Seán Curran On Dance For Edwardian "Salome" At Santa Fe Opera

Alex Penda (aka Alexandrina Pendatchanska) in
 a costume designed by Christian Lacroix in
2013 for a Salome production directed
 by Vincent Boussard.

"'You don’t want to end up hating her,' said Seán Curran, choreographer for Santa Fe Opera’s new production of Salome, describing the character with all the veils. Curran has worked on several SFO productions, including 2011’s The Last Savage and Oscar in 2013. 'Why does she ask for what she asks for?,' he said, referring to Salome’s request for the head of Jochanaan (John the Baptist). 'She’s a teenage girl.' Oscar Wilde’s play, the basis for the opera’s text, suggests that she had a sexual yearning for the prophet. In April, the opera flew Curran to Paris to work on the dance. He spent 48 hours in a studio with Salome’s director, Daniel Slater, and their Salome, Alex Penda, who lives in the city. Slater has chosen to set the production in 1905 Europe, the year Richard Strauss’ opera premiered in Dresden. 'It’s very Downton Abbey — Edwardian,' Curran said. 'There are no biblical references. All the slaves become servants. As for the 'Dance of the Seven Veils,' he said that 'it feels like Art Nouveau — like a Toulouse-Lautrec painting.' Curran said Strauss made his job easier. 'Salome is one of the great operas. The music evokes so much emotion — it does the storytelling for you. Strauss does tonal painting. You can see the color of the grass. You can hear the wind. It’s visceral, violent, sexual music to me.' At the rehearsal studio, Curran led a warm-up with Penda — as a way of easing her into the movement but also as a way for him to begin to understand the singer as a dancer. 'Alex has played this part before,' Curran said. 'I directed and choreographed it for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Danny has never seen or directed the show.' Slater is a director who likes to be involved in every aspect of a production. He knew that Strauss was influenced by the theories of Sigmund

Edwardian Steampunk: Choreographer Seán Curran
 looks like he could be in the current production
 of the SFO Salome.

Freud, which were coming into vogue in Vienna’s intellectual circles at the time of the opera’s origin. 'Slater wanted a psychological take on the dance,' the choreographer said. 'There was an image of an iceberg and the psyche. Here is a woman only exhibiting the tip of the iceberg until she starts to dance. Alex has a fearless physicality,' Curran continued. 'She understands the difference between energy and effort. She’s not afraid to look awkward or ugly.' Together with Slater, they developed movement motifs — 'the silent scream,' 'the mourning section,' and 'the daddy dance.' 'We wound up with a hybrid. My ingredients, Danny with the big picture, and Alex’s contributions.' Curran’s previous experience with the opera gave him an understanding of the physical requirements for the soprano, not just the emotional aspects. 'Salome has to dance. She has to knock it out of the park and then sing nonstop for the last 10 minutes of the opera. You have to have the body of a sixteen-year-old and the lungs of a forty-year-old to do this part.'" [Source] Read about The Santa Fe Opera founder John Crosby and his affinity for Strauss and Salome by clicking here. Watch Alex Penda in the trailer for Nayo Titzin film Unveiling Salome and a video interview with David Robertson who is conducting the SFO Salome, after the jump.

Buried (MP3) Treasure: Alexandrina Pendatchanska

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Happy Birthday: Alexandrina Pendatchanska

"È strano…Ah, fors'è lui…Sempre libera"
La Traviata (Verdi)
[Live recording from 1987]

Soprano Alexandrina Pendatchanska was born September 24, 1970 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Her grandfather, Sasha Popov, was a violinist and conductor and the founder of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and her mother, Valerie Popova, was an internationally acclaimed soprano who sung regularly at La Scala in Milan from 1983 to 1986. Pendatchanska studied piano from early childhood and graduated from Bulgaria's National School of Music, where she studied piano and singing. Her mother was her voice teacher. She made her professional debut at age 17 in the role of Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata. Two years later she won the Antonín Dvořák Competition in Karlovy Vary. In 1988 she placed second in the International Vocal Competition in Bilbao and went on to win the 1989 UNISA singing competition in Pretoria. Her first international engagement took place in Bilbao, Spain, where she sang the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Since that career launch in 1989, she

"Esprits de l'air, esprits de l'onde"
Esclarmonde (Massenet)
[Live recording from 1992]

has sung in some of the world's greatest theaters including Teatro dell 'Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Regio di Torino, Teatro Verdi Trieste, Monte Carlo Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Bregenz Festival, Washington Opera, Hamburgische State Opera, Santa Fe Opera and the Rossini Festival in Pesaro. One of her greatest feats came in November 1992 when she performed the title role in Massenet's Esclarmonde at the Teatro Regio in Turin when she was 22 years old. The role's originator, Sybil Sanderson, was 24 when she created the infamously difficult role. Pendatchanska took on such diverse in her early career as Königin der Nacht in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (Cape Town), Ophelia in Thomas's Hamlet (Monte Carlo, Vienna), Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto (Cardiff, Monte Carlo), Adalgisa in Bellini's Norma (Rome) and Elena in Rossini's La Donna del Lago (New York). From 1997-2001, she sang the roles of

