Renata Scotto Chats About Being One Of Opera's Chosen

Madame Scotto explains to the audience the major differences between opera 50 years ago and today.

Last night, WQXR hosted a live webcast featuring performances and interviews centering around tenor Michael Fabiano: "Tonight at 7 pm, join us for a live webcast of Italian opera excerpts and songs in The Greene Space, headlined by American tenor Michael Fabiano. Fabiano, the recipient of the 2014 Richard Tucker Award and the 2014 Beverly Sills Artist Award, has performed at opera houses around the world, and is noted for his vocal style, physical dash and star power. Operavore blogger Fred Plotkin recently named him one of his '40 under 40' opera singers. The evening also features performances by Richard Tucker Grant winners Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano, and Brandon Cedel, bass-baritone. Legendary soprano Renata Scotto makes a guest appearance in conversation with WQXR’s Naomi Lewin, discussing her collaborations with Richard Tucker and her role as a master teacher imparting the traditions of Italian opera to a new generation of American opera singers." The highlight was when Renata Scotto took the chair to be interviewed about her career and thoughts about opera now. Some of her responses included the difference in how today's singers study and prepare roles; are they singing for themselves or for the audience?; with many singers in the world, only

Hard Worker: Michael Fabiano prides himself
 on having the American work ethic. 

a few are "elected" or "chosen" to become successful; discussing performing for television cameras in La Bohème and that sparked her to lose weight; singers today shouldn't worry about looking good for the HD cameras, that is the job of the costumer, make-up artists, director, and television staff; listening for the first time to an excerpt from Rigoletto with Richard Tucker at the Teatro Cologne in 1967; talking about her American debut in 1960 with Richard Tucker in La Bohème while on her honeymoon; getting cookies on the doorstep of her Park Avenue apartment from Richard Tucker's wife; what responsibility she feels to opera being an Italian; why she thinks Felice Romani is the greatest librettist to ever live; and finally whether she prefers sfogliatelle or cannoli*. Watch the video of the evening, after the jump.
[Source]

*Spoiler: Michael Fabiano claims "you can stuff cannoli down my throat all day."

Fred Plotkin Examines Christa Ludwig's Golden Career For WQXR

(Photo: Ernst Kainerstorfer/ORF)

"Ludwig was born in Berlin on March 10, 1928 and grew up in Aachen. Her parents were singers and her mother was her first teacher. Her father became a stage director and manager. She grew up in the milieu of music and theater and absorbed it all. When Ludwig was seven, she heard her mother sing in Elektra and Fidelio conducted by a young Herbert von Karajan. Germany soon fell under Nazism and then came the horrors of World War II. When she was 16, her family home was destroyed by bombs. After her nation lost the war, Ludwig sang for American GIs in exchange for cigarettes, which were valuable as currency when money was worthless. Christa Ludwig was able to understand the awfulness of war and allow her emotional development to deepen without being derailed from her goals. She kept learning music, reading literature, thinking about characters. When German opera houses reopened in 1946, they needed good singers and few were in supply. Ludwig, at 18, was talented, attractive, tall and well-prepared. She was in the right place at the right time. She sang Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus in Frankfurt and was on her way, ultimately to Vienna, where she became a beloved star." [Source]

Sondra Radvanovsky Video Interviews Post MET Norma Debut

Fresh from her MET role debut in Bellini's Norma, The New York Times had this to say: "As the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky sang 'Casta Diva' at the Metropolitan Opera on Monday evening, she drew listeners in with her expressive shadings and heartfelt delivery. She earned a thunderous ovation after the cavatina, in which the druid priestess Norma prays to the moon goddess for peace. Ms. Radvanovsky proved dramatically and vocally arresting in her inaugural American performance of Bellini’s Norma, as John Copley’s drab production returned to the Met for the first time this season. Ms. Radvanovsky has made a name for herself in recent years as a Verdi interpreter, but recently added bel canto roles to her repertory. She has described the title character in Norma, which she recently sang in a concert performance in Catalonia, Spain, as her ideal role both vocally and temperamentally." After the jump, see the soprano interviewed by F. Paul Driscoll and Fred Plotkin in two separate conversations preserved on video.