Anna Netrekbo In Dramatic Photos From Opernhaus Zürich "Bolena"

Stunning images have emerged from Anna Netrebko's performances of Giancarlo del Monaco's production of Anna Bolena at Opernhaus Zürich. The cast includes Ismael Jordi, Luca Pisaroni, and Veronica Simeoni. The opening night performance took place March 20, 2015. For ticket information, click here. Full cast list and more photos, after the jump.

MET Cover Tenor Taylor Stayton Takes Center Stage At PBO

Tenor of the High Seas: Taylor Stayton
shows off his top C's in Florida

"Life is good for tenor Taylor Stayton. Wearing baggy shorts, t-shirt and a boyish smile, he was celebrating his 30th birthday last Friday when he arrived for an interview at Palm Beach Opera’s production center in West Palm Beach. On Friday and Sunday, he will make his role debut as Tonio in the company’s production of Gaetano Donizetti’s comic opera The Daughter of the Regiment....Not many tenors are up to portraying Tonio. That’s because of the nine high Cs in his first act aria 'Ah, mes amis…Pour mon ame.' It’s the aria that rocketed Luciano Pavarotti to stardom when he sang it in 1972 at the Metropolitan Opera. 'The thing is, it’s like a secret among us tenors,' he said. 'If you have a high C, it’s not that difficult'....But it wasn’t just his facility with high Cs that persuaded Palm Beach Opera to cast him. Beauty of voice, tone and line are paramount in bel canto opera. 'His voice has such a lyric quality that the parts that aren’t high Cs are also beautifully sung,' said Scott Guzielek, director of artistic operations. As a teenager, Stayton sang, played guitar and performed in school musicals and choirs. He grew up listening to bands such as Aerosmith, The Beatles, Steely Dan and The Band and still loves classic rock. He was steered into opera at Ohio State University. In addition to performing with smaller companies, he’s covered several roles at the Met. One memorable night in 2011 he wound up on stage as Percy in Anna Bolena alongside soprano Anna Netrebko, when Stephen Costello fell ill in the middle of the show. 'Within five minutes, they threw me into costumes and makeup,' he said. 'It was better that way. If he’d canceled two days before I would have had to sit for two days and gotten my nerve up.' In April, he will return to the Met to cover Costello in The Merry Widow. At this stage of his career he prefers comic roles. 'That’s my personality,' he said." [Source] Click here for more information about the Palm Beach Opera production of Donizetti's The Daughter of the Regiment by clicking here.

Laura Claycomb Tries To Forget Sutherland And Callas "Lucia"

Creative Coloratura: Laura Claycomb wrote her
Lucia cadenzas with conductor Patrick Summers
(Photo: Sergio Valente)

"Laura Claycomb dies in the New Orleans Opera production of Lucia di Lammermoor. It happens every time a soprano sings the title role -- and most of the world's great sopranos have done it since Donizetti penned this hyper-romantic, bel canto masterpiece in 1835. So how does Claycomb plan to match Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland and other legends who dwell only in memory or the scratchy recordings prized by opera nuts? 'I had to clean the slate to sing Lucia,' Claycomb said. 'So my first job was trying to forget Callas and Sutherland -- all the great stars on old recordings whose singing has gotten stuck in everyone's ears. People sometimes think that's the only approach, but it's really just the style of the 1950s, the style that emerged more than a century after Donizetti wrote the piece.'... 'If you look at the early performance history of bel canto operas, you can see that the originators chose roles very differently, and that audiences expected lighter, more flexible voices -- my kind of voice -- not the big, inflexible Mack Truck singers that sometimes rumble through this repertoire today,' Claycomb said. Claycomb is thrilled with the New Orleans cast, which includes New Orleanian Casey Candebat, Michael Chioldi and William Burden, among others. She also had praise for stage director E. Loren Meeker, who has helped to set the New Orleans production in the era of Downton Abbey." [Source]

Sondra Radvanovsky & Jamie Barton: Opera Rivalry And Friendship

Donizetti Darlings: Jamie Barton (left) and Sondra Radvanovsky take on historical figures at the Lyric Opera of Chicago starting December 6, 2014. (Photo: Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune)

