The Santa Fe Opera Announces 2016 Anniversary Season

The Santa Fe Opera has announced the 60th Anniversary Season for the summer of 2016! Operas will include La Fanciulla del West, Don Giovanni, Roméo et Juliette, Capriccio, and Vanessa. See the press release after the jump. (Photo: Paul Horpedahl)

New Zealand Opera Explores The Seediest Side Of "Don Giovanni"

"Almost done with this pole dance, but first....let me take a selfie"
(Photo: Stacy Squires/Fairfax)

"New Zealand Opera's production of Mozart's Don Giovanni opened its Auckland season on Thursday and had already courted a little bit of controversy as to its staging. Not the stuffy, fusty 18th Century costumes and street scenes for this production directed by Sara Brodie. Rather, the setting is in a seedy, dingy Spanish nightclub, completely devoid of any sophistication whatsoever. There are poledancers and a DJ in residence and smartphones, and selfies are taken. Apparently, there's some substance abuse as well although I have to say I missed that. But you get the idea. Not surprisingly, this has detracted from the other, arguably more important elements. How's the music, for starters? Were there any sacrifices made to the plot or libretto to accommodate the setting? And was it any good at all? The good news is that the music is good and it is a pretty decent production. While some might argue that some of the traditional elements to the story are reworked to suit the setting, the sets, created by designer John Verryt, are dynamic and up to the usual high standard we have become

Hell Hath No Fury: Anna Leese stars as Donna Elvira
(Photo: Mark Stone)

accustomed to with a New Zealand Opera production. NZO's music director Wyn Davies and the Auckland Philharmonia give their customary quality performance. And, most importantly, the cast is vocally strong. The two standouts in the cast have to be New Zealand soprano Anna Leese as Donna Elvira, one of Giovanni's victims, and Australian bass baritone Warwick Fyfe as Giovanni's long-suffering manservant Leporello." [Source]

"Don Giovanni" Gets Decoded In ABC's "Scandal"

Musical Scandal: Harrison (Columbus Short), Olivia 
(Kerry Washington),and Huck (Guillermo Díaz), 
decode the operatic message.

Season 2 - Episode 6: "A man rushes down the sidewalk to hand over a package to his neighborhood postal carrier. The mail truck turns the corner leaving the man standing on a peaceful suburban street. BANG! The man shoots himself in the head. The package he was so anxious to send off before committing suicide is addressed to Olivia Pope. There’s sheet music inside. Huck quickly determines this is actually a coded message asking for protection for a group of covert operatives. He knows the people on the list are spies because his name is amongst them." [Source] The sheet music that's inside the envelope is the tenor aria "Il mio tesoro" sung by the character Don Ottavio from Mozart's Don Giovanni. Listen to the full aria and see a full translation after the jump.

San Diego Opera Announces 2014-15 Season After Rescue

Seats at San Diego Civic Theatre
wait to be filled with opera fans.

"San Diego Opera’s Board of Directors voted today to rescind the decision to close the Company after nearly two months of careful analysis, deliberation and fundraising. The Company originally announced its closure and the sale of its assets on March 19, 2014. The original closure date was scheduled to occur on April 14, 2014, the day after the Company’s final sold-out performance of Don Quixote. A vote by the Board on March 31, 2014, delayed that closure by two weeks until April 29, 2014. Another vote by the Board on April 18, 2014, extended that closure date to at least May 19, 2014. Today’s vote on May 16, 2014, overturns the original decision to close. 'The public spoke, we listened, and we’re open for business,' shares Board President Carol Lazier, 'and do we have some great news to share with you!' In light of this news, San Diego Opera is announcing its 2015 season, the Company’s 50th. La bohème, Don Giovanni, and Nixon in China are the three operas being performed at the San Diego Civic Theatre. The Company will also celebrate its 50th anniversary with special Gala Concerts of favorite arias, duets, ensembles and choruses with the San Diego Symphony at Copley Symphony Hall. Additional events and performances are in the works, and will be announced shortly. The Company has also announced that the ongoing crowd funding effort has resulted in a total of $2,116,376 in donations from 2461 of donors as of midnight Sunday, May 18, 2014. 48% of these donors have never given before and represent gifts from six countries – Austria, Australia, Canada, England, Italy, Mexico & 36 States. The gifts range from $10 – $50,000 with a median gift of $100. Now that the $1 million goal has been reached, and the Company has announced a 2015 season, both triggers of the escrow account have been met and donations will be moved from the escrow account into the Company’s 2015 fund to be used for the just-announced season." [Source] See details of the season, including artists performing, after the jump.

