Opera News Cover Revamp Resembles Vanity Fair Magazine

Opera News magazine has revealed a new cover layout with its September 2015 issue featuring soprano Diana Damrau. In an attempt to make the magazine more relevant to the popular masses, they may have taken a page out of Vanity Fair's typography handbook. Most notably is putting Ms. Damrau's given name in larger print while putting her surname in italics, which just inverts the concept VF uses. It's easy to compare with several other recent issues of VF and

almost feels like ON has lost its own unique identity. Even going back as far as 1990 when Madonna graced the VF cover with her pearls and plunging neckline like Ms. Damrau in the current ON issue. The Metropolitan Opera Guild publication has typically debuted a new wordmark every decade since its inception in 1936. The latest may be coming a bit early, but it might have something to do with the recent addition of publisher Diane Silberstein in May 2014. Perhaps the new look will help the magazine to gain attention on newstands for as long as it continues to remain in print before going strictly digital. Below are some of the most recent wordmarks over the last 20 years. Take an historical look back at the Opera News cover changes from the last 79 years, after the jump.

Rolex Sponsors New DG "Abduction" With Yannick Nezét-Séguin

"Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail features a star cast full of critically-acclaimed artists – including Rolando Villazón, Diana Damrau, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Anna Prohaska and Thomas Quasthoff. It is the third of DG’s series of seven Mozart operas conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and initiated by Rolando Villazón, in collaboration with Festspielhaus Baden Baden, U-Live, and sponsored by ROLEX." [Source] International release date is July 3, 2015. Purchase the recording by clicking here. Watch a video of the recording session featuring all of the artists, and the album cover art, after the jump. You can find the previous Mozart operas with Maestro Nézet-Séguin on DG by clicking here and here. 

Diana Damrau Shows Off Favorite "Hotspots" In New York City

She Made It After All: Diana Damrau in front of the Metropolitan Opera. She gives Austrian publication Kurier a 

tour of her favorite hotspots in New York City. Every destination the soprano enjoys, including the Meatpacking 

District, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Broadway Dance Center, Macy's Department Store, the Frick Collection, 

and more, are included in the article that is packed with photos as well. (Photo: Ulrich Wagner)

"'Diese Metropole, so multikulturell, hat eine unglaubliche Energie. Wenn ich von New York wieder weg bin, merke ich, dass ich immer noch vibriere und eigentlich hundemüde bin. Kein schlechtes Gefühl.' So beschreibt Diana Damrau Manhattan. 'Ich liebe den Sog dieser Stadt. Hier kann man ganz ruhig leben oder sich voll reinschmeißen." Ein Mal im Jahr steht die Stadt, die niemals schläft, auf dem Programm der deutschen Sängerin. Dann verbringt Damrau – sie gilt zurzeit als weltbeste Koloratursopranistin – bis zu sechs Wochen in New York. Der Grund: Die 43-jährige Bayerin ist ein gefragter Star an der Metropolitan Opera. Heuer stand sie bei der Wiederaufnahme von Massenets "Manon" sogar mit ihrem Ehemann, dem französischen Bassbariton Nicolas Testé, auf der Met-Bühne. Auf den vielen Reisen der Künstlerfamilie sind die Söhne, Alexander (4) und Colyn (2), und das Kindermädchen immer dabei. Businessclass im Flieger ist da selten drin. 'Wenn möglich, buchen wir Economy Plus,' erzählt die Diva – eine erfrischend natürliche, hübsche Frau, so frei von jeglichen Allüren. 'Theater habe ich auf der Bühne, das brauche ich zu Hause nicht.' Bevor die Buben auf der Welt waren – Damrau hatte ihr