"On a recent afternoon backstage at Lyric Opera, Sondra Radvanovsky and Jamie Barton were behaving like the gal pals they are, hugging each other and singing each other's praises. Quite the contrast to the emotional sparring partners the singers are playing in Lyric's new production of Gaetano Donizetti's Anna Bolena — the castoff consort Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour, Anne's lady-in-waiting and rival for the affections of the cruel King Henry VIII. Indeed, in conversation, neither the Berwyn-born soprano nor the Georgia-native mezzo-soprano came across as your standard-issue diva, however imperious they behave in the long-awaited Lyric return of Donizetti's bel canto masterpiece, which opens Saturday night at the Civic Opera House. 'It's fun

Sondra Radvanovsky as Anna Bolena
(Photo: Todd Rosenberg/Lyric Opera of Chicago)

and exciting when we put our voices together,' said Radvanovsky, who's familiar to Lyric audiences for her portrayals of the big Verdi soprano roles, and who's lately been enhancing her star status in the bel canto repertory as well. 'Yes, it's fascinating how well our voices blend,' agreed Barton, a singer whose stellar promise Lyric has nurtured in various supporting roles since her company debut in 2011. The sublime beauty of classically trained voices intertwining in soaring melodic arcs is one of the hallmarks of bel canto opera, of which Anna Bolena (1830), Donizetti's first big international success, is a shining example." Read the full interview and see lots of rehearsal photos by clicking here. Lyric Opera's production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena opens at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and continues through Jan. 16 at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive; $34-$244; $20-$40 children; 312-827-5600, lyricopera.org. [Source] One more production photo after the jump.

Elizabeth Futral Answers Questions Before Making Portland Debut

"How did you get involved in opera? I started piano lessons when I was five, and I always loved music. My mom was a classically trained pianist and flutist, and my dad was a minister. She gave me a lot of the classics and he gave me his stage presence. He also has a beautiful natural singing voice. I grew up in Louisiana near New Orleans. I ended up going to a small Baptist university in Alabama…and had a wonderful mentor, my first voice teacher, Eleanor Owsley, who was the one who really encouraged me. She had the vision for me…she’s been a great friend over all these years. Then I went to Indiana University in Bloomington to graduate school, which is the big opera factory of the Midwest. It’s a huge music school and they have a really big opera program. From there, I went to Chicago’s Young Artists Program, and afterwards I just stayed there. I kind of kept going through the doors that were open to me, and they luckily were opened, and I had good activities along the way. I’m very fortunate." [Source] Read the full interview by clicking here.

Danielle De Niese Gives Glyndebourne "Don Pasquale" Tour

Danielle de Niese stars in Donizetti's Don Pasquale at the Glyndebourne Festival this season. Watch a backstage video tour of the final rehearsal after the jump. Click here to read an article in The Guardian where Miss de Niese "...reveals how she became one of the world's most sought-after sopranos."

Heir To Spanish Throne Attends Opera Amid Scandal

Royal arrival at the Gran Teatre del Liceu

"Il principe Filippo e la consorte Letizia sono stati accolti da fischi e «buu» fuori dal teatro dell'opera di Barcellona dove la coppia reale doveva assistere ad una rappresentazione «dell'Elisir d'amore» di Donizetti. L'erede al trono di Spagna e la moglie sono arrivati a bordo di un'auto ufficiale davanti al teatro dove si era radunata una folla di curiosi. Oltre ai fischi c'è stato anche qualche applauso per Felipe e Letizia che hanno risposto con un sorriso alle contestazioni. I reali spagnoli stanno vivendo una fase di scarsissima popolarità dopo l'incriminazione del genero del re, Inaki Urdangarin, in un caso di corruzione che rischia di travolgere anche l'infanta Cristina, e le spedizioni di caccia in Botwsana di Juan Carlos. Intanto, è stato deciso che sarà un consiglio indipendente e non un'agenzia statale a vigilare sul compimento della legge sulla trasparenza, che ha cominciato ieri l'iter parlamentare. La normativa sottopone alla trasparenza anche la monarchia spagnola, che sarà la prima in Europa ad essere soggetta in maniera esplicita al controllo." [Source]

