About time! And how about some more maestras at the Met?

Among the many things I'm looking forward to next season at the Met, rather high on the list is Orfeo et Euridice starring Stephanie Blythe and Danielle de Niese in the title roles. While I rather enjoyed Heidi Grant Murphy's portrayal of Amor the last time I saw the opera (she looked so cute in her costume!), I'm more excited by her alternate, the immensely charming Chinese soprano Ying Huang (a mostly Mozart specialist and a fine English-language Pamina for her Met debut). Ms. Huang's performances will be the only two of the run not conducted by James Levine (who, as much as I love him, isn't necessarily the best conductor for this repertory). Thanks to my indefatigable best friend Brad Wilber, who runs the Met Futures page, I have just learned that these performances will be conducted by Kazem Abdullah, who I believe is, finally, the first African-American ever to conduct at the Met (1).

Maestro Abdullah has been on the Met roster for about two years now (you don't miss a name like that in the program! although I had assumed at first that he was Middle Eastern) as an assistant conductor, and last season he worked on Die Zauberflöte and Iphigenie en Tauride. I first heard of him "in earnest" last year when I was at the Berkshire Choral Festival and I read an article in one of the area papers about him (I've been trying to find the article online without success) because he was conducting an opera - Cosi fan Tutte, again subbing for Levine. He is a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center which means, presumably, that he is one of Levine's protegés. He began his career as a clarinetist (2) and won several awards as an instrumentalist, as well as a humanitarian award for creating a gay and lesbian jazz ensemble called UMOJA!!. He studied conducting at the Peabody Conservatory under Gustav Meier, who happens to be the conducting teacher of my favorite maestro of our age, Antonio Pappano, and a student of Richard Strauss. There's some interesting stuff that comes up if you search the Web for Abdullah's name. He's had some concerts recently at the Oklahoma Arts Institute and the Indianapolis Symphony (with pianist Gabriela Montero). It would seem from the operas he's already conducted that, at least as an opera conductor, he tends to be a Mozart/early music specialist. I believe he has also worked with Mark Morris, who directs this production.

My main concern is since he is (I assume) in his early twenties that's pretty much babyhood for a conductor, and I'm not quite convinced he's experienced enough for such a huge gig. Then again, I'm sure Maestro Levine is a better judge of such things than I am. Also, since he is essentially Levine's understudy here, he will pretty much have to follow what Levine does with the orchestra and singers rather than being able to put his own unique stamp on things. And needless to say, there are going to more than the usual eyes on him, and I don't doubt at least some critics/commentators/bitchy bloggers are going to make not-so-subtle comments about "pandering to political correctness", or worse.

The only pictures I could find of him as a conductor on the Web were too small and unflattering to show. There is a "civillian" picture on his Facebook site (http://www.facebook.com/people/Kazem_Abdullah/652748831). I don't have a Facebook account and probably won't get one.

His performances will be on Wednesday, January 28 (my mother's 83rd birthday!) and Saturday (evening), January 31. I imagine with the buzz he'll get, the many Blythe-lovers out there (of which I am one) and that it's a popular production (Mark Morris probably has more fans than Blythe!), this will sell out fast!

Well, now that that barrier has been broken (although, unfortunately, I think it will be quite a long time before there are any other African-American conductors at the Met, or even before Abdullah himself is a regular there - in general, the assistant conductors don't make the "big leap forward"), is it possible that we might finally start getting a few more maestre (the correct Italian, unlike in the post's title)to go along with the near army of maestri? Since Peter Gelb is actually married to a conductor (Kerri-Lyn Wilson, who has conducted opera in Italy and I think a few other places), I'm sure he'd have no objection to the idea, although I presume it is primarily still Maestro Levine who makes those decisions. Marin Alsop, at this point, is probably the "starriest" name they could get, but I haven't heard of her doing much opera, although I think she did conduct Rigoletto for the ENO a few years back. More likely is that she'll do a contemporary opera, possibly a revival of Doctor Atomic or maybe Nixon in China. I would also very much like to see Xian Zhang, now a regular with the New York Philharmonic (although I have yet to hear her at Avery Fisher Hall, or, for that matter, in any setting which isn't acoustically compromised - and I'm so angry that I missed her Alexander Nevsky last year!) who started as an opera conductor in Beijing and has also conducted at the Cincinatti Opera. And what about Anne Manson, who regularly gets rave reviews for her work both at Julliard and on the West Coast? And those are just the names I know - I'm sure the Met scouts know of many other people I've never heard of!

I also want to put in a word for a female conductor who I think has been terribly maligned by many opera fans and critics - Maestra Simone Young, now, I believe, the artistic director of the Hamburg Opera. Her Met debut received almost universally bad reviews (with, of course, some not very well disguised sexism), and I think the only reason that she wasn't actually drawn and quartered was they were too busy doing that to Roberto Alagna, who debuted the same night. I will concede that she wasn't a great Puccini conductor (she herself has said that she finds La Boheme the most difficult opera she's ever conducted, and she's right, it's not an easy opera!), but I didn't find anything horribly wrong with her Les Contes Hoffman, or on the Cav/Pag broadcast I heard her conduct. She is principally a conductor of German opera, especially Wagner, and what little of that I have heard her conduct - mostly on Johan Botha's Wagner album - is absolutely wonderful. Of course, in the late 1990s, you weren't going to hear Wagner conducted by anyone other than Levine, or possibly then-hot German maestro Christian Thielemann, but if they were going to have her there, they should have played to her strengths, and given her operas she presumably wanted to do. Even still, well, there have been far worse conductors at the Met who have never gotten the critical drubbing she did - but they were Italian and male! (3) So, maybe bring her in for a Der Fliegender Hollander or something, and still let Levine have his Ring Cycle. And even considering Gelb is getting some big star conductors at last, once Levine leaves there won't be that many people who will be able to do Wagner!

