Happy New Year !

First I want to wish Anna, Erwin and Tiago and Rolando, Lucía and Dario & Matteo a very, very Happy New Year ! I hope that all your dreams and wishes will come true ! Especially for Anna, that her return to the stage on 14th January at the Mariinsky Theater will be fantastic =). And then I want to wish the other bloggers, my blogreaders and all my other friends out of the "virtual world" a very Happy New Year ! =)

Yours,
Christina(Luise)

Rolando's latest interview

Rolando gave his latest interview to the german radio channel NDR Kultur at the airport Berlin Tegel on 22th December. He made a stop there between flighing from Paris to Vienna, where he had a performance as Rodolfo in La Bohème. Unfortunately the interview is in german and it's defenetly too much to translate it all. Maybe if I will find the time, I will translate a few little parts of it ! But to give you a short overview: He is talking about his latest Händel album which will be released in spring, his last album cielo e mar, the making of Bohème, his break and many things more ; ) So for my german readers and all the others who are understanding german too, hope you enjoy it ! =)

Anna's latest interview

Anna gave her latest interview to the Met's interview department, because of her upcoming perfomance of Lucia di Lammermoor together with Rolando at the Met on 26th & 28th January and 03rd & 07th February.
I'm looking really, really forward to her first performance together with Rolando after her baby break ! =)





This January marks your return to the stage. How long has it been since you last performed?My last appearance was at the end of June, and then I stopped completely. What was a big wonder for me was that I didn't even want to perform. I didn't open my mouth at all. I just started practicing in November. I thought my voice would be wobbling. But no, no–it was there. I immediately sang the whole role of Lucia! I was curious how my voice would be, because I know of sopranos who have lost their voices after giving birth. But it seems like it was exactly the same as it was before. I started to sing like I had never stopped. The only thing that was different was that I got tired quickly. But that's normal. Like a sportsman, you need to train the muscles.

This is your first time singing Lucia at the Met. What's your history with the role?
The first time I heard Lucia I thought, Oh, my God, how can anybody sing that? No way. But later I tried it, and immediately, from the first phrase, it felt so good.

Musicologist Philip Gossett has composed a new cadenza for the mad scene especially for you. How did this idea come about?When I sang the role in Los Angeles, I realized that everything was very comfortable–but this cadenza scares me. But what you do in the cadenza is up to the soprano–you can sing it without any instrument, you can add notes and whatever you want. The only thing is, it has to be spectacular.

What's your approach to the character of Lucia?
Lucia can be done in many different ways. The craziness can be different. Lucia can be funny cuckoo, she can be evil cuckoo, she can be sad-andheartbroken cuckoo. It's really up to you. And it really depends on the staging. Mary Zimmerman's production is very beautiful, and there's a lot of freedom for the singers. I will have great partners, so I think we can create something very special.

Is this your first time performing Lucia opposite Rolando Villazón?
Yes, but in this opera, I don't sing very much with the tenor. It's more about the soprano and the baritone. Mariusz [Kwiecien, who plays Enrico] and I have sung together in many productions, and he's amazing. How will you and Mariusz play the relationship of Lucia and her brother? I've been thinking a lot about why she goes crazy so quickly. And I think in the relationship between her and her brother, there has to be something very violent. He has to be violent toward her. I'm not saying he has to be sexually violent, but the hint of it has to be there. He puts her down on her knees too many times. This is why this anger grows inside her, and that's why she kills. I don't think it comes suddenly–it has been growing. It's a breakdown, the nerves, the pain, the suffering. I don't think she's crazy from the beginning.

You're known as both a great singer and a great actress. How important is it to be able to do both?
It's not only me. This whole generation of singers is like that now. It's not possible to be old-fashioned and just sing. You have to be able to act, you have to be able to move... That said, I was once at a performance of Lucia at the Vienna Staatsoper, with a wonderful soprano, Edita Gruberova. She doesn't really act–she's a singer. And I have to tell you, that was one of the most amazing Lucias I ever saw. She was just standing and singing, and it was incredible. She blew me away with her singing.

