Andris Nelsons Innaugural Concert With Kaufmann & Opolais To Air

"Andris Nelsons’s first season as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra has come and gone — but in case you missed it entirely, you wanted more, or you just wondered what all the buzz was about, you can now catch a glimpse of the new partnership from the comfort of your living room. On Friday at 9 p.m., PBS will broadcast the young Latvian conductor’s inaugural concert with the orchestra, recorded live in Symphony Hall last September....Among the highlights on the night itself were the contributions of the two star vocal soloists, especially tenor Jonas Kaufmann’s outstanding performance of 'In Fernem Land' from Act III of Lohengrin, an account whose intensity and poetry is conveyed here. The Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais, Nelsons’s wife, sings a vivid 'Un Bel Di' from Madama Butterfly as well as a smoldering duet with Kaufmann: 'Tu, Tu, amore? Tu?' from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, a work this pair is slated to perform together next season in a new Met production directed by Richard Eyre. For an additional opening night souvenir, the two singers also offered as an encore a melting, sweet-toned account of 'O Soave Fanciulla' from the Act I finale of La Bohème." [Source]

(Photo: Chris Lee)

Life Ball Stars: Opolais, Netrebko, Eyvazov, Beczala, Flórez, Quasthoff, Pape

View image | gettyimages.com

View image | gettyimages.com

 

More photos after the jump of Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Flórez, Kristīne Opolais, Piotr Beczała, René Pape, Thomas Quasthoff, and Yusif Eyvazov.

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.

Kristian Schuller Is New Metropolitan Opera Brochure Photographer

Kristine Opolais as Manon Lescaut by 
Kristian Schuller for MET 2015-16 season

On February 18, 2015, The Metropolitan Opera announced its 2015-16 season. As new productions and artist debuts were heralded, something else was new in the presentation: the photographer. In previous seasons, photographer Brigitte Lacombe was tasked with capturing opera stars in costume for upcoming new productions via lavish photo shoots for the brochure. Now we look through the lens of Paris-based fashion photographer Kristian Schuller. He was born in Hălchiu, Romania, on December 24, 1970. His grandfather was a priest in Cata and his father is the controversial playwright and director Frieder Schuller. He emigrated with his parents and brother to Germany at an early age, growing up in Bonn and Düsseldorf. Interested in fashion since youth, he began to study clothing design with Vivienne Westwood in 1997. Within the next five years she would take him to France to introduce him to the world of fashion shows and the atmosphere of Paris. It was during this time that he discovered an interest in photography. He studied with F.C. Gundlach at the University of Fine Arts Berlin and decided to combine his two loves to become

Lens Meister: Photographer Kristian Schuller seen
with Metropolitan Opera star Anna Netrekbo
during a photo shoot for Deutsche Grammophon

a fashion photographer. In 2003, English fashion editor Isabella Row brought him to Condé Nast Publications in London. Here he had the opportunity to shoot top models like Gisele Buendchen, Amber Arbucci, and Heidi Klum in original and creative settings for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, and Glamour. He married his partner Peggy, who serves as a designer and stylist for his shoots, in 2007. They collaborate on the process for new series. At the beginning he makes rough sketches of ideas for sets and costumes. His inspiration comes from old photographs, art history, and films (particularly those by Federico Fellini). He has stated that his work is also influenced by theater experiences in childhood. Once the initial concept is done, he works with Peggy on locations, models, hairstyles, make-up, and clothing. By 2010 he was serving as a guest judge on Heidi Klum's television show Germany's Next Top Model. That same year he released his first book, 90 Days, One Dream. He photographed actress Penelope Cruz for Campari's 2013 calendar. Most recently he is known in the world of opera for photographing soprano Anna Netrebko for her Verdi album of arias on Deutsche Grammophon. Another of his captivating photos appears on the cover of her latest release: Vier letzte lieder by Richard Strauss. Learn more about the photographer on his official website and look at fashion images on his Instagram account. Examine the whole season and brochure photos at the official site of the MET. See a plethora of extra images from the 2015-16 season of The Metropolitan Opera as captured by Kristian Schuller, as well as two bonus shots, after the jump. [Source, Source, Source, Source]

