Tag: Met Opera

Giorgio Tozzi Has Passed Away

I’m very sorry to learn of the death of Giorgio Tozzi, the basso whose voice was among the first that I became familiar with when I started listening to opera at a very early age.

My parents had presented me with a prophetic birthday gift: a two-LP set of Verdi and Puccini arias culled from various RCA Victor recordings. Tozzi was the featured basso (the other singers were Milanov, Albanese, Peters, Bjoerling, Peerce, Merrill and Warren…what a collection of voices to cut one’s operatic teeth on!) and I literally wore out the tracks of his performances of arias from NABUCCO and SIMON BOCCANEGRA. Once my voice changed I would try to sing along with Tozzi in these arias, and also with his rendition of “Some Enchanted Evening” which my mother loved so.

Giorgio Tozzi sang Don Giovanni in the very first performance I ever attended at the (Old) Met…

…and he was my very first Hans Sachs (at the ‘new’ Met). I saw him so many times over the years: as Daland, as Philip II, as Fiesco, as Colline, Mozart’s Figaro, Ramfis and and as Count Rodolfo in LA SONNAMBULA. He sang more than 500 performances with the Metropolitan Opera (in-House and on tour) between 1955 and 1975. He created the role of the Old Doctor in Samuel Barber’s VANESSA and sings in the classic recording of that opera. Tozzi sang in the final trio from LA FORZA DEL DESTINO during the gala concert that marked the end-of-an-era closing of the Old Met in 1966.

In 1978, a few years after he had left The Met, I saw Giorgio Tozzi onstage for the last time. He sang (an acted) grandly as Oroveso in Bellini’s NORMA in a performance at Hartford CT opposite the thrilling Cristina Deutekom as Norma.

Giorgio Tozzi’s voice became widely known outside the world’s opera houses when he sang the music of Emil de Becque for the soundtrack of the film SOUTH PACIFIC (Rossano Brazzi portrayed de Becque on-screen). Tozzi later appeared in stage productions of the musical and on Broadway in MOST HAPPY FELLA.

Giorgio Tozzi sings the Old Doctor’s aria from VANESSA here: “For every love there is a last farewell; for each remembered day an empty room.”

May 30, 2011
DANCE AGAINST CANCER: Gallery

Photographer Erin Baiano shares a portfolio of her images from the April 25th DANCE AGAINST CANCER benefit performance at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. Above: New York City Ballet principal dancer Daniel Ulbricht in a solo of his own devising entitled Tatum Pole Boogie. Daniel, along with MMAC‘s Erin Fogarty, organized the gala event.

Since I was going to be at The Met on the evening of the benefit, Erin and Daniel very generously arranged for me to watch the technical rehearsal for the programme which began at noon. In the darkened theater, Daniel took a break from his directorial duties to run thru his solo with devastating agility and effortless airborne facility. Then he immediately bounced back into director mode.

Another dancing dynamo, Alex Wong (above) performed the solo 747 chroregraphed by Rachael Poirier. At the tech rehearsal, Alex sort of marked the piece though there was enough full-out dancing to see that he was going to knock ’em dead at the actual performance. Which by all reports is exactly what he did.

A programme change left time for a solo danced by a colleague of Alex’s, Tara Jean Popowich (above).

From Carolina Ballet, Lara O’Brien and Attila Bongar (above) danced a lirico-romantic duet choreographed by Mr. Bongar. They looked beautiful together and fitted comfortably into the programme’s stellar lineup.

I had to leave the tech rehearsal before Aaron Carr and Kristina Hanna (above) from Keigwin & Co ran their duet, Love Songs. Having recently seen these dancers in Larry Keigwin’s EXIT at The Joyce, I imagine they were pretty exciting and that Larry’s choreography would grab the crowd.

Attila Joey Csiki from the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company performed the four-part solo Little Rhapsodies which Lar excerpted from his 2007 work of the same title as a concert piece for Attila. Kathy Tagg was at the keyboard to play the Schumann pieces and Attila – even in rehearsal – showed the fluid Lubovitch style with grace and commitment. On the previous weekend, Attila had danced these solos for another worthy cause, the DANCE FOR JAPAN benefit in Brooklyn. This afternoon at MMAC I snuck a peek at Atti warming up in the same studio with NYCB’s Janie Taylor and developed the idea of seeing them dance together sometime.

