Dancers from the Vaganova Ballet Academy perform the Dance of the Hours from Amilcare Ponchielli’s opera LA GIOCONDA.
Watch and listen here.
Category: Opera
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Gianna Rolandi Has Passed Away
Gianna Rolandi has passed away at the age of 68. She studied at the Curtis Institute, and appeared in many productions at the New York City Opera, starting in 1975. I saw her there several times, her delightful voice sailing into the house effortlessly, tossing off scintillating roulades, and ascending with ease to the highest notes.
Roles in which Ms. Rolandi delighted me at New York City Opera were Adele in FLEDERMAUS, Gilda, Rosina, Lucia di Lammermoor, Zerbinetta, and Lakmé. She shone particularly as Handel’s Cleopatra, and she had a great personal success as Janacek’s Vixen Sharp-Ears.
Ms. Rolandi was a Met Auditions winner in 1974, and she made her Met debut in 1979 as Sophie in DER ROSENKAVALIER; her Octavian was Agnes Baltsa, and they made beautiful music together. I also saw Gianna’s Zerbinetta at The Met.
She appeared at Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, in Geneva and Turin, and at the festivals at Glyndebourne and Pesaro. She concertized with major orchestras, working with such conductors as Erich Leinsdorf, Leonard Bernstein, Bernard Haitink, James Levine, and Sir Andrew Davies, to whom she was married.
Listen to Gianna Rolandi as Olympia here, and as Lucia here.
And listen to her in a role I wasn’t aware she had performed – Oscar in BALLO IN MASCHERA – here.
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More from Cardiff ~ 2021
Claire Barnett-Jones, winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, sings Ivor Novello’s “We’ll Gather Lilacs” here.
I was especially pleased that Ms. Barnett-Jones sang Waltraute’s narrative from GOTTERDAMMERUNG in her first round program.
Jusung Park from the Republic of Korea moved me to tears with his touching singing of Sancho Panza’s “Riez, allez riez du pauvre ideologie“, the faithful servant’s defense of his master, Don Quixote, against the ridicule of lesser beings. Listen to this wonderful aria from Jules Massenet’s rarely-performed DON QUICHOTTE here.
Chinese tenor Chuan Wang pulled out all the stops for his vivid performance of “Ah, mes amis” from Donizetti’s FILLE DI REGIMENT. Watch and listen here.
Icelandic soprano Alfheiður Erla Guðmundsdottir (above) was sadly forced to withdraw after the opening round of the Song Prize competition when a ‘track and trace’ from the Welsh health department notified her that someone on her flight into Cardiff had tested positive for Covid 19. Her set was so lovely that I wanted to post it. (She has since been invited to participate in the 2023 Cardiff Competition.) Also heard in her round are Gihoon Kim from Republic of Korea (eventual winner of the main prize) and Evgenia Asanova from Russia, with pianists Simon Lepper and Llŷr Williams. Watch and listen here.
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Gihoon Kim: Cardiff Singer of the World 2021
Korean baritone Gihoon Kim has won the title of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World for 2021. The competition, which was first held in 1983, takes place every other year at Saint David’s Hall in Cardiff. Past winners have included Karita Mattila, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Katarina Karnéus, Anja Harteros, Shenyang, and Nicole Cabell.
This year, due to the pandemic, the number of entrants (and the number of judges) was reduced; there was no live audience in the hall. Despite this change in atmosphere (Welsh audiences tend to go mad for singers they like), there was much to enjoy.
Mr. Kim impressed me immediately in the first round with his poignant rendering of Pierrot’s Tanzlied from Korngold’s DIE TOTE STADT; the judges (including soprano Roberta Alexander and baritone Neal Davies) were seen wiping tears from their eyes as he finished the aria. Gihoon followed up with a wonderful performance of the PAGLIACCI Prologo. When he was announced as the winner of the round, he was literally speechless.
A brief bio/rehearsal clip showed him to be a good-natured guy with a ready laugh.