Oh, has the Met ever done an opera by a female composer? It occurred to me that with Gelb's appetite for new music and the general reverence held by the opera world for Karita Mattila, might we possibly get a work by Kaija Saariaho, who often writes for her? I was also thinking of Ethel Smythe's The Wreckers, but that's probably too obscure. And another opera I missed hearing due to lack of money - the American Symphony Orchestra did it a few months ago. She's probably most famous for writing "March of the Women", which featured in the BBC series about the British suffragist movement Shoulder to Shoulder.


(1) I find it very odd that James De Priest didn't, considering that he's Marian Anderson's nephew, but whether his lack of conducting opera was his idea or the fact he just wasn't hired for it I have no idea. I think Dean Dixon might have conducted a Met-in-The-Parks, but I'm not sure. I tend to think of him as being in the 1940s, even considering how long lived conductors tend to be. It might have been a Philharmonic-in-the-Parks.

(2) That's a very interesting instrument for a conductor to take up - perhaps he didn't decide to conduct until after his clarinet studies? The impression I get is that the overwhelming majority of conductors are primarily pianists, although there are a number of violinists as well. Zubin Mehta is really the odd-man-out as a double bassist. Of course, Abdullah must be a pianist as well if he does standard assistant conductor things like coach singers. Actually, I think you have to pass a piano test if you want to graduate with any music degree, no matter what instrument (or voice) is your primary means of musical expression.

(3) To be fair to that particular conductor, he has said on a number of occasions that he really doesn't like conducting Italian opera but everyone asks him to do it because he's Italian and he can't really turn down work - the same situation, it seems, as Young at the Met. And despite some hacks that have appeared at the Met, I have nothing against Italian male conductors in general - Maurizio Benini is pretty good for comedy and bel canto stuff, if not ideal for Rigoletto, I think very highly of Marco Armiliato, and Fabio Luisi, is, well, just fab!

Philharmonic Pop in the Park (STUB)

Bramwell Tovey conducted Shostakovich's Festive Overture, Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Sousa's Washington Post March, Liberty Bell March, and Stars and Stripes Forever, with an orchestral arrangement (don't know by whom - possibly Tovey himself?) of Jimi Hendrix/Led Zeppelin's Purple Haze as an encore. Nice fireworks. I had a VIP seat thanks to my best-friend-at-work's boss' sister working for Lincoln Center!

More later.

Friday in the Park with Gheorghiu (and Alagna) (STUB)

Roberto, Angela, and Maestro Ion Marin taking their bows at the end of the first part of the Metropolitan Opera Summer Concert

Angela Gheorghiu, soprano

Roberto Alagna, tenor

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Ion Marin, conductor

Donald Palumbo, Chorus Master

Long Meadow, Prospect Park, June 20, 2008, 8:00 PM

Verdi: Overture to La Forza Del Destino

Bizet: "Ton coeur n'a pas compris le mien" from Les Pecheurs de Perles

Catalani: "Ebben? Ne andrò lontano" from La Wally

D. Alagna: Air du condamné from Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné

Verdi: "Vedi, le fosche" (Anvil Chorus) from Il Trovatore

Donizetti: "Ah, talor del tuo pensiero ... Verrano a te" from Lucia di Lammermoor

Verdi: Overture to Nabucco

Verdi: "Parigi, o cara" from La Traviata

Puccini: "E lucevan le stelle" from Tosca

Puccini: "Un bel di, vedremo" from Madama Butterfly

Verdi: "Va, pensiero" from Nabucco

Delibes: "C'est le Dieu!" from Lakme

Encores:

Dalla: "Caruso" (Angela)

Puccini: "Nessun Dorma" (Roberto)

Dendrino: "Te iubesc" from Lăsaţi-mă Să Cânt (Both)

"Granada" (Both)

"O Sole Mio" (Both)

Verdi: Brindisi from La Traviata (All)

"Granada" (Reprise, Both)

This is the initial E-mail I sent to Brad Wilber with my thoughts on this fabulous night. I'll elaborate more in the next few days. If you're wondering about the "Judaism" label, I'll also go into some detail about how I fitted my Shabbat observance around this concert.

"Roberto and Angela completely, utterly, wonderfully magnificent. So was the Met Chorus - can you imagine what it's like being serenaded with the Ultimate Jewish Chorus, "Va, pensiero", while watching your Shabbat candles burn? Gorgeous day, too. They have something I think no other singer today has - you really sense that they love to sing! I think the only other singers today I get that from are Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli. For too many singers it's "I am a professional. I am just doing my job". I do get "I need to sing" from some of today's greats, or more accurately "Io sono umile servo/ancella di musica", but that's not quite the same thing as "I love to sing". To be fair, I don't often hear Ramon Vargas, Marcello Giordani, and Olga Borodina, for example, singing stuff that's fun. And there are the great Ravenclaws of the opera world like Thomas Hampson (and Cecilia) who clearly have deep intellectual identification with poets and composers, but that's not quite the same thing either.

Only negatives - if the Met had done this in Central Park, they might have gotten the 150,000 people they wanted instead of "only" 50,000 (still twice as much as for the biggest singer prior, Patti Labelle, who's quite a bit better known than Roberto and Angela!), the fact that there were no texts/translations (criminal considering the rarities and the fact that no one outside France has heard David Alagna's opera!), and the fact that I forgot my binoculars. Yes, I was reasonably close to the stage (the equivalent of the back of the orchestra), but I couldn't see facial expressions, and while they did have the big screens, they weren't in 3D, and during duets the cameras only focused on one singer at a time during "solo" moments and I couldn't see reactions from the other."

