Happy Birthday: Ileana Cotrubaş

"Mir ist die Ehre widerfahren" Der Rosenkavalier (R. Strauss) w/Brigitte Fassbaender

Ileana Cotrubaş (born June 9, 1939) is a Romanian opera soprano whose career spanned from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was much admired for her acting skills and facility for singing opera in many different languages. Cotrubaş was born in

"Caro nome" Rigoletto (Verdi)

Galaţi. She grew up in a musical family; her father, Vasile, was a tenor in an amateur chorus. Cotrubaş' musical career began at the age of nine when she became a member of a children's radio chorus. By the age of eleven, she was one of its leading soloists. Her voice teachers included Eugenie Elinescu, Ciprian Porumbescu and Constantin Stroescu. In 1952 she moved to Bucharest to study at the Şcoala Specială de Muzică school for the musically gifted. Cotrubaş made her stage debut with the Bucharest Opera as Yniold in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande in 1964. She subsequently expanded her repertory to include roles such as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Blondchen in The Abduction from the Seraglio and began appearing in productions throughout Europe. In 1965, Cotrubaş won an important competition in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands where she

"Si, mi chiamano Mimi"
La Bohème (Puccini)

won first prize in opera, lieder, and oratorio. The following year, she won a radio-television competition in Munich. Those awards, together with her great success in the role of Pamina at Brussels, led to appearances in the Vienna State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera and Salzburg Festival, and to a contract with the Frankfurt Opera. In 1969, She also made her British debut at the Glyndebourne Festival as Mélisande, and sang two succeeding seasons there in the title role of Cavalli's La Calisto. She made her début at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1971 as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. Cotrubaş signed a three-year contract with the Vienna State Opera in 1970. During her time there, she learned the roles of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Violetta in La traviata, Mimi in La bohème, and Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier. In

"È strano!..Ah, for's è lui...Sempre libera"
La Traviata (Verdi)

1973, she made her American operatic debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Mimi. Cotrubaş made her international breakthrough when on January 7, 1975, when she replaced Mirella Freni at La Scala as Mimi. She had to fly from her home in Kent and arrived 15 minutes before curtain time. Her interpretation was acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. Cotrubaş made her Metropolitan Opera debut on March 23, 1977, as Mimi in a production with José Carreras and Renata Scotto. While with the Met, she appeared as Gilda, opposite Plácido Domingo and Cornell MacNeil, in a televised performance of Rigoletto on November 7, 1977, and as Violetta, again opposite Domingo and MacNeil, in a televised performance of La traviata on March 28, 1981. She sang a total of three

"Elle a fui, la tourterelle"
Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Offenbach)

other roles at the Met: Ilia in Mozart's Idomeneo (in its Metropolitan Opera premiere), Tatiana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, and Micaëla in Bizet's Carmen, the role of her final performance with the company on March 26, 1987. Cotrubaş is also well-known for being very demanding of directors and colleagues. On several occasions — Eugene Onegin in Vienna in 1973 and Don Pasquale at the Met in 1980 — she walked out of productions when she disagreed with the stage director. Cotrubaş retired from public singing in 1990, but she continues to teach, giving master classes and coaching promising young singers, such as Angela Gheorghiu. [Source]

"Dieu! Quel frisson court dans mes veines!" Roméo et Juliette (Gounod)

"Depuis le jour" Louise (Charpentier)

"L'année en vain cahsse l'année...Azaël! Azaël!" L'Enfant prodigue (Debussy)

"Pleurez mes yeux" Le Cid (Massenet)

"Je dis que rien ne m'épouvante" Carmen (Bizet)

"Je vais le voir" Béatrice et Bénédict (Berlioz)

"Chiedi all'aura lusinghiera" L'Elisir d'Amore (Donizetti)

"Quel guardo il cavalier...son anch'io la virtù magica" Don Paquale (Donizetti)

"Ah, non credea...Ah, non giunge" La Sonnambula (Bellini)

"Tu che le vanita" Don Carlo (Verdi)

"Da Gusman sul fragil barca" Alzira (Verdi)

"Salce, salce...Ave Maria" Otello (Verdi)

"Libera me" excerpt Requiem (Verdi)

"Zeffiretti lusinghieri" Idomeneo (Mozart)

"Sull'aria" Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) w/Kiri te Kanawa

"Et incarnatus est" Mass in C minor (Mozart)

"Martern aller Arten" Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart)

"Una donna quindici anni" Così fan tutte (Mozart

"Introitus" Requiem (Mozart)