Debüt an der Met 2005 als Zerbinetta – wohnte sie am liebsten mitten im West Village, nahe dem Meatpacking District. 'Entlang des Hudson Rivers bin ich kilometerweit mit den Inlineskates gefahren. Heute gehe ich dort auf der begrünten High Line mit meinen Jungs spielen. New York ist durchaus eine Stadt für Kinder.' Sie liebt das Sex and the City -Flair im West Village. Bei Tag laden die unzähligen Boutiquen, Galerien und Cafés zu einem Streifzug ein. Bei Nacht werden Kopfsteinpflaster und Backsteinhäuser des Meatpacking Districts zu einer schillernden Kulisse. 'I love it,' sagt Damrau, die neben Englisch und Deutsch auch Französisch, Italienisch und ein bisschen Spanisch spricht. Wenn sie nicht gerade mit ihren Kindern einen Spaziergang über die Brooklyn Bridge 'zur besten Eisdiele der Stadt' macht oder mit ihnen den Central Park Zoo besucht, 'gehe ich ins Broadway Dance Center, suche mir eine der vielen Kurse aus, zahle 17 Dollar und tanze oder steppe eine Stunde.' Meist ist die Sängerin mit dem Taxi oder dem Bus – 'da sieht man mehr als in der U-Bahn' – unterwegs. Bei Macy’s, dem größten Kaufhaus der Welt, müsse sie bei jedem New-York-Aufenthalt ein Mal hineinschauen. Zu ihren Lieblingsmuseen zählt, neben dem Metropolitan Museum of Art, die Frick Collection. 'In sechs Wochen lässt sich, trotz meiner Arbeit, schon einiges in dieser herrlichen Stadt unternehmen.' Nach den 'Good Vibrations' von New York freut sich die Belcantospezialistin dann doch immer wieder auf ein bisschen Ruhe und Landluft. 'Ich bin ein Landei, ich brauche die Natur.'" [Source]

Doritos Capitalizes On The Popularity Of Duet By Delibes

Doritos, promoting their "Go For Bold" campaign, created a commercial for the Super Bowl that uses a duet from the opera Lakmé by Delibes. The piece, "Viens, Mallika, les lianes en fleurs....Dôme épais, le jasmin," comes from Act I of the opera and is commonly known as the "Flower Duet." Read more about the opera by clicking here. See several interpretations featuring sopranos Anna Netrebko, Sumi Jo, Joan Sutherland, Renée Fleming, Diana Damrau, Montserrat Caballé, and more, after the jump.

San Franciso Opera Continues "First Kiss" Series With Stars

San Francisco has a second installment of their video series "First Opera Kiss," asking singers to recall their inaugural stage smooch. This round includes Diana Damrau, Ailyn Pérez, Ellie Dehn, Mary Dunleavy, Simon O'Neill, Nadine Sierra, and Karen Slack. Click here for the first set of videos. Watch the new videos after the jump. 

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.

Diana Damrau Fans Flames With Vocal Pyrotechnics For Erato

The artwork and track listing was previously revealed for Diana Damrau's forthcoming release Fiamma del Belcanto. Now the Warner Classics label gives us an inside look at the recording process in a new EPK. "In her first recital album devoted entirely to Italian opera, soprano Diana Damrau takes the golden age of bel canto, the early 19th century, as the starting point for an exploration of theatrical and musical passion that leads to the high-octane verismo drama of the 1890s. Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini and Leoncavallo are lit up by her coloratura pyrotechnics and dramatic prowess." [Source] Watch the EPK in full, and see two new publicity photos for the album, after the jump.

Diana Damrau "Fiamma Del Belcanto" Full Of Fireworks

Diana Damrau's upcoming release for Erato this spring, Fiamma del Belcanto, will feature the soprano in hardcore repertoire of Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi. The Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino is conducted by Gianandrea Noseda in works ranging from Rosmonda d'Inghilterra to Luisa Miller. The result is sure to please fans of the soprano as she mixes both familiar repertoire like "Sempre libera" from La Traviata with new offerings like "Lo Sguardo Avea Degli Angelilo" from I Masnadieri throughout the disc. The international release date is March 27, 2015. Pre-order a copy here. The full track list is after the jump.