Stephen Costello Gets Some Limelight Love From WSJ

Stephen Costello (l) with Keith Miller (r)
in Anna Bolena (Photo: Ken Howard)

"Mr. Costello—who arrived for our interview wearing green soccer sneakers, precise facial hair and a slightly rumpled yet European blazer with jeans—began his opera training later than most singers do. He played the trumpet for 15 years, then attended the University of the Arts in his hometown, initially to study musical theater, before going to the prestigious, opera-only Academy of Vocal Arts, also in Philadelphia. Based now in Tennessee with his opera-singer wife, Ailyn Perez, Mr. Costello comes to New York often for continued study with his voice teacher. He also makes a point of seeing Broadway shows when he's here. 'I'm trying like crazy to see Book of Mormon. I have three connections. I'm hoping one of them will work out,' he said, adding that he had already asked the Met's head wig and make-up artist, Tom Watson, who has a number of Broadway credits, including Wicked. 'I said, 'Please tell me you did Book of Mormon. He said no.' The subject of wigs,

Costello with Anna Netrebko as the
title character. (Photo: Ken Howard)

however, brightened Mr. Costello a bit, because in this production of Anna Bolena, he doesn't have to wear one. 'It's kind of nice to use your own head,' he said. "Usually, you've got this wig on, and there's someone poking at you.' That said, the role of Percy calls for other costume constraints. When his character is jailed, he has to sing with his hands bound in front of him. 'It's kind of difficult to breathe, but I'm trying to figure out a way to get comfortable in that scene,' he said. And in an earlier scene, he has to wear a hooded cape, which he's supposed to pull off his head when he enters. But the historically accurate costumes are held against the body with a series of hidden ties that constrict the range of movement. 'The problem,' he said, 'is that it ties under your armpits. So I can only raise my hands so high.' But it's all in a day's work, and at the end of the day Mr. Costello is prone to relax with a burger at the P.J. Clarke's near Lincoln Center: "They have beer. It's my spot.'" [Source]

Wall Street Journal Photo of the Week Features "Anna Bolena"

"Chorus girls sat backstage during rehearsals for the upcoming opera, ‘Anna Bolena,’ by Donizetti, at the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center on Tuesday. The opera premiers Sept. 26." (Photo: Philip Montgomery/The Wall Street Journal ) Click here to see the full-size original image from above and more "Photos of the Week" at the Wall Street Journal.

Vogue Covers Anna Netrebko's Costumes For "Anna Bolena"

Thanks to Intermezzo who points the way to the this delicious spread from Vogue magazine about the historical accuracy of Anna Netrebko's costumes for the upcoming production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena at the Metropolitan Opera. More photos over at Vogue.com.

Anna Netrebko debuts the opera at the Metropolitan Opera on September 26, 2011 (Photo: Ken Howard)

"The adage 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' gets an epic narrator next Monday night, when soprano Anna Netrebko, a true and beloved diva of the classical-music world, reprises her role as Anna Bolena....To master the accuracy of the sixteenth-century petticoats, gowns, double-sleeves, and men’s britches, Tiramani pieced together a 'jigsaw' of references, starting with portraits of the English Court by Hans Holbein the Younger, and moving on to tapestries, wills detailing the deceased’s most prized garments, as well as relics—including a perfect model of a shoe—from Henry VIII’s sunken flagship, the Mary Rose. 'We kept the character of Anna in more of the French style that she seemed to bring to the English court,' said Tiramani, in between acts at a rehearsal this week. 'There really is only one acknowledged portrait of her—in the National Portrait Gallery in London—and it shows her in a French hood, which is the shape we’ve used to separate her from the court.' The result of Tiramani’s careful eye are costumes that are both stunning and believable: a mix of specially made fabrics, black-dyed silk, and intricate hooks, as rarefied and authentic as Netrebko herself. As Gelb points out: 'She is a once-in-a-generation artist. She combines vocal technique and dramatic truth to a degree that is rarely seen or heard on any stage.'" [Source]

A scene from the David McVicar production of Anna Bolena (Photo: Thomas Prior)