Opera Suggestions, II

[kwanfan1818]

[On an aside, Seattle Opera is re-broadcasting some of their live middle Saturday broadcasts over the next couple of weeks, at 10am PDT on Saturdays. General Director Christina Scheppelmann just summarized the end of Aida as "The Princess Amneris is praying, while underneath, Radames and Aida slowly asphyxiate." You have to love directness.]

 

[Wyliefan]

On that note (no pun intended), Virginia Opera is airing their 2015 La Boheme next Thursday, at http://www.youtube.com/vaopera.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Diana Damrau's and Nicholas Teste's daughters photobombed the handover to Lawrence Brownlee

 

[Wyliefan]

Oh, I'm so glad they made it work with Anna and Yusif!

 

[kwanfan1818]

I <3 Gunther Groissbock. I love the model of the Met Opera on the piano, and that he said that sometimes it's Harry Potter, sometimes the Met, changes seasonally, plus the mask on the house protector statue with a big "No" written on it.

The Eyvazov footage looks to be from "Wir spielen fur Osterreich" from April 19. Edited to add: no -- there he sang Una furtiva lagrime and L'ultima canzone -- but it looks like the same (small radio?) theater and pianist.

 

[Wyliefan]

No Anna? I thought they said we were getting both her and Yusif.

 

[kwanfan1818]

At first I thought that was where they were going, but, sadly, no.

 

[kwanfan1818]

But now she's doing a Rachmaninoff song! (My favorite, too.)

It's the same dress she wore for the Wir spielen fur Osterreich concert, so they must have recorded extra footage while they were at it. (There was a string quartet there for the live singers during the concert.)

 

[Wyliefan]

This is too, too cute -- Roberto and Aleksandra did a short "retake" with their little girl! https://www.facebook.com/248809608492967/posts/3882119945161897/

 

[kwanfan1818]

Wheeeee -- play by play!

 

[skatesindreams]

Review of the "At-Home Gala"

The Met Opera’s At-Home Gala: Informal Yet Profoundly Moving (Published 2020)

For four hours, more than 40 of the company’s stars performed live from their homes around the world.

tinyurl.com

 

[canbelto]

I loved the at-home gala. Here's some of my favorite moments:

The Best Moments from the Met At-Home Gala

Zoom in! So the big Metropolitan At-Home Gala ended up being 4 hours-long (!!!), and had the expected glitches in wifi connection, as w...

humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com

 

[kwanfan1818]

There's a treasure trove up from Houston Grand Opera, including a 1981 La Donna del Lago with Federica von Stade, Marilyn Horne, and Rockwell Black, and a 1978 Norma with Renata Scott and Tatyana Troyanos:

Stream Live Opera Performances | HGO Radio Broadcasts

We are proud to bring some of our favorite operas to the radio! Learn more about listening to Houston Grand Opera performances with Houston Public Media.

www.houstongrandopera.org

I loved the Mariachi, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna.

And, Iphigenie en Tauride from Stuttgart:

Oper trotz Corona | Staatsoper Stuttgart

Staatsoper Stuttgart

www.staatsoper-stuttgart.de

You need to fix the link with the name of the beer only.

Now I want cake.

I'm not sure if they're leaving them up for a month until the next one (Boris Godunov on 8 May).

 

[alexikeguchi]

I just got through listening to Prince Igor from the Met. I hadn't been familiar with Ildar Abdrazakov prior to the Met gala, but I really enjoyed him in this role. He has a lovely sonorous bass and I think looked very princely. I loved Anita Rachvelishvili as Konchakovna as well; I don't see that she sings any Wagnerian roles but think she would make an interesting Kundry. Two more to add to my list of must see live!

 

[kwanfan1818]

Rachvelishvili is great live: she sang Carmen a while ago in Seattle. I always want to say, "When she was young," but she's only in her mid-30's now, and she was singing big roles in her 20's.

 

[emason]

OK, I just laughed and cried my way through The Marriage of Figaro from the Met before the link expired today. I could watch that production/performance 100 times over before I would ever consider a return to the Met for their current production. For the record: I can't stand the Met's current production; I wish they would dump it and go back to Miller's version.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I loved it! I didn't get to start watching until after 10pm Pacific Time, and it was worth losing sleep over!

