Helmut Newton Gets Resurgence In New Virtual Cinema Documentary

(Photographer Helmut Newton seen here with operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti)

"Obituaries and appreciations of the photographer Helmut Newton after his death on January 23, 2004, are riddled with the monikers Newton collected during an increasingly controversial career. In the New York Times, Newton was described as the '35mm Marquis de Sade'; in The Guardian, an 'enfant terrible'; and in Vogue magazine, for which Newton shot for decades, the King of Kink.' Yet none of those nicknames come quite close to capturing the sly luridness and bold subversion of Newton’s images, which transformed fashion photography while simultaneously raising questions about aesthetics and exploitation. The documentary 'Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful,' released in what would have been Newton’s centennial birthday year, only briefly dares to question the methodologies of the man who recoiled at the words 'good taste.' Instead, 'The Bad and the Beautiful' is less about Newton himself and more about how his work made the women he photographed feel...For as incomplete as 'The Bad and the Beautiful' feels in terms of addressing criticisms leveled at Newton, the inclusion of so many women’s perspectives is its own defensive statement." Read more about the documentary here. Watch the trailer and see more photos of Luciano Pavarotti shot by Helmut Newton after the jump.

(Another image of Pavarotti by Newton)

[Source]

Mimi Lerner's Son And Grandson Featured Humans Of New York

A photography project started in 2010, titled Humans of New York, has grown to 14.6 million followers on Facebook and 3.7 million followers on Instagram. As random people are photographed in the city by Brandon Stanton, a short story or quote accompanies each image. This week features Dan Lerner playing ball with his son Julian. Dan's mother is the late opera singer Mimi Lerner. The mezzo-soprano passed away in 2007 from complications of a heart tumor. See the photos with captions, learn more about HONY, and read details of Mimi Lerner's career, after the jump.

MET Brochure Photographer Kristian Schuller Attends "Manon"

Kristian Schuller, the star photographer of the 2015-16 Metropolitan Opera season brochure, was spotted at a performance of Massenet's Manon. This time he was on the other side of the lens as he was captured by Rose Callahan for the website "Last Night At the MET." For more images from the current season of fashion of the eclectic crowd that attends performances, click here. A favorite accessory seen this winter at the Metropolitan Opera performances was fur! Click here and here to see a variety, ranging from full-length to scarves, of the fur that was seen at the opera house. Visit Kristian Schuller's official website to see some stunning fashion photography by clicking here.

Diana Damrau Makes Late Entry Into Kristian Schuller MET Photos

(Click on all images to enlarge)

When the MET announced its 2015-16 season, their online brochure featured gorgeous photographs by Kristian Schuller for their new productions. One conspicuous omission was no photo of any artist for the new production of Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles featuring Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, and Mariusz Kwiecień. Perhaps because it is a co-production originally created by English National Opera? Although the Manon Lescaut is a co-production with Baden-Baden Festival and Kristine Opolais made the brochure deadline. Whatever the reason, the MET has released the promotional photo featuring the soprano as Leïla. A photo of Diana Damrau working with Kristian Schuller, as well as other high resolution images by the photographer for the new season, after the jump.

Kristian Schuller Is New Metropolitan Opera Brochure Photographer

Kristine Opolais as Manon Lescaut by 
Kristian Schuller for MET 2015-16 season

On February 18, 2015, The Metropolitan Opera announced its 2015-16 season. As new productions and artist debuts were heralded, something else was new in the presentation: the photographer. In previous seasons, photographer Brigitte Lacombe was tasked with capturing opera stars in costume for upcoming new productions via lavish photo shoots for the brochure. Now we look through the lens of Paris-based fashion photographer Kristian Schuller. He was born in Hălchiu, Romania, on December 24, 1970. His grandfather was a priest in Cata and his father is the controversial playwright and director Frieder Schuller. He emigrated with his parents and brother to Germany at an early age, growing up in Bonn and Düsseldorf. Interested in fashion since youth, he began to study clothing design with Vivienne Westwood in 1997. Within the next five years she would take him to France to introduce him to the world of fashion shows and the atmosphere of Paris. It was during this time that he discovered an interest in photography. He studied with F.C. Gundlach at the University of Fine Arts Berlin and decided to combine his two loves to become