"Ach ich fühls" Die Zauberflöte (Mozart)

"Chi'il bel sogno di Doretta" La Rondine (Puccini)

"Dolcissimi baci" La Calisto (Cavalli) w/Janet Baker

"Stabat mater dolorosa" Stabat Mater (Pergolesi) w/Lucia Valentini Terrani

"Combatti da forte" Rinaldo (Händel)

"Beim schlafengehen" & "Im Abendrot" Vier letzte lieder (R. Strauss)

"Musica prohibita" Gastaldon

"E amore di natura" La Fedelta Premiata (Haydn)

"Welche Labung für die Sinne!" Die Jahreszeiten (Haydn)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIrzvIc64Js
"Der Vollmond Strahlt..." Rosamunde Schubert

"C'era una volta un principe" Il Guarany (Gomes)

Qual fiamma avea nel guardo...Stridono lassù" I Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)

"Lippen sie küssen so heiss" Giuditta (Léhar)

Canary Fanciers Meet Your Mecca: Coloratura Craziness

The legendary Coloraturafan on YouTube has compiled some of the craziest high notes to come out of a soprano's throat. Divas included in the video are Edita Gruberova, Beverly Sills, Lucia Aliberti, Diana Damrau, Natalie Dessay, Luciana Serra, Gianna Rolandi, Mado Robin, Mady Mesple, Joan Sutherland and more. Dog owners hold on to your leashes!

June Anderson Sings "Salomé" For Opéra Royal de Wallonie

Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium, will present the Richard Strauss opera in its French version on June 7, 9, 12, 15 and 18. See more pictures and videos of the production here.

Donald Kaasch (Hérode), Mara Zampieri (Hérodiade) and June Anderson (Salomé)

"Après l'échec de ses deux premiers opéras – qui ne sont d‘ailleurs plus joués aujourd’hui –, Richard Strauss décida de mettre en musique la Salomé d’Oscar Wilde. Lors de la création à Dresde en 1905, le succès fut colossal, bien aidé par le parfum de scandale qui émanait de l'oeuvre et auquel le public ne put résister. Le Metropolitan Opera de New York, par contre, retira l'oeuvre de l'affiche après la première représentation en 1907 et elle y resta interdite durant 17 ans. Vienne, Londres la bannirent aussi, de même que Salzbourg où un certain Herbert von Karajan fut le premier à oser braver l'interdiction en 1929. Il faut dire que Salomé

associait à un thème biblique un érotisme débridé pour l'époque. Il est d'ailleurs surprenant de constater que la célèbre "Danse des sept voiles" choqua autant l'assistance que la scène suivante. On y voit alors Salomé se faire amener sur un plateau la tête coupée de Jean-Baptiste qu'elle embrasse en lui déclarant son amour. Bien que la version allemande soit la plus souvent représentée, Strauss composa également, sur le modèle de la nouvelle de Wilde, une version en français, créée à Bruxelles en 1907. C'est cette version rarement proposée que l'Opéra Royal de Wallonie a choisi de présenter. Ce spectacle qui clôturera brillamment la saison présente a plus d'un atout : un cast prestigieux où on retrouve dans les rôles de Salomé et Hérodiade, une vraie star du chant, June Anderson, et une autre grande dame de l'art lyrique, Mara Zampieri. À la tête de l'orchestre de l'Opéra Royal de Wallonie, notre directeur de la musique Paolo Arrivabeni qui nous montrera, dans cet ouvrage, une autre facette de son talent." [Source]

MET in Japan: Photos Posted From the Journey

In what could possibly be the cutest photo ever from the Metropolitan Opera's tour of Japan, here we have Diana Damrau's seven-month old son Alexander visiting an orchestra rehearsal for Lucia di Lammermoor. ADORABLE! See more pics here.

Seiji Ozawa Will Return to Conduct Béla Bartók in August

The Maestro plans a comeback.
(Photo: Pierre Verdy/AFP)

"Celebrated Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa said Tuesday he would make a full comeback onstage in August with a series of 70-minute opera performances in the Japanese mountain city of Matsumoto. The 75-year-old maestro, who underwent surgery on oesophageal cancer last year and has been treated after hernia surgery in January, said he would conduct the Saito Kinen Orchestra on August 21, 23, 25 and 27. They will perform Bela Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle at the 20th Saito Kinen Festival, an annual classical music festival in Matsumoto. 'I got pneumonia. I got a bad hernia. I had a lot of trouble. But now I am able to walk around and go anywhere I want,' Ozawa, a former principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera, told a news conference in Matsumoto. 'I want to conduct more but I must restrain myself as I am told by my family and doctor to do so,' he said." [Source]