Your fame transcends the world of opera. Do you worry that your stardom may overshadow your artistry in people's minds?
I don't worry about those kinds of things. There may have been a couple of times I got upset reading, "Oh, it's better to look at her than to listen to her!" But after a whileÑwhatever. And I'm not on the Internet, I don't have a computer, so I don't read many articles about me.

Do you feel differently about your career now that you're a mother?
I think maybe emotionally I'll feel differently when I'm singing–that's something I'll notice during my performances. I have a lot of responsibility now and different kind of responsibility. But I hope to sing as well as I did. Or better.

Merry Christmas !

The first thing I want to do is say very, very Merry Christmas to Anna, Erwin and Tiago and Rolando, Lucia and Dario & Matteo ! I hope you will all have a wonderful Christmas (Sure I hope it will especially a good first one for Tiago ^^) And then I want to say Merry Christmas to all the other bloggers (Carlos, Villazónistas, etc) and my fantastic blog readers ! It's really time to say thank you to you all ! I have never expected that so many people will read my blog and write me so positive feedbacks ! A special thanks goes to Lisa, who always supports me so so much !
I hope you will all have great holidays and that Santa Claus will bring you many, nice presents ; )

Yours,
Christina(Luise)

Anna's Hamburg concert is cancelled

Anna's concert in Hamburg on 29th August is cancelled.
Very sad for all her fans around Hamburg !

Anna will give a piano recital in Mannheim

Anna will give a piano recital in the Mozartsaal of the Mannheimer Rosengarten on 12th August 2009. Tickets are available at DEAG Classic or Eventim.

Thanks to dvedas for the information

Anna will give a concert in Hamburg

Anna will give an open-air concert in Hamburg (Derby Park - Where she already gave a concert with Rolando on 14th July 2007) on 29th August 2009 together with the russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky. The orchestra of the Mariinsky theater will be conducted by Valery Gergiev. So it is the same line-up like it will be on 10th July in Munich. Click here for buying tickets for the concert in the first and second category.

Welcome back

Finally my PC is working again ! =) I'm soo happy ! 2 days without internet are really too much for me ; )

I'm soo sorry !

I'm soo sorry, but my stupid PC decided not to work anymore and so my blog will be "frozzen" for a few couple of days. I hope that he will be repared soon ! Don't how you to survive without a PC and the latest news about Anna and Rolando (and the world of opera in general). I'm really sorry !

Christina

Waldbühne concert 2004

Tomorrow will the german TV channel ZDF Theaterkanal show the Waldbühne concert of 2004 with Anna and Marcelo Álvarez conducted by Marco Armiliato at 02.00 p.m.

Following dates:
Wednesday, 17.12.2008 09:00 a.m.
Thursday, 18.12.2008 02:00 p.m.
Tuesday, 23.12.2008 02:00 p.m.
Wednesday, 24.12.2008 09:00 a.m.
Monday, 29.12.2008 02:00 p.m.
Wednesday, 31.12.2008 09:00 a.m.

Anna's latest interview

Anna gave her latest interview to the american radio channel WNYC. Click here to listen the whole interview. Just listen it and enjoy to hear finally again from Anna ; )

Rolando's Hoffmann yesterday at the ROH

I woke at 6.00am on Sunday morning slightly nervous, and very pessimistic about Hoffmann. I caught the 9.48am Cardiff to London train still very pessimistic. I ate lunch at my favourite Italian in London, Carluccio's in Covent Garden, yes…still pessimistic. This pessimism continued as I walked, or rather long jumped, over the street engineering works towards the opera house.

And...he sang! There was a sense of nervousness among the audience beforehand as the lights dimmed. I was waiting for someone to come on stage to announce that he wasn't going to sing, but as Antonio Pappano set the orchestra into motion I knew he would sing...

