Silvana Dussmann: A Study In Dramatic Soprano Vocal Prowess

Born in Vienna, soprano Silvana Dussmann was destined to perform the German repertoire of Mozart and Strauss. After studying with Rita Streich and Gerhard Kahry, she won first prize for operetta at the Vienna Belvedere Competition in 1987. Her debut was as Lisa in Franz Lehár's Das Land des Lächelns at the Volksoper Wien opposite Nicolai Gedda. She soon became an ensemble member of the Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck, where she sang

roles such as Ilia (Idomeneo), Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Micaëla (Carmen), Laura (Der Bettelstudent), and Rosalinde (Die Fledermaus). Subsequently in 1990 she debuted in the title role of Emmerich Kálmán's Die Csárdásfürstin at the Seefestspielen Mörbisch. By 1992 she was engaged by Opernhaus Graz where she extended her repertoire to roles like Violetta (La Traviata), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Agathe (Der Freischütz), and Angèle Didier (Der Graf von Luxemburg). Beginning in 1994, Ms. Dussmann began performing at the Wiener Volksoper as Musetta (La bohème), Marchesa del Poggio (Un Giorno di Regno), Frau Fluth (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor), Vitellia (La Clemenza di Tito), Donna Anna (Don Giovanni), Countess Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), and the title role in Norma. In 1996 she was reviving her portrayals of Musetta and Rosalinde for the Wiener Staatsoper. She went on to perform at the Aalto-Musiktheater in Essen, the Bayerischen Staatsoper in München, Israel Philharmonic in Tel Aviv, and Opera Bonn. At Wiener Festwochen in

Anna Netrebko Hometown Receives Aid From Valery Gergiev

"O diretor do Teatro Mariinsky de São Petersburgo, maestro Valery Gergiev, tomou a decisão de doar, aproximadamente, R$ 62 mil, arrecadados durante a última apresentação da casa de espetáculos no domingo, 8, às vitimas de enchentes que atingiram a região de Krasnodar. Neste dia, no âmbito de XX Festival Musical Noites Brancas, no palco subiram a Orquestra Sinfônica sob a direção do maestro, os solistas de ópera Olga Sergueeva e Yuri Vorobiov e o pianista japonês, cego de nascença, Nobuyuki Tsiji. A mesma quantia o Teatro irá transferir ao fundo para as vitimas das enchentes na Kuban, depois do concerto da Anna Netrebko que será realizado no Teatro Mariinsky, no dia 20 de julho. Segundo a representante do Teatro, a solista Anna Netrebko também nasceu em Krasnodar e, para ela, esta atitude representa um gesto de apoio aos seus conterrâneos." [Source]

Saint Petersburg, Russia, Tries To Take "Gay" Out of the City

Will Russian opera singers like Anna Netrebko, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ildar Abdrazakov, Olga Borodina, Valery Gergiev, Olga Peretyatko, Julia Lezhneva and others, take a stand against this horrendous measure?

"Aida" Under Finzi Pasca's Big-Top Production at the Mariinsky

"A minimalist and deeply philosophical show is perhaps not quite what most people would expect from a production of Verdi’s Aida directed by a man who has made an international career producing shows for a circus. Yet this is exactly what Swiss-born director Daniele Finzi Pasca is offering audiences at the Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall....What links Aida with Finzi Pasca’s show Corteo, with which Cirque du Soleil toured Russia last year, is a sense of surreal fantasy. In Corteo, the audience watches a clown’s dream about his death and funeral that is magically transformed into a carnival. Aida is designed in the same ethereal aesthetic. Firstly, the director has cleansed the production of any visual element that would link it to a particular era or ethnicity. The costumes of both the Egyptians and the Nubians border in style somewhere between circus grotesque and futuristic minimalism....In terms of spirit, Pasca’s Aida is both humane and intimate. The director seemingly chose to make Amneris a central character. Yekaterina Semenchuk’s performance strengthens Pasca’s ideas. Head and shoulders above the rest of the cast, Semenchuk dazzled as the pharaoh’s daughter, tormented by her jealousy, engrossed by her sorrow, troubled by her tardy remorse and devastated by her sudden loneliness. Her stage partners failed to create as emotionally captivating incarnations of their characters. Yekaterina Shimanovich was technically adroit as Aida, yet she remained unsettlingly estranged from her supposedly beloved Radames (Avgust Amonov). It did not help that Amonov chose to present a somewhat anemic portrayal of his character, as if trying to depict someone who leaves it up to the women around him to decide his fate. Aida’s emotional connection to her father (Edem Umerov) was far more compelling. Umerov created a powerful image of Aida’s father, Amonasro, the King of Nubia, at once noble and passionate." [Source]

Read an extensive interview with Daniele Finzi Pasca about the production by clicking here.

Gergiev Brings Berlioz and Rimsky-Korsakov to Festival

(Photo: Howard Schatz)

"The sixteenth Rotterdam Philharmonic Gergiev Festival will revolve around the 'Sea & the City', the organisers have announced. The festival will begin on 8 September with a performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony and Britten’s Death in Venice Suite conducted by Valery Gergiev. On 9 September he will conduct Berlioz’s Les Troyens and on 10 September the Dutch premiere of Rimski-Korsakov’s opera Sadko. Mr Gergiev, who is from Russia, was the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal conductor between 1995 and 2008, and currently is the festival’s artistic director. The festival will also include performances by other ensembles." [Source]

For more information visit http://www.gergievfestival.nl/.

Valery Gergiev Brings Russia to Japan in February

Valery Gergiev will lead artists of the Mariinsky Opera on tour in Japan beginning February 12. They will perform Jonathan Kent's 2009 version of the Richard Strauss 1919 fairy tale opera Die Frau Ohne Schatten and Charles Roubaud's 2002 elegant production of Puccini's Turandot with Odessa-native Maria Guleghina taking on the title role. The company will also present three evenings of classics beginning with Berlioz's epic opera Les Troyens. Then a "Wagner Evening"