"Essa corre al trionfo!" Ermione (Rossini)

Elisabetta in Donizetti's Roberto Devereux, Lucrezia Contarini in Verdi's I due Foscari, Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'Amore, Alaide in Bellini's La Straniera, Madama Cortese in Rossini's Il Viaggio a Reims and the title roles of Puccini's Suor Angelica, Rossini's Ermione, Verdi's Luisa Miller. Her current repertoire includes the roles of Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Elisabetta in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito and the title roles of Rossini's Semiramide and Händel's Agrippina. Her orchestral engagements include Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, L'Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI, Philadelphia Orchestra, L'Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the Solisti Veneti, the Russian National Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra of the ORF, Vienna Symphony Orchestra and L'Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa

"A vos jeux, mes amis" Hamlet (Thomas)

Cecilia, in works such as Verdi's Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater and Honegger's Le Roi David, working with such esteemed conductors as Myun-Whun Chung, Charles Dutoit, Eliahu Inbal, Jesús López-Cobos, Nello Santi, Bruno Bartoletti, Maurizio Benini, Bruno Campanella, Daniel Oren, Evelino Pidò, Vladimir Spivakov and René Jacobs. Highlights of recent seasons include the New Year's concert with the Russian National Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Spivakov in Moscow; her debut in Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées where she sang Stonatrilla in Gassmann's L'Opera Seria conducted by René Jacobs; Rossini's Ermione at the New York City Opera; Giulio Cesare at the Innsbruck Festival; Vivaldi's La Fida Ninfa with the Ensemble Matheus at the Festival d'Ambronay; Don Giovanni in Toulouse; Semiramide and Don Giovanni at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Innsbruck Festival Weeks and the Festival in Baden-Baden; Luisa Miller at the German Opera Berlin; a new production of Il Turco in Italia at the Bavarian State Opera; La Clemenza di Tito in Bari, Lyon and at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Other recent performances include the Petite Messe Solennelle under the baton of

"Forse un destin che intendere"
Parisina d'Este (Donizetti)

Riccardo Chailly in Leipzig and London; Orlando Paladino at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin and at the Innsbruck Festival with René Jacobs; new productions of Idomeneo at the Théâtre de La Monnaie in Brussels, Maria Stuarda in Toronto and La Finta Giardiniera at the Theater an der Wien. Her discography includes Glinka's A Life for the Tzar (Sony), Rachmaninov's The Bells (Decca), Donizetti's Parisina d'Este (Dynamics), Sartorio's Giulio Cesare in Egitto (ORF), Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni and Idomeneo with René Jacobs (Harmonia Mundi), an album of Verdi duets with Nicola Ghiuselev and Vladimir Stoyanov (Gega) and two solo recordings titled Opera Arias (Capriccio) and Genuine (Integral Classic). Her performances in Roberto Devereux and I due Foscari are available on DVD. [Source, Source]

Bonus: 20-year old Alexandrina Pendatchanska singing "O zittre nicht" from Mozart's Die Zauberflöte:

NEW Harmonia Mundi: Gheorghiu, Mehta and Pendatchanska

Harmonia Mundi will be making three fall releases that may grab the attention of vocal enthusiasts. The first is a disc with soprano Teodora Gheorghiu titled Anna de Amicis with Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques on the subsidiary label Aparté. "The pre-classicist programme is dedicated to the historic figure of Anna de Amicis, famous soprano who first created the role of Giunia in W.A. Mozart's Lucio Silla. Besides works of the young Mozart the programme comprises arias by N. Jomelli, J. C. Bach, C.W. Gluck and others." [Source] Watch a video (below) featuring the recording of some wonderful music that has been forgotten for many years. (Release dates: Germany - September 11, 2011; UK - October 3, 2011)

The second disc is a follow-up for countertenor Bejun Mehta to his debut disc with Harmonia Mundi (Ombra Cara featuring Händel arias). This time around the singer chose to work with pianist Julius Drake to focus on English songs of the 19th & 20th centuries on a disc called Down By The Salley Gardens. Included are such legendary composers as Howells, Finzi, Tippett and Britten. To listen to some audio clips from the album, click here. (Release dates: USA - September 13, 2011; Internationally - September 16, 2011)

Lastly is a complete recording of Händel's opera Agrippina featuring Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Jennifer Rivera, Sunhae Im, Bejun Mehta, Marcos Fink, Neal Davies and Dominique Visse with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under the direction of René Jacobs. Ms. Pendatchanska has performed on other Harmonia Mundi recordings with René Jacobs including Mozart's Don Giovanni, Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito. This particular recording is taken from a live stage version done in Berlin and there will be a limited edition of the opera put out with a DVD. Watch (below) Alexandrina Pendatchanska sing "L'alma mia fra le tempeste" from Agrippina. (Release dates: USA - October 11, 2011; Internationally - January 1, 2012)