Diana Damrau Live At Le Poisson Rouge March 27 In NYC

Following on the heels of a night of Russian exoticism featuring Anna Netrebko, soprano Diana Damrau will perform at Le Poisson Rouge on March 24, 2014 at 7:30 PM. No word on whether the theme will be Bavarian. Purchase tickets by clicking here. During March, the coloratura is in town singing La Sonnambula at the Metropolitan Opera and a concert at Carnegie Hall with Zubin Mehta. The little New York City village hot spot Le Poisson Rouge is becoming a regular hangout for stars of the MET. In addition to the most recent concert that also featured Ildar Abdrazakov and Anita Rachvelishvili, past performers have included Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, Kathleen Kim, and Patricia Racette. To learn more about Diana Damrau, visit her website by clicking here.

Eglise Gutiérrez Discusses Her Role in ROH "La Sonnambula"

Opera Sneaks Into Luchino Visconti's "Il Gattopardo"

Listen to Verdi's Waltz in F Major
scored by Nina Rota.

This evening, Turner Classic Movies aired the full-length refurbished version of Luchino Visconti's opulent 1963 film Il Gattopardo featuring Burt Lancaster (Don Fabrizio Corbera - Prince of Salina), Claudia Cardinale (Angelica Sedàra) and Alain Delon (Tancredi Falconeri). The film is based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel of the same name about the decline of the Sicilian aristocracy at the time of the "Risorgimento"when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a unified, democratic Italy. Il Gattopardo translates directly from Italian as "The Serval," but the film was released in France as Le Guépard ("The Cheetah") and as The Leopard in the UK and USA. The work was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Leave it to Visconti who famously directed 19 opera productions (five with Maria Callas alone), to include some music of Verdi into his film. The film's score was composed by Nina Rota who managed to unearth Verdi's Valzer in fa maggiore, originally written "per cembalo" when the composer was in his youth, and orchestrate it for key sequences in the hour-long

ball scene. "The Valzer was discovered by Rota in the possession of a Roman antiquarian, and was orchestrated for strings, flutes, and piano for the film soundtrack. "The Valser begins on a shot of farmers working on a hillside and follows the cross-fade into a large ballroom. The guests are greeted at a reception line, people gossip, ladies fan themselves (the Sicilian night is very hot), Colonel Pallipacini and his officers are introduced to the notables. The music flows from the balconies into a garden where the Colonel, surrounded by admiring women hanging on his every word, speaks of Garibaldi as looking like an archangel: 'I wept like a little baby.'

Verdi's waltz cadences at the end of the Colonel's exaggerated speech, and another waltz with lovely romantic harmonies in the style of the period by Nino Rota, begin as the scene shifts back into the ballroom. This piece is followed by a wonderful folk-style mazurka in a minor key. Angelica asks the Prince to dance with her and back in the ballroom the Verdi waltz is struck up once again."

Two excerpts from Verdi's La Traviata appear in the film as well. Click on the highlighted link in the description below each photo to launch a video clip of each particular scene:

When Don Fabrizio and his family return to Donnafugata they are greeted by a brass band playing the women's chorus "Noi siamo zingarelle."

The family immediately enters a church in a processional while a young organist plays the "Preludio" from Act 1 (the theme appears again later in the opera as "Amami, Alfredo" sung by Violetta).

Visconti even manages to get a little bel canto Bellini in when a soldier sings "Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni," Rodolfo's aria from the first act of La Sonnambula.

[Source, Source, Source, Source]

Enjoy a detailed description of the film (possible spoilers), as well as commentary and photos after the jump.