Enjoy his singing of the Korngold here. And watch Gihoon Kim in his performance for the final round here.
Bravo Gihoon!!
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Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha @ Cardiff
South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha has won the Song Prize at the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Ms. Rangwanasha is also the “wildcard entrant” for the final round of the Singer of the World Competition. Here she is performing “Ebben, ne andro lontana” from Catalani’s LA WALLY: Link
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Jolanda Meneguzzer
Jolanda Meneguzzer (above) and Costanzo Gero in a scene from Act I of Puccini’s LA BOHEME. The recording is from 1970, with the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Firenze conducted by Erasmo Ghiglia. Listen here.
Ms. Meneguzzer is a singer whose name I had often heard in my earlier days of operatic obsession, but I’d never heard the voice til now. Born in Cantù, Italy, around 1930, she studied in Florence and made her operatic debut in 1957 in Monteverdi’s L’ORFEO at the Maggio Musicale. Her career centered mainly in Italy, but she made her American debut San Francisco as Maria in FIGLIA DEL REGIMENTO in 1962, and she appeared briefly at The Met during the 1963-1964 season as Musetta and Gilda.
Jolanda Meneguzzer sings Mozart’s Exsultate, jubilate here…
…and a sampling of her Musetta:
Jolanda Meneguzzer – Musetta’s Waltz – with Scotto-Poggi-Gobbi
Ms. Meneguzzer passed away in June 2020, at the age of 90.
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40 Years Ago: Fracci & Nureyev ~ GISELLE
~~~~ Note: I had originally planned to post this article on the 40th anniversary of my one-and-only experience of seeing the great Carla Fracci onstage. Today, news of the ballerina’s death has come, so I am posting it now, two months shy of the actual anniversary:
On this date, forty years ago, one of the greatest ballet performances of my experience took place at the Metropolitan Opera House, where the La Scala Ballet presented their production of GISELLE with Carla Fracci and Rudolf Nureyev in the leading roles.I had spent the afternoon at The Met watching GISELLE with an alternate cast; it was a very pleasing performance. But the undeniable star-power of Fracci and Nureyev made the evening performance unforgettable.
This is my diary entry from that magnificent evening:
“GISELLE – 2nd performance – with the assumption on the leading roles by two great dancers, the whole production took on a new dimension. The corps seemed better than at the matinee, though again Renata Calderini was not a particularly impressive Myrthe. There was a very exciting Peasant Pas de Deux with Anna Maria Grossi and a very exciting Davide Bombana; they roused the audience to cheers.
But it was in the superstars that the real excitement lay – and that is why they are superstars! Rudolf Nureyev’s Albrecht was marred slightly by some rather ‘modern’ acting details in Act I where he failed to maintain the aura of manners of the period. But otherwise he caught the essence of the caddish young nobleman in Act I and the grief-stricken man of Act II. He danced with thorough command despite passing traces of stiffness. He interpolates many intricate steps and then challenges himself to bring them off…and always succeeds. His Albrecht was a full portrait – and it was very exciting.
In Carla Fracci we had the perfect Giselle. All this talk about her ‘capturing the essence of the Romantic Era’ felt absolutely true. There were times in Act II when she really did seem like the ghostly vision of another time and place. Here is a dancer so technically assured, so light yet bearing underneath great strength of character and of will. She was so charming in Act I, and her Mad Scene was brilliantly done – not overplayed but seemingly so real. Act II truly produced the feeling of seeing a phantom. Floating in her gossamer long tutu, Fracci evoked the remote mystique of the spectre. Her dancing throughout was so poised, with the steps always presented as a natural expression of the character and stemming completely from the drama. One had the feeling of really seeing Giselle herself, not of a ballerina portraying her.
At the end there was a tremendous ovation (20 minutes) with roses being thrown and Fracci & Nureyev called out repeatedly…bravi!!!”
