Anna Netrebko Answers The Guardian's Probing Questions

Anna Netrebko wears a Zac Posen gown in this
Dario Acosta portrait from 2013.

While in London for performances of La Bohème and in honor of her upcoming engagement at the Royal Albert Hall in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, Anna Netrebko answered some musical questions posed by The Guardian in their "Facing the Music" series. Find out what music she listens to when traveling the world; why she recently purchased several Aida recordings; her thoughts on concert etiquette when it comes to applause; why the organ is an intriguing instrument to her; that time she enjoyed Elton John and Lady Gaga; the most recent Broadway musical she's seen (and loved...); whether a collaboration with Justin Bieber is in her future; and what she sings in the shower. Read the full questionnaire here.

Anna Netrebko Ushers Out John Copley "La Bohème" At ROH

Living on Love: Rodolfo (Joseph Calleja) and Mimì (Anna Netrebko) struggle to make ends meet,
but they still have each other until death do them part at Covent Garden.

"So now we bid farewell to another dear old friend, as John Copley’s venerable production of Puccini’s weepie, rich in period detail and devoid of interpretative tricks, is being laid to rest after four decades in service, embracing twenty-six revivals and well over two hundred sold-out performances. To be honest, this loyal carthorse of a show does seem a trifle sclerotic nowadays. I’ve seen stagings recently that feel more youthfully raw and emotionally urgent; aspects of its 'realism' look dated; and the second interval slows the pace down unhelpfully. But the tableaux for the snowy Barrière d’Enfer and bustling Café Momus remain wonderfully atmospheric, and the straightforward characterisations never inhibit the singers. Richard Jones, rumoured to be

Herr Direktor: Read more about 
John Copley by clicking here.

commissioned for a replacement, will have his work cut out to provide anything sturdier. Copley, a spry octogenarian, returned to rehearse this final outing and made a lively job of it. Sharp cameos from Ryland Davies (Alcindoro) and Donald Maxwell (Benoit) sprinkled light relief. Marco Vinco’s Colline mourned his pawned coat in style, Lucas Meachem presented an exuberant jock of a Marcello, and Jennifer Rowley was a brassy Musetta, with a touch of Ethel Merman about her gusto....His Mimi was the mercurial Anna Netrebko, in lustrous voice. She is not a subtle artist, and having adjusted her focus to more dramatic repertory, her resinous soprano can’t convey the fragility of the consumptive flower-girl. She also failed to float the rapturous 'ball of light' note at the end of Act I. But she never just phones it in or holds back à la Gheorghiu, and here she gave of herself unstintingly, most notably in an affecting account of the third act - one of Puccini’s most masterly inspirations." [Source]

Sondra Radvanovsky Not Afraid To Throw Herself Into Tosca Role

The calm before the storm: La Radvanovsky as Puccini's heroine Tosca. (Photo: Catherine Ashmore)

"In the title role, the American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was quite stunning. Her voice has astounding power with thrilling high notes. Her acting ranged from coquettish and suspicious with Cavaradossi to tragic when submitting to Scarpia, but was convincing throughout....Finally, there is Tosca's leap to her death. All too often, this is a tentative little step across the parapet, giving the impression that the soprano is a bit worried that he might sprain her ankle or chip a fingernail as she plummets to her doom. Claire Rutter showed us how it should be done at ENO a year or two ago, and Radvanovsky followed her lead with a wondrously graceful slow fall backwards. This was not just a good leap, it was a great leap, well worth an extra star on its own." [Source] For more information about the production, please click here. Also, after the jump, a wonderful marketing photo for the production that depicts the jump.

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.

Is Angela Gheorghiu Tasting Forbidden Fruit At The Opera?

After last week's revelations about Ms. Gheorghiu's tumultuous marriage to Roberto Alagna and her affair with Cezar Ouatu, Romanian websites (1, 2, and 3) are trying to romantically link her to co-star tenor Charles Castronovo. He was formerly involved with another soprano before settling down into marriage with Russian soprano Ekaterina Siurina. The rumored pair are performing together in La Rondine at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London. One has to wonder how long it will be before accusations start to fly that she had a fling with former tenor colleague James Valenti. Pictures of all the gentlemen are after the jump.