Diana Damrau On Her Mad Journey With "Lucia di Lammermoor"

A Vision of Delirium: Diana Damrau
(Photo: Rebecca Fay)

"So when did this particular journey begin? 'I saw my first Lucia performance in Vienna standing in the famous Stehplätze [standing places] for a few euros,' she tells me. 'I was a student and I went to Vienna and I got to see Edita Gruberová in Lucia. But I think I already heard the Sutherland recording and also Callas.' And the Damrau version? She’s probably more ‘Callas’ than ‘Sutherland’. But where have her ideas about the part come from? 'Lucia di Lammermoor is the most veristic of the bel canto roles,' she explains. 'The madness of Lucia makes it a real role for acting and singing. Lucia’s madness is an illness. It’s not just a vehicle for a soprano to show her skills and her technique. I talked to doctors about that. She is bipolar and you can hear that very clearly in the first aria.' The particularly modern concept of a bipolar bel canto heroine is intriguing and Damrau has clearly thought it through. 'She gets very, very happy and almost frenetic when she talks about her visions. And ill people can have visions – she’s not just the standard ‘romantic’ figure of the time. Because she is bipolar she really gets very dark and very frightened. Everything seems to be real and very dramatic to her.

Click here to purchase the recording.

She’s under great, great pressure because her mother has died and she’s in a really bad situation. This comes to its peak when she finds out her brother betrayed her – that he forced her into a political marriage and everyone around her has actually manipulated her. When Edgardo comes back and curses her and says, 'you betrayed love and you betrayed God', that’s more tension than she can take. Then the illness comes. The madness breaks out and she kills someone.'" [Source] Read Diana Damrau's tribute to Maria Callas by clicking here. You can sample Erato's new recording of Lucia di Lammermoor featuring Diana Damrau. A video of the mad scene from the recording is after the jump.

Diana Damrau Dives Into Unfamiliar Territory With Kent Nagano

Chant Japonais: Listen to Diana Damrau's interpretation
 of Japanese songs for children by clicking here and 
purchase the recording here.

"One day, Kent Nagano listened carefully when his wife was singing a children’s song to his daughter. The song told a chapter of Japanese history previously unknown to him: It told of emotion, tenderness, love – and bitterness. The song originates from a period when Japan had to open up to the West. At this time, Japan was suffering from over population, starvation and poverty. “These songs came to me very late. Though of Japanese heritage, my family came to America at the end of the 19th century leaving me three generations away from Japan. I came down one morning to breakfast and found my daughter listening to these songs on a little recording, and my wife was singing along with the songs to try to teach them to my daughter.” His daughter Karin Kei was three years old on the day she inspired one of her father’s most ambitious projects. Kent Nagano was so touched by the lyrics and sounds of the songs that he immediately started researching their source. “After quite a while, I’d say six weeks or two months, after listening every morning to these intriguing and beautiful melodies, it occurred to me that due to my limited Japanese, I had no complete comprehension of what they were about, and so I asked my daughter to explain the texts. Her translation, confirmed by my wife, revealed a complex and profoundly poetic collection of texts. They were at once both intensely moving emotionally and disturbing. Their haunting, mysterious beauty has continued to entice all generations since their creation making them actual and vividly relevant to our modern world.” In Japan, the songs that enchanted Nagano are commonly known as 'Shoka', or school hymns. They are based on famous Japanese poetry, but are composed in the Western musical style. The songs emerged during the era of the Meiji-Restorations in the outgoing 19th and early 20th centuries. It was the time when Japan finally opened itself to the West after close to 250 years of reclusiveness. The backward feudal state transformed into a modern imperial world power. It was in this period of economic and cultural upheaval that the children’s 'Shoka' came into being. Sometimes the lyrics deal with day to day

life, while other songs tell of the strangers coming ashore in Japan. Some tell the stories of Japanese who went overseas to flee the poverty at home. The songs from ancient times have left a deep impression on the American conductor and rekindled his interest in his Japanese roots. Kent Nagano wanted to bring them to public attention by a performance with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. His friend, Peter Schmidt, a famous designer from Hamburg, created animated short films to support the musical event." [Source] Read more about the recording, and hear four full tracks off the recording, after the jump.

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.