At first he seemed to be saving his voice, finding out how much he could use it, but as the afternoon wore on he settled and his voice grew in volume - although it wasn't as powerful as I've heard on recordings (or even when he sang at the In Conversation I attended in November), and he was overpowered by Giuletta (Christine Rice) in their duet. But in comparison to where he was several months ago his voice has recovered a great deal, and in other reviews of Hoffmann it was reported that the strength was there, so he may well have been protecting his voice following his recent cold that caused Thursday's cancellation. But the "sound" of his voice, the golden warmth, was there - and in his final arias he did sing with greater conviction (especially his final lines) - and a shiver did run down my back!

His acting was exceptional, allowing the passion of his singing to convey Hoffmann's emotions, making him the standout performer on stage in terms of acting and singing. He was comical, he was sad, he was passionate, he was tragic. He was lost. He was Hoffmann!

Among the other singers Kristine Jepson's effortless soprano made a very enjoyable Nicklausse and Muse, Christine Rice's Giuletta was highly believable and Ekaterina Lekhina's Olympia was mechanically perfect (which should be read as a compliment). Gidon Sacks, although possessing certainly enough vocal heft in the bass passages, did have a slight mishap on the high denouement of "Scintille diamant", but overall he was a convincing bad guy – perhaps he will be better suited to the role a few years from now when he will have built up the required stamina.

Overall, it was a Sunday afternoon worth getting up at 6.00am for, and for this I have the performers, the orchestra (led by Pappano), the ushers of ROH and most importantly Offenbach (and his collaborators) for the musical feast I enjoyed – it certainly kept me warm on my return journey home!

Thanks a lot to Rhodri for his very interessting and very detailed report !

Anna at the spanish magazine Hola

The spanish magazine Hola devoted in the course of their jewellery special in the latest issue one site especially to Anna (For them who don't know it already, Anna is advertising medium for the luxury jewel label Chopard). The heading is "A modern cenerentola" in allusion to the fact that she cleaned the floors of the Mariinsky Theater when she was younger because she got so the possibility to watch the performances for free. Here you can see the whole article.




















Thanks to Teresa for the information

Rolando talking about Les contes d'Hoffmann

Here you can watch a video (from the ROH site), where Rolando talks about Hoffmann. Short but very nice ;)

Anna's latest interview

Anna gave her latest interview to the German newspaper Die Welt in Salzburg.

A spotless beautiful sunny day at Salzburg. Anna Netrebko, 37, the probably most celebrated opera diva of our times, greet for an exclusive conversation. The place: A salon at the classy hotel Sacher in view of the Salzach. Netrebko wears such an elegant as colourful Missoni-dress and is in a very good temper. The beam in the face which you likely assume young mothers - Netrebko has it. Her new CD "Souvenirs" (Deutsche Grammophon) is got very lightly. But it was recorded long before the birth of her son.

WELT ONLINE: Miss Netrebko, at her new CD "Souvenirs" do you sing folksongs and render homage to the operetta. The first track is out of Kálmáns "gypsy princess" and is called "Heia in den Bergen". Are you already afraid of the reactions ?

Netrebko: Why, no why should I. If it would be my first solo-announcement, ok. But I have already recorded some CDs and they were all very grave. Now I was up for something more lightly. You don't have to forget that I am out of a little town in the Russian province. There was only one theatre, in which operettas where staged, too. The “gipsy princess” was the first operetta I watched – this was a happening for a little girl.

WELT ONLINE: So the operetta was your first experience with the music theatre ?

Netrebko: Yes, that’s it. The “gipsy princess” was the reason cause I wanted on the stage. I made sheep’s eyes at the main role singer. She ward glamorous dresses and sang so beautiful. When she started to dance I was brimmed over with enthusiasm.

WELT ONLINE: And now you go back to your roots ?

Netrebko:“Souvenirs” isn’t a crossover at other genres. At last I don’t sing pop songs.