Harry Bicket To Spend More Time in the Summer Desert

(Photo: Richard Haughton)

"Harry Bicket, the British early music specialist, is to be the next chief conductor of Santa Fe Opera, starting in October. He succeeds conductor Frederic Chaslin, who resigned last August after just two seasons on the job, saying he wanted to focus on composing and his duties as music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Bicket's appointment, announced on Wednesday morning, is to some extent an indication of the inroads Baroque music has made in the traditional operatic establishment. He is currently manning the pit in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Metropolitan Opera. His opera resume also includes Handel performances at the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment." [Source]

The Collaborations of Sir Colin Davis and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Sir Colin Davis (September 25, 1927 – April 14, 2013) made innumerable contributions to the opera world, but it was one singer in particular with whom he shared quite a number of recordings after first working together on Le Nozze di Figaro: Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Their catalog includes complete recordings of Don Giovanni and Faust, recital discs of Mozart opera arias (Il re pastore, Zaide, La finta giardiniera, etc.) and sacred arias (Vesperae solennes de confessore; "Exsultate, jubilate" K. 165). Here are some samples of their work together:

"Laudate dominum"

"Ruhe sanft, mein holdes leben"

"Exsultate, jubilate"

"Or sai chi l'onore

For more about the conductor's involvement with opera in England, check out the The Telegraph's brief story here.

Design Firm aka Hopes to Attract Young Audience with Campaign

"Marketing agency aka has designed a campaign for the Royal Opera House’s 2012 Autumn programme, One Extraordinary World. The designs used on the season brochures will also be seen across all other printed collateral, advertising, hoardings and online platforms, which also use video content to further develop the concept. aka was appointed to the project following a creative pitch last October. The consultancy worked with photographer Kevin Macintosh and production designer Daryl McGregor on the project. aka also created the One Extraordinary World strapline.Matt Dixon, creative director of aka, says, ‘We wanted to bring a new audience to opera, drive ticket sales and open it up to people who wouldn’t normally consider opera and ballet, who perhaps see it as prohibitive or they can’t identify with those artforms. We wanted to open it up through storytelling.’ The imagery is influenced by ‘contemporary fashion and production values’, according to aka; and the visual concept aims to represent ‘the moment between heaven and hell, love and loss, and darkness and light." See more images and read more here.

Future Warning to All Critics Who Want to Become Composers

"Composer Michael Nyman, who wrote the music for Jane Campion’s 1993 film The Piano and is a long-term collaborator with Peter Greenaway, is furious that the Royal Opera House has rebuffed his approaches to stage a work in Covent Garden — and he has threatened to withdraw his tax in protest. Writing about himself in the third person on Facebook, he comments: 'Michael Nyman has just been informed that the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, will never commission an opera and will therefore spend whatever remains of his creative life without a single note of any of his operas, written or unwritten, represented on the stage of any opera house in the UK, ever. Maybe I should withdraw my tax.' Nyman, whose operas include The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat, now lives in Mexico City. He laments: 'They are continuing to pay for new work, but not my work. Maybe they remember when I was a music critic in 1971, there was a laughable production of Rigoletto, which my companion and I laughed at throughout, and John Higgins, arts editor of the Financial Times, complained about ‘two badly behaved people in the Spectator seats’. Enough to kill a career as a composer, I guess.' Over to the Royal Opera House: 'Michael Nyman came to ROH with the proposition for a major operatic piece. Having given serious thought to his suggestion, and listened again to his operatic music in depth, we have decided that for us his musical language is not what we want to pursue in our next commissions. This is not a dismissal of Michael Nyman as a composer in general, nor a statement about the quality of his music, as such things can, of course, not be discussed objectively. In the end, it is a question of taste.'" [Source]

"Aida" Royal Opera House (1968): High Camp AND High Quality

Tony Hall, Chief Executive of the ROH, Takes Risks in Arts

The Guardian interviews Tony Hall about coming from the BBC to Covent Garden and the risks involved with leading an arts organization. He also offers advice for young people hoping to go after a position like his one day. Read the full interview here.

