Duke of Mantua Does Crossfit: Stephen Costello And James Valenti

Stephen Costello (left) at Houston Grand Opera and James Valenti (right) at Dallas Opera, share the same Peter J. Hall-designed robe as the Duke of Mantua in Michael Yeargan's production of Rigoletto that was shared by the two companies. It's clear both tenors get gym time into their schedule to be as healthy as possible for the athletic sport of singing.

Aprile Millo Triumphant Return To Italy In Puccini's "Il Tabarro"

Soprano Aprile Millo returned to the Italian city of Genoa for the role of Giorgetta in Puccini's Il Tabarro. The opera was performed in concert version at Teatro Carlo Felice. Watch a video excerpt after the jump.

Anna Netrebko Performed Olympic Anthem At Sochi Opening

Netrebko Does Russia Proud: Hitting all the high notes in a gown by Katya Kotova.

On the heels of American soprano Renée Fleming singing the National Anthem for the Super Bowl, Russian superstar Anna Netrebko sang the Olympic Anthem in Sochi for Vladimir Putin, 43,000 stadium spectators, and an estimated 3 billion television audience members. The Olympics have been in the news recently for the ballooning $50 billion price tag and it seems not all the construction is complete after seven years of preparation. No word on whether there will be more singing from the country's most beloved opera singer during her stay in Sochi before she travels back to Italy for the opening of Manon Lescaut with Riccardo Muti at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma on February 27. Photos from the performance here and a many more after the jump. As a side note, Google has created a doodle that seems like a statement about Russia's anti-gay law just in time for the Olympics:

(Translation: "The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." –Olympic Charter)

Will Renée Fleming's Super Bowl Exposure Catapult Her To Next Level?

On February 2, 2014, Renée Fleming sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" for Super Bowl XLVIII to a stadium with a capacity of 82,566 people in addition to a home-viewing audience of 111.5 million (the largest in the history of American television). The response to an opera singer performing America's National Anthem for the first time in the sports event's history came swiftly from the Twitter crowd, Facebook followers and YouTube commentators. The general public, more accustomed to the likes of Christina Aguilera, Dixie Chicks, and Beyoncé Knowles warbling out the famous tune, was surprisingly supportive with positive feedback. What does all of this media exposure mean to Renée Fleming and her illustrious career? At the time of this writing, the video of the event on YouTube has been viewed over 800,000 times. Taking a look at the artist's Facebook page days before the Super Bowl appearance, she had just over 77,000 "likes" and now the page stands at 94,362. No official data has been released on whether record and MP3 sales have skyrocketed, but a quick glimpse at Amazon.com shows that the Decca-exclusive artist has three albums in the top-20 best seller list for opera & vocal (Guilty Pleasures, The Art of Renée Fleming, and her self-titled album from 2000). Next week's results may yield a more revealing story. Be sure to keep an eye on the Billboard charts. The opera star has already sung for the Queen of England, the President of the United States, and has even read the "Top 10 List" on Late Show with David Letterman. Two nights after the Super Bowl, the soprano was back at the Metropolitan Opera performing the title role in Dvořák's Rusalka to a crowd of 4,000. How large that number must seem to a young singer at the beginning of their career and how small it must feel after performing at the Super Bowl. Are there going to be stadium concerts in the future that will sell out the likes of "The Three Tenors" during it's most popular days? Unlikely. The real question: What is the next level? Write a book? Done. Appear in a movie? Done. Win a Grammy Award? Done (4 times). Act in a stage play? That's coming too. Perhaps she really isn't looking for more. After all the accomplishments, she might list happy wife and proud mother as her most cherished. And for the fashionistas that are wondering, she wore "...a custom Vera Wang black long sleeve gown with pleated accent at the waist, and an ivory silk faille floor length wrap coat with exposed shoulder and hand draped detail." [Source, Source]

L'amour, l'amour, toujours l'amour: Juan Diego Flórez Release

"Marking a departure for the Peruvian bel canto superstar, this new recording offers a personal survey of the French operatic repertoire from Donizetti to the romantic outpourings of Gounod and Massenet, including Massenet’s ‘Pourquoi me Reveiller’ from Werther. This is a disc that not only plays to Flórez’s strengths – virtuosic and high-lying – but also shows a new side to the popular singer, featuring repertoire which he has rarely sung on stage. The first solo album in four years by one of the classical world’s biggest stars reveals a voice which has become richer, rounder and more mellow; the choice of repertoire draws further new colours from this ever-stylish tenor. [Source] Due out in March 2014, the complete track list is after the jump.