Sondra Radvanovsky captured by Kristian Schuller in the photo shoot for Roberto Devereux

Kristian Schuller in the photo shoot for Roberto Devereux

Kristīne Opolais And Jonas Kaufmann Not Exactly Headed For Sand

Kristīne Opolais and Jonas Kaufmann in rehearsal
for Manon Lescaut which opens June 24 in London.
(Photo: Bill Coooper/Royal Opera House)

"Louisiana, early 18th century. A few kilometres outside New Orleans: Manon and her lover, Des Grieux, have escaped the city on foot, hoping to reach an English settlement. What lies ahead of them seems insurmountable: plains so vast and mountains so high they would daunt the roughest and hardiest of men and women. As night falls, Manon can walk no further and succumbs to the unavoidable. She collapses from thirst and weariness, and dies in the ‘the depths of the desert’. The inhospitable land the two lovers describe in the last act of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut has more than puzzled contemporary audiences and directors alike. The original poster of the opera’s 1893 premiere showed sun-baked arid hills and what appears to be like an agave plant (more commonly found 2,000km away in the accurately arid desert of Arizona, not in Louisiana). To put it mildly, the setting is a largely inaccurate description of the outskirts of New Orleans, even some three centuries ago. Devastating hurricanes aside, the southern city is used to a healthy amount of rainfall. And water also abounds in lakes, streams and other watercourses that dissect this meandering delta region of the Mississippi River. It's an area alive with mammals, birds and reptiles. In fact, rather than thirst, it's likely that hungry coyotes or alligators would have led to Puccini heroine's untimely demise. So why did the composer and his librettists get it so apparently wrong?

Drowning in a flood from some hurricane might
have been more realistic than a desert death.

The original source of the opera and later adaptations offer a few possible clues. In his 1731 novel L’Histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, French writer Abbé Prévost gives some details about what was then predominantly uncharted territory to European colonizers. Apart from a mention of ‘barren and uninhabited plains’, the author describes Manon’s resting ground only briefly: ‘We sat down in the middle of a vast plain, unable to find a single tree to give us shelter.’ One of the last scenes of the 1830 ballet-pantomime Manon, by dramatist Eugène Scribe, is also set in the ‘vast desert of New Orleans.’ But his 1856 opera Manon Lescaut, with music by Daniel François Esprit Auber, takes place in the ‘plains, and forests of North America.’ Both Prévost and Scribe seemed to have portrayed a settlers’ misconception about much of America west of the Appalachian Mountains." [Source] Read the entire article by Mattia Cabitza by clicking here. See the original poster for Manon Lescaut and a photo of Kiri Te Kanawa with Plácido Domingo in the 1983 production at the ROH, after the jump.

Operatic Selfie For The Ages At Opera News Awards

Luca Pisaroni posted the operatic equivalent of the infamous Ellen Degeneres selfie from the Academy Awards. Some pretty big names in this photo, including: Stephen Costello, Susan Graham, Kristīne Opolais, Ailyn Perez and Joyce DiDonato. (Photo: Facebook)

Nicole Car Wins Neue Stimmen Vocal Competition In Germany

"Australian soprano Nicole Car has won joint first prize in Germany’s Neue Stimmen vocal competition. She takes home 15,000 euros. The American soprano, Nadine Sierra was the co-winner amongst the women with Russian soprano Kristina Mkhitaryan placed third. Nicole, who can be seen next year with Opera Australia as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Mimi in La Bohème and Desdemona in Otello, was in excellent voice....Nicole, who received a Bachelor of Music from the University of Melbourne in 2007 was awarded the title Symphony Australia Young Vocalist the same year. Her debut as Donna Anna at Victorian Opera followed in 2009. Since 2011 Nicole has appeared as Donna Anna, Mimi and Micaëla with Opera Australia in Sydney....The televised competition held in Gütersloh is billed as the world’s biggest and has previously thrown up names such as Nathalie Stutzmann, Kristīne Opolais, Vesselina Kasarova and René Pape. This year’s jury included such vocal luminaries as Anja Silja, Siegfried Jerusalem and Francisco Araiza." [Source] Watch an interview video about the soprano after the jump, as well as a stupendous rendition of "Caro nome" by Nadine Sierra.