Anna on 01rst October in Paris

Anna will give a concert directed by Keri-Lynn Wilson together with the Italian tenor Massimo Giordano at the Salle Pleyel on 01rst October. Click here for more information.

Rolando sings "Crude furie degl'orridi abissi"

Click here for listening =)

Turn the boxes on again ; )

The musicplayer is finally working again, but I changed from Duets to parts of Traviata cause now already if I only hear the first notes of "O soave fanciulla" I'm getting depressions, I'm so fed up with it !!! xD

No Rolando far and wide

Strange thing...I listened to the whole emission but there was no Rolando far and wide, what a pity !

Rolando on the radio channel "France Inter" tomorrow

If do not have the possibility to listen to it via radio you can use the live-stream =)


Thanks to...you know who I mean ; ) and Mäx for the "who to make a screen-shot" teaching ; )

A half year and many sleepless nights later...

Wow today I'm celebrating my "half-year" of blogging jubilee =) -> Congratulations to myself !!! ; ) The time is really running fast, it feels like yesterday when I started blogging (but the dark circumorbital rings and the chronic lack of time reveals me ^^) Now the blog is really a part of my life, I love sharing information, feelings, thoughts, anxieties simply everything about Anna and Rolando with all you all around the world. That's really great ! =) Even it's getting on my nervs somethings f.e. "my darling" the music player =//// -> stupid thing !!!! xD xD

Greetings,
yours ChristinaLuise

Rolando & Nino = Nemorino & Adina

NEMORINO Rolando Villazón
ADINA Nino Machaidze*
BELCORE Nathan Gunn
DOCTOR DULCAMARA Ruggero Raimondi*
GIANNETTA Valerie Vinzant

* LA Opera debut

CONDUCTOR James Conlon
DIRECTOR Stephen Lawless
DESIGNER Johan Engels
ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER Paul Pyant

Operatic comedy at its most appealing opens the 2009/10 Season. Filled with light-hearted charm and bursting with feel-good laughs, The Elixir of Love features engaging characters and such captivating Italian melodies as the poignant "Una furtiva lagrima" ("A furtive tear"). Rolando Villazón stars as the lovesick Nemorino in search of a magic potion to capture the heart of Adina, performed by Nino Machaidze in her U.S. debut. Nathan Gunn takes the part of Belcore in his role debut, and James Conlon conducts.

Saturday September 12, 2009 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday September 15, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Sunday September 20, 2009 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday September 22, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Friday September 25, 2009 7:30 p.m.
Sunday September 27, 2009 2:00 p.m.
Wednesday September 30, 2009 7:30 p.m.

I'm curious about this production, especially how Nino will well how say this in english ?! How she will "interpret" the role of Adina. I don't like her interpretation of Juliette in Salzburg very much, but that's only my personal opinion, so let's see !

Romeo will get a new Giulietta for tomorrow !!!!

Click here for the whole announcement of the ROH !!!!!!! Well I can understand that she withdraws for tomorrow's performance, better she rests and is on top after again =)


Thanks to Rhodri for the info !!!

Rolando sings "Più che penso alla fiamme del core"

Click here for listening =)

Another Capuleti report

Click here

Les derniers rapports sur Werther

Clique ici, ici, ici et bien sûr ici pour lire le rapport fantastique des Villazónistas !


Merci à Eliane =)

More Capuleti reviews

Click here and here








Thanks to Rhodri for the information !

Viva Villazón ! Viva Werther !

Such a greeeeeeeeaaaaat day !!! It seems that Rolando was wonderful yesterday !!!! His singing, his acting, well everything ! =))))))) Are their anyones (besides the Villazónistas ^^) who have been at the opera yesterday, too ?? Please comment, we are curious !!!! ; )))

Valladolid - Do you know ??

Hhmm it seems like that Valladolid is not such a unknown place in the world of opera as I taught first, great singers like Kasarova and JDF have already been there ! Dear Villazónistas do you maybe know more about this town ?? Or about the concert hall ??

Rolando at Valladolid

Rolando will give a concert on 10th May in Valladolid (Spain). I haven't find out any details yet, but I will try tomorrow =)

More reports about I Capuleti

Click here, here, here and here

Thanks to Nerona for the information ; )

I Capuleti time with Anna and Elina

The first photos of the yesterday's premiere at the ROH. I think Anna looks again much better then she did a few weeks ago !! =)))) Click here for the first review.

