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Miscellaneous Opera-related Chat

689K views 2K replies 175 participants last post by  Birmanbass 
#1 ·
Since I am guilty of getting several threads off-topic, I wonder if the powers that be have ever thought of having an off-topic "discussion area". By that I mean, not about our personal lives, but about opera-related items.

For instance here are a couple of things I'd like to discuss:

Is anyone in the US using Spotify?

The new Fidelio CD is available on Spotify if anyone is interested (although maybe this qualifies as opera news? or streaming, if you have Spotify)

Advice on ordering tickets for the Met (seating etc. too late for me now, but maybe for others)

Do you know any cheap places to stay in NYC (or on the train line in NJ or CT)--this follows of course on the previous question! :lol:

In January our local opera company is doing a Glass opera called Les Enfants Terribles; does anyone know this opera?

Now I'm betting that you have tried this in the past and it didn't work, but I thought I would ask.
 
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#252 ·
Don't really know where to put this (I distinctly remember there being a bargain thread, but ah), but I figured I had to tell you (Alma, do feel free to move this post to where you see fit).

British Amazon are selling the Furtwängler Ring to an astonishing £15.99. The only other recording I've been able to find of it has had a price tag 10 times bigger.

Clicky
 
#258 ·
Is it miscellaneous opera related "chat" if I mention I have listened to a recording of that BBC radio 3 broadcast of this summer's Tosca with Gheorghiu, Kaufmann, and Terfel about a thousand times during my commute to work, and I think it's just the most amazing thing ever! Still not tired of it. Currently my favorite not-Walküre opera (although La Traviata is right up there).

I can't help it, I just love the emotional, theatrical Verdi/Puccini stuff. The master manipulators!
 
#265 ·
My Opera News arrived today!

Cover story on Jonas Kaufmann here. (at least it should be)

Some interesting comments about the Walküre production and about his obvious absence (until recently) from his hometown Bavarian State Opera. I guess he has reached a point where he can speak a little more freely about such things..?
 
#268 ·
He's never been particularly shy about expressing his opinion, from what I've read. I remember his comments about the previous Intendant at the Wiener Staatsoper in an interview he gave several years ago, and it was clear that there was no love lost between him and Ioan Holander.
 
#269 ·
Opera houses are so beautiful!!! I love them all!!! They are the cathedrals where we worship our gods... Verdi... Mozart... Wagner... Handel... Berlioz... oh, and Anna Netrebko!
 
#271 ·
Looks like it's time for my favorite picture again. This is backstage at Zürich Opera. I love the amazing contrast between all the modern backstage stuff and the traditional audience area. Annie, I adore the view from the stage out, even though it might petrify me! But if I were doing something I love and knew I was good at--it would be TERRIFIC!!

 
#276 ·
I can't stop laughing at new concert-announcing poster I just saw. A big muzzle of singer who's performing the recital and brazen inscriptions: "long awaited artistic event!", "world-famous singer!", "outstanding solist of world's greatest opera stages!". Surely they had to write that she's world-famous singer, it's not something that people know when singer really is world-famous, not at all.
 
#278 · (Edited)
It is amazing how a little detail can make a interpretation great:



2:52-2:54

No, seriously, I'm amazed by two seconds of interpretation. Is it healthy? I can't even specify what's so great about it, I mean: I know it but can't put it in concrete words. Phrasing? Diction? Of course I love the whole thing but this is so special. Did he really feel it so perfectly or is it by accident, perhaps is spontaneous, I don't know but these are two seconds which make one of greatest examples of what does it mean to interpret vocal music and how by doing so little you can enhance the music far over what's written.

Now count the words in this posts and think that they all have been written about two seconds of music.
 
#282 · (Edited)
I have completed the printing of all the mail exchanged with Anna Netrebko's agents about the idea of nicknaming her La Bellissima, and the articles in the mainstream press that call her like this. This, together with her autograph, my pics with her, and pics of the Anna Bolena trip, will be framed into a poster collage (plus a large printing of the best one of these photos in a separate frame) and will be decorating my Opera Man-cave (where I already have another poster collage of the Metropolitan Opera and its artists, and some opera paraphernalia like souvenirs bought at the Met Opera Shop, a poster of Salome, and of course a large screen TV with a sound system and a blu-ray player for opera screenings).:D

Does anybody else have an Opera Man-cave or Opera Woman-cave or an Opera Shrine at home?:)
 
#286 ·
Does anybody else have an Opera Man-cave or Opera Woman-cave or an Opera Shrine at home?:)
This makes me feel a bit sad. My husband hates opera so much that I keep it all as discreet as I can - the other day he blew his top because I was playing a DVD through little speakers, very low (I usually listen wih headphones) so my daughter could watch too. He apologised later, but the upshot is that there is no and will never be a Nat Opera-cave.
 
#291 ·
Speaking of Anna (La Bellissima and Boleyn), I received notice today from Amazon that the DVD of the Wiener Staatsoper's production of Anna Bolena I pre-ordered has been shipped. I'll probably receive it this coming Saturday. I'm assuming that Alma's pre-ordered video is also on its way. Wonder if he'll stand guard by the mail box. :D
 
#293 ·
Seattle Opera Young Artist David Krohn's Italian adventure.

Makes me want to go back soon.

" ... It was a world of opera. Everyone who heard that I was an opera singer insisted that I sing for them, something I normally resist doing, but Italy put up a much stronger fight than I could resist. No matter what I decided to sing for the locals, they insisted on joining in, always knowing the words perfectly, proving that the music was in their blood..."
 
#294 · (Edited)
Yes, that's how I imagine Italy - all around you see Toscanini-like looking geezers with moustaches and wearing hats and they all hum opera tunes, accompanied by furious ladies on the balconies shouting something with words reaching speed of light to their husbands who just got out to the street after fiery argument.
 
#298 ·
The Anna Bolena DVD arrived a day earlier than expected, and I promptly watched it. Meanwhile, according to the latest issue of the German magazine "Das Opernglas," La Bellissima will be adding another historic queen to her roster of roles next spring. The 2012 Salzburg Pentacost Festival has "Cleopatra" as its theme, and among scheduled productions will be a new opera by Rodion Shchedrin with AB singing the Queen of the Nile.
 
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