, quoting the Italian Constitution (art 9.) to defend the future of culture in Italy, and deafening applause ensued (which was also directed to Palco Reale where Milan's Mayor, Letizia Moratti kept company with Italy's President, Giorgio Napolitano).

As Barenboim entered the orchestra pit at the beginning of Act II and Act III, preemptive cheering for La Scala's "Maestro Scaligero" guaranteed the final triumph and today’s newspaper headlines, the Italian press creeming themselves in phrases like, "Il trionfo della Valchiria", "Quattordici minuti di applausi", "Scala, il trionfo di Barenboim" (massive headlines also addressed the out-of-control student protests which flared-up around Piazza della Scala/Palazzo Marino where the city's most official post-opera Gala takes place.

Rienzi's Totally Totalitarian For Deutsche Oper Berlin

(Above: Scene from Rienzi. Photo Bettina Stöß & Deutsche Oper Berlin) 

Deutsche Oper Berlin's January 2010 production of Wagner's Rienzi had the audiences in nightly rows (reportedly at the end of every major scene!) in a controversial, provocative production by German director Philipp Stölzl. The totalitarian dictator of 14th century Rome was synthesized into a generic version of historical bad guys Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, and Ceausescu and given an updated 1930s Fascist swing. The production was chopped down to a condensed version of two hours, which was intense enough. It's early Wagner -- fun for the whole family -- and it's available on September 28.   

In this production, conductor Sebastian Lang Lessing directed Torsten Kerl's Rienzi, Camilla Nylund's Irene, and Kate Aldrich's pants'o'rrific Adriano over a backdrop of WWII propoganda staples. Photo gallery here.

Bayreuther Festspiele's Götterdämmerung & Die Meistersinger

 

Remember last week when Bayreuther Festspiele opened with Hans Neuenfels' Lohengrin and everyone was appalled over a few guys in rat costumes? Bayreuther Festspiele's Götterdämmerung opens today, led by Christian Thielemann in Tankred Dorst's production (photos above and below). Tomorrow it's Katharina Wagner's turn for her own production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg with Sebastian Weigle conducting. But you'll have to click the link below to see the photos.

Come to Where the Wagner is: Bayreuth 2010 Arrivals

Ok, now that Bayreuther Festspiele 2010's long-awaited premiere is over we can get to the best part of the opening: celebrity arrivals. Today we had The Merkel and her ~crazy pants~, Katharina Wagner's Lincoln Hawk Over The Top arms (sadly, no Mariah Carey curlz like she sported last year -- instead we've got awesome Lee press ons). But no matter how many miles of dark roots everyone touched-up or how many layers of spanx everyone sucked themselves into, the Queen of the Ball was André Leon Talley, the fiercest guest in all of Bayreuth -- NAY in all of Germany -- and his lovely date, the Countess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis.  

(Above: Katharina Wagner and Eva Wagner-Pasquier)

(Above: Angela Merkel makes a statement. Her husband Joachim Sauer is not amused)

Click for more, including ALT...

Whoopi Goldberg as Erda For Life Ball 2010

 

This weekend, Vienna hosted the Life Ball, the city's annual gala to raise funds and awareness for AIDS research. Backed by celebrity power (Liz Hurley, Elton John, Sharon Stone, Bill Clinton, and Dita von Teese), the star that shone the brightest this year was Whoopi Goldberg. Miss Whoopi took over Wiener Rathausplatz, Wagner-style as Erda, accompanied by Bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny.

Orf has the footage here (embedding disabled) so fast-forward to 32:00 to jump right to the performance. Keep listening for a Beethoven's Ninth mash-up followed by a slow as faq presto movement.

 

Guess Who Showed Up to the L.A. Opera's Ring?!

 
(The Ring cycle director, Achim Freyer and OMG GUESS WHO?) (Photo Credit: © Steve Cohn/ Steve Cohn Photography))

Saturday kicked off the L.A. Opera opening of Der Ring des Nibelungen with Das Rheingold, while Sunday continued with Die Walküre (Placidone's Siegmund and Maestro Conlon on the podium) for designer/producer Achim Freyer's light-infused vision.

The Los Angeles Opera had their pick of guests and ticket holders for the historic event, but the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was honored last weekend by someone OC would trill her panties for... 

Click the link below to find out who was there (and if you still haven't read Opera Chic's interview with Jonas Kaufmann from the other day, click here)! 

Rhine Road Trip with Stephen Fry

From Bayreuth to Nuremberg, watch as Stephen Fry traveled through Germany in search of Wagner (with an excellent BBC blog post here "My journey with Stephen Fry and Wagner").

Part 2

Part 3

Click the link below for parts 4, 5, and 6!

More Video Diaries from Scala Das Rheingold Director Guy Cassiers

Belgian director Guy Cassiers published two more of his video diaries as he prepares for the May 13 opening of Das Rheingoldat La Scala. Now with even more René Pape!

Under the Sea, Guy Cassiers' Video Diary for Scala Das Rheingold

Belgian director Guy Cassiers starts working on Wagner's Ring for La Scala in a new production of Das Rheingold. Opening on May 13 with Barenboim conducting, René Pape stars as Wotan. If the embeds don't work, try here and here.

Dress Up for Men, Dress Down for Women

 
The Los Angeles Times offers Angelenos a definitive guide to L.A. Opera's Ring cycle, with a couple pointers on dress code. Bafflingly, it urges women to ditch the high heels under the pretense of comfort, while men are told to mummify themselves in full frac.