Piotr will be Vaudemont !!!

The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden announced today that Piotr Beczala will sing the Vaudemont in all 4 performances of Iolanta in July. The translated announcement:


























Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala

After Rolando Villazón cancelled with a heavy heart the "Iolanta" production, we can happily announce you today, that Anna Netrebko will have a fantastic tenor next to her in summer: Piotr Beczala. The Polish singer came already once a few days ago as the "white chevalier" to rescue Anna Netrebko. He stood in for Rolando Villazón in the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor", which was on the New York Met's schedule and broadcasted live in cinemas all over the world. Piotr Beczala came, sang, conquered. Audience and critics acclaimed the singer rightly. The New York success could recur in Baden-Baden. Piotr Beczala already knows the role of "Vaudemont" in Tchaikovsky's opera "Iolanta" and is looking very forward to his debut at the biggest german opera house. The lyrical tenor was born and skilled in south Poland. Regularly commitments drive him to the London's Convent Garden opera, the San Francisco opera, to Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. In 2006 he made his debut at the Milan's Scala and the New York's Metropolitan Opera, too.

Well that are great news ! =))

Report about the dress rehearsal of Anna and Elina's I Capuleti e i Montecchi at the ROH on Friday

Being my first ever dress rehearsal I wasn't sure of what to expect – seeing the orchestra in their everyday street clothes was definitely something I'd never seen before! The constant sound of photographers taking innumerable photographs throughout the performance wasn't something I expected, but curiously as I knew that things would be a bit different on the day they didn't at all bother me. But some things never change and I was treated to a mid-scene change interval battle between an aggressive bottle-wielding grandmother who tried to dislocate a woman's shoulder who was using a mobile phone to text during the performance. Both were in the wrong, but it was quite amusing to see the argument – the younger woman was driven to anger due to the fact that she was a violinist and it's not the greatest thing to do to hit someone on the arm if they earn their living from holding a violin with it. But on to the music!
In the slim programme there was a note reminding people that this was only a dress rehearsal and not a performance – all I can say is that I can't imagine how a performance could be any better than Friday's dress rehearsal. From the opening overture to the closing notes of the final scene my eyes and ears never left the stage. The chorus was in particularly good voice and they certainly filled the house with some muscular singing (although it was noted on the programme notes that extra singers had been drafted in – the ROH chorus can be "unpredictable" on times). They were quickly followed by the triumvirate of Lorenzo (Giovanni Battista Parodi), Capellio (Eric Owens) and Tebaldo (Dario Schmunk). I'll keep my thoughts to myself as to Schmunk's performance as it was only a dress rehearsal and I suspect he may have been saving himself for the performances to come, but Parodi, and especially Owens sang with great clarity and control. To be fair, I think Owens would have made an excellent Capellio on the recent DG Capuleti. All were given great foundations by the conductor Mark Elder and the orchestra who had definitely worked hard to allow the singers to be heard while not losing any of the life and verve in the score.

But I Capuleti's success depends not on the male leads, but more on the female singers and in Anna & Elina I doubt you'll ever find a better pairing. Elina's first notes were sumptuous, and left you in no doubt as to the quality of her voice. What struck me most (apart from her richness of tone) was the "volume" of her voice – the biggest of any of the singers on stage, without her losing any characteristics of her voice. Before this performance I had been a big fan of Magdalena Kozena (and still am) but Elina is now my top mezzo. She received the biggest cheer of the day, and as much as I am a far bigger fan of Anna I have to admit that she gave a magnificent performance. Superb! Or as I shouted – "Brava!"