 

[emason]

The only difference between this cast and the night I saw this in the House was the Countess; I didn’t care whether I heard Fleming or not and I had never seen Felicity Lott, so out of curiosity I went the one night Lott sang. I became a Mentzer fan for life on the basis of her Cherubino and Croft is still my all-time favorite Almaviva. When the production came back a few years later, if I recall correctly Michele Pertusi was Almaviva; I have no memory of who else was in the cast. I love, love, love this production. Well, to be honest, I flat out love the opera. It’s #2 on my favorites list, narrowly edged out by Giulio Cesare, my all-time #1.

 

[kwanfan1818]

I have a half-arsed crush on Peter Mattei, but Dwayne Croft IS Almaviva. I was transfixed.

 

[emason]

Well, there's his singing, but besides that I feel it's because Croft's Almaviva is not a doddering old fool having a midlife crisis. When the production emphasizes the comedic at the expense of the sexual politics then the opera is over before it starts. When I saw it at City Opera, I got the doddering fool midlife crisis Almaviva, and the second the women showed up he was wrapped around their fingers and the opera was over. Nothing at stake. Croft's Almaviva is dangerous and there are serious consequences to how the plot will play out. I've mentioned before in here that my ideal casting would be the James Bond of Dr. No if Sean Connery could sing; Croft's Almaviva is what I had in mind when I made that comment.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Susanna was not safe around him.

 

[eusebius]

Joyce DD accompanies herself in Hahn’s À Chloris

 

[kwanfan1818]

San Francisco Opera is streaming Mefistofeles from 2013 with Abdrazakov, Racette, and Vargas until tomorrow, Sunday, May 10, 11:59pm PDT:

404 | SFO

sfopera.com

Edited to add: full frontal warning in the Witches' Sabbath scene. Edited again to add: A friend told me they were fake So much for watching on a laptop.

And Houston Grand Opera is airing the audio from Die Walkure from 2015 until June 22:

Stream Live Opera Performances | HGO Radio Broadcasts

We are proud to bring some of our favorite operas to the radio! Learn more about listening to Houston Grand Opera performances with Houston Public Media.

www.houstongrandopera.org

I think I may have to set Jamie Barton's Fricka on loop.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Dutch National Opera is streaming their 2004 Willy Decker Don Carlos on YouTube, starting today, up for a week:

YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.youtube.com

Muzikale leiding-Riccardo Chailly
Regie-Willy Decker

Filippo II-Robert Lloyd
Don Carlo-Rolando Villazon
Rodrigo-Dwayne Croft (@emason)
Il grande inquisitore-Jaakko Ryhänen
Un frate-Giorgio Guiseppini
Elisabetta di Valois-Amanda Roocroft
La principessa d'Eboli-Violeta Urmana
Tebaldo, paggio d’Elisabetta-Marisca Mulder
Voce dal cielo-Cinzia Forte

 

[emason]

@kwanfan1818 Thank you; I will definitely check it out.

In addition to my fandom for Dwayne Croft, I am also a fan of his brother, Richard Croft. Satyagraha, with RC, knocked me out when I heard it at the Met about 10-12 years ago; I was spellbound.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Doh, I never knew they were brothers... (ETA: Or maybe you told me that in one of these threads, and it just didn't take...)

 

[emason]

From Upstate New York somewhere. Local boys made good. ETA: Cooperstown

 

[kwanfan1818]

San Francisco Opera is streaming The Montagues and the Capulets until tomorrow, Sunday, May 17 at 11:59pm Pacific Daylight time:

San Francisco Opera Streaming

Your virtual hub for San Francisco Opera streaming. Soaring music, backstage stories, and awe-inspiring voices combine to create a rewarding way to watch opera online.

sfopera.com

JDD is in leather. Christian Lacroix did the costumes. My favorite part was in the newly filmed Q&A between Shilvock, Cabell, and DiDonato in which JDD said that it's a good thing she was born a girl, because she would have been a very bad boy.

 

[Lara]

I'm surprised it took til now to get Turandot! Until 6:30 tomorrow (Friday May 22).

redirect

 

[emason]

Another wallow: Rodelinda from the Met. Once is probably not enough; I may watch it again tomorrow before the link expires. Want to live in that library forever and this time around I've decided that Fleming and Blythe can keep their gorgeous costumes, I want Kaiser's frock coat from the second act. In person that moving set is truly magnificent; it's just a great production and I've no complaints about the singing.