~ Overon
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40 Years Ago: Fracci & Nureyev ~ GISELLE
~~~~ Note: I had originally planned to post this article on the 40th anniversary of my one-and-only experience of seeing the great Carla Fracci onstage. Today, news of the ballerina’s death has come, so I am posting it now, two months shy of the actual anniversary:
On this date, forty years ago, one of the greatest ballet performances of my experience took place at the Metropolitan Opera House, where the La Scala Ballet presented their production of GISELLE with Carla Fracci and Rudolf Nureyev in the leading roles.I had spent the afternoon at The Met watching GISELLE with an alternate cast; it was a very pleasing performance. But the undeniable star-power of Fracci and Nureyev made the evening performance unforgettable.
This is my diary entry from that magnificent evening:
“GISELLE – 2nd performance – with the assumption on the leading roles by two great dancers, the whole production took on a new dimension. The corps seemed better than at the matinee, though again Renata Calderini was not a particularly impressive Myrthe. There was a very exciting Peasant Pas de Deux with Anna Maria Grossi and a very exciting Davide Bombana; they roused the audience to cheers.
But it was in the superstars that the real excitement lay – and that is why they are superstars! Rudolf Nureyev’s Albrecht was marred slightly by some rather ‘modern’ acting details in Act I where he failed to maintain the aura of manners of the period. But otherwise he caught the essence of the caddish young nobleman in Act I and the grief-stricken man of Act II. He danced with thorough command despite passing traces of stiffness. He interpolates many intricate steps and then challenges himself to bring them off…and always succeeds. His Albrecht was a full portrait – and it was very exciting.
In Carla Fracci we had the perfect Giselle. All this talk about her ‘capturing the essence of the Romantic Era’ felt absolutely true. There were times in Act II when she really did seem like the ghostly vision of another time and place. Here is a dancer so technically assured, so light yet bearing underneath great strength of character and of will. She was so charming in Act I, and her Mad Scene was brilliantly done – not overplayed but seemingly so real. Act II truly produced the feeling of seeing a phantom. Floating in her gossamer long tutu, Fracci evoked the remote mystique of the spectre. Her dancing throughout was so poised, with the steps always presented as a natural expression of the character and stemming completely from the drama. One had the feeling of really seeing Giselle herself, not of a ballerina portraying her.
At the end there was a tremendous ovation (20 minutes) with roses being thrown and Fracci & Nureyev called out repeatedly…bravi!!!”
~ Overon
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Eva Marton ~ Elektra’s Monolog
Eva Marton sings Elektra’s opening monolog, “Allein! Weh, ganz allein!” from a performance of the Strauss opera given at the Teatro Real de Madrid in 1998.
Watch and listen here.
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Giorgio Tadeo as Seneca
Though Verona-born basso Giorgio Tadeo (above) was sometimes cast in buffo roles, this film clip of him as Seneca in Monteverdi’s INCORNAZIONE DI POPPEA shows another aspect of his artistry. The performance is from Aix-en-Provence, 1961, and the mezzo-soprano is Teresa Berganza.
Giorgio Tadeo made his operatic debut in 1953 singing Mephistopheles in an RAI performance of FAUST. He went on to an extensive career, singing at Palermo, at both the Teatro alla Scala and the Piccola Scala, and at theatres throughout Italy until 1996. Internationally, he sang at Vienna, Hamburg, Monte Carlo, L’Opéra de Paris, Covent Garden, the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lyric Opera in Chicago,Dallas, Aix-en-Provence, Edinburgh, Tel Aviv, and Athens.
Giorgio Tadeo has worked with the such conductors as Gui, Giulini, Serafin, Celibidache, Dorati, de Fabritiis, Gavazzeni, Sanzogno, Maag, von Karaja, Abbado, and Boulez, as well as directors Giorgio Strehler and Franco Zeffirelli. He distinguished himself in the operas of Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti, as well as 20th century works. He was married to the soprano Mariella Adani.
Mr. Tadeo passed away in 2008.
Oberon's Glade 