While Elina had the bigger voice (by a small margin) when Anna sang I was treated to several "shivers down my back", which is one of my markers of a great performance. Up until now I have been treated to hearing very good sopranos who can hold their performance together, but Anna is simply in a different league. When she started to sing my first thought was – she sounds like she does on CD – which is a pretty idiotic statement to make. But you'd be surprised how many singers / actors / bands I've seen that have failed to live up to my expectations. You would think that after watching her performances on DVD that I would be aware of how great an actress she is, but I wasn't prepared for was how much she allowed the role to play her, and not her the role. Even from my eye squinting vantage point in the amphitheatre I was captured by her acting skills – she really does make you "feel" for Giulietta, which given the "lightweight" nature of the opera is some achievement. Getting back to her voice, I was struck at how many different "Anna's" there are. While some singers have a comfort zone they rarely travel outside of she has a wonderful breadth of sounds – and she used these sounds to great effect, allowing the tumult of the character to be presented on stage. You want powerful singing? She has it. Delicate? No problem. Joyful? Again no problem. And as I'm writing this to you both now I'm beginning to understand that it's precisely this ability to change the "appearance" of her voice is what makes her such a great singer. Of course she has a wonderful richness to her voice, but she doesn't allow herself to live off that richness on stage – she explores the vocal life of a character in a way that lesser singers would be afraid to do. When she did let the full force of her voice to come to the fore she was on a par with Garanca, but this happened only once in my mind and is what marked her out to me as giving an astute performance because she played the role of Giulietta and not of Anna Netrebko International Soprano. She was joyfully free of any of the egotism that I've seen with many performers, and she was willing to give other performers their limelight. That to me is the sign of a truly instinctive performer. I think the role of Giulietta is far better for her voice than her recent Lucia – Bellini allows her to sing more freely than Donizetti and this plays to her strengths. She sounded far more comfortable in her singing than she did at the Met – I think this is probably a natural effect of her beginning to lose her "rustiness" after her maternity break, but even so I would like to see Lucia scratched from her future engagements as her voice is better suited to more direct singing rather than hoping around like a bird on a telephone wire, which I admit isn't my favoured type of singing. Apologies for the lack of technical insight, but my musical knowledge is governed by my instincts and not by any academic learning.

The highlight of the performance? Among so many highlights (I can't remember the last time when I was treated to such spellbinding arias from both lead singers) the love duet between Romeo and Giulietta at the end of Act I Scene II was simply beautiful. For me, there was something magical in the silence that followed the ending of the duet – everyone – and I mean everyone in the house (including the photographers and their cameras) – were silent. We were definitely under their spell, and it was with great reluctance that I joined in the applause as I would have loved to have savoured the performance a little longer than I did. Afterwards, as I was sitting on the steps of the National Gallery and looking at the fountains in Trafalgar Square it was all I could hear in my head. And it's all I can hear today!

If there is one aspect I'd like to change about the production it would be in ensuring that the scenery stays in place – I never thought I'd see the day when Anna would push a ten-metre granite column back a few feet! But, as I reminded myself it was only a dress rehearsal…but on a less picky note the production itself was very understated, with the Pier Luigi Pizzi recognising that I Capuleti is an opera that demands not so much from the eye but from the ear. Having said that the costumes worn by the chorus with red capes designating the Capuleti and blue the Montecchi added a glorius dash of colour that was even more striking during a well orchestrated fight sequence.

I can now hardly wait to see a "proper" performance next week!

Hopefully BBC Radio 3 will be recording a performance – it will probably be an April performance as according to Opera magazine there is no scheduled broadcast in March for I Capuleti.


Rhodri


Many, many thanks to Rhodri for his fantastic report !!! You're the best !! =))

One day in Munich and already something happens...; )

Well yesterday I was the whole day off-line cause I made finally again a trip to Munich. I attended the Kandinksy exhibition and I can really advise it - It was great ! The exhibition rests till 08th March in Munich, then it is in Paris from 08th April till 10th August and then it's in New York from 18th September till 10th January 2010. The rush was really - like the medias said - very huge. I was there at 09.30 am, half an hour before the opening and there was already a longer queue. Unfortunately you were not aloud to photography the pictures -> Blaues Pferd I I will miss you...; )




























The Lenbachhaus (were one part of the exhibition is) is directly at the Königsplatz and this is the place were Anna will give her concert with Dmitri in July ; ) So of course I took my camera out and made photos like "before Anna comes" and in July "after Anna came" ; ) ; )





















And of course (it's already something like a ritual now ^^) I went to the state opera and made some photos =)



















Another thing I "had to" ^^ photograph was this ->


























I was very surprised to read Piotr's name !

Ok now back to the actual blog's topic ^^ So what happend yesterday ?? Like you can read already at Carlos' blog, are Anna and Rolando scheduled for 4 performances of L'elisir d'amore at the Bastille opera Paris on 10th, 15th, 20th and 23th October 2009. It seems just like a dream, we can only hope that it will really come true...Here as a short memorization a part of L'elisir from Vienna 2005