Oberon's Glade

Category: Reviews

  • ANDREA CHENIER ~ Final Duet

    Gilda-cruz-romo

    So thrilled to have found this souvenir of one of my favorite sopranos, Gilda Cruz-Romo, singing Maddalena in the final duet from Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER. Tenor Ermanno Mauro is the poet Chenier in this performance from Tulsa 1981. I simply love the vast wave of applause that sweeps over the house after “Viva la morte insiem!”

    I met and befriended Gilda at the time of her New York City Opera debut in 1969. I saw her many times at both NYC Opera and The Met. We stayed in touch after she retired and settled in San Antonio, Texas. I shall never forget her great kindness to me.

  • Rossini’s STABAT MATER

    The abbey

    Not the best video quality, but this performance of Rossini’s STABAT MATER is quite a find.

    Given in 1988 at Tewkesbury Abbey, the performance is conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes, and features the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra with soloists Suzanne Murphy, Sarah Walker, David Rendall, and John Tomlinson.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Rossini’s STABAT MATER

    The abbey

    Not the best video quality, but this performance of Rossini’s STABAT MATER is quite a find.

    Given in 1988 at Tewkesbury Abbey, the performance is conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes, and features the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra with soloists Suzanne Murphy, Sarah Walker, David Rendall, and John Tomlinson.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Scene from PARSIFAL ~ Act II

    Snapshot - parsifal

    An extended scene from Act II of PARSIFAL with Rosalind Plowright, Poal Elming, and Aage Haugland, conducted by Michel Tabachnik, from a performance at Aarhaus c. 1992.

    Listen here.

  • More from Cardiff ~ 2021

    Claire-Barnett-Jones1

    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 paek

    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.

    Chuan wang

    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.

    Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir

    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.

  • Gihoon Kim: Cardiff Singer of the World 2021

    Gihoon kim

    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!!

  • Eva Marton ~ Elektra’s Monolog

    Marton elektra

    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.

  • BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST

    Snapshot willard white

    A 2002 performance of Sir William Walton’s BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST from the BBC Proms, with soloist Sir Willard White, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, and the BBC Symphony Chorus, conducted by Leonard Slatkin

    Watch and listen here.

  • BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST

    Snapshot willard white

    A 2002 performance of Sir William Walton’s BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST from the BBC Proms, with soloist Sir Willard White, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, and the BBC Symphony Chorus, conducted by Leonard Slatkin

    Watch and listen here.

  • Giorgio Tadeo as Seneca

    Tadeo

    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.