WELT ONLINE: But something of the musical-composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. His “Pie Jesu”- probably the hugest religious-feelings tearjerker since Gounod’s “Ave Maria”

Netrebko: But especially this track is connected with a memorization. At one of my first solo performances in St. Petersburg, in the middle 90’s, I sang “Pie Jesu”. If I finished, the audience didn’t stop applauding anymore. There were standing ovations, ach…

WELT ONLINE : And “Souvenirs” in general ? Whole personal memorization ?

Netrebko: No. Several tracks are connected with my memorizations and have a personal value for me – like the both Russian songs. But all in all is “Souvenirs” a colourful bouquet out of songs, operetta arias, in Russian, German, Yiddish, Czech.

WELT ONLINE: You’re taking a baby break at the moment. How have you experienced the pregnancy ?

Netrebko: I loved it to be pregnant. I had no nausea, no ravenousness attacks, nothing. Permanently I was asked by anybody, how I am, if can do something for me. I loved it !
WELT ONLINE: Did the birth changed you ?

Netrebko: Sure as a person, mother. I am mother now. As a singer – we will see. They say that the voice is going to be better after a pregnancy. So I am able to hope.

WELT ONLINE: Did you miss the stage ?

Netrebko: Not at all.

WELT ONLINE: Not afraid of being overtaken by other singers ?

Netrebko: No, no. But you have to know: I am not jealous on the success of others at all. Artist are sometimes horribly jealous and begrudgingly. And then singers – believe me: it is the hell. I am different. I can be happy about others’ accomplishments. I don’t wont to sing my own praises for it. It is a gift that happen upon me.

WELT ONLINE: In summer you had to stay on stage at the Salzburger Festspiele in “Roméo et Juliette”. Nino Machaidze celebrated the success taken your place.

Netrebko: I can understand if people are thinking, that this could be a problem for me, but it doesn’t. I attended heavily pregnant to one of the rehearsals und the first what I was asked by a man was: Isn’t it horrible for you, to be here because actually you were named to stay on stage ? I thought: No, actually I like being pregnant.

WELT ONLINE: Did the stranger thought that getting a baby is an unfortunate that happened to you and prevents you of your actual business ?

Netrebko: Apparently. Erwin, my fiancé, looked totally aghast at him. I had to pat his shoulder calmative.

WELT ONLINE: With Erwin you mean Erwin Schrott, your baby’s father and upcoming bass baritone. How do you have to imagine such a relation-ship ?

Netrebko: We talk about all. Not about music, but about literary, film, psychology. Things which are moving us.

WELT ONLINE: But this sounds very general.

Netrebko: I am sorry. Earlier I prattled away. Since the pregnancy I sometimes think that my head is blank, happy and probably still hormone fogged.

WELT ONLINE: In January you will resume your life as an opera diva at the Royal Opera House in London.

Netrebko: While my son is young, my life will not be changed too much. I will try to reduce the number of my performances. Only five instead of eight evenings pro season. Furthermore there are nannies. This is ok in exceptional cases. I not till then see a big problem, if our son have to go to school. Then we have to decide us for a principal residence.

WELT ONLINE: Don’t you have one at the moment ?

Netrebko: I have three: Vienna, St. Petersburg and NewYork.

WELT ONLINE: Nice. And where to go incline ?

Netrebko: Me in Vienna. But Erwin would prefer living in an Spanish speaking country.

WELT ONLINE: And this with a super German name.

Netrebko:Yes. But as you know he is born in Uruguay and doesn’t speak none German. It could easily happen, that we will be in Spain in a few years.

I'm sorry that I needed so long for posting it, but the translation needed so much time ; )

Rolando's "Monteverdi concert"

Yesterday broadcast Arte (like I wrote already in an older post) Rolando's "Monteverdi" concert of the 23rd June 2008 in the cathedrale St. Denis in Paris. Click here for watching the whole concert. Hope you enjoy it =)