Resident Artists of Opera San Jose Strike a Glamorous Pose

 
Click the image to see a larger version. Read more about the young singers here.

This Isn't Bach's "Magnificat" By Any Stretch of the Imagination

"After a difficult day, Paolo rushed from the American offices in Torino, climbing up the hills to Montgenevre just over the French border. Phone dead, car stopping and starting, navigating road construction, he was going to be late for their anniversary dinner at their Palazzo." What is being sold? John Saint-Denis candles. The music is "Magnificat" by Mina (and if you're looking for that Bach, watch "Et exultavit" from the Magnificat here). The star of the commercial is Peter Calandra. This isn't the first time he has sold household necessities. Check out his ad for Johnathon Abrielle sheets after the jump.

Justin Bieber Performs on Top of the Opera House in Oslo, Norway

"The pop star responded to the mass chaos in Oslo, requesting that his fans 'please listen' to law enforcement officers. Bieber fever has reached epic proportions in Norway. Oslo police reportedly are on the verge of declaring a state of emergency after tens of thousands of Justin Bieber fans turned out for the singer’s appearance at the city’s famed opera house. Bieber is scheduled to perform four new songs during the show, which is being filmed as part of his Around the World TV special. TMZ reports that police have lost control of the massive crowd and have asked the pop star to take the stage early in an attempt to control the chaos. Bieber is said to be currently waiting in a secret location before he is helicoptered to the stage. Bieber pleaded with his fans on Twitter, writing, 'NORWAY – please listen to the police. I don’t want anyone getting hurt. I want everything to go to plan but your safety must come first.'" [Source] Watch a video clip after the jump.

Buried (MP3) Treasure: Anita Cerquetti

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Santa Fe Opera Makes Vogue Magazine's "30 Days of Summer"

"On the desert’s most enchanting stage, the Santa Fe Opera’s 2012 season kicks off with Puccini’s Tosca, which hasn’t been performed in the open-air theater–against the backdrop of the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mountains—in eighteen years." [Source]

Early Summer Release to Include Renée Fleming's Greatest Hits

The Art of Renée Fleming
Bellini: Casta Diva (from Norma)
Bernstein: Somewhere (from West Side Story) with Placido Domingo (tenor)
Catalani: Ebben? Ne andrò lontana (from La Wally)
Cilea: Io son l'umile ancella (from Adriana Lecouvreur)
Dvorak: Mesícku na nebi hlubokém 'Song to the Moon' (from Rusalka)
Gershwin: Summertime (from Porgy and Bess)
Gounod: Ah! Je veux vivre dans ce rêve (from Roméo et Juliette)
Gounod: Ave Maria
Handel: Ombra mai fu (from Serse)
Korngold: Glück, das mir verbleib 'Marietta's Lied' (from Die Tote Stadt)
Puccini: Vissi d'arte (from Tosca)
Puccini: Un bel di vedremo (from Madama Butterfly)
Puccini: O mio babbino caro (from Gianni Schicchi)
Schubert: Ave Maria, D839

Bonus tracks:
15. Wheels of a Dream [with Bryn Terfel]
16. Amazing Grace
17. Rodgers - Carousel / You’ll Never Walk Alone
18. Hallelujah – [new cut]

Release dates: USA - June 12 / UK - June 4 / Japan - June 20

Mariella Devia Sings Guilietta's Aria "Oh! Quante Volte" by Bellini

Buried (MP3) Treasure: Cristina Deutekom

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Whoopi Goldberg "GLEE" Role Mixes Master Class and Leontyne Price

Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast of Fox's Glee for three episodes in May. The Academy Award-winning actress plays the character of Carmen Tibideaux, a theater veteran and professor at The New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts that Rachel (Lea Michele) and Kurt (Chris Colfer) have applied to and must audition for entrance. "Carmen is the Dean of

The original turban diva: Ms. Price

Vocal Performance and Song Interpretation at NYADA and is an extremely accomplished performer and singer. She is generally considered to be admonishing and strict, but kind enough and very open to new students and ideas. Carmen makes her appearance being escorted into the hall by Will Schuester to oversee the auditions of Kurt and Rachel. Backstage, both Rachel and Kurt show extreme anxiety over the knowledge of their NYADA educator as she is revealed to be one of NYADA's most infamous alumni, a profound Broadway and opera performed and the recently appointed Dean of Vocal Performance and Song Interpretation travelling around the country to handpick the students for her own inaugural class." It is obvious from her name (a strange

Leontyne Price with Oscar de la Renta

cross between Bizet's opera Carmen and an real life opera-loving pianist Jean Yves-Thibaudet) to her signature turbans (made popular by soprano Leontyne Price), that her character is meant to invoke memories of Terrance McNally's play Master Class which re-tells the story of Maria Callas at Juilliard in the early 1970s. Although not quite on that level of grandiosity (the role was played by the likes of Zoe Caldwell, Faye Dunaway, Patti Lupone, and most recently, Tyne Daly), Ms. Goldberg does a fine job of portraying a diva with an elevated sense of importance bestowing her wisdom of the human voice and its production. Continue watching for more of her fine character through the end of May. [Source, Source] A few more images of Leontyne Price in turban, after the jump.

Remembering Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (May 28, 1925 - May 18, 2012)

Click on the above photo for a wonderful profile by The New York Times.

Daphne Guinness Discusses Her Love (and Hate) of Opera

PETER BRANT II: I’m musically challenged. I love music, but I can’t play . . . When I was little, I wanted to be a child prodigy, but I was awful at the piano.
DAPHNE GUINNESS: I had an accident with my right hand, so I stopped playing. It had to do with a lawn mower. Can you imagine? I’ve still got scars. I’m almost ambidextrous as well. So I’ve always had this kind of left hand-right hand problem anyway, but my writing on this hand is almost calligraphical now. I don’t know why, because I didn’t ever learn it. My hands kind of work separately. But singing was always very, very, very easy for me. I know in the last few months it doesn’t look like I’m afraid of putting myself out there, but I also have terrible nerves. I don’t think I’m going to be performing any time soon, but I might join a choir.
PETER BRANT II: Really?
DAPHNE GUINNESS: Yeah. It would be kind of fun. I always wanted to join the choir up in Harlem. They really know how to sing! That’s really great. I like certain operas. I’m not very keen on Puccini. If I have to see another La Bohème, I’m going to shoot myself. I mean, really. There are certain ones I love like the Ring [cycle], and I love Tristan und Isolde. I love Parsifal. I love Il Trovatore. I love all the Mozart operas. The Magic Flute bothers me because I just don’t like it when there’s no recitative. They start talking in the middle. I don’t like musicals for the same reason. Because when someone suddenly bursts into song in the middle of a sentence, you just think, That’s weird. But I like it when the whole thing is sung.
PETER BRANT II: I love The Marriage of Figaro.
DAPHNE GUINNESS: I can sing that from beginning to end And the Overture . . .

After the jump, an excerpt of Ms. Guinness singing "L'ho perduta, me meschina" from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. [Source]

Buried (MP3) Treasure: Suze van Grootel

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.