Fun Insider Secret Onstage At The Metropolitan Opera

(Photo: Jonathan Tichler/MET Opera)

"Another small insider homage could be found on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera this month, in its lavish production of Der Rosenkavalier, by Richard Strauss. In the third act, after the boorish Baron Ochs’s attempted assignation at a tavern goes disastrously and hilariously wrong, he is besieged with bills from the innkeeper and a host of others. Invisible to the audience — whether sitting in the back of the Family Circle or the front of the orchestra — is what the long paper bills thrust at him actually say. In flowing cursive writing, the bills list the cast from the current production’s 1969 premiere, starting with the conductor, Karl Böhm, and naming everyone from Leonie Rysanek, who sang the Marschallin, to Christa Ludwig, who sang Octavian, to Charles Anthony, who was the innkeeper that night (and who sang some 2,928 mostly small roles at the Met during his long career). The tradition of these kinds of in jokes goes back centuries. Mozart’s Don Giovanni has an allusion in the last act to his own Le Nozze di Figaro." [Source]

Baltimore Ravens Justin Tucker Sings Opera (And Likes Soda)

Be a Pepper, Drink Dr. Pepper: Justin Tucker enjoys making music of all varieties

"Justin Paul Tucker (born November 21, 1989) is an American football placekicker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He was signed by the Ravens as an undrafted free agent in 2012. He played college football at the University of Texas. He graduated from Westlake High School, near Austin. Tucker played college football at the University of Texas. In 2011, concluding a 118 game rivalry with Texas A&M University and The University of Texas, Tucker kicked the game winning field goal as time expired. Texas (then ranked #25) won, 27-25. He played in the 2008 U.S. Army All-American Bowl." [Source] Watch the video of footballer Justin Tucker, performing "Deh vieni alla finestra" from Mozart's Don Giovanni as he sings the praises of Dr. Pepper, after the jump. You can also read more about the soda promotion by clicking here. 

Mario Monti Attends La Scala "Don Giovanni" Premiere

Anna Netrebko (Donna Anna) and Giuseppe Filianoti (Don Ottavio) in Don Giovanni at La Scala

"Italian Premier Mario Monti took a short culture break from promoting his package of austerity and growth measures to attend La Scala's gala season premiere of Don Giovanni on Wednesday – a presence that La Scala's general manager hopes bodes well for the future of culture in the country that invented opera. Conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Robert Carsen, the modernist and sexually

Mario Monti: Financial Savior?

charged production of Mozart's classic was enthusiastically received by an audience filled with cultural, political, fashion and business figures. Carnations showered on the performers while the audience applauded for 10 solid minutes. But this year, as Italy moves to confront a deepening financial crisis, just as important to Milan's famed opera house as the success on the stage was the presence in the audience of the head of government, head of state and four Cabinet ministers – which was taken as a signal that culture is taking center stage." [Source] One more photo of Anna Netrebko, during "Non mi dir" from the production, after the jump.

Interview With the Three Male Leads of the MET "Don Giovanni"

The British (Grandage), Polish (Kwiecen) and Italian (Luisi)
will recreate the Spanish legend of Don Juan.
(Photo: Robert Wright/New York Times) 

Zachary Woolfe has an interesting conversation with the director (Tony Award-winner Michael Grandage), the maestro (Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi) and the Don Giovanni (baritone Mariusz Kwiecen) about the new production of Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera: "Even if Mr. Grandage, 49, and Mr. Luisi, 53, bring fresh perspectives to the opera, it helps that they are working with singers well versed in the classic roles, including the baritone Mariusz Kwiecien, who had his breakthrough year at the Met in 2005 in two Mozart parts — the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro” and Guglielmo in Così Fan Tutte — under Mr. Levine. Mr. Kwiecien has made something of a specialty of the libertine Don." [Source]