Watch Diana Damrau As Violetta In "La Traviata" From La Scala

Soprano Diana Damrau (Violetta) with director Dmitri Tcherniakov discussing the opera

Erato Crosses Over Coloraturas Dessay And Damrau

Click here to purchase the album

Entre Elle et Lui - Après une enfance passée en adoration pour les chansons de Michel Legrand, et de nombreux concerts avec lui à travers la France ces 3 dernières années, Natalie Dessay vient d'enregistrer cet album au parfum délicieux: des chansons dans le cœur de tous les français, simplement accompagnées par Michel Legrand au piano, Pierre Boussaguet à la contrebasse, François Laizeau à la batterie et Catherine Michel à la harpe. Et si Michel Legrand chante avec elle Les Moulins de mon cœur, deux invités de marque, Patricia Petibon et Laurent Naouri, viennent flâner chacun à leur tour, le temps d’un duo avec Natalie.

Click here to purchase the album

Forever - Das gilt auch für die Sängerin selbst, sodass das Album tatsächlich so etwas wie den „Soundtrack ihres Lebens“ darstellt – mit Erinnerungen an „My Fair Lady“ aus ihrer Anfangszeit in Würzburg oder an die Jahre, in denen sie als Heranwachsende voller Bewunderung Operetten-Platten mit Anneliese Rothenberger und Lucia Popp hörte. Schon damals wurde ihr klar: „Die Operette hätte einen viel besseren Ruf verdient, denn sie erreicht nicht nur unsere Herzen, sondern sie erzählt auch von den Irrungen und Wirrungen des Lebens.“ Das Repertoire des Albums Forever reicht von Operettenmelodien von Meistern wie Lehár und Strauß über Songs von Sondheim, Gershwin, Lloyd Webber und Bernstein bis hin zu Liedern aus „Mary Poppins“, „Arielle“ und anderen Musicals. Ein Höhepunkt ist sicher „Lippen schweigen“ aus Lehárs „Lustiger Witwe“ – mit Rolando Villazón als Duettpartner. 

Full track listing after the jump for both albums, along with a special bonus feature on one diva that has covered all of this territory in the past.

Celebrate Franz Liszt's 200th Birthday With Diana Damrau

Click on the image to listen to audio samples from soprano

Diana Damrau's new album Liszt Lieder.

Diana Damrau Fall Release to Include Album of Liszt Lieder

TRACK LISTING:
01 Der Fischerknabe
02 Im Rhein, im schönen Strome
03 Die Lorelei
04 Die Drei Zigeuner
05 Es war ein König in Thule
06 Ihr Glocken von Marling
07 Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh
08 Der du von dem Himmel bist
09 Benedetto sia'l giorno
10 Pace non trovo
11 I vidi in terra angelici costumi
12 Freudvoll und leidvoll
13 Vergiftet sind meine Lieder
14 Freudvoll und leidvoll (1860)
15 Es rauschen die Winde
16 Die stille Wasserrose
17 Bist du!
18 Es muss ein Wunderbares sein
19 O lieb
Diana Damrau, soprano
Helmut Deutsch, piano
Virgin Classics
Product ID: 0709282
Release dates: Germany - 10/21/11; USA & France - 11/1/11 

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

MET in Japan: More Photos (Yes, Even Cuter)

Did you miss the first images posted of the Metropolitan Opera's tour of Japan? Well, now you can check out the second gallery just launched. This time around more production photos and backstage events are captured. (Photos: Photo: Koichi Miura/Met Opera)

Tenor Rolando Villazón serenades the crowd after a performance in Japan.

Villazón with the adorable Alexander, son of soprano Diana Damrau.

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.

Diva Débutantes Spice Up New Releases on Decca, DG & Sony

Among the sopranos making their debut recordings in the coming months, there are sprinklings of returning favorites like Diana Damrau and Danielle de Niese. Click on the images to enlarge. Enjoy!

Diana Damrau Looks Glorious Post-Pregnancy in Rossini

Soprano Diana Damrau gets the royal gown treatment in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Rossini's Le Comte Ory. Costume designer Catherine Zuber works magic on the relatively new mother as she floats about the stage in these exquisitely colorful dresses playing the character of Countess Adèle. The opera will be presented "Live in HD" and broadcast in movie theaters around the world on April 9th. More images after the jump.

(Photo: Marty Sohl/The Metropolitan Opera)