Re the title of this post, variations of which have been all over the blogosphere, I really regret having missed the original of this, Sunday in The Park with George, not only when I went to London, but also when the same immensely-acclaimed production came to New York. (SIGH) At least Roberto and Angela were free. It was worth a million.

"Tosca" in concert at the Philharmonic (STUB)

... with Hui He as Tosca (excellent, but needs a staged performance to judge her as an actress), Walter Fracarro as Cavaradossi (big, powerful voice, good high notes, but needed much more sensitivity) and George Gadzigne as Scarpia (superb - brutal, calculating, and based on a real police chief in Gadzigne's native Georgia). Lorin Maazel conducting. Interesting to hear with the orchestra on stage, brought out a lot of things I didn't notice, especially with the cantata and the "dance band" fully audible.

More later.

Is this kosher?

A bit too late for Purim, but just in time for April Fool's Day...





So, it's your first kiss and several questions might come to mind:


Is it the right time?

Is anyone watching?

Does your partner even want to?

Is your breath fresh?

And... Should you use some tongue?


Then you lean in and just go for it!!!

O Ciel Azzuri (?)

Gorgeous waterfall somewhere in Ethiopia

O ciel azzuri, o dolce aure native ... O verdi colle, o profumate rive ... O fresche valli, o queto asil beato ... O patria mia, non ti vedro mai piu!

(O azure skies, sweet native breezes ... O green hills, o perfumed shores ... O cool valleys, blessed, tranquil refuge ... O my homeland, I shall never see you again!)

- "O patria mia", Aida, Act III (translated partially by Decca and partially by me)

Now I know what Aida is talking about.

OK, it looks rather gray and rainy on this particular day, not quite "ciel azzuri". But Ethiopia is gorgeous. A pity that when one thinks of the country, one tends to think only of desert landscapes and starving people, although I am by no means suggesting one should ignore them.

The picture, by the way, came from a PowerPoint presentation of scenes from Africa that has making the E-mail rounds around work.

I did have a craving for Ethiopian food (shiro and injera - yum!) after Tuesday night's performance. Unfortunately, my favorite Ethiopian restaurant has been closed for ages and I know of none near my home, my work, my synagogue or the Met!

Roberto and Angela (no, not that one!) make a virtually "celeste" "Aida" (STUB)

The following was an E-mail I sent to my friend Brad of Met Futures fame, which responded to the questions of whether Carlo Colombara, who was listed in the Met Database as Ramfis, sang instead of Vitaly Kowajow, and "Well??? Did you love it??". So this will serve as the "stub" until the full review goes up. Sometime in the next millenium.

"I presume it was Kowaljow, as no announcement was made and there was no insert in the program except for Roberto replacing Berti. Frankly, I don't think Colombara was ever as good as this! Kowaljow is one of my favorite of the "younger" generation of basses (i.e. post-Ramey). Per the program he will be the Colline on the new Boheme recording with Rolando and Anna and he will also be recording something called I Medici by Leoncavallo with Placido Domingo (not sure if Placido is tenoring or conducting)

Did I love it? Mostly. There were moments where it was definitely the best Aida I've seen live, but it began a little ropily. Despite what Roberto said in the "post-game" interview on the Met website, I think he was scared during "Celeste Aida" (can one blame him???) and proceeded very carefully, which I would have minded less if I couldn't "see him working", so to speak. There were a few moments in Romeo like that too. He took it very slowly, no doubt to aid expression, and he and Ono weren't always together (sort of the opposite for Angela Brown in "Ritorna vincitor" - she went too fast!). By and large he made up for it in terms of intensity of feeling and his usual superb diction. Quite to my suprise, and delight, he sang the "Toscanini version" of the ending, with him holding the high B for about two seconds and then finishing with "vicino al sol" an octave lower. I should point out that I don't think I've ever heard a live "Celeste Aida" that wasn't problematic in some way. It's an absolutely killer aria for the tenor, especially coming at the beginning of the opera. You probably know that Jean de Reszke, generally considered to be the greatest tenor immediately preceding Caruso, regularly cut it. Once past the aria, he seemed to relax, albeit he missed a few lines right after. His best bits were at the end of Act II, where he literally pushed Amneris away from him, something I doubt most tenors don't do because they're probably afraid Radames will be executed! Lots of really wonderful little acting details too. I'm still concerned about his growing tendency to use the darkest and roughest colors of his voice to convey emotion. Still I don't doubt he could be a magnificent Met Radames - once he gets the chance to actually rehearse it! I certainly don't think he should retire it, as he was apparently considering after La Scala, although I still think his bread and butter should be Italian and French lyric roles. Oh, all right, anything French. I still want to hear both his Samson and his Rodrigue in Le Cid. I still regret he retired Don Carlos - why, especially if he has Otello plans?

(Note per my usher friend Annie, who thought that Roberto was one of the best Radames' she's ever heard and she's been there for 30 years - a lot of people were really pissed last night at Roberto's withdrawal from Butterfly. There were boos and one man left.)

(Also, Roberto went back to his old, wonderful habit of shaking hands with the prompter - Jane Klaviter tonight. He is the only singer I have ever seen do that, although Annie told me that she saw Frank Lopardo do it once. Probably stole it from Roberto. And Angela (that one!) was probably in the audience as he blew someone a kiss :-) )

Angela Brown - just fabulous. Gorgeous, gorgeous top, wonderful use of messa di voce effects, lots of fire and passion and, particularly in the Nile Scene, specificity. Get this woman a Verdi disc now. And she's singing Tosca somewhere - I'd definitely like to hear her do that at the Met as well as Aida and Amelia (and Elizabetta? Elvira? Leonora? Both Leonoras?)