OTSL's "Pelléas and Mélisande": No Opium Required

Liam Bonner in Debussy's Masterpiece

"Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, in the persons of stage director David Alden, set designer Paul Steinberg and lighting designer Adam Silverman, made all the right artistic decisions in their very American production of French composer Claude Debussy's only opera, Pelléas and Mélisande. Whether you enjoy it will depend on your reaction to Debussy's very French decision to use as the libretto Symbolist playwright Maurice Maeterlinck's play of the same name....The leads in particular — buttery soprano Corinne Winters (Mélisande),

richly expressive baritones Liam Bonner (Pelléas) and Gregory Dahl (Golaud), and spectacular twelve-year-old (you read that right) soprano Michael Meo — are unflagging in their creativity and musical good sense....Debussy, an inveterate opium smoker, would have loved it." [Source] Watch a multi-media preview of the production by clicking here.

Plácido Domingo Tapped For FIFA "Council of Wisdom"

The "Wiseman" with Fernando Torres after
Spain's victorious 2010 World Cup win.

"Spanish opera great Placido Domingo is considering a formal invitation from FIFA president Sepp Blatter to help solve the problems of the world's governing body. Blatter was re-elected as president for another four-year term last week and has promised to clean up the corruption scandal at FIFA. Domingo has been offered a role on a 'council of wisdom' alongside former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former Dutch football legend Johan Cruyff. However, the 70-year-old opera star is not committing to the role until he recieves more information form Blatter. He told the Associated Press: 'Since 1970 — with the exception of 1978 — I have been at every World Cup final in every host country. 'In my amateur way, I am an expert in football. I am happy to have been asked to be involved with this great sport and have requested more details to see if I can be of help.' The new commitee will have the power to investigate the problems at FIFA and solve the bribery scandal that saw Jack Warner and Mohamed Bin Hammam suspended." [Source]

Dora Award Opera Nominations Announced in Toronto

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION
Prima Donna (Luminato)
Orfeo ed Euridice (Canadian Opera Company presents Lyric Opera of Chicago)
Nixon in China (Canadian Opera Company presents a Co-production of Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Chicago Opera Theatre, Opera Colorado, Houston Grand Opera, Minnesota Opera and Portland Opera)
La Cenerentola (Canadian Opera Company presents a Co-production of Houston Grand Opera Association, Welsh National Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu and Grand Théâtre de Genève)
Death in Venice (Canadian Opera Company presents The Aldeburgh Festival, Opéra National de Lyon, Bregenz Opera and Prague State Opera)


OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE
Sondra Radvanovsky (Aida /Canadian Opera Company)
Lawrence Zazzo (Orfeo ed Euridice/Canadian Opera Company presents Lyric Opera of Chicago)
Jane Archibald (Ariadne auf Naxos/Canadian Opera Company presents Welsh National Opera Production)
Alan Oke (Death in Venice/Canadian Opera Company presents The Aldeburgh Festival, Opéra National de Lyon, Bregenz Opera and Prague State Opera)

The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance, and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped establish Canadian professional theatre, the award was established on December 13, 1978. Each winner receives a bronze statue made from the original by John Romano. [Source, Source]

New York Voices Rising Against Current City Opera Dilemma

The Baltimore Sun points out two very prominent New Yorkers reacting to the demise of New York City Opera at the hands of its leader George Steel and the board of directors. Links are included to op-ed pieces and open letters from conductor Julius Rudel and music critic George Loomis. Read the article here.

Opéra de Lyon Cast Brings Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" to Life

Wagnerians in France. (Photo: Stofleth)

"...Ann Petersen’s first Isolde is youthful and fresh but every bit the spurned princess. There is no edge to her voice, no shrieking for effect, simply gorgeous singing throughout. A revelation. Clifton Forbis, a globe-trotting Tristan, flashes electrifying muscular power but still floats captivating sotto voce effects. His third act agony is a triumph of rage and frustration. Stella Grigorian lacks the heft to sustain Brangaene’s cantilevered line, but Christof Fischesser’s superb Mark cradles his monologue like a polished lieder singer." [Source]

"James Levine: America's Maestro" Documentary Now Online

Watch the full episode. See more American Masters.

Is Sung-bong Choi the Next Paul Potts or Andrea Bocelli?

