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  • Rosette Anday

    Anday-Rosette - Copy

    The Hungarian mezzo-soprano Rosette Anday made her Vienna State Opera debut in 1921 at the age of 18 as Carmen. Franz Schalk, the Company’s director, had first heard the young mezzo-soprano in Budapest, where she studied at the local conservatoire whilst also taking violin lessons. Schalk engaged her immediately, and following her highly successful debut, she went on to become one of Vienna’s most beloved stars. Richard Strauss – no less – was Ms. Anday’s accompanist when she gave her first lieder recital in the Grosse Musikvereinssaal in Vienna soon after her debut.

    Rosette Anday’s roles included Mozart’s Cherubino and Dorabella, Verdi’s Preziosilla, Amneris, and Azucena, Wagner’s Fricka, Erda, Waltraute, Brangane, and Adriano in RIENZI, Laura in GIOCONDA, Dalila, and Klytemnestra. She was one of the youngest singers ever to be named ‘Kammersängerin‘.

    Banned from the stage during the Nazi occupation of Austria, Ms. Anday was able to resume her career immediately after the war, joining the renowned ensemble at the Theater an der Wien. In 1961, she celebrated the 40th anniversary of her debut with a performance of Klytemnestra.

    Also beloved as a concert artist and recitalist, Rosette Anday toured North and South America and appeared in Berlin, Paris, and at the Salzburg Festival. She passed away in 1977.

    Rosette Anday – Erda’s Warning ~ RHEINGOLD – 1948 – with F Frantz

    Rosette Anday – Printemps qui commence ~ SAMSON ET DALILA

    Rosette Anday – Mahler’s Urlicht

  • Fineschi/di Stefano – CHENIER ~ Final Duet

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    Onelia Fineschi and Giuseppe di Stefano sing the final duet from Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER at the Teatro Communale, Firenze, in 1962.

    Listen here.

  • Sarah Ridy ~ Handel’s Harp Concerto

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    A performance by harpist Sarah Ridy of Handel’s Harp Concerto, HWV294, with the Barrocade Ensemble at the Tel Aviv Museum in March 2016.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Sarah Ridy ~ Handel’s Harp Concerto

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    A performance by harpist Sarah Ridy of Handel’s Harp Concerto, HWV294, with the Barrocade Ensemble at the Tel Aviv Museum in March 2016.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Heather Harper: Strauss ~ Four Last Songs

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    Heather Harper sings Richard Strauss’s Vier Letze Lieder with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox, recorded in 1987.

    Listen here.

  • Heather Harper: Strauss ~ Four Last Songs

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    Heather Harper sings Richard Strauss’s Vier Letze Lieder with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox, recorded in 1987.

    Listen here.

  • Jan Peerce & Robert Merrill ~ FORZA Duet

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    Jan Peerce and Robert Merrill sing the duet “Invano Alvaro” from Verdi’s LA FORZA DEL DESTINO.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Karen Cargill ~ Song of the Wood Dove

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    Karen Cargill sings the Song of the Wood Dove from Arnold Schoenberg’s GURRE-LIEDER at the BBC Proms. The concert, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, took place in August 2017.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Marina Rebeka ~ Bel raggio lusinghier

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    Marina Rebeka sings “Bel reggio lusinghier” from Rossini’s SEMIRAMIDE from a Rosenblatt Recital given in London in 2012. Giulio Zappa is the pianist.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Nika Antuanette: HOLOGRAM

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    “The world is round, the screen is flat…” is perhaps the most evocative line in Jeremy Cone’s soundtrack for dancer Nika Antuanette’s short film, HOLOGRAM. This collaboration between these two artists produces the most imaginative video to come my way during the pandemic: HOLOGRAM is both wonderfully entertaining and truly timely.
     
    The lavender holographic image of Nika Antuanette rises onto the blank, black screen; the actual Nika greets this image of herself with a wary smile, and the two Nikas find their common ground in dance. They pick up moves from one another, and dance in sync. Meanwhile, photos of places, people, and things – typical of the images that pervade the on-line world – flow across the screen at increasing speed.
     
    The dancer and her double continue to dance, becoming competitive. The real Nika begins to look frazzled; her energy flags while her virtual counter-part remains fresh and glowing; the real Nika, no longer able to keep up, falls out of the frame as her holographic incarnation continues to blissfully execute perfect pirouettes.
     
    The contrast between reality and the one-dimensional social media experiences in which so many of us spend our hours is thought-provoking, especially in these days of COVID isolation. But that is another topic altogether.
     
    For now, Nika Antuanette and Jeremy Cove’s HOLOGRAM is very much worth watching. Check it out in YouTube here.