Dolora Zajick (the shortest person on stage?!) started out almost inaudible, but her Act II confrontation with Aida and the Judgement Scene were just titanic. The Aida/Amneris confrontation was definitely the best I've seen live - although they basically just stood there. Admittedly it is very difficult to stage, and we don't necessarily want to see hairpulling and stuff.

Andrzej Dobber looks about 25 on his publicity photo, but he couldn't possibly be considering his immense amount of experience - apparently a house baritone in Warsaw in addition to a lot of more prestigious European experience. Both physically and vocally, a very lean, dry, muscular Amonasro. The most "warrior" Amonasro I've seen - when he tells the King of Egypt he's a "common" officer, you can see why he believes him. Now we know how he got to be King of Ethiopia.

Reinhard Hagen - excellent debut, looked about 7 feet, would be happy to see him as Sarastro, although I thought one of the giants in the Ring would be the best casting.

And any chance they might actually let Jennifer Check sing Aida??? I heard her as Norma at a Young Artists gala years ago and she was wonderful. I don't suppose she's understudying Papian? It's certainly past time she sang major roles!

Still hate the choreography.

Oh, and I saw James Conlon - he was up in the broadcast booth being interviewed for Sirius - that's right next to the Family Circle ladies room. He's shorter than I am. What is it with short conductors?"

BA BAAAA BA-BA-BA BA BA BA BA-BA-BA BAAA BA-BA!

My rather pathetic rendition of the Triumphal March, as seen above, is actually entirely appropriate to this post.

I get into work at 8:30 AM and quite innocently open up my E-mail. And, lo and behold, there is a note from my best friend, Brad Wilber, copying a Met Press release saying Roberto Alagna would be singing his first Radames at the Met tonight, replacing an indisposed Marco Berti!

SHWEEEOOOO......THUD.

After getting up from my faint, I check Met website and it's all sold out except for unbelievably expensive tickets and Standing Room. I check my bank balance. No money. (Expletives in as many languages as I can think of) I borrow $20 from sympathetic, vaguely opera-liking colleague (am getting paid tomorrow), run up to the Met on my lunch hour, which I took an hour early because I assumed everyone would be rushing to buy Standing Room once they found out about Roberto, wait half an hour on line and...

WHEW. I get a Family Circle Standing Room place. Apparently not anywhere near the last one, so maybe I was overly panicked. And I have enough for dinner, too! I tell the ticket clerk that I loved her. Since I bought the ticket with cash, I'd better not lose it!

Yay! Not just Roberto and The Other Angela, but Dolora! And Vitaly Kovaljow! And Kazushi Ono is supposed to be good. I hope it turns out OK with Roberto being dropped into the middle of things at the last minute like this. And of course, with too many people wired to view him (and Angela) solely as villains no matter what they do, there will be more negativity about him missing Butterfly last night to do this than him dropping in to save the day here. I should say that after seeing him as Romeo and Pinkerton, I have no doubt as to his ability to sing a role the size of Radames even in this house. I just hope he models on Bergonzi and Bjorling rather than Corelli.

I'll have to return my DVD of Battlestar Galactica (the new one, Season 1, discs 4 and 5) to the video store before I get a chance to watch all the extras, but hey, this is a once in a lifetime thing! Or at least not until at least 2010, which is when the last role Roberto has scheduled at the Met is...

Maybe it's a cliche to say "Butterfly" soars... (STUB)

... but oh, boy, it's true.

Hitherto, I have liked and admired Patricia Racette, but never went "WOW"! Now I think I see what the fuss is about her (am also, by the way, making tentative plans to see her wife in Carmen across the plaza). Roberto was just glorious - primarily because he actually played Pinkerton as a nice guy, cocky, good-humored, likeable, sensitive (in other words, himself!). If anything, a non-villainous Pinkerton actually makes the tragedy more poignant.I could actually imagine this Pinkerton, had he been assigned to permanent duty in Japan, staying with Butterfly at least long enough for her to have the psychological maturity to handle is leaving. Unfortunately, he has to go back to his duty on the Abraham Lincoln, and "real life" takes over.

But frankly, he needs a haircut, especially with that uniform cap. No American military officer (I imagine especially in 1903) should have hair that long. Something you should know, Monsieur French Tank Corp!

Rest of the cast just fine - I think I would have noticed Luca Salsi a bit more with a less wonderful Butterfly and Pinkerton. Maria Zifchak had about ten times the applause you would expect a Suzuki to get.

More later.

And I thought *I* had credit problems...

The following is yet another E-mail that has been circulating around work:

Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die.

This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.

A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now somewhere around $60.00. A family member placed a call to Citibank.

Here is the exchange:

Family Member: "I am calling to tell you she died back in January."

Citibank : "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."

Family Member : "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections."

Citibank : "Since it is two months past due, it already has been."

Family Member : So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?"

Citibank: "Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!"

Family Member : "Do you think God will be mad at her?"

Citibank: "Excuse me?"

Family Member : "Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?"

Citibank: "Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor."

(Supervisor gets on the phone)

Family Member : "I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance."

Citibank : "The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply."

Family Member: "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"

Citibank : (Stammer) "Are you her lawyer?"

Family Member: "No, I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info was given)

Citibank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"

Family Member: "Sure." (Fax number was given )

(After they get the fax)

Citibank : "Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help."

Family Member : "Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care."