Lens Meister: Photographer Kristian Schuller seen
with Metropolitan Opera star Anna Netrekbo
during a photo shoot for Deutsche Grammophon

a fashion photographer. In 2003, English fashion editor Isabella Row brought him to Condé Nast Publications in London. Here he had the opportunity to shoot top models like Gisele Buendchen, Amber Arbucci, and Heidi Klum in original and creative settings for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Glamour. He married his partner Peggy, who serves as a designer and stylist for his shoots, in 2007. They collaborate on the process for new series. At the beginning he makes rough sketches of ideas for sets and costumes. His inspiration comes from old photographs, art history, and films (particularly those by Federico Fellini). He has stated that his work is also influenced by theater experiences in childhood. Once the initial concept is done, he works with Peggy on locations, models, hairstyles, make-up, and clothing. By 2010 he was serving as a guest judge on Heidi Klum's television show Germany's Next Top Model. That same year he released his first book, 90 Days, One Dream. He photographed actress Penelope Cruz for Campari's 2013 calendar. Most recently he is known in the world of opera for photographing soprano Anna Netrebko for her Verdi album of arias on Deutsche Grammophon. Another of his captivating photos appears on the cover of her latest release: Vier letzte lieder by Richard Strauss. Learn more about the photographer on his official website and look at fashion images on his Instagram account. Examine the whole season and brochure photos at the official site of the MET. See a plethora of extra images from the 2015-16 season of The Metropolitan Opera as captured by Kristian Schuller, as well as two bonus shots, after the jump. [Source, Source, Source, Source]

Sondra Radvanovsky captured by Kristian Schuller in the photo shoot for Roberto Devereux

Kristian Schuller in the photo shoot for Roberto Devereux

Renée Fleming Uses Longtime Photographer For Broadway Ads

Bubbly Broadway Diva: Renée Fleming as
 Raquel de Angelis (Photo: Andrew Eccles)

On April 1, 2015, soprano Renée Fleming will take up residency at the Longacre Theatre in Manhattan to perform in Joe DiPrieto's new comedic play Living on Love. The official website features a hilarious photo of the entire cast from the play. The photographer? Andrew Eccles. Fans of Ms. Fleming will recognize his name from her CD covers and liner notes for the Decca Classics label. The British-born photographer worked with Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Steven Meisel before going solo in his career. He now shoots celebrities, models, athletes, politicians, musicians, and dancers. Get tickets to the performances of Living on Love by clicking here and visit the official website to learn more about the production here. A biography of photographer Andrew Eccles and memorable photos he has taken of Renée Fleming, as well as the full-page New York Times ad for the play, after the jump.

Photographer Andrew Eccles captures the play's plot marvelously in this full-cast image.

Stage Partners: Fleming and Sills

"The world's most famous opera singer Renée Fleming plays the world's most famous opera singer in the hilarious new screwball comedy Living On Love. Direct from a smash-hit run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, this glamorous romp through the world of music, marriage and celebrity is written by two-time Tony Award® winner Joe DiPietro (Nice Work If You Can Get It), adapted from a work by Garson Kanin (Born Yesterday) and directed by three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes). Fleming stars alongside Tony nominee Douglas SIlls (The Scarlet Pimpernel) and Emmy® nominee Anna Chlumsky (Veep). When a demanding diva (Fleming) discovers that her larger-than-life maestro husband (Sills) has become enamored with the lovely young lady (Chlumsky) hired to ghostwrite his largely fictional autobiography, she retaliates by hiring her own handsome, young scribe to chronicle her life as an opera star. Sparks fly, silverware is thrown and romance blossoms in the most unexpected ways." [Source] 

San Francisco Gala Beauty Captured By Photographer Jason Henry

With couture by Lela Rose, Tom Ford, Pierre Cardin, Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci, Badgley Mischka, Marchesa, Herve Leger, and Oscar de la Renta, dominating the scene at the 2014 San Francisco Opera Gala, it's likely the real star was photographer Jason Henry who captured much of the festivities for the Chronicle. The San Francisco Opera opened its 92nd season with a cocktail reception, dinner, a performance of Bellini's Norma and an after party. An important element to major events is to document the evening with images that show who attended and which designer they chose to wear for the occasion. However, it takes true talent to give the viewer a real sense of being taken on a journey and truly feel the atmosphere of a room through a camera lens. Jason Henry does exactly this through his impeccable photos that feel whimsical, artistic, and focused, all at the same time. Below is a sampling from the evening [click images to enlarge]. Unfortunately the gallery lacks photos of the singers Jamie Barton (Adalgisa), Marco Berti (Pollione), and Sondra Radvanovsky (Norma) who performed in the opera and surely attended the post-performance festivities in their own regal garments. Go here to see the full gallery of 115 photos of attendees. More about photographer Jason Henry after the jump.

Teresa Berganza Shows Flexibility In More Than Vocal Cords

The 78-year old singer, photographed by José Luis Nocito in Santander, Spain, on August 14, 2013, doing yoga.

Read more about Teresa Berganza, and hear an audio clip of Offenbach's "Barcarolle" with soprano/daughter Cecilia Lavilla Berganza, after the jump. [Source]

Dressers Featured Backstage of "Giulio Cesare" at the MET

"Dressers Suzi Gomez-Pizzo and Lou Valantasis prepare Natalie Dessay and David Daniels for their roles as Cleopatra and Caesar for a performance of Handel's Giulio Cesare, directed by David McVicar, at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Photographs by Mike McGregor for the Guardian." Watch the slide show here.

