Have a nice World Music Day

MET's opening night with Anna Netrebko in Anna Bolena (Donizetti)

Without any comments yet, because I will be in Gulbenkian (Lisbon) for the performance of Anna Bolena in LIVE HD, here is a video with the final aria with Anna Netrebko, in the opening night of MET's opera season (September 26th).

Paulo Ferreira debuts today in Hof

Paulo Ferreira, a portuguese tenor, debuts today in Puciini's Tosca in Hof's (Germany). Best wishes from Outras Escritas to the tenor. "Break a leg Paulo"!

Samuel Ramey & Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Bellini I Puritani duet for bass and baritone with Samuel Ramey and Dmitri Hovorostovky two extraordinary singers (Gala Tucker 1999).

Ana Barros a portuguese soprano

Ana Barros is a young portuguese soprano with a voice that I consider of a superior quality. In Portugal is not very easy for young opera singers to start a career and Ana's agenda is not as busy as she liked.

For those who do not know Ana's voice and career, here are some links for her blog, site and MySpace.

Ana Barros' blog

Ana Barros' site

Ana Barros's MySpace

Mariella Devia in Roberto Devereux

Italian soprano Mariella Devia sings for the for the first time the last scene from the opera Roberto Devereux in a concert in Florence.

Beverly Sills in Roberto Devereux

Soprano Beverly Sills made history in Elisabetta's role from the opera Roberto Devereux by Gaetano Donizetti.

Sills later recognized that her approach to this difficult bel canto role toke 10 years from her career.

For me she is one of the best "Elisabettas".

Just listen to her live from a performance in 1971 (NYC Opera).

The perfect voice

Volume, agility, beautiful tone and an amazing style! One singer, one voice: Joan Sutherland.

Coloratura Craziness

Once more coloraturafan (YouTube user) surprises us with two fantastic videos with a significant number of sopranos singing the most extraordinary coloratura ornaments.

(Be advised: these videos can be quite boring for Puccini and Wagner lovers!)

Rockwell Blake - Pour mon âme

Rockwell Blake is, in my opinion, the best rossinian tenor of all time, at least from those I've heard live or in records.

In my other blog, Outras Escritas, I have several posts (in portuguese) dedicated to the tenor with my opinion about the characteristics of his voice and his performances in operas and recitals.

Today I found on YouTube a video with Blake's interpretation of the aria Pour mon âme from La Fille du Regiment by Donizetti (so, not Rossini). As you may know this famous aria for tenor includes 9 high C's, which make it very difficult to perform.

During his carrer, Blake always performed Pous mon âme not with 9 high C's but with 11, because in the end he sings the phrase "militaire et mari" instead of just the word "militaire".

In this video, Blake goes beyond himself and sings a high D flat on the phrase "militaire e mari".

Here is the vídeo (only audio is available).

About Shirley Verrett

When discussing the recent MET performances of Il Trovatore, with some os my blog followers, the name of several mezzo-sopranos was mentioned, namely the great Azucena from Fiorenza Cossotto. Another name mentioned was Shirley Verrett.

The career of Shirley Verrett is very interesting because she started as a mezzo-soprano and "moved" to soprano.

When a think in Verrett I always remember the fenomenal performance of L'Assedio di Corinto in MET in 1977 (with Beverly Sills) and the performances of Macbeth in La Scala 1975/76.

Here are two videos from those performances (for L'Assedio di Corinto follow the link).

Verrett sings l'Assedio di Corinto (live)

Rita Molão

Rita Moldão is a young portuguese coloratura soprano who is my friend on Facebook. Rita recently launched her site on the Internet with information about her and a set of audio files with live records of her performances.

The singer is now studying in Madrid, and in my opinion, she is a very promising voice.

Bel canto opera will be following Rita's carrer.

Mariella Devia will sing Roberto Devereux

I read somewhere sometime ago, that soprano Mariella Devia didn't have plans to sing the role of Elisabetta in Donizetti's opera Roberto Devereux.

When the soprano Beverly Sills sung the three Tudor Queens operas (Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux) she said that Roberto Devereux took 10 years off her carrer because the role of Elisabetta is so demanding for the voice.

Gruberova is today a reference in this role, and I had the pleasure to saw her in one performance in Munich.

Recently, thanks to my friend Adélia, I found out that Devia will sing the role for the first time in Marseille's opera in November (concert version). This are very good news for those who appreciate bel canto in the most beautiful and pure form.

More information here.

Dolora Zajick

Dolora Zajick is an amazing singer and, in my opinion, she is the best verdian mezzo-soprano of our days. The voice is big and dark, and the lower register very well supported.

Recently she was at the MET singing Azucena in Verdi's Il Trovatore, together with Radvanovsky, Álvarez and Hvorostovsky.

Here are some videos od one of the performances (coloraturafan on YouTube).

Di quella pira

Di quella pira is a show off aria for tenor in Il Trovatore and is one of my favorite Verdi's arias. In today's MET performance, that I'm listening on the radio, Alvarez did sung just half of the aria, in a lower key and avoiding singing many phrases at the end. This is usual today and I don't know why. Perhaps it was better to sing it right, avoiding the final high C (B in this case) that Verdi never wrote.

This is just my opinion. Alvarez got many applause in the MET.

Julia Lezhneva's album dedicated to Rossini

According to DIVERDI.com, Julia Lezhneva's first album, dedicated to Rossini, is a best-seller in France (classical albums).

As I mentioned several times im my blogs, Lezhneva is a very young singer (moon-face) but with very good chances to become an international opera star.

Récord de ventas de Julia Lezhneva en Francia

El CD con la cantante rusa y Marc Minkowski dedicado a Rossini, número 1 de ventas en música clásica en nuestro país vecino.

Como han anunciado los responsables del sello Naïve, el CD con Julia Lezhneva cantando arias de Rossini, que se lanzó a mediados de marzo, se ha convertido en el más vendido de todos los discos de música clásica en Francia en las dos primeras semanas de abril. En este álbum, Lezhneva canta junto a la orquesta Sinfonia Varsovia, bajo la batuta de su nuevo director artístico, Marc Minkowski. Este director ha sido una pieza clave en la fulgurante carrera de la cantante, al haberla escogido para su grabación de la Misa en Si menor de Bach.

Entre otras cosas este éxito se debe a dos artículos aparecidos en Le Figaro (el más prestigioso de los periódicos franceses junto a Le Monde), y en la revista Diapason. En Le Figaro se define a Lezhneva como "la nueva Callas".

Lo cierto es que Julia Lezhneva es la revelación vocal de la que todo el mundo habla. Nació en 1989 en la Isla Sajalín (Rusia), en una familia de geofísicos. Estudió en la Escuela Gretchaninov y en el Conservatorio de Moscú, y más tarde con Elena Obraztsova, Dennis O'Neill y Alberto Zedda. En el 2007 ganó la Competición Internacional para Jóvenes Cantantes de Ópera de San Petersburgo, cuyos jueces incluían nada menos que a Teresa Berganza, Eva Marton y Christa Ludwig. Desde entonces ha sido la protegida de Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. El pasado año fue la brillante ganadora de la Competición Internacional de Ópera de París, y su interpretación en la grabación de la ópera de Vivaldi Ottone in Villa ha sido altamente apreciada por la prensa internacional.