ROH Pays Tribute to Dame Joan Sutherland With New Exhibit

"Dame Joan Sutherland began her professional career at the Royal Opera House in 1952. An exhibition of costumes, photos, programmes and posters has been painstakingly put together. Costumes, headdresses and jewellery from productions such as Lucrezia Borgia designed by Michael Stennett, La Traviata designed by Franco Zeffirelli, Norma designed by Alan Barlow, Anna Bolena designed by John Pascoe and The Midsummer Marriage, designed by Barbara Hepworth, are on display. Exhibitions and Heritage Publications Manager at the Royal Opera House, Cristina Franchi, spoke to BBC News." [Source] Click here to launch the video.

Kate Middleton (aka Duchess of Cambridge) As Benefactress?

In addition to supporting opera and ballet,
the Duchess (as depicted here by Zoran Zarre)
may be an advocate for art as well.

"The Duchess of Cambridge famously entrusted her future father-in-law with helping her choose the music for her wedding. And he did her proud, particularly with Sir Hubert's 'I Was Glad' which played as she walked down the aisle. But it wasn't the first time she turned to Prince Charles for musical advice and education. The pair have been making secret visits to London's Royal Opera House since well before Catherine got married. A Royal Opera House source told The Telegraph: 'The Duchess of Cambridge and the Prince of Wales have made several private visits to the Royal Opera House together, before and since the royal wedding in April, to watch several opera and ballet productions. 'The Prince is a firm supporter of the Opera House and the Duchess also seems to hugely enjoy her visits to Covent Garden. Both have been very enthusiastic about the productions they have seen together.'" [Source]

Eglise Gutiérrez Discusses Her Role in ROH "La Sonnambula"

Angela Gheorghiu In Director's Chair (Literally) For Cinema News

Angela Gheorghiu with Sergei Polunin and
Lauren Cuthbertson celebrate the launch
together. (Photo: Nigel Norrington)

"More than 700 cinemas across the world will screen performances from Covent Garden as part of Royal Opera House Cinema, a new venture that was launched yesterday evening. Angela Gheorghiu with Sergei Polunin and Lauren Cuthbertson celebrate the launch of The Royal Opera House's cinema season. It is the first time that Royal Opera and Royal Ballet productions have been broadcast by ROH exclusively. The 2011/12 programme will feature ten shows, five broadcast live and five recently recorded. Tony Hall, ROH chief executive, said: 'What we love about cinema is making what we do here available to as many people as we can – great art, great opera and ballet should be for everybody. If you are thinking, that sounds a little bit pie, it’s also great fun and why shouldn’t people enjoy themselves as they do here too.' The season will open with Faust on September 28 and also includes Adriana Lecouvreur, Tosca, Cendrillon, Il Trittico, Madame Butterfly and Rigoletto, all by the Royal Opera, and the Royal Ballet’s productions of The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet and La Fille Mal Gardee. Soprano Angela Gheorghiu will star in the first three opera productions of the cinema season, taking the title roles in Adriana Lecouvreur and Tosca and playing Marguerite in Faust." [Source]

Royal Opera House Selling Luchino Visconti Costumes

"Do you fancy dressing up as a medieval knight from Lohengrin? Or does a night at the ballet remind you how dull is your daily attire? Then take note – on the weekend of 24/25 September, we’re holding a massive costume sale. Pick up some period footwear, or a magnificent hat. Or buy a full outfit from the ballet The Sleeping Beauty or the 1958 production of Don Carlo. Prices are reasonable from £20 to £500 and all proceeds go towards the work of the Royal Opera House. More than 1500 costumes are up for grabs. Trying to describe this varied collection would be impossible; there are all shapes, colours and periods possible, from opera and ballet. Take your pick from productions including Lohengrin, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, Erwartung, Maskarade, Don Carlo (Visconti version), Parsifal and The Sleeping Beauty. The sale is at our production workshop in Essex. You can make it a day out; there’s beautiful walled gardens and an orchard, a cafe and a children’s play area. The 14-acre site also boasts Grade II listed buildings. It’s a lovely spot to discover." [Source]

More information and directions after the jump.

Angela Gheorghiu For Royal Opera House Olympic Programme

Anna Nicole Opera Rated 16+

According to the Royal Opera House website Mark-Anthony Turnage's new opera about the ill-fated starlet Anna Nicole Smith, and thought to be the season's most-anticipated event, will not be suitable for young viewers: "Ages 16 +. A celebrity story of our times that includes extreme language, drug abuse and sexual content." 

We previously gave a run-down of the production and cast, but an update with a juicy synopsis and titillating photo keeps things lively. [Source]