Janie was one of four NYC Ballet principal ballerinas to appear on the gala programme. She danced a duet with Tyler Angle choreographed by Benjamin Millepied entitled On The Other Side. This duet was made during a summer on Nantucket a a few years ago. Janie and Tyler have a great rapport and during the tech I had the added secret excitement of seeing Janie’s hair slip out of its pin-up and become a part of her performance. Tyler and Janie, above.

You can’t imagine how exciting it was for me to watch my beloved NYCB dancers in this intimate rehearsal setting. Maria Kowroski (above) danced the Preghiera from MOZARTIANA at the tech in a tee-shirt, leg warmers over black tights, and no makeup. She was able to create the celestial atmosphere of this famous Balanchine solo with her expressive port de bras and serene emotional connection to the music.

In a complete change of pace, Maria was later joined by Martin Harvey (above) to dance a sultry pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s setting of the dances from the opera CARMEN which he created for the Metropolitan Opera‘s production where Maria and Martin have performed it several times. This particular duet is set to the prelude of the opera’s third act; for me, it’s the most poignant music in that super-familiar opera. Maria and Martin were really into this passionate love duet, understandly so: they plan to wed this Summer. What a gorgeous couple!

Deborah Wingert, former NYCB dancer and a top-class ballet teacher and coach, sat next to me as we watched Amar Ramasar and Sterling Hyltin (above) in a dazzling rendition of The Man I Love from Balanchine’s WHO CARES? Yes, it was only a rehearsal but these two dancers got right to the heart of the matter. Deborah remarked how superbly they were able to fill the space while never seeming constrained by it.

I’ve seen hundreds of mesmerizing dance performances over the years but nothing hits me in the heart quite like the now-classic duet from Christopher Wheeldon’s AFTER THE RAIN. Arturo Delmoni and Cameron Grant played the Arvo Part score live for Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall (above). Even in a rehearsal with the dancers occasionally speaking to one another and once even cracking up over a small faux pas, this work generates a breath-taking atmosphere. Matt Murphy, who photographed the performance from the wings, spoke of how moved he was by Wendy and Craig’s dancing.

Matthew Rushing (above) of Alvin Ailey gave me a remarkable experience as I watched him rehearse a solo crafted for him by Earl Mosley. Matthew is one of those dancers for whom the sheer quiet joy of dance radiates thru every centimeter of his being. I could watch this man dance for hours and in this solo there was a pure rush of Rushing. I felt yet again my extraordinary good fortune at being in the same space with such a genius of movement.

The presenters: Daniel Ulbricht and Erin Fogarty. My thanks to them and to publicist Michell Brandon Tabnick for letting me eavesdrop on the process of putting a gala together, and to all the dancers and musicians who are so generous with their time and talent and so welcoming to a starstruck viewer. Special thanks to Erin Baiano for her photographic souvenirs of a grand night of dancing.

April 25, 2011
John Mark Owen’s Sonatae II

Saturday March 26, 2011 – Choreographer John-Mark Owen invited us to watch a rehearsal of his newest work, Sonatae II, set to music of Alexander Balanescu. The duet will be shown at the 92nd Street Y on Sunday March 27th at 3:00 PM. The dancers are Jennifer Goodman and Josh Christopher, above in Kokyat’s photo.

When Kokyat and I arrived at the studio, Jennifer and Josh were putting the finishing touches on the duet.

They worked in silence with John-Mark and all the movement seemed so expressive. With a performance scheduled for the following afternoon one might have expected an atmosphere of urgency or even panic in the studio but instead there was an air of calm with the dancers taking their time to perfect the small nuances of gesture and expression that John-Mark was looking for.

With the studio time running out, John-Mark played the Balanescu music and what had been an attractive series of danced passages took on a deeper and more intense feeling altogether.

The music is just so poetic, and the dancing took wing on it.

As soon as the run-thru finished the dancers quickly bundled up and packed off to the Y for further rehearsing. All photos: Kokyat.

Jennifer Goodman is currently dancing a featured role in performances of Strauss’ CAPRICCIO at the Metropolitan Opera.

On May 6th and 7th, John-Mark Owen’s Sonatae I will be performed by Jesse Marks at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center on a programme shared with the Island Moving Company of Newport, RI.

March 26, 2011