Ladies: Dress up, but don't overdo it with the footwear. "You always want to look elegant when you go out to the opera," Silver said."But you have to be comfortable." After nearly six hours of "Gotterdammerung," your feet will exact vengeance if you get too ambitious with footwear.

Guys: Don't blow this sartorial occasion. "A man should certainly don his dinner suit," Ray said. "That means a full tuxedo, from bow tie to cummerbund all the way down to shiny patent leather opera pumps. If you've already put out the big dollars for the tickets and you don't own a tuxedo, it is perfectly acceptable to wear a dark suit, dark shoes, white shirt and dark four-in-hand tie. And wash and shave your face and comb your hair. Respect the institution as well as your fellow concertgoers. If you plan to attend after opening night, scratch the tux and wear the dark suit. Do not wear jeans.

This is like your grandpa's guide to dressing for the opera. Don't forget to bring a sweater and make sure to wear clean underwear! Guys parading around in full tuxedos while women are free to embrace their inner frump: khaki capris and Cros. Or even better, the Stella McCartney Birkenstock hybrids above.   

Rattle's Aix Ring Concludes in Black & White

(Above: Ben Heppner and Emma Vetter)

Sir Simon Rattle is chilling in Aix-en-Provence for the July 3 premiere of Wagner's Götterdämmerung. The new, minimal Stéphane Braunschweig production is one of the offerings in this year's Festival d'Aix-en-Provence (festival #61), and is the final installment of Rattle's Aix Ring Cycle collaboration. The cast boasts Ben Heppner as Siegfried, Anne Sofie von Otter as Waltraute, Emma Vetter as Gutrune, and Katarina Dalayman as Brünnhilde.

Rattle (& the Berliner Philharmoniker) & Braunschweig will bid adieu to their Ring Cycle pact, which began in 2006 for the Festival's first Wagner cycle with Das Rheingold. It was followed by Die Walküre in 2007 (which was taped for DVD), Siegfried in 2008, and finishes with 2009's Götterdämmerung. Can Grand Théâtre de Provence contain all the Wagnerian hawtness? We will never know!

(Above: Katarina Dalayman and Anne Sofie von Otter)

Opera Chic in today's Los Angeles Times

Opera Chic appears alongside California-resident Wagner freaks in David Mermelstein's piece for the Los Angeles Times, where she spoke about Achim Freyer's new Ring cycle for the Los Angeles Opera.

Claus Guth's "Meistersinger" @ Liceu

Essential Liceu blogger GTL Torn T has nice things to say about Claus Guth's staging (via Dresden) of "Meistersinger" in Barcelona, Sebastian Weigle conductor -- complete info here in a .pdf file.

Tannhauser @ Teatro Real: Red Lingerie, Lipstick Thespians, General Mayhem

"Sexo explícito en una ópera de Wagner", writes El Mundo: Teatro Real (and Ian Judge from LA Opera 2007) get Madrid's red lace panties in a twist. Not Safe For Work video here.

After the jump, another NSFW image from the production.

More Freyer, More Rheingold: Because You Know You Want It

More images from LA Opera's $32,000,000.00 Rheingold.

Achim Freyer's $32,000,000.00 Ring Unveiled

The Los Angeles Times has a nice photo gallery of L.A.'s Rheingold; the always insightful Tim Mangan in the OC Register has words.

Achim Freyer's production for the complete Ring carries a cool 32-million-dollars price tag in the middle of a big recession; curiously Freyer, in Hebrew, means "sucker".

We just need to figure out who's being suckered here exactly.

Serafin In LA? Guess Not.

Opera Chic would be surprised if Martina Serafin were to actually appear in LA Opera's Ring as Sieglinde -- OC has good reason to think Serafin will be replaced, replacement name to be announced later (when they find one).

Anyway, replacements aside. Friend of Opera Chic Tim Mangan in February's issue of Opera News has all you ever wanted to know -- with pictures -- about Achim Freyer's staging.

Baren-who? NYC Doesn't Care About Daniel Barenboim's Metropolitan Opera Debut

Daniel Barenboim, the 66-year-old conductor of many nationalities will settle into the orchestra pit at the Metropolitan Opera on Friday, November 28 for his first public appearance conducting Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

To help you digest your turkey leftovers and soothe your Black Friday consumer angst, you can still find *plenty-o-tix*. WTF NYC? It's the Thanxgiving weekend, ok, and it's not the cool new Chereau staging we saw last year in Milan, but is everybody so stuffed with turkey buttz and gizzard gravy that they have more important things to do than witness Barenboim's Metropolitan premiere?

Also making their premieres are Swedish soprano Katarina Dalayman and hard-of-hearing German heldentenor Peter Seiffert, singing the title roles but apparently this gave NYC the lawls. René Pape, he of all things awesome will sing King Marke, reprising the role which he sang in the inaugural 1999 Dieter Dorn production.

We peeked on the page for la prima, and it looks like NYC has other plans tomorrow night...

We've got a nice assortment of production photos just for you!

(Above: Peter Seiffert as Tristan, Katarina Dalayman as Isolde, and Michelle DeYoung as Brangäne)

(Above: Seiffert as Tristan, Katarina Dalayman as Isolde)

**click on the link below for a handful of more shots!!**