Los Angeles Opera is having a costume sale this Saturday from 10am until 6pm. The sale will be in the parking lot of Costume Shop at 330 South Alameda Street in Los Angeles. San Francisco Opera is having a similar sale on October 24-25, from 11am to 5pm on Saturday and 11am to 4pm on Sunday at 800 Indiana Street in San Francisco.
The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
-
-
* Notes *
Quinn Kelsey replaced Dmitri Hvorostovsky as the Count di Luna in San Francisco Opera's Il Trovatore yesterday afternoon. Kelsey sounded warm and rich, without being too dark in the least. His breath control was incredible, not one gasp was heard. On the other hand, he was not particularly menacing, though his portrayal of longing in "Il balen del suo sorriso" was clear and beautiful. There was much standing and singing, so as far as acting, Kelsey did not embody the role in the same way as Hvorostovsky.Stephanie Blythe's last performance of this run went well vocally. Blythe does not seem possessed enough for the role, but her voice is commanding. Her top notes sounded secure from the back of the balcony and her duets with Marco Berti were robust.
* Tattling *
Someone on the north bench of the back balcony kept eating out of a plastic bag during "D'amor sull'ali rosee." She rustled so loudly that both I and the person next to me kept trying to stare her down, but she was oblivious to our attempts. After Radvanovsky finished said aria, the woman in question clapped with great excitement, and went back to eating as soon as the music started again.Leave a comment
-
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky (pictured left in costume by Jai Alltizer for the current SF Opera production, photograph from John F. Martin) just had her San Francisco Opera debut singing Leonora in Il Trovatore. She sings two more performances and will be signing her first CD in the SF Opera Gift Shop tomorrow. The Opera Tattler spoke to Radvanovsky today in San Francisco as many costumed participants of LovEvolution made their way to Civic Center. Radvanovsky was perfectly on time, but was sporting a brace on her right ankle.
O no! What happened?
Someone tried to snatch my purse outside of Walgreen's (on Van Ness Avenue) last night, but I got him good. Unfortunately, I did sprain my ankle.You are definitely the wrong person to mess with, you are obviously really tough. The Trovatore you are in seems very physical.
I do get thrown around quite a bit in the production! But I can take it, as singers, our bodies are our instruments, so I do take care of myself. I have a trainer and go to the gym.How does it work with having different cast members come in? I know that Malgorzata Walewska and Quinn Kelsey are filling in for Stephanie Blythe and Dmitri Hvorostovsky at various points.
What often happens is that we get a pick-up rehearsal, but in this case, no, I haven't rehearsed with Quinn, so it will be exciting to see what happens! For Malgorzata, she was in the early rehearsals before Stephanie arrived, but that was 3 weeks ago.You have sung Leonora quite a bit, for instance, you just sang it at the Met, and I heard you sing that role at LA Opera in 2004. Does it ever get dull?
I always find something new within the role, but tomorrow will be my 26th Trovatore since January, and Tuesday will be the 27th!I bet you are ready to take on Ernani!
Yes, I head to Chicago on Wednesday to rehearse at Lyric Opera. Then I'm off to Paris for Don Carlo. I won't sing Trovatore for a year and a half when I sing Leonora at the Met again.Your first experience of opera was hearing Eva Marton and Plácido Domingo sing Tosca at age eleven. Did you come from a musical family?
That's right, Placido at Arena di Verona, on television! I told my mother that I wanted to do that, and started voice lessons at that age. There are no musicians in my family. My mother is admittedly tone-deaf, and my brother isn't a musician either, though he likes music. My father, before he died, liked hearing me sing, but also didn't have a background in music. I always liked singing though, when I was a kid my mother bought me a Karen Carpenter record that I like to sing along with. I actually started off as a lyric mezzo, singing things like Cherubino, and then at 19 my voice just changed and suddenly I was a coloratura soprano. [Laughs]It must have been amazing for you to sing with Domingo.
When I was 35 I sang Roxanne in Cyrano de Bergerac opposite of Domingo at the Met. It was a lifelong dream of mine and was incredible. Domingo has always been very supportive of me, he has only said positive things to me, even when my voice was "half-baked," as I call it. I used to get frustrated and ask when my voice would "finish baking", and he would tell me it would come, and he was right.When do you think that happened for you?
It was Bill Friedkin's production of Suor Angelica last year in Los Angeles, that was the turning point when things really picked up for me. I felt comfortable in myself, and it was really the right opera at the right time.It was an amazing performance you gave of Suor Angelica, and the whole set of operas was excellent. Have you sung that role before and are you singing it again?
Thank you! That was the first time I sang that role and I am doing it again in Spain in a few years, along with singing Giorgetta in Il Tabarro.Do you think you'll ever sing all three roles in Il Trittico, like what Patricia Racette is doing right now?
