A Tribute to "Flicka"

With Frederica "Flicka" von Stade one of the greatest living mezzo-sopranos said goodbye to the stage earlier this year. On Saturday 3 December the San Francisco Opera is paying tribute to her operatic achievements. Joining the party will be some of the greats who shared the stage with her: Kiri Te Kanawa, Susan Graham, Joyce DiDonato and Samuel Ramey.

Inspired by this aricle by the SF Chronicle I couldn't resist but browsing through the archive of Flicka performances on youtube. I'd like to share some gems from this incredible singer's career that has lasted 4 decades but has always stayed self-critical and down-to-earth:

La Cenerentola - Nacqui all'affanno... Non più mesta (1981)

She says now that she doesn't feel she ever got a handle on [Cenerentola] - which will come as a surprise to the thousands of listeners entranced by the technical flourish and expressive openness of her interpretation. "I think to do that piece, you have to be able to just toss it off. And I was always concentrating too hard, just trying to make it be what I wanted to be."

Le Nozze di Figaro - Non so più (1985)

"[Cherubino]'s a role that I sang way past the point of decency," she said. "I just didn't want to give it up. I think it's Mozart's character in many ways."

Rosenkavalier - Final Trio

"I love doing operas where I'm super busy, running around pretending to be a boy. Octavian (in Richard Strauss' 'Der Rosenkavalier') is another one."

Dead Man Walking (2011)

Interview with Frederica von Stade and Kiri te Kanawa

Click here for some more priceless quotes! You know you want to.

Congrats Mommy Elīna and Daddy Karel!

This piece of news seems to have widely slipped the attention of the operatic public, which surprisingly doesn't seem to read tabloids: Elīna Garanča gave birth to a daughter last month. As ÖSTERREICH reports the girl's name is Catherine Louise Chichon. Congratulations to the happy parents!

© www.deutscheoperberlin.de

Elīna Garanča is scheduled to appear on stage again with a recital of Strauss, Schuman and Berg in Graz on March 3rd next year.

BREAKING: Universal Launches New Artist Agency with Hampson, Netrebko and Villazón

Musikmarkt reports the launch of Universal Music's previously announced new artist agency Centre Stage Artist Management. The agency will have offices in Berlin as well as London and is starting off with a small yet impressive artist roster: Anna Netrebko, Thomas Hampson, Rolando Villazón, Mojca Erdmann, Joseph Calleja, Ruxandra Donose, Massimo Giordano and Roman Trekel. (www.centrestagemanagement.com)


Designated Managing Director Judith Neuhoff, who previously worked for Raab & Böhm Artists in Vienna and IMG Artists in London, says, "Thanks to our collaboration with opera houses, concert halls, record labels, pr agencies and promoters around the world we can provide our artists with unique and individual perspectives and consultation. We want to take the agency to international top class level. Our fundamental principles are quality, transparency and responsibility."

Munich's New Hoffmann A Vocal Success (Press Comments)

The Bavarian State Opera chose Halloween night for their first premiere of the season: "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" with Rolando Villazón in the title role and Diana Damrau singing all of his female counterparts for the first time in her career. The muchly anticipated event turned out to be a triumph for the singers who earned overwhelming ovations. Director Richard Jones, who fell out of favor with the Bavarian audience with his staging of "Lohengrin" two seasons ago, received singular boos which, however, could be interpreted as the reaction of some unforgiving opera locals as the rest of the audience seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed his interpretation of Hoffmann's tales.

Some insightful videoclips of this production can be found on the Bavarian State Opera's website. And here's some collected press comments:


Die Welt:

"He is back. Not shining as brightly as before but with a safeness that seemed to have disappeared - Rolando Villazón."

Merkur Online:

"Villazón sings at the edge. And it is a miracle that not more things go wrong when he does."

"The actual vocal event at this 'Hoffmann' premiere were his female counterparts. Ensemble member Angela Brower was celebrated as confident and natural Niklausse. She was almost as strong as Diana Damrau who for the first time sang all four of the poet's lovers - and with that kicked open the door to a new phase of her career."

"John Relyea's dark, bronze bass provides for the perfect material for the four villains, with Dapertutto's (not original) 'mirror aria' probably being a concession to him."

"[Constantinos Carydis] adamantly, even ruthlessly implements his concept. This is not a laissez-faire Offenbach, much more an interpretation equipped with blowoffs, which is highly dramatic, surprisingly true to detail and razor-sharp."

Abendzeitung:

"From the start Diana Damrau left no doubt about who was going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. Courageously she took on all three soprano parts in Offenbach's opera. [...] Musically Diana Damrau sets one highlight after the other. She's the superb centre that everything else revolves around. Even the protagonist has to bow to her. One had to be worried whether Rolando Villazón would have the stamina needed for the part of Hoffmann beforehand. Even before his vocal crisis he was not the ideal cast for this role. [...] Despite vocal vehemence he leaves something to be desired: When he forces the voice becomes tight. Luster and assertiveness are limited. The Mexican's acting is incredibly intense but sometimes too boisterous."

"However: Diana Damrau, Rolando Villazón, Angela Brower (Niklausse) and the superb Canadian bass John Relyea, who sang all four villains, made sure that the musical side dominated over the stage direction, which all in all dawdled along too harmlessly and superficially."

John Relyea earns much praise for his portrayal of all four villains.

Angela Brower shines as Hoffmann's muse Niklausse.

All pictures courtesy of www.br.de

A Possible Goodbye?

Is it possible that tonight's dernière of "La Traviata" might be Natalie Dessay's last performance at the Wiener Staatsoper?

© adn.com

It is likely. Frau Kammersängerin has repeatedly emphasized that she wants to quit singing and become an actress instead stating that she perceives the opera repertoire as "too narrow". She's been talking about becoming an actress for years but the actual decision might be just around the corner considering the fact that she's already looking for possible employers (at least on Austrian national tv). [Side note: She also talked about buying a farm and riding horses for the rest of her life at some point but this hasn't been mentioned ever since so we'll consider this a less probable scenario.]


Rumor has it that she will not be singing for much longer than 3 more years. Dessay has also made clear that due to the short rehearsal periods she won't be doing repertoire performances at the Wiener Staatsoper anymore. A singer of her status, of course, has the right to be picky about the work she takes on. It is, however, not very likely that she will appear in a new production at this house within the next 3 years. But this is just a personal guess...

A Swell Start For The Met's Live Cinecast Season

The Met Cinecast of "Anna Bolena" was seen by some 30.000 people in Germany and Austria last Saturday, reports Clasart Classic, which exceeds all previously seen viewer records. Roughly 40 cinemas were completely sold out, some had to move the cinecast to larger locations to provide for German/Austrian operamaniacs. Clasart Classic boss Herbert Kloiber attributes this success to the "phenomenon Netrebko". He added, however, that the fact that 125.000 tickets have already been sold for the new Met broadcast season are proof that the general demand is increasing.

Maria Callas...OF COURSE!

In a teaser for her most recent release ”An Homage to Callas” Angela Gheorghiu speaks about the revelation she had during the recording period. (Would Callas agree? Luckily, Angela will never find out.)
And here’s the long version of the trailer where Angela shows off some cleavage excellent choices of headwear.

 © EMI