"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.

Callas And Tebaldi Still Rivals Thanks To Their Record Labels

In the 1950s, two sopranos reigned supreme at the premiere opera houses of the world: Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas. There was overlapping repertoire between the artists and both sang in many of the same venues. Was there a real rivalry between these ladies or was it all salaciousness spurred on by the media? "Though many of the stock obituaries of Tebaldi characterized her rivalry with Callas as trumped up by the press, there was, in fact, much truth behind it - and it says much about who Tebaldi was and what she represented. Problems started in 1950, according to Robert Levine's clearheaded book Maria Callas: A Musical Biography (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers), when the two were alternating performances of La Traviata in Rio de Janeiro. At a gala concert, they sang their scheduled arias, and despite a no-encores agreement, Tebaldi sang two. When the two appeared at social occasions, it got ugly. Later, management favored Tebaldi over Callas, and the latter was fired - no doubt traumatized. After the two became more established, Callas was quoted as saying, 'If the time comes when my dear friend Renata Tebaldi sings Norma or Lucia one night, then Violetta, La Gioconda or Medea the next - then and only then will we be rivals. Otherwise, it is like comparing champagne with cognac. No, with Coca-Cola.'" [Source] Fans became divided and the general

Diva Love: Tebaldi (left) and Callas in 1968

sentiment for hearing Verdi's La Forza del Destino at the time was: If you want to hear Leonora sung beautifully listen to Tebaldi, if you want to know the fate of Leonora listen to Callas. Whatever the real story, the true details are taken to the beyond since both have long since passed on. During their careers, the media scandals did serve to bring the two singers much more attention in the public eye. That legacy lives on. As previously announced, Warner Classics will release the complete discography of Maria Callas with a new remastering of the original tapes. Decca Classics will match that by offering a limited edition 66-disc box set of the complete Renata Tebaldi recordings for the label. The international release date is October 31, 2014. Order your copy now by clicking here. See a few more pictures of La Tebaldi after the jump.

Tamar Iveri Plans Charity Concert For Violence Victims

"A Georgian opera singer plans a charity concert dedicated to gays, lesbians and other sexual minorities. Tamar Iveri’s announcement in Tbilisi on Thursday comes after she was denied to perform by Opera Australia and La Monnaie of Brussels because of her alleged homophobic statements. Speaking at a press conference, Iveri said that the concert is a way to once again apologize to LGBT people for the letter which was posted to her Facebook page after the anti-gay violence on May 17, 2013. The planned concert will take place in Tbilisi on October 11, which is the National Coming Out Day (NCOD). Iveri added that the concert is to be dedicated to the victims of all kinds of violence and called on other Georgian artists to also participate. The money made on the charity concert will be spent on assisting victims of violence." [Source]

Opera Australia Will Fulfill Tamar Iveri Contract For "Otello"

UPDATE: Opera Australia has severed ties with Ms. Iveri, who will no longer be singing in the Otello. Full details are here. The company will announce a replacement soon. (June 23, 2014)
=====================================================================

Tamar Iveri is already seeing
cancellations of engagements.

"Opera Australia has just published a statement regarding allegedly homophobic soprano Tamar Iveri, stating that the singer has apologised and rehearsals and performances will go on as planned. Iveri (pictured) who is from the central Asian country of Georgia and is currently in Sydney rehearsing for Otello and will perform in Melbourne later this year, has been plagued by controversy following allegations she penned a homophobic diatribe on her Facebook page in which IDAHOT supporters in the capital city of Tblisi were branded 'fecal masses.' Georgian LGBTI rights group Identoba published a translation of the post which Iveri was said to have subsequently taken down. 'I was quite proud of the fact how Georgian society spat at the parade,' said the translation. The message goes onto to implore Georgian’s President to 'stop vigorous attempts to bring West’s 'fecal masses' in the mentality of the people by means of propaganda. Even today, US ambassador said that the people who raided the rally yesterday were against NATO. No, Mr Ambassador: those, who yesterday raided the rally, are Georgian youth of pure blood, still unspoilt by you,' the translation continues. Identoba directed the comments to the National Opera of Paris who have reportedly now withdrawn an invitation for the singer to perform. With a social media campaign calling on Opera Australia to sack Iveri continuing to grow, and a Change.org petition circulating as well, Opera Australia published a statement regarding the allegations on its Facebook page at 12noon today. 'Opera Australia has become aware in the past 24 hours, of the media and social media coverage of comments reported to have been made by soprano Tamar Iveri,' the statement read. 'The company has made the singer aware of the response from the Australian media and people via social media. Tamar Iveri has sought to clarify her views on this important issue, and has issued an apology and explanation on her own Facebook page. This can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/tamariverisoprano. Rehearsals and performances at Opera Australia are continuing as planned.' Iveri reportedly blamed her husband for rewriting her original letter, which she said she deleted as soon as she saw his homophobic remarks and how it was under her name. The Georgian soprano is currently in Sydney rehearsing for her role as Desdemona in Otello at the Sydney Opera House, before heading to Melbourne in November to perform in Tosca." [Source]

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.