Renée Fleming Dishes With Barbara Walters About Super Bowl Gig

Elizabeth Futral Answers Questions Before Making Portland Debut

"How did you get involved in opera? I started piano lessons when I was five, and I always loved music. My mom was a classically trained pianist and flutist, and my dad was a minister. She gave me a lot of the classics and he gave me his stage presence. He also has a beautiful natural singing voice. I grew up in Louisiana near New Orleans. I ended up going to a small Baptist university in Alabama…and had a wonderful mentor, my first voice teacher, Eleanor Owsley, who was the one who really encouraged me. She had the vision for me…she’s been a great friend over all these years. Then I went to Indiana University in Bloomington to graduate school, which is the big opera factory of the Midwest. It’s a huge music school and they have a really big opera program. From there, I went to Chicago’s Young Artists Program, and afterwards I just stayed there. I kind of kept going through the doors that were open to me, and they luckily were opened, and I had good activities along the way. I’m very fortunate." [Source] Read the full interview by clicking here.

Kim Kardashian Attending Vienna Opera Ball In February

"Kim Kardashian is headed to Austria! Kanye West's other half will be attending the annual Vienna Opera Ball next month. The gala will take place on Feb. 27 at Vienna's State Opera House. The 33-year-old Keeping Up With the Kardashians star and new mom will be the guest of Austrian director and producer Wolfgang Santner. Santner, 44, tweeted this morning, '@WolfgangSantner: Bringing @KimKardashian to the #world #famous #Opera #Ball in #Vienna #Happy #Ballroom #Dancing.' Kim retweeted the post, adding, 'Can't wait!' Santner replied, '@KimKardashian You will be the #princess in this #fairy #tale! It is sooo #beautiful.' The Vienna Opera Ball, which is usually held on the Thursday preceding Ash Wednesday, is one of the highlights of the Viennese carnival season and has been held each year since 1935." [Source]

Famous August Sings Carmen "Habanera" Video Gets Selected

The original video posted on YouTube by August Schram a year ago has garnered nearly 1 million page views. It was chosen as an "Official Selection" in the Shorts Competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2014 and has won countless accolades at other festivals in other countries. From their website: "George Bizet`s 'Habanera' from Carmen has been reinterpreted and enhanced with electronic sounds for MeTube, a homage to thousands of ambitious YouTube users and video bloggers, and gifted and less gifted self-promoters on the Internet. About the Director: Daniel Moshel was born in 1976 in Offenbach am Main, Germany. During his multimedia studies, he directed the short film komA. In 2003, he founded the production company Moshel Film. In 2009, he produced the short film Der Doppelgänger, which was directed by Stephanie Winter. The film won the Excellence Award at the Busan International Short Film Festival. Login 2 Life (2011) was his first feature-length documentary. MeTube: August Sings Carmen 'Habanera' is his first music video." [Source] Cast, credits, and the video, are all after the jump. Remember, you can't un-see after you have watched it. For more information and photos, click here.

Fred Plotkin Examines Christa Ludwig's Golden Career For WQXR

(Photo: Ernst Kainerstorfer/ORF)

"Ludwig was born in Berlin on March 10, 1928 and grew up in Aachen. Her parents were singers and her mother was her first teacher. Her father became a stage director and manager. She grew up in the milieu of music and theater and absorbed it all. When Ludwig was seven, she heard her mother sing in Elektra and Fidelio conducted by a young Herbert von Karajan. Germany soon fell under Nazism and then came the horrors of World War II. When she was 16, her family home was destroyed by bombs. After her nation lost the war, Ludwig sang for American GIs in exchange for cigarettes, which were valuable as currency when money was worthless. Christa Ludwig was able to understand the awfulness of war and allow her emotional development to deepen without being derailed from her goals. She kept learning music, reading literature, thinking about characters. When German opera houses reopened in 1946, they needed good singers and few were in supply. Ludwig, at 18, was talented, attractive, tall and well-prepared. She was in the right place at the right time. She sang Orlovsky in Die Fledermaus in Frankfurt and was on her way, ultimately to Vienna, where she became a beloved star." [Source]

