Opera Small Talk

[Aksel]

The pictures of the Ravel double bill at Glyndebourne have entered the Internet machine!
Judging from these pictures, the live stream on Sunday next week should be an absolute blast.

L'enfant et les sortileges
L'heure espagnole

[MAuer]

I know Alma will want to know all about La Bellissima's Mimi at the Salzburg Festival:

http://www.theoperacritic.com/singer...=anna_netrebko

Apparently, the lady has also been spotted of late with a new tattoo on her neck.

[sospiro]

Simon Keenlyside is amongst the Opera News honorees for 2012.

“Simon Keenlyside seems incapable of making a false move onstage. Not only does he have one of the most expressive baritone voices I've ever heard, he always seems to be completely in the moment dramatically. His work is never flashy, but it has an inner fire that few performers can match.”

Congratulations to all award winners.

[Soave_Fanciulla]

Simon Keenlyside is amongst the Opera News honorees for 2012.



Congratulations to all award winners.

Yes I have a very soft spot for Dawn Upshaw too. Always willing to take on a challenge.

[sospiro]

Yes I have a very soft spot for Dawn Upshaw too. Always willing to take on a challenge.

How is she these days?

[Aksel]

How is she these days?

Teaching, I think. And didn't she become super religious at one point?

[Anne of Green Gables]

THIS IS INTERESTING:



New voice fach. It could be adopted in modern opera. If Wagner would know him, he would write dragon's part from Siegfried for him.

[Almaviva]

Teaching, I think. And didn't she become super religious at one point?

She is in the faculty of the Bard College Conservatory of Music (where I was a couple of weeks ago at the Bard SummerScape).

[Almaviva]

I know Alma will want to know all about La Bellissima's Mimi at the Salzburg Festival:

http://www.theoperacritic.com/singer...=anna_netrebko

Apparently, the lady has also been spotted of late with a new tattoo on her neck.

This seems to be a subscription-only site. I couldn't get the article.

[MAuer]

This seems to be a subscription-only site. I couldn't get the article.

Let's see if this works instead:
http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/anna_netrebko/

[Almaviva]

Let's see if this works instead:
http://intermezzo.typepad.com/intermezzo/anna_netrebko/

I think people are seeing things. It doesn't look like a tattoo to me.
Oh well, I'll soon find out...

[Amfortas]

I think people are seeing things. It doesn't look like a tattoo to me.
Oh well, I'll soon find out...

"That's nice, Anna. But let's see *all* your tattoos . . . "

[Almaviva]

The interview business has seriously interfered with my ability to watch opera DVDs and listen to opera CDs and audio/video files.

I have reached a record of unwatched/unlistened to pile, with 82 operas awaiting my attention.

I was updating my lists today, where I keep track of the UWP and of my collection.

The collection now has 392 operas (counting the operas, not the versions - for several of them, of course, I own more than one version). I need 8 more to break the barrier of 400. But then, this will push the UWP to 90!!

I should try to watch at least one today...

Before this Opera Lively business, I used to watch or listen to at least 4 new operas (new for me, I mean) per week, sometimes 7. Long gone, those times... ever since OL, this has dropped to some two per month!!! That's not good. I need at least to get through my UWP - and it will take me more than 8 months if I manage to "process" 10 per month.

PS - OK, I started my UWP - with Wagner's Die Feen. Oh my God, I know I have an obligation to get to know this opera, but the overture is incredibly boring! I think I'll be bored to death today.

PS2 - I'm actually enjoying it. It's not bad. I'm getting to the end of Act I, and so far, so good, although it sounds more like Weber than Wagner.

PS3 - Hehe, finished. Messy, but lots of fun. I think it's stage worthy, especially if we get a Regie director that doesn't take it too seriously and stages it rather as a comedy.

[sospiro]

Mittwoch aus Licht by Karlheinz Stockhausen

"Mittwoch aus Licht for Birmingham Opera Company. Comprising a string quartet performing in helicopters, electronic and acoustic music and a dancing camel, this will be the first time the opera, often thought to be unstageable, has been performed in its entirety."



I've only just found out about this & can't go. And Birmingham is just up the road from me.

[MAuer]

The Metropolitan Opera Guild has just sent me a reminder that it's time to renew my membership (time as they define it, apparently; my membership doesn't expire until 30 November). Anyway, the enclosed brochure with the headline, "Please renew your Membership today," is graced with a photo of my adored Herr Kaufmann, costumed as Parsifal, and seeming to stare the reader straight in the eye. Reminds me in a way of those old Uncle Sam "I Want You" recruiting posters . . . except that der Jonas is a heckuva lot better looking than old Unk.