Heir To Spanish Throne Attends Opera Amid Scandal

Royal arrival at the Gran Teatre del Liceu

"Il principe Filippo e la consorte Letizia sono stati accolti da fischi e «buu» fuori dal teatro dell'opera di Barcellona dove la coppia reale doveva assistere ad una rappresentazione «dell'Elisir d'amore» di Donizetti. L'erede al trono di Spagna e la moglie sono arrivati a bordo di un'auto ufficiale davanti al teatro dove si era radunata una folla di curiosi. Oltre ai fischi c'è stato anche qualche applauso per Felipe e Letizia che hanno risposto con un sorriso alle contestazioni. I reali spagnoli stanno vivendo una fase di scarsissima popolarità dopo l'incriminazione del genero del re, Inaki Urdangarin, in un caso di corruzione che rischia di travolgere anche l'infanta Cristina, e le spedizioni di caccia in Botwsana di Juan Carlos. Intanto, è stato deciso che sarà un consiglio indipendente e non un'agenzia statale a vigilare sul compimento della legge sulla trasparenza, che ha cominciato ieri l'iter parlamentare. La normativa sottopone alla trasparenza anche la monarchia spagnola, che sarà la prima in Europa ad essere soggetta in maniera esplicita al controllo." [Source]

Katherine Jenkins Dropped By Warner Music Entertainment

Welsh "opera singer" and millionairess Katherine Jenkins
will be left to count her money.

"Katherine Jenkins has been dropped from her record label following a slump in sales and a string of 'diva demands'. Executives at her record company are said to have lost patience after the singer requested up to £1,500-a-day be spent on her styling, hair and make-up during promotional and live events, while the label are understood to have lost around £2m on the star. The move comes just five years after the 32-year-old signed the biggest classical recording deal in history. However, sources have said that the singer was left angered at what she sees as a failure to market and promote her properly. The Welsh mezzo-soprano signed a £5.8m three-album contract with Warner Music Entertainment in 2008 in a bid to try and crack the US market and become a global superstar. Her last album, This is Christmas, was released last year, but peaked at number 26 in the UK album charts, while her previous album for the label, Daydream, reached number six." [Source]

How Much of David Koch's Opera Donation Is Tainted Money?

What you need to know before reading the rest of this post: "The New York State Theater...was renamed the David H. Koch Theater in the fall of 2008 after his $100 million donation." [Source]

Bass Samuel Ramey with the brothers Koch in 2009 at New York
City Opera's former home: The David H. Koch Theater
at Lincoln Center. (Photo: Patrick McMullan)

"In May 2008, a unit of Koch Industries Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held companies, sent Ludmila Egorova-Farines, its newly hired compliance officer and ethics manager, to investigate the management of a subsidiary in Arles in southern France. In less than a week, she discovered that the company had paid bribes to win contracts. 'I uncovered the practices within a few days,” Egorova- Farines says. “They were not hidden at all.' She immediately notified her supervisors in the U.S. A week later, Wichita, Kansas-based Koch Industries dispatched an investigative team to look into her findings, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its November issue. By September of that year, the researchers had found evidence of improper payments to secure contracts in six countries dating back to 2002, authorized by the business director of the company’s Koch-Glitsch affiliate in France. 'Those activities constitute violations of criminal law,' Koch Industries wrote in a Dec. 8, 2008, letter giving details of its findings. The letter was made public in a civil court ruling in France in September 2010; the document has never before been reported by the media. Egorova-Farines wasn’t rewarded for bringing the illicit payments to the company’s attention. Her superiors removed her from the inquiry in August 2008 and fired her in June 2009, calling her incompetent, even after Koch’s investigators substantiated her findings. She sued Koch-Glitsch in France for wrongful termination." [Source]

Is this the house that tainted money helped repair?

"The Bloomberg news investigation into Charles and David Koch has uncovered unlawful and unpatriotic environmental crimes, political donations and business decisions benefitting Iran. There are so many secret sins committed by the Koch brothers no one story can cover it all. But this is the story everyone will be talking about. We've documented many of the Koch brothers' attacks on middle class families, and detailed their commitment to ending public education and resegregating communities. The Koch brothers have smeared us and journalists who investigate their misdeeds. But the totality of evidence is clear: through our Koch Brothers Exposed film series, as well as reports in the New Yorker and now Bloomberg Markets magazine, there exists beyond a shadow of a doubt the Koch brothers' culpability for the onslaught against Social Security, the environment, our public education system and much more. The Koch brothers use their $50 billion personal wealth to distort and shape policy to grow their corporate profits. The Koch brothers hate public service, and work to deny the government and public sector any chance at success and social good. So when a Southern school board began blazing a trail by growing academic achievement in a diverse community, the brothers acted to reverse the community's gains." [Source]

See what else the Koch brothers are up to after the jump.