Ms. Gomez-Pizzo was also featured dressing another MET opera diva in the New York Times. Check out the photo and link after the jump.

Portrait of the Day: Petra Lang

Check out the article posted by Una Voce Poco Fa about the mezzo-soprano Petra Lang. The image below is taken from the article.

Using eBay to Look Into Opera's Glorious Bygone Era

Bass Kurt Böhme takes in a quiet afternoon at the Salzburg Festival

Imagine the world's largest yard sale that carries every imaginable item you could ever dream of owning. This is eBay, a website best navigated when you know specifically what you want and then tactically go on the hunt for it. Sometimes, however, one can get sucked into what could only be described as "free association" shopping. You know when you go to look for that one special recording of an artist that is out of print and the next thing you know the search has led you to one of their colleague's latest cook books. Sometimes that can help you stumble upon a gold mine of memorabilia that is worthy of the best opera archive. Our past is often captured best through photographs and what better way to peak into an era that celebrated the grandiosity of opera on, as well as off, the stage than through the press photos that have been lying dormant in filing cabinets across the country for more than 50 years. Two specific sellers on ebay, rfleetjr and historicimages-store, specialize in such images that have often been gathered from either an opera company's file purging or an associated press trash bin. These press photos range from portraits to casual promotional materials. Some have editorial markings on them that actually lend to their historical charm. What better way to pay homage to the yesteryear of operatic history than to have one of these souvenirs hanging on your office wall or in the powder room for guests to comment. Take a look at what can be yours:

Regina Resnik in costume	Dorothy Kirsten in 1963 glamour shot
Austrian soprano Birgit Sarata	Lily Pons with dogs
Perry Como and Roberta Peters	Marian Anderson keeping warm

Violent Beauty: Operatically-Tinged Photographs of Ori Gersht

Israeli photographer Ori Gersht was born in 1967. He is a professor of photography at the University for the Creative Arts in Rochester, Kent, England. One particular series he produced that has extraordinary beauty: "The large-scale photographs entitled Blow Up depict elaborate floral arrangements, based upon a 19th Century still-life painting by Henri Fantin-Latour, captured in the moment of exploding. Gersht´s compositions are literally frozen in motion, a process dependent on the ability of the advanced technology of photography to freeze-frame action. This visual occurrence, that is too fast for the human eye to process and can only be perceived with the aid of photography, is what Walter Benjamin called the ‘optical unconsciousness’ in his seminal essay ‘A Short History of Photography’. Flowers, which often symbolise peace, become victims of brutal terror, revealing an uneasy beauty in destruction. This tension that exists between violence and beauty, destruction and creation is enhanced by the fruitful collision of the age-old need to capture 'reality' and the potential of photography to question what that actually means. The authority of photography in relation to objective truth has been shattered, but new possibilities to experience reality in a more complex and challenging manner have arisen." [Source] A brief biography of the photographer and few more photos are after the jump.

Opéra National de Paris and Bibliothèque Nationale Project

If you missed "Les Tragédiennes de l’Opéra," the exhibit presented from June 9 - September 25 at Bibliothèque-musée de l’Opéra in the Palais Garnier, you can still experience it by buying the guide book assembled by Albin Michel: "Opera is enriched by its divas. All-powerful goddesses, objects of every fantasy, they are also slaves sacrificed to their art, to composers and to their public. Through them and through their science, their destiny, their cult-worship, and their power, the history of opera unfolds. This exhibition will evoke for the first time some of the great figures linked to the Palais Garnier, that erstwhile brand-new temple devoted to opera and all its excesses: among others, Rose Caron (who gave first performances of Reyer’s works as well as the roles of Sieglinde in The Walkyrie and Desdemona in Otello), Gabrielle Krauss (first performer of Gounod’s last works), Sybil Sanderson (Massenet’s muse for Thaïs), and Lucienne Bréval, the very model of the noble singer, who would reign here for thirty years…In the opening years of

the new century, modernity entered the theatre with the fiery temperaments of Aino Ackté, Emma Calvé and Mary Garden with her scandalous Salomé. This exhibition will rekindle the memory of these exceptional women through photographs, objects, jewellery, costume sketches and rare documents. Presented inside the Palais Garnier itself, the exhibition will also evoke the passage from one century to another which is as much to be felt in the repertoire as in the image reflected by these goddesses and their relationship with the public." Purchase price of the book is 49.00 €. [Source]

Check out a photo of Geneviève Vix as Salome at the Palais Garnier in 1926 (Estampe de P. Godard BmO, Musée n° 826).