Cecilia Bartoli Lends Vocals To The Film "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit"

From Russia With (No) Love: The villain Viktor Cherevin lets hubris get the better of him.

Movie goers are introduced to the Russian character of Viktor Cherevin (Kenneth Brannagh) first by seeing only the back of his head while a doctor is trying to insert a needle into his arm. Under the scene we hear mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli singing Caccini's "Amarilli mia bella." The tune only returns at the end of the film when the Interior Minister Sorokin (Mikhail Baryshnikov) delivers to Viktor a dose of his own medicine. There may be no significance whatsoever in using the strophic song, but some parallels could be drawn. Inside the office of Mr. Cherevin hangs a painting, Feat of Cavalry Regiment at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805 by Bogdan Willewalde, that depicts "the capture of a French regiment's eagle by the cavalry of the Russian guard at Austerlitz. The French lost only one eagle at the battle of Austerlitz and this happened when the Russian horse Guard caught the 4th Line regiment in the open and charged them." The lead players here - Viktor Cherevin, Napoléon Bonaparte, and Giulio Caccini - were all pretty power-hungry men that suffered defeats in some form or another. Learn more about the movie, the Napoleonic war, biographical information on Caccini, and listen to the full song "Amarilli mia bella" performed by Cecilia Bartoli, after the jump. [Source]

Juan Diego Flórez Raises Over $100K For Peru At Vienna Concert

Vittorio Grigolo and Aida Garifullina join Juan Diego Flórez for a worthy cause in Vienna.

"The audience filled the Vienna State Opera and applauded tenor Juan Diego Florez enthusiastically and often during a benefit concert he gave on behalf of 'Sinfonia por el Peru,' the foundation he created in 2011 to help poor children in his homeland. Sources at the Viennese theater told Efe that the box office would easily surpass 100,000 euros ($106,000), from which only technical costs would have to be deducted, since all the artists donated their services. 'It's a dream come true that we can now say Sinfonia por el Peru is going so well it's changing the lives of many, many children in Peru,' Florez told Efe during one of the rehearsals before the gala performance. The tenor noted that big international opera stars would share the stage with young musicians from different social programs around the world, all motivated by the concept of transforming society through music. The gala served to present the Friends of Juan Diego Florez, an association created to support Sinfonia por el Peru and similar projects. Among those friends were Cecilia Bartoli, Russian soprano Aida Garifullina, tenor Celso Albelo and baritone Michele Pertusi, among others. Unfortunately absent was soprano Anna Netrebko, who announced Saturday that she would be unable to take part in the gala. Sinfonia por el Peru's 15 branches in different parts of the country are teaching some 2,500 children and young people living in unfavorable conditions to use music as a way to escape poverty, violence and child labor." [Source]

English Conductor Christopher Hogwood Dies at 73

Hit Maker: The late conductor made over 200
 recordings with the Academy of Ancient Music.

"Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE (September 10, 1941 – September 24, 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, musicologist and founder of the Academy of Ancient Music. Born in Nottingham, Hogwood studied music and classical literature at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He went on to study performance and conducting under Raymond Leppard, Mary Potts and Thurston Dart; and later with Rafael Puyana and Gustav Leonhardt. He also studied in Prague with Zuzana Ruzickova for a year, under a British Council scholarship. In 1967, Hogwood founded the Early Music Consort with David Munrow, and in 1973 he founded the Academy of Ancient Music, specializing in performances of Baroque and early Classical music with period instruments. The Early Music Consort was disbanded following Munrow's death in 1976, but Hogwood continued to perform and record with the Academy of Ancient Music. From 1981, Hogwood conducted regularly in the United States. He was Artistic Director of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society from 1986 to 2001, and for the remainder of his life held the title of Conductor Laureate. From 1983 to 1985 he was artistic director of the Mostly Mozart Festival in the Barbican Centre in London. From 1988 to

An early portrait of Christopher Hogwood.

1992, he was musical director of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota. Hogwood conducted a considerable amount of opera. He made his operatic debut in 1983, conducting Don Giovanni in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked with Berlin State Opera; La Scala, Milan; Royal Opera Stockholm; the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Chorégies d'Orange and Houston Grand Opera. With Opera Australia, he performed Idomeneo in 1994 and La Clemenza di Tito in 1997. In 2009, he returned to the Royal Opera House to conduct the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, and Handel's Acis and Galatea. 2009 also saw him conducting Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress at the Teatro Real in Madrid, in a production directed by Robert Lepage. In late 2010 and early 2011, he conducted a series of performances of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro at

Constant Collaborators: Soprano Emma Kirby and countertenor
 James Bowman with Maestro Hogwood. 