Citibank: "Well, the late fees and charges do still apply." (What is wrong with these people?!?)

Family Member : "Would you like her new billing address?"

Citibank : "That might help."

Family Member : " Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129, Plot Number 69."

Citibank : "Sir, that's a cemetery!"

Family Member : "What do you do with dead people on your planet???"

And I shudder to think what would have happened had the poor lady been cremated and her ashes scattered over the ocean, or in space...

Poker in Heaven?

Dolly Parton and Queen Elizabeth die on the same day and they both go before an angel to find out if they'll be admitted to Heaven.

Unfortunately, there's only one space left that day, so the angel must decide which of them gets in. The angel asks Dolly if there's some particular reason why she should go to Heaven. Dolly takes off her top and says, "Look at these, they're the most perfect breasts God ever created, and I'm sure it will please God to be able to see them every day, for eternity."

The angel thanks Dolly, and asks Her Majesty the same question. The Queen takes a bottle of Perrier out of her purse, shakes it up, and gargles. Then, she spits into a toilet and pulls the lever. The angel says, "OK, your Majesty, you may go in."

Dolly is outraged and asks, "What was that all about? I show you two of God's own perfect creations and you turn me down. She spits into a commode and she gets in! Would you explain that to me?"

"Sorry, Dolly," says the Angel, "but even in Heaven, a royal flush beats a pair - no matter how big they are."

A pity when you consider that not only does Dolly sing much better than Her Majesty, she's also a really nice person! Admittedly, so is Her Majesty.

Normally I would not spell out the Divine Name, even in English, but since this was a copy and paste from the original e-mail, I thought that editing the Divine Name would be even worse!

Not QUITE raving mad about Lucia (STUB)

Yes, Natalie Dessay excellent (her mad scene was actually scary), but I frankly was more impressed by the men, especially the magnificent Mariusz Kwiecen as Enrico. Marcello Giordani also wonderful (and no, Mr. Tommasini, he never bellowed!) as usual, and John Relyea (the next Sam Ramey?) real luxury casting as Raimondo. And now I'm starting to see what the chat boards fuss over Steven Costello is all about, and the Met seems to agree with me because he's actually getting Edgardo later this month!

More later.

Yes, Americans CAN write opera! (STUB)

OK, Margaret Garner isn't on quite the same level as Porgy and Bess, but it's damned good! I think a lot of the critics who panned it were determined to knock it before they saw it because it wasn't 12-tone serialist or something. All the performances were excellent, but especially Lisa Dalritus as Cilla. I hope the Met is keeping an eye on her. She's singing a number of major soprano roles (Aida, Tosca, Leonora) in Seattle.

And I have to read Beloved.

And am I the only one who thinks Their Eyes Were Watching G-d would make a great opera?

More later.

The Met's star-crossed, star-studded, and star-spangled "Romeo" (STUB)

Roberto and Anna both mostly great but often way too loud - Anna largely better with dynamic subtlety, but the end of "Amour, ranime mon courage" was ffff! No "chemistry", but considering that they weren't with their other halves and had no real rehearsal (Roberto got back from Marseilles only a few days before), they did very well - they clearly enjoyed working together (rather like Angela with Marcello Giordani). Neither were much helped by Domingo, who had none of the elegance or spirit needed for the French rep and made me very nostalgic for Bertrand de Billy. Isabel Leonard made a wonderful debut as Stefano, all cocky and agressive. Most other voices good too (although Stephane Degout didn't "stand out" so much as I think Mercutio should), although Mark Heller has one of the ugliest voices I've ever heard from a tenor. Tybalt is a nasty fellow, but many beautiful voices have sung the role. Mixed but mostly positive feelings about the astronomy/astrology motif of production. Overall, a very good night, but more rehearsal and a better conductor would have made it a great one. I don't doubt if Roberto takes over Rolando's still TBA December performances, it will be much better. Further details, and photos, to follow soon.

Introducing...STUBS!

Well, faithful readers (all four of you!), you must have realized that I have done almost no posting in a dog's age, largely because I haven't had the time to write down massive, yenta-ish reviews of everything I've seen and done. So, what I will be doing once the opera season begins this week is to put up posts that might be called "stubs" - at least an acknowledgement that I've been to a performance and maybe a one sentence review. Then, if I have time, I'll expand it at a later point. That way you'll know I'm still alive and kicking.

Reacquainting myself with the OTHER Met!

I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time in G-d knows when today, and did something I've always wanted to do, namely join the museum. I figure I'll be going often enough that a $60 Met Net membership will pay for itself very quickly, when the "Suggested Admission" is $20. I'm actually a bit embarassed that I don't do more museum-going considering I live in one of the great museum cities of the world, and when I was in London I spent almost all my time in museums (4 hours in the British Museum, of course, is not enough. You could live there and not see everything). When I get the Big Raise in October, that should all change. I definitely want to join the American Museum of Natural History, for the Planetarium if nothing else, and they have what looks like an interesting exhibit on mythical beasts - scientific explanations for mermaids and the like.

I went today because it was my last chance to see an utterly fabulous exhibit on "Venice and the Islamic World". (Will expand later). Note to self: Never go to a special exhibition on the last day - everybody and their mothers wanted to get in!

I didn't have time to do much else except gawk in the gift shop. I mean I do get a 10% discount now, but some of the jewelry and reproductions are very expensive. Some of the books/exhibit catalogs may be worth getting (usually $50 in paperback). I definitely want the Islamic Venice one. My main interest was actually getting some real art for my walls (I have lots of calendars, some very "arty", e.g. Renoir, Van Gogh, John William Waterhouse, Jewish Art, etc, but that's not the same thing. The posters are not too bad, ranging from $10-$25, some on sale for as little as $2, but G-d forbid you actually want to frame them - that will probably add a minimum of $50. They had a digital reproduction of a Mary Casatt painting for $125 (understandable considering the extreme detail), but with a frame (admittedly gilded), it was $425!