No, I don't think so, perhaps if they were ordered differently it would be a possibility. It just seems like it would be very difficult both vocally and dramatically to sing the light part of Lauretta after turning yourself inside out for Angelica.You have ties to Los Angeles, didn't you go to UCLA?
I went to both UCLA and USC. I started off at SC, and was there for 2 years for voice, but I had problems with my voice teacher there. So I ended up studying privately with Martial Singher in Santa Barbara, but doing a double major at UCLA in theater and voice. I was there for 3 years.So that's why you move so well!
I learned a lot about how to act, how to hold myself, I even had to take dance. I had 2 left feet and now I have 1 and a half left feet instead! [Laughs] It is becoming increasingly the case that opera singers have to be a complete package.Do you feel pressure about your looks?
Yes, of course. As singers we are out in the public eye and are scrutinized, it is part of the job.How do you think a younger audience can be drawn to the opera? I can't help but notice you have a publicist that is a blogger, that you have a Facebook page, and you did a podcast for LA Opera.
Yes, we are going to launch a new web site with all the bells and whistles, and I am just starting out with Facebook too. Technology is part of it, like with the Met in movie theaters, and the SF Opera simulcast of Il Trovatore. Opera is not just for elitists, and it should be brought to as many people as possible, like the Opera in the Park that SF Opera did last month. Opera also needs to be modernized, has to speak to the younger people, and be believable to them. At the same time, new productions have to make sense, there has to be a reason for the choices made besides just being shocking.Are you going to be in any of the Met simulcasts?.
Yes, I'm going to be in Il Trovatore, and I believe it is being broadcast in April of 2011.Do you teach at all?
I do give master classes when I perform in the United States. I was in a young artists program at the Met, so often times younger artists have a lot of questions for me about how to get started. Yesterday I gave a class to the Adlers, and they are such a talented bunch. The class was supposed to be 2 hours, but it went on for 3, but it is a passion of mine, to help educate young singers.You are booked until 2014-2015, that is just crazy, how much in advance you have to schedule. What are you looking forward to?
I will be singing Tosca and Aida at the Met. I'll also be singing a lot of Bel Canto, I've been learning a lot of music lately, and will be singing Norma and Donizetti's "Three Queens."Leave a comment
-
* Notes *
Malgorzata Walewska took the stage as Azucena in San Francisco Opera's Il Trovatore last night. Walewska certainly came across as crazy, more so than Stephanie Blythe, with whom she is sharing the role. Unfortunately Walewska's voice did not project well over the orchestra, and when she sang with Marco Berti this was especially obvious. Berti's voice soared over the pit, whereas Walewska's simply blended into the sound of the orchestra. Perhaps it is just as well, the way she pushed the top of her voice was not pleasant, though the middle of her voice was very pretty.The orchestra had a good amount of fire, and Luisotti kept everyone together without being the least bit dull. The chorus sounded gorgeous, and all of the singing was quite fine. Burak Bilgili (Ferrando) was better and sang more fluidly. As the Count, Dmitri Hvorostovsky still was not sounding his best, somewhat gritty and breathy in his last performance of this run. Likewise, Marco Berti and Sondra Radvanovsky were both consistent in their strong performances.
* Tattling *
The Russian speakers in Box W whispered despite being hushed, but at least the noise was not incessant. Someone in Box V or W was photographing Hvorostovsky as he sang, and the camera being used kept beeping though it did not flash. The person in Row B Seat 3 of the orchestra had her mobile device on for most of "D'amor sull'ali rosee."Leave a comment
-
Production Web Site | Press Photographs
Performance Reviews: The Opera Tattler | Not For Fun Only | Civic Center | SFCV | San Francisco Chronicle
With Silvestrelli: The Opera Tattler
Leave a comment
-
* Notes *
Andrea Silvestrelli replaced Peter Rose as Osmin in SF Opera's Die Entführung aus dem Serail last night. Silvestrelli has a lovely warm voice with a good heft, and a certain throaty quality. He was a bit quiet and creaky for that first low D in "O, wie will ich triumphieren," but he was appealing and very funny. His accent in English for the spoken parts was charming, though not all of the words were perfectly clear. It was especially entertaining when he said "Grazie mille" instead of "Danke schön" when handing a lute back to someone in the prompter's box during his last aria.
All evening long there were many problems with synchronization between the singers and the orchestra. The chorus sounded better in Act I, but still seemed detached in Act III. Andrew Bidlack sounded just a bit weak for the sustained note in "Frisch zum Kampfe," but was otherwise great. Anna Christy sang without showing much strain at all. Mary Dunleavy had her best night so far with "Ach ich liebte." Matthew Polenzani's voice sounded both fluid and vulnerable, which was quite winning.