Teddy Tahu Rhodes Reprises "Don Giovanni" Despite Costume

Click to enlarge Teddy Tahu Rhodes.
(Photo: Jeff Busby/Opera Australia)

"As far as grand entrances go, it was unforgettable. When opera's bass-baritone pin-up, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, bounded on to the Opera House stage six years ago wearing, ahem, not all that much as Mozart's infamous rogue, Don Giovanni, the audience audibly gasped. The 195-centimetre-tall Tahu Rhodes, who likes to keep in shape, was dressed in leather boxers, boots and a cape. Rarely has so much rippling flesh been seen on an operatic stage. 'Actually the original [costume] was a little less than that,' says Tahu Rhodes, 45, who's reprising the role for eight performances of Don Giovanni at Sydney Opera House from September 24 until October 15, when Jose Carbo takes over for the rest of the season. 'It was like Speedo leathers and I asked them to go to the boxer-type thing...

Trainer Steve Curran

because I wasn't so keen on that.' In fact, Tahu Rhodes isn't that keen to discuss his physique (but he is hoping his trainer, the hardcore Steve Curran from City Gym, will come to see him on stage). 'So much of it can be made about the body and I want to make it about the character, if I can,' he says. Tahu Rhodes says that although reprising the role is 'like putting on an old glove,' audiences will find 'he'll be a different don this time - he's a slightly older don.' [Source] Two more photos of Teddy Tahu Rhodes in the Opera Australia production of Don Giovanni after the jump.

Carlos Álvarez Returns to Opera After 22-Month Absence

(Photo: G. Barnuevo)

"Fiel a su discreción habitual, evita ser tajante sobre su futuro. Dos recaídas y tres intervenciones para superar su afección en las cuerdas vocales le obligan a ser prudente. Pero el «optimismo antropológico» no le abandona... y deja caer algunas pistas: «Si todo va bien, el genio de Salzburgo me dará de nuevo la alternativa en el rol del disoluto castigado en pleno otoño musical de una ciudad helvética». Traducción: el barítono Carlos Álvarez regresa a la ópera de la mano de Mozart en el papel protagonista de Don Giovanni. Será el 6 de noviembre en Zurich. Habrán transcurrido entonces casi dos años -22 meses- desde la última vez que el malagueño se subió al escenario para interpretar teatro lírico. «Y a partir de ahí, a seguir», apostilla. No es la primera ocasión en que se escuchará su voz en público tras el último revés en su salud. Ya actuó el 2 de mayo en Bilbao y, una semana después, en Albacete, pero en aquellas ocasiones ofreció conciertos con un repertorio de una vocalidad menos intensa. Era la prueba de fuego, el examen para demostrarse a sí mismo que podía cantar y que, con el tiempo, podría asumir óperas, el género con el que ha pisado las tablas de los más prestigiosos escenarios del mundo durante dos décadas." [Source]

The Amadeus Effect: How A 1984 Film Succeeds On Many Levels

Actor Tom Hulce portraying Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in what would become the role of a lifetime.

TCM is running Academy Award-winning movies all month long as a lead-up to this year's awards ceremony on February 27. Last night's feature was the 1984 musical bio-pic Amadeus. Written by Peter Shaffer and directed by Miloš Forman, the story is told from the perspective of Antonio Salieri who is delirious with fictionalized jealousy for a contemporary composer named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Perhaps at first glance the project may not have appealed to a high-brow society that puritanically fills concert halls and opera houses but it manages to introduce moviegoers to wonderful Mozart compositions, some for the first time. "Amadeus is a magnificent film, full and tender and funny and charming -- and, at the end, sad and angry, too, because in the character of Salieri it has given us a way to understand not only greatness, but our own lack of it. This movie's fundamental question, I think, is whether we can learn to be grateful for the happiness of others, and that, of course, is a test for sainthood." - Rogert Ebert, film critic. Read more about Mozart, Salieria, the cast of the film, and learn more about the music featured in Amadeus, after the jump.