Hello again, everyone!
I have no opera news to report today.
Just for fun, I decided to post a photo of my beautiful violin, which I enjoy playing opera arias on.
My favorites to play are Com'e Gentil (from L'Elisir D'Amore), Porgi Amor (from Le Nozze di Figaro), and Fairest Isle (from Purcell's King Arthur).
I am preparing to leave on the journey of my dreams... I am going to Europe in two weeks!!!
I am going to visit Prague, Vienna, Paris and Italy - to see opera, of course! I will keep you posted about this.
Arrivederci (goodbye) for now!
Hello, everyone!
I told you I had some exciting news. In addition to The Impresario's Dilemma, the HPAF is performing Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Guess what? I'm the Assistant Stage Manager!
So far this job is pretty neat. I am in charge of props, sets, and singers. I let the singers know when their scene is coming up. I tell the set movers when to change the set. I also run around like crazy backstage, hissing things like "where's the rope? Who has the portrait? Hey! Where did Papageno go?" I also get to hang out with the opera singers. That's my favorite part.
I think that Rick, the Stage Manager, is getting kind of frantic - it's less than a week to the performance now, and a lot of the singers still have their noses buried in their books. We are still blocking out the whole thing - telling the singers where to move when they are onstage, which side to come on from, when to pick up the pillow, etc. I have to write all that down just in case Rick forgets what he said.
One more thing - I have a new poll over to the left of this post. See if you can figure out which opera is my new favorite before the poll closes!
Buon Giorno!
I haven't written anything in a LONG time, but I just got back from an opera and wanted to tell you about it. The Hawaii Performing Arts Festival is active every year in July. They do concerts and opera performances at the HPA theater and chapel. The performance I saw was called "The Impresario's Dilemma." It was a collection of pieces from all sorts of operas and composers, from Handel to Puccini, and it was loosely based on a Mozart opera called "The Impresario."
The plot was very basic: an impresario (a person who organizes performances for an opera theater) is looking for the perfect diva to sing in their opera. Seven ladies arrive to audition. They start getting catty (pardon the pun), and break into Rossini's Cat Duet, arranged for seven voices. The impresario calls the divas up one at a time to audition. The first soprano sings a Handel aria. As she starts to sing the second half, the impresario loudly says "thank you," and the soprano stalks indignantly offstage. During another soprano's aria, she starts flirting with the impresario's assistant. She steals his watch and runs away.
After every diva has auditioned, the impresario makes his decision. "All of you have done well," he tells the divas, "and so you will all be in the opera!" The divas gasp. Who will get the lead role? The assistant hands them their parts. The singers look at the music and discover... that they are in the chorus!!! The opera ends with the divas chasing the impresario offstage and hitting them with their chorus music.
I was very impressed with the whole performance. The music was well-chosen, and the opera singers are all extremely talented. I will write again soon with some more exciting news!
P.S: Here is my favorite version of Rossini's Cat Duet. All they sing is "meow."
Hello, opera fans!
I haven't posted anything in a while, but I'm back again with yet another opera to tell you about.
Angela Meade as Elvira
On February 25th, I went with my mom and grandfather to a live broadcast of Verdi's Ernani. With tenor Marcello Giordani and soprano Angela Meade in the leading roles, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferrucio Furlanetto co-starring, I think I can say that this opera had an excellent cast. Even if the plot was a little weird (in one scene, the tenor (Ernani) is singing about how he absolutely refuses to leave the room - and then he turns and walks out!), the whole production was very well done. The sets were elaborate and hard to move around - they would come apart in pieces, and people would have to drag them offstage. The costumes were beautiful and detailed, setting a mood for each character.
Marcello Giordani as Ernani
Ferruccio Furlanetto as di Silva
Dmitri Hvorostovsky as Don Carlo
Some of my favorites were Elvira's blue and white gown (pictured), Don Carlo's red and gold outfit, complete with a cape (I want that cape!), and di Silva's golden jewelry against his black robes.
The music was amazing, as well as the singing and the acting.
Here are some musical highlights to look for:
Elvira's first cabaletta aria from Act I(Tutto sprezzo che d'Ernani)
The trio from Act I (Non t'ascolto mia sarai)
The chorus from Act III (Si, ridesti il leon di castiglia)
These are some of my favorite pieces from Ernani, but there are so many more!
I couldn't list them all, but I would reccomend this opera for serious opera fans. It is a heavier opera (four hours long), and the plot is a little hard to follow, so I wouldn't suggest it for beginning opera-goers. If you decide to try it out, I would also suggest getting a more recent production (they tend to be well-lit and full of acting). This was a very good production of Ernani, and I loved it! (Is there any opera I don't love?)
Hello once again, fellow opera fans!
It is 7:00 in the evening, and I have just gotten back from a three-hour performance of The Enchanted Island. It was sold out in the theater, and we got last-minute seats, but it was worth it!!!
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato leads the cast as Sycorax, a sorceress, with baritone Luca Pisaroni playing her son Caliban, who is a monster on the outside but is really a sweet, lovable, touching character. Countertenor David Daniels is the gruff old magician, Prospero, who wishes only to create peace and harmony but instead wreaks chaos, confusion, and grief on all around him. Lisette Oropesa plays the beautiful, mislead Miranda, daughter of Prospero. Known as the King of Tenors, Placido Domingo shines once more as Neptune, god of the sea. Danielle de Niese steals the show as the mischievous sprite Ariel, bringing life and color to her role.
A small but talented orchestra, led by conductor William Christie, accompanies the singers in their difficult roles. (I must say that the orchestra has as much of a difficult part as the singers!)
The cast was about as incredible as any cast gets, but what really made this production special was the intricate scenery and the many amazing special effects projected onto the background (waves rolling, leaves falling, etc.)
If you get a chance to see this production, whether it's at home on TV, in a movie theater, or even at the Met itself, I highly recommend that you try out this new opera.
If you want to get a taste of The Enchanted Island, check out these videos:
Hi again and happy new year, opera fans!
Since it is the height of opera season, I plan to be busy, busy, busy watching opera and writing about it. Here is a tasty little morsel of opera news: Playing this month is the world premiere of a new opera that has just been written! The Metropolitan Opera is producing The Enchanted Island, a new Baroque opera. What do you mean, 'new Baroque opera'? It's not the Baroque period anymore!!! Well, okay. It's called a Baroque opera because the music is all plucked from compositions by Handel, Vivaldi and some lesser composers to fit the mood. Clever British writer Jeremy Samsput the whole opera together, as well as writing the English libretto. I am looking forward to seeing it Live In HD at the end of this month - and I won't forget to tell you about it!