Zurich Opera House. On September 1, 2006, harpsichordist Richard Egarr succeeded Hogwood as Music Director of the Academy of Ancient Music and Hogwood assumed the title of Emeritus Director. Hogwood said he expected to conduct 'at least one major project' with the Academy each year. He conducted the Academy in a series of concert performances of Handel operas which began in 2007 with Amadigi. 2008 saw performances of Flavio, and the series concluded in May 2009, the Handel anniversary, with Arianna in Creta. In 2013 he conducted the Academy in Imeneo. Although Hogwood was best known for the baroque and early classical repertoire, he also performed contemporary music, with a particular affinity for the neo-baroque and neoclassical schools including many works by Stravinsky, Martinů and Hindemith. He made many solo recordings of harpsichord works, including (Louis Couperin, J. S. Bach, Thomas Arne, William Byrd's My Lady Nevells Booke) and did much to promote the clavichord in the Secret Bach/Handel/Mozart series of recordings, which puts in historical context the most

(Photo: Marco Borggreve)

common domestic instrument of that epoch. He owned a collection of historical keyboard instruments. By the end of his life, Hogwood was Honorary Professor of Music in the University of Cambridge, Consultant Visiting Professor of historical performance in the Royal Academy of Music and visiting professor at King's College London. He was an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and Pembroke College, Cambridge. In July 2010, he was appointed Professor of Music at Gresham College, London, for a four-year term of office. In 2012, he was appointed Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University, for a six year term of office. He was a member of Lowell House Senior Common Room in Harvard University. In 1989 Hogwood was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). He was the recipient of the Halle Handel Prize in 2008. In 2011, Hogwood was a juror for the Westfield International Fortepiano Competition hosted at Cornell University. This was the first fortepiano competition in the United States and only the second competition of its kind in the world. Hogwood died in Cambridge on 24 September 2014, aged 73." [Source] Listen to Christopher Hogwood conduct Luba Orgonasova in "Vo'far guerra" from Händel's opera Rinaldo, Emma Kirkby in "But Who May Abide" from Händel's Messiah, and Cecilia Bartoli in "L'anima del filosofo ossia" from Haydn's Orfeo ed Euridice, after the jump.

Cecilia Bartoli Becomes A Fan Of Mandarin Oriental Hotels

Cecilia Bartoli joins a long list of celebrities to become a "fan" of Mandarin Oriental Hotels. She was photographed in Barcelona by Mary McCartney wearing an Eliza J dress. Click here for more information (and one bonus video) about what the mezzo-soprano loves about staying at the hotels while she travels around the world. More photos after the jump.

Sumi Jo and Cecilia Bartoli: A 25-year Working Relationship

A video from circa 1987 shows Sumi Jo and Cecilia Bartoli working together with Herbert von Karajan in an excerpt of "Et in unum dominum" from Bach's Mass in B minor. Now more than 25 years later, they team up again for a recording of Bellini's Norma on Decca. 

Which Opera Singer Has the Most Facebook "Fans"?

La Netrebko comes in at a close second behind
Cecilia Bartoli (we've excluded Mr. Bocelli).

"Anna Netrebko knackte kürzlich die 75.000 Fan-Marke auf ihrem Facebook-Profil. Ein Anlass für uns einmal die Profile anderer Klassik-Künstler unter die Lupe zu nehmen. Während Anna Netrebko mittlerweile genau genommen schon bei 75.050 Fans angekommen ist, hat ihr Gatte Erwin Schrott gerade einmal 5.347 Likes auf Facebook gesammelt. Andere berühmte Klassik-Stars verweist 'La Netrebko' ebenfalls in ihre Schranken. So müssen sich beispielsweise auch ihr langjähriger Gesangspartner Rolando Villazón (mit knapp 13.800 Fans) und Sopranistin Renée Fleming (mit knapp 17.000 Fans) geschlagen geben. Auch Maestro Daniel Barenboim und Geigern Anne-Sophie Mutter erfreuen sich im Bereich Social Media nicht annähernd ausufernder Beliebtheit. Trotzdem darf bei sämtlicher Euphorie nicht in Vergessenheit geraten, dass es durchaus Glanzlichter gibt, die Anna Netrebkos Beliebtheit auf Facebook noch weitaus überstrahlen. So verzeichnet der italienische Tenor Andrea Bocelli z.B. mehr als 550.000 (!) Likes und auch Mezzosopranistin Cecilia Bartoli überholt sie knapp mit fast 79.300 Fans." [Source]

ECHO Klassik Vocal Award-Winners 2011

Singer of the Year: Simone Kermes

Sängerin des Jahres:
Simone Kermes
Sänger des Jahres:
Thomas Hampson
Nachwuchskünstler (Gesang):
Vittorio Grigolo
Klassik-ohne-Grenzen-Preis:
Rolando Villazón
Operneinspielung des Jahres:
Bejun Mehta
Operneinspielung des Jahres:
René Pape
Liedeinspielung des Jahres:
Diana Damrau
Musik-DVD-Produktion des Jahres (Oper):
Cecilia Bartoli

Opera Singers as Wax Figures at Musée Grévin in Paris

Opera blog Intermezzo reports today that Cecilia Bartoli has joined the ranks of fellow opera singers Maria Callas, Roberto Alagna and Luciano Pavarotti, by becoming a was figure herself at Musée Grévin in Paris, France. Check out another shot of Ms. Bartoli at the unveiling as well as photos of the other singers after the jump.