Moroccan-born Rapper French Montana Is Not A Fan Of Opera

"Not everyone's stoked about the opera singer who's booked to sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl ... especially rapper French Montana who tells TMZ Sports, 'F**k that sh*t.' People have been divided about the decision to have renowned soprano Renee Flemming [sic] belt out the anthem before the big game on Feb 2 ... and Montana says he understands it's important to try something different. But at the end of the day, French says he's entitled to own opinion ... and his opinion is that opera music SUCKS." [Source] Watch the video of the rapper by clicking here. This all seems so ironic considering he and Maria Callas share the same taste in fur coats.

Anna Netrebko's New York Apartment Has Plenty To Love

Anna Netrebko, wearing Oscar de la Renta, sits in the "Diva Chair" from Mackenzie-Childs with a painting by SoHo artist Hulbert Waldroup in the background on Beaujolais-colored walls. Read the full New York Times story by clicking here. (Photo: Fred R. Conrad)

Diana Damrau Live At Le Poisson Rouge March 27 In NYC

Following on the heels of a night of Russian exoticism featuring Anna Netrebko, soprano Diana Damrau will perform at Le Poisson Rouge on March 24, 2014 at 7:30 PM. No word on whether the theme will be Bavarian. Purchase tickets by clicking here. During March, the coloratura is in town singing La Sonnambula at the Metropolitan Opera and a concert at Carnegie Hall with Zubin Mehta. The little New York City village hot spot Le Poisson Rouge is becoming a regular hangout for stars of the MET. In addition to the most recent concert that also featured Ildar Abdrazakov and Anita Rachvelishvili, past performers have included Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, Kathleen Kim, and Patricia Racette. To learn more about Diana Damrau, visit her website by clicking here.

Éva Marton International Singing Competition Accepting Applications

Click here to start filling out the application. Grand-prize winner will walk away with 15,000€. Start brushing up on your Liszt, it's part of the audition requirements. Good luck!

Remembering Maestro Claudio Abbado And His Opera Stars

Claudio Abbado backstage with Renata Scotto after I Capuleti e i Montecchi at Teatro alla Scala in 1967

Conductor Claudio Abbado passed away on Monday, January 20, 2014, at the age of 80. He left an immaculate legacy of live musical performances and countless recordings on a variety of labels. He conducted a great majority of opera throughout his career and subsequently had many friendships with singers from around the globe. Check out some spectacular photos of the Maestro with singers from the past 50 years, along with some biographical information, after the jump.

Kiri Te Kanawa Celebrates Over 50 Years Of Recording

"New Zealand soprano comes up with a staid celebration of 50 years in the recording studio. Te Kanawa's creamy lyric soprano was not made to evoke the malevolent sea monsters of Te Taniwha. Max Cryer's liner notes for Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's Waiata make an engaging read. He provides another succinct introduction to the thorny issue of "Maori song" (as he did for Te Kanawa's 1999 Maori Songs) followed by notes on individual tracks. This is a celebration of the soprano's half-century recording career, enlisting the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the University of Auckland Chamber Choir, in arrangements by Carl (Piano by Candlelight) Doy. In time for Christmas, Waiata is an unabashed stocking-stuffer, offering minimal rewards for those with a respect for the achievements of this singer. Beside it, her earlier Maori Songs CD, which occasioned a few giggles and squirms in its time, takes on classic status. It had stronger songs and Te Kanawa's voice was 14 years younger. Its ethnic trimmings of kapa haka groups (including Mahinarangi Tocker and George Henare) and a wash of taonga puoro now seem positively piquant. Waiata is a staid affair. Doy's arrangements have fleeting moments of inspiration, with a few impressive Mantovani string clusters, but tinkling piano and churning rhythmic ostinati try the patience, along with overlooked production glitches."[Source] In addition to the new release of Waiata by Sony (set globally for March 2014), other labels such as Warner Classics (featuring former EMI Classics material) and Decca (featuring former Philips Classics material) are reissuing box-sets of their own to commemorate the occasion. Check out the beautiful editions after the jump.