"Nella Fantasia" ("In My Fantasy") is an Italian song based on the theme "Gabriel's Oboe" from the film The Mission (1986). With music by famed composer Ennio Morricone and lyrics by Chiara Ferraù, "Nella Fantasia" is popular among classical crossover singers, and was originally sung by Sarah Brightman. Other artists have performed the song as well, such as argentinian tenor Javier Fontana, Donald Braswell II, Amici Forever, Celtic Woman (Chloë Agnew), Garðar Thór Cortes, Il Divo, The Celtic Tenors, Katherine Jenkins, Russell Watson, Wendy Kokkelkoren with Guido's Orchestra,vocal group FOURTE and Summer Watson. In 2007, the winner of the first season of the British TV show Britain's Got Talent, Paul Potts, covered this song on his album One Chance. Ricardo Marinello–Germany's "Supertalent"–performed the song on his first album The Beginning (2007). In 2006 Australian singer Kane Alexander recorded a version for his debut self titled album. The song features on the album Brand New Day by the group Tenors UnLimited. [Source]

Snap, Crackle, Popera: Rice Krispies Takes on Opera

Finnish National Opera Brings Workshop to Kerava Prison

"Music therapy lets prisoners think of freedom. Despite documented benefits, therapy sessions at prisons are rare. Eight men, all convicted of serious crimes, are sitting in a classroom with Nigerian drums in front of them. A music therapy workshop produced by the Finnish National Opera is about to start at the Kerava Prison. Miro Mantere, the teacher of the workshop, gives an example, and the men burst out laughing. 'This is quite different from what we imagined,' says prisoner Joni, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. The group has made experimental music using a number of instruments, including sugar cube cartons and guitars. So far, the men have already recorded five pieces. A record publishing

Happy Birthday: Frederica von Stade

"Clair du lune" Fauré

Frederica von Stade (born June 1, 1945) is an American mezzo-soprano. Born in Somerville, New Jersey, she acquired the nickname "Flicka" in her childhood. Von Stade attended the Mannes College of Music in New York City. She made her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 1970 and in 1971 appeared as Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera. "It was two of the newcomers who left the audience dazzled: Frederica von Stade as Cherubino and Kiri Te Kanawa as the Countess. Everyone knew at once that these were brilliant finds. History has confirmed that first impression." Trained in the bel canto style, von Stade is known for her roles in Rossini's The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola. In addition to opera, von Stade has also performed a wide range of musicals, from Show Boat to The

"Ah, non credea...Ah, non giunge"
La Sonnambula (Bellini)

Sound of Music to A Little Night Music and has appeared on numerous PBS specials, most notably in 1991's A Carnegie Hall Christmas Concert. She has also appeared in many Kennedy Center Honors broadcasts for CBS. Von Stade is also a respected recital artist, performing works ranging from Mozart and Haydn to Mahler to Broadway show tunes. Her LP album of Mahler songs was praised as "cherishable" by Peter G. Davis of The New York Times. Composers, including Dominick Argento, Jake Heggie and Richard Danielpour, have produced works specifically for von Stade. She originated the role of "Tina" in Dallas Opera's world premiere production of Argento's The Aspern Papers. She has also recorded other works by Argento. Danielpour composed Elegies for orchestra, mezzo-soprano, and baritone in memory of von Stade's father, Charles von Stade, who was killed late in World War II, two months before von Stade's birth. Elegies premiered in January 1998 with the Jacksonville Symphony led by Roger Nierenberg and has now been recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2008, she created the role of "Madeline" in the

"Evening prayer" Hänsel und Gretel
(Humperdinck) w/Judith Blegen

opera Last Acts, a part which the composer Jake Heggie had especially written for her. Von Stade was the featured performer at the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and also sang with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the Cultural Olympiad held in conjunction with the games. She also sang at the choir's annual Christmas Concert the following year. She currently resides in Alameda, California where she gives performances supporting the arts in local schools. She has made over sixty recordings, including complete operas, aria albums, symphonic works, solo recital programs, and popular

Montserrat Caballé Reissues Still Missing Major Recording

If you need your Montserrat Caballé thirst quenched, turn to EMI and Sony for recent reissues from the soprano's back catalog. With the numerous compilations that have been released, there is still a vital recording missing: 15 Strauss songs with Alexis Weissenberg on piano. A number of years ago, EMI Classics issued the 1979 recording of Canto a Sevilla by Joaquin Turina and Canciones negras by Xavier Montsalvatge on CD. The other half of the original 2LP set, however, has never seen the light of day on CD or MP3. Why? Not to mention the lack of originality with cover art on the above re-issues. Are there really only two photos of this great artist in the files of these record companies to use?