Royal Wedding Music, Part 2: Who Would Be Available To Sing?

POTENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR ROYAL WEDDING SOLOIST
In a business where professionals are contracted out five years in advance, what singer could possible be free to sing for the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011? Checking schedules of the top dozen front-runners for the job discloses that some could be a private jet ride away from the event:

Renée Fleming will have completed her last performance of Strauss's Capriccio at the Metropolitan Opera on April 23 and has a Strauss concert of orchestral songs and scenes from Arabella with the Berlin Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann.

Anna Netrebko sings the Pergolesi Stabat Mater on April 28 in Geneva, Switzerland, and again on May 2 in Toulouse, France.

Kate Royal makes her Metropolitan Opera debut the night of April 29 in Orfeo ed Euridice. The second performance of the run is May 4. There are only five performances of the Gluck opera.

Angela Gheorghiu has concerts on April 27 and May 1 at the National Concert Hall in Seoul, Korea.

Marina Poplavskaya is performing The Tsar's Bride of Rimsky-Korsakov at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden during the month of April and her penultimate performance in the run takes place at 7PM on April 29.

Cecilia Bartoli Talks About Singing, Roger Federer and Lady Gaga

Thanks to Kinderkuchen for pointing out this video interview with Cecilia Bartoli. In the hour-long segment for Stars, conducted with Sandra Studer in German and Italian, the mezzo-soprano discusses what it means to be an opera diva today, using her vocal technique to sing everything from Vivaldi to Mozart, working with Daniel Barenboim and her thoughts about his project with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, studying Flamenco dancing before deciding to sing for a career (and the influence her mother played), how Farinelli was the Michael Jackson of his day, choosing Lady Gaga as her pop artist of choice (over Beyoncé and Gianna Nannini), what it means to get the respect of her colleagues, her adulation of Roger Federer and his talent for the sport of tennis, when she feels like she has "won" a performance in the theater, whether she's satisfied with her work (she admits to being a perfectionist), her first experience singing the Sheperd boy in Tosca as a child and how it launched a career of music, as well as plans for singing Cleopatra in Händel's Giulio Cesare for the 2012 Salzburg Festival. Watch the video after the jump.

Congratulations Grammy Award Winners!

BEST CLASSICAL ALBUM

Verdi: Requiem

Riccardo Muti, conductor; Duain Wolfe, chorus master; Christopher Alder, producer; David Frost, Tom Lazarus & Christopher Willis, engineers/mixers; Silas Brown, mastering engineer (Ildar Abdrazakov, Olga Borodina, Barbara Frittoli & Mario Zeffiri; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Chorus) [CSO Resound]

BEST OPERA RECORDING

Saariaho: L'Amour De Loin

Kent Nagano, conductor; Daniel Belcher, Ekaterina Lekhina & Marie-Ange Todorovitch; Martin Sauer, producer (Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Rundfunkchor Berlin) [Harmonia Mundi]

BEST CHORAL PERFORMANCE

Verdi: Requiem

Riccardo Muti, conductor; Duain Wolfe, chorus master (Ildar Abdrazakov, Olga Borodina, Barbara Frittoli & Mario Zeffiri; Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Chorus) [CSO Resound]

BEST CLASSICAL VOCAL PERFORMANCE

Sacrificium

Cecilia Bartoli (Giovanni Antonini; Il Giardino Armonico) [Decca]

BEST CLASSICAL CROSSOVER ALBUM

Tin, Christopher: Calling All Dawns

Lucas Richman, conductor (Sussan Deyhim, Lia, Kaori Omura, Dulce Pontes, Jia Ruhan, Aoi Tada & Frederica von Stade; Anonymous 4 & Soweto Gospel Choir; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) [Tin Works Publishing]

Cecilia Bartoli Marries Oliver Widmer

BREAKING NEWS: According to OperaChic, Cecilia Bartoli has married longtime boyfriend (and baritone) Oliver Widmer.

The happy couple together in Halévy's Clari at the Zurich Opera House in March 2008

Viva Cecilia Bartoli!

(Photo: Decca)

Stuart Jeffries interviews the mezzo-soprano about such topics as her latest album Sospiri, castrati, scholarly research, voice longevity and her home in Zurich.

"So why not, while you wait, crossover to pop like so many of your peers have done? Then at least you might find someone who can write for your voice? 'I'm not against this,' she says, 'but for me the real crossover that makes sense now is to make people cross the bridge to come and

Rolex Keeps Time with the Arts

Top: Plácido Domingo, Jonas Kaufmann, Renée Fleming
Bottom: Bryn Terfel, Cecilia Bartoli, Rolando Villazón

"Since its inception at the beginning of the 20th century, Rolex has always encouraged individual excellence and the pursuit of perfection. In keeping with this long tradition, today it makes a particular contribution to the arts world through its various sponsoring activities."

(Photos: Rolex)