This time around I was able to concentrate more on the spoken dialogue in English, instead of translating it in my mind into the German. It was interesting to note that the obsolete informal second person singular pronoun was used inappropriately. Pedrillo uses the formal "you" when he is chatting it up with Osmin and Belmonte, but uses "thee" with the Pasha. One supposes it goes along with the common perception that this archaic form is actually more formal. It was a bit of a muddle, though it did not bother me the first three times I heard it this way. Once should note that the nominative was always "you" for some reason, and not "thou," which was definitely weird.
* Tattling *
It was Chevron night at the opera, and many employees of that company, who probably do not normally attend such events, were there. The couple in front of me in T 101 and 102 of the orchestra seemed rather enthused, but they did talk a great deal during the music. The female half of the couple turned on her Blackberry during the pause between the second and third acts. She received a text message that read something like "The opera is in the opera house LOL" from someone who had previously asked if the opera was being performed in Davies.Leave a comment
-
Zvetelina Vassileva will replace Svetla Vassileva as Desdemona in SF Opera's Otello.
Press Release [PDF]| San Francisco Opera
Leave a comment
-
Maestro James Levine will undergo immediate surgery for a herniated spinal disc. The procedure necessitates withdrawing from his scheduled performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on September 29, October 1, and October 3. He has also canceled his October 6 and 10 performances of Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera.
Leave a comment
-
* Notes *
The American premiere of Evan Ziporyn‘s dance-opera A House in Bali was presented by Cal Performances last weekend. This ambitious project involves percussion, bass, keyboard, cello, violin, guitar, a 15-piece gamelan orchestra, Balinese dancers, opera singers, Balinese singers, and real-time videography. Despite a panoply of instruments, the two ensembles, the Bang on a Can All-Stars and Gamelan Salukat, played tightly and blended well together. The appeal of gamelan was clearly conveyed, and the music was both hypnotic and engaging.
Unfortunately, as an opera, the work was not particularly dramatic. There was much subtext about Orientalism in art and anthropology, and one appreciates that. However, as a result, Colin McPhee, Walter Spies, and Margaret Mead came off as rather unsympathetic characters. Musically they were difficult to listen to as well, as they, and everyone else on stage, was amplified. For some reason, the opera singers were particularly painfully loud at times. Tenor Marc Molomot (McPhee) had some shrill, strained moments, as did soprano Anne Harley (Mead). Timur Bekbosunov (Spies) seemed warmer and quieter vocally.
The staging and choreography from Anne Harley and Dewi Kadek Aryani, was attractive. The skillful use of video took advantage of the space created onstage, and gave us details of the dancing that could not have normally been seen from afar. All the dancers had gorgeous control of their hands. Dewi Kadek Aryani had some fluid, beautiful backbends, Desak Made Suarti Laksmi moved with great dignity, and I Nyoman Catra was comical. However, when Dewi convulsed across the stage at the end in Western dress and loose hair, my final impression was that this was all rather cerebral for a form that is so visceral.
* Tattling *
At the Sunday performance, were many latecomers, myself included, that were seated after the first scene. The mezzanine was not at all full, so hopefully this was not too disruptive. In any case, people felt very comfortable talking at full volume during the gamelan parts. Given how amplified everything was, they were drowned out pretty effectively.Leave a comment
-
* Notes *
On Friday Michael Tilson-Thomas lead San Francisco Symphony in a program about the origins of the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th Symphony. MTT talked quite a bit and gave musical examples, as he was being filmed for the public television show Keeping Score. He even had Thomas Hampson come out to sing bits from three of the Rückert Lieder. The concert proper began with the Adagietto itself, followed by Donizetti's Funeral March from Dom Sébastien. Hampson returned to the stage to sing the Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, which he sang with warmth and sensitivity. The songs themselves were a bit silly, particularly the melodramatic "Ich hab' ein glühend Messer."After the intermission, Mahler's Symphony No. 1 was played yet again. The playing for the first three movements were not as loud as last week's opening. This was particularly nice for the third movement, the folk-tune themes sounded lovely. The musicians seemed more focused, perhaps because of the dozen cameras in the hall, and the soli sounded beautifully clear. The lower strings remained muffled by the violins because the latter were all downstage. There was not enough back and forth between first and second violins to justify the arrangement. The evening ended with the bluster of the last movement, which certainly was Stürmisch bewegt.
* Tattling *
The audience was exceedingly well-behaved, there were barely any whispers and no electronic noise. Apparently filming a performance inspires silence.Leave a comment
The Opera Tattler 
Leave a comment