Maybe I'll have better luck on Overstock.com? I remember seeing some nice, large framed reproductions for $50-$100...

Preview of Angela's new CD

While the idiot loggionisti at La Scala are currently booing Angela Gheorghiu as Violetta (predictable - she isn't Italian, she isn't Callas, her husband is "Spanish", she's too famous, and she didn't pay them clapping money), a more sensible audience at the Milanese sewer ... er... theater went pretty wild over a song recital she did there last year, shortly to be released on CD by EMI. Arie antiche, songs by Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Gounod, Massenet and several Romanian composers (the best known of whom is probably Tiberiu Bredicianu) as well as "I Could Have Danced All Night" and (oh, no Angela, not again) "O mio babbino caro". One minute sound bites are here. They're wonderful - never have I heard a more sheerly joyous "Me voglio fà'na casa", a song I associate almost exclusively with tenors, primarily Carlo Bergonzi. Or a warm and seductive "A vuchella" - I think the only non-tenor I've heard sing this is Cesare Siepi (oh, no wait, I also heard his possible "successor" Roberto Scandiuzzi, but the point is, not a woman). And the Romanian material looks very interesting indeed. She seem to be having a lot of fun, figuratively (though not literally!) taking her hair down, which is a bit of a change. And I would frankly rather have her do more stuff like this than sing the same 7 or 8 arias over and over again in every city in the world, even if not everybody follows her around. Her My World recital CD is one of my favorites of hers and when I first heard it I thought she would be a song recitalist to rival Victoria De Los Angeles in scope and breadth. Sadly, this doesn't seem to be happening. In fact my one real artistic criticism of her is that she's conservative almost to the point of timidity (unlike Roberto, who rushes in where fools and angels fear to tread). (1)

To be fair to the La Scala audience, apparently most of them loved her Violetta, but I don't see why any artist - even ones I don't like (2) - should have to put up with that kind of politically motivated garbage from a bunch of hooligans. I am emphatically not one of those who cherish the idea of "opera as blood sport". I have the feeling if she survives this run, she'll probably eventually wind up queen there. I'm still hoping that she and Roberto will be able to do Manon Lescaut there. Or somewhere. Maybe Covent Garden with Tony? They are apparently recording it. And Tony is apparently preparing a new production of the Other Manon with The Other Couple...

Anyway, the CD will be released in both the UK and the US on August 28.
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(1) Actually, her diction isn't always the greatest, but that's a problem with a lot of sopranos and I am, I suppose, ultimately comparing her with Roberto, who has, in general, some of the best diction I've ever heard from a singer (it was the second thing I noticed, after the beauty of the voice), and the best French diction from any singer since Georges Thill.

(2) For example, Luciano Pavarotti wasn't booed for cracking a high B in Don Carlo, he was booed because the loggionisti decided he had become too popular outside Italy. And Renee Fleming, what ever my issues with her as a singer of bel canto (or almost anything, these days), she did not deserve to have people screaming "va, va, puttana Americana!" at her. No, I'm not going to translate that.

Oy

Beverly Sills, and Regine Crespin? In the SAME WEEK????

And just yesterday I saw a multidisc set of all Crespin's solo Decca recitals (I already have her EMI ones). Maybe that's why J&R had it out, although they didn't say anything.

I'm still haunted by her recording of Ravel's "Scheherezade" ("Asie! Asie")

Baruch dayan emet.

Cardiff adventures, musical and otherwise

My thoughts on the Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff, and a certain television show produced in Cardiff, will follow shortly. Hopefully within the next week, backdated. Chinese bass Shen Yang won the Main Prize (he's only 23! A baby by bass standards!), English coloratura soprano Elizabeth Watts won the Song Prize, and South African baritone Jacques Imbraillo won the Audience Prize.

And happy Father's Day to all fathers out there. I'm a little distant from this holiday as my father has been dead for 25 years. Maybe next year I'll do a post on all the wonderful father/daughter duets in opera (thank you, Giuseppe Verdi). A pity there are comparatively few for moms.

I do have a new Father's Day ritual, though - watching an episode of aforementioned television show entitled "Father's Day".

The DEVIL take this weather!

Well folks, my planned sojourns to the Metropolitan Opera's performances in Central Park of La Boheme and Faust on Tuesday and Wednesday were severely hampered, if not ruined, by maleficent (although saying "hellish" would be going a bit too far) atmospheric conditions. Normally, I love going to these concerts because it's a chance to enjoy music in relaxed, informal, and gorgeous surroundings. Not to mention being able to get some grass under my feet and ogle all the cute babies and gorgeous picnic dinners. This year, I was interested in La Boheme mainly because it will likely be my last chance to hear the marvelous Hei-Kyung Hong under Met auspices (she isn't singing there next season and, as I've said before, rumor has it that her contract has been bought out) even though I'm not sure Mimi entirely suits her, for reasons I can't articulate. I would have also liked to have seen Mary Dunleavy as Musetta, a role I don't think she has sung in the house. Faust, once my favorite opera and still high on the list, featured two singers new to the Met family, as well as artists who I had already developed strong liking for.

I should have known on Tuesday. It was raining horribly, and I think even hailing, around 3PM, but stopped pretty quickly. I tried calling the Met right before I left work to see if there was a cancellation, but the line was constantly busy, presumably because everyone was calling for the same reasons I was. When I got home I decided to chance it. So armed with my folding chair, some kiwi fruit, peaches, and plums (but no umbrella!), I went up to Central Park - accidentally taking the E traininstead the C train and having to wait forever while changing at Seventh Avenue! The policemen and park people I talked to seemed to think everything was OK, but once I was about hundred feet into the park, drops started falling from the sky. And falling. Within a minute it was "cats and dogs" territory. I used my chair to fend off some water, but since the rain was being blown by the wind into an angle, most of it wound up on me. I did manage to share an umbrella for a few minutes until the worst of it passed. At roughly 7:10PM, the Great Lawn was pretty empty, and since I didn't see a mass exodus from the rain, I assume most people didn't bother coming in the first place. I had just found a nice spot for my chair and took my sandals off - my brand new sandals which were abrading the skin on my toes and making walking rather difficult - when I overheard someone say that an announcement had been made from the stage that the performance had been cancelled. There would be no rain date unless it rained the next day, and then only for Faust. I was stubborn, and not about to waste the trip to Central Park, so I decided to just sit there and eat my fruit. I was just peeling the label off my very last plum when the park officials ordered everybody to clear the lawn. Oh well.

What really makes me mad about this is that there wasn't any rain after the initial deluge and they could have easily gone on with the performance. Even better, all the allergens would have been washed out of the air, which would have been wonderful for the singers, especially Hong who complained in the recent Opera News about being affected by allergies at these concerts - no doubt that is what caused the slight problems she had in La Traviata last summer. Well, I'll probably be able to see Dunleavy in the house, and I suppose now that since Hong's international career is progressing and I will soon have money, I might be able to see her elsewhere. Washington, or even London, maybe.(1)

Well, there was no rain on Wednesday, but it was awfully cloudy (the scientific term being "yucky"), and once I got into the park, oh boy, there was wind! When I told one of my colleagues my travails of the previous evening, he advised me to bring a jacket, but since I read the temperature as 63, I didn't think I needed one. I generally tend to be quite cold resistant. Wrongo. As it happens, the jacket I would have brought probably wouldn't have helped. I think the wind chill was somewhere in the high 40s. I was actually considering ducking out before the performance started, but decided I at least wanted to get a taste of all the voices. Speaking of taste, I very much enjoyed my dinner of seaweed, avocado, and lambsquarters (at least I think they were lambsquarters, if not it was some other edible weed) freshly picked right there in Central Park. Yes, yes, I can just see the faces you're making. It was delicious. Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah! I wound up leaving at intermission, but I still got to hear a pretty big chunk of the opera - the Met forces played the first three acts, that is, to the end of the scene in Marguerite's garden. While I was largely enjoying what I was hearing, in the end, I was just too cold, and frankly, I'm not sure I love the opera quite as much as I used to. And as it happens, after I got home, I fell asleep before the opera would have ended.

The biggest problem of the evening, besides the weather, was the sound. Usually when I go to these concerts I try to sit as far upfront aspossible, if for no other reason than to try to see the performers. But this time I decided I didn't want to take the time to make my way all the way to the "front" of the Great Lawn. I also didn't want to be too close to the loudspeakers for the sake of avoiding hearing loss. I should have made the effort after all. When the opera started, I could only hear the double basses in the overture, and not the cellos or violins. This is the kind of sound quality I expect at performances ofthe New York Grand Opera at Summerstage, which has a vastly inferior sound system. Even worse, I'm pretty sure the wind interfered with the speakers, distorting the sound further. Oh yeah, and people were talking. Loudly. Despite a reminder from the stage beforehand to talk "sotto voce" and only when necessary. Several thousand people "sottovoce" is still a dull roar, however, and several people were at least forte. In a setting like this, I can understand being on a cell phone to give your friends directions, but not the loud dinnertime conversations while people are singing! I suspect with all the trouble I've had in the house this year with noise issues, I've become overly sensitive and less able to tune stuff like this out than I used to be. Equally likely, there would have been less noise closer to the stage.

Maurizio Benini, although a superb conductor of Barbiere (and presumably, other bel canto and/or comic operas), is basically a routinier for everything else I've heard him do - although, to be fair, at least some of his performances may not have been well rehearsed. This may have been a problem here as well since he and some of the singers weren't quite in sync. I suspect he was deliberately conducting very fast in order to get everybody home at a decent hour - the first two acts took about 40 minutes and the Jewel Song ended before 9PM. I alsonoticed a number of cuts - most of the overture, a chunk of Faust's transformation scene (from "O merveille!" to the chord announcing him as a young man), bits of the quartet in the Garden Scene - which of course are there in the house performances.

David Pomeroy started out badly but improved over the course of the night. He initially had a lot of problems with line and phrasing (likely partially Benini's fault), and his French was, well, not up to the standard of an international house. Quite surprising considering he is Canadian (possibly French-Canadian - isn't "Pomeroy" a French name?) and has sung at most of the major theaters in Canada, although I note, not Montreal ). Since this was his "Met debut" (I only consider it a debut when it is a house debut), he may have been suffering from nerves. His is a very light, lyric tenor, which is a nice contrast to my other Met Fausts - Richard Leech, Roberto Alagna, and Ramon Vargas - and intrinsically quite beautiful. He also had decent high notes, a few nice moments of subtlety (namely the aforementioned "O merveille!") and gave a solid if ultimately unmemorable rendition of "Salut, demeure". Whether he should sing this role in a house the size of the Met is another matter, although I'd be interested to hear him as, say, Hylas or Iopas in Les Troyens. Or Lennie in Of Mice and Men, which he sang in Kansas City (although as far as I'm concerned Anthony Dean Griffey owns this role). I think he might be up for Skuratov in From the House of the Dead when the Met does it in 2009-2010 - how many other tenors have that role in their repertory?

Although I was very curious to hear her, I must admit that I came in with feelings of ... oh, all right, hostility toward Katie Van Kooten,which I admit is almost completely unfair. The soprano spent a number of years in Covent Garden's young artist program, culminating in her being given one performance of Magda in La Rondine alternating with Angela Gheorghiu. Now of course, since she was covering Angela, the British press predictably wrote lots of articles portraying her as the sweet, wonderful, normal person who actually deserves stardom versus the evil diva bitch who owes everything to her marriage and to "hype" - rather ironic considering what little you do hear about Angela these days tends to be vicious, not sycophantic. It naturally got worse when she wound up replacing Angela in Paris as Magda. No doubt had Van Kooten covered Karita Mattila or Renee Fleming or some press darling she would have been completely ignored - I certainly don't remember seeing gushy portraits of any of their covers, as good singers as they may be (2). And of course, she's American and blonde, which is something else the music press and a lot of managements like a little too much. I realize that very little of this is actually Van Kooten's fault, although I wouldn't put it past her management. By and large she broke down my barriers. What most impressed me was that even in a setting like this, she made many attempts at musical subtlety. I also liked the warm, dark bottom ofher voice, and she has a good trill. While I don't think her voice is small, I did have trouble hearing her when she was singing at any volume lower than forte. This may have been miking/acoustic issues, but no one else in the cast had this problem. Despite this, I ultimately found Van Kooten much more interesting than Ruth Ann Swenson, who was my Marguerite last October, and I hope to hear her in the house soon - as long as nobody uses her to bash Angela again.

By the way, it's apparently pronounced Van COAT-ten, in the Dutch manner, not Van COOT-ten. Personally, I think she'd be better off by Katherine or Katerina instead of Katie, as it sounds more formal and "professional", but I imagine she's been through this with her management, and they obviously disagree with me.

There were no disappointments with the house "veterans", although Hung Yun (Valentin) and Kate Lindsey (Siebel) really haven't been at the Met long enough to qualify for that title. I was already impressed by Yun's powerful and incisive Valentin, having seen it in the house. It's a pity I had to miss his death scene. Lindsey really made me sit up and take notice when I saw her as Tebaldo in Don Carlo, and her Siebel, the first time I've seen her in a semi-major role, was equally arresting - warm, lush, and musical, with excellent French. I'm glad to see that the Met is switching her into bigger roles next year (Stefano and Cherubino). She should also be luxury casting for the Madrigal Singer in Manon Lescaut. I'd like to see her go the way of Kristine Jepson, the grossly underrated Suzanne Mentzer, or even Susan Graham.

The biggest veteran of them all, of course, is James Morris. I'll have to check my records, but I believe that he is the principal singer I have seen the most often in my Met-going, certainly in the widest variety of roles (trying to rack up every non-Shabbat performance with Roberto or Angela - and when I have more money quite a few other singers - doesn't count). The growly quality of his voice makes him a very nasty devil indeed - even though I prefer a smoother and more Gallic Mephistopheles (e.g. Pape), Morris' authority and power shine through. Several things I remember from his performances in 2003 were still there, particularly the delightful moment when Faust comes in after Mephistopheles is "repulsed" by all those crosses and asks him what's wrong, and he says "Rien!" (Nothing!) like it really is "Oh, nothing at all!" whereas most basses play this as ticked off. It got a laugh, just like it did back in 2003.

(SIGH) I'll see what I can do about getting to see the operas in the other city parks - Faust in Prospect Park on Tuesday is a definite possibility, although I don't know about La Boheme in Cunningham Park because I have no idea where it is! Certain areas of Queens are more trouble than they're worth in terms of length of travel, especially since the opera is not likely to end much before 10:30PM and it's likely to take a while to get from the park to the subway.

Three things before I go. One is that among all the corporate and political droning that preceded the performance, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer gave a speech where he pronounced "Levine" (as in Jimmy) "luh-VEEN". Yes, I know that's the more common pronunciation, but never mind the fact that he's obviously not an opera fan, as a New Yorker, he should know better! I can't remember whether or not I actually voted for this guy. Also, per the program, the Met will behaving not one, but three open houses next season, including one prior to the Opening Night Lucia di Lamermoor. Finally, I think I heard a rumor somewhere that one of the operas for next year's Parks Concerts will be The First Emperor. While I applaud the desire to bring something new to a wider audience - isn't that really as much of a visual pageant as a musical one? Then again, that's true of Turandot, too. And I want to actually see the opera next April - missed it this season - before I judge it.

(1) Still, I suppose this may be my last opportunity to tell my favorite Hong story. Unfortunately I was not actually there when it happened. On December 31, 1999, the Met presented an "End of the Millennium" Gala (never mind that most intelligent, educated people know that the "end of the millennium" was on December 31, 2000), which basically consisted of pretty much every singer who was in a Met production at the time coming out and singing an aria. Well out comes Hong, and as the applause dies down, her young son - I don't know how old but clearly up late on a special night- yells out, loud enough for the entire Met audience to hear, "Hey! That's my MOM! Hey, mom! Mom!"

Future tenor, anyone?

Poor Hong. Her aria just happened to be the ubersexy "Meine Lippen sie kussen so heiss" from Giuditta!

(2) Possible exception to this is when Erin Wall replaced Karita Mattila on an opening night Don Giovanni in Chicago - but it was a special occasion, and the press was able to laud Wall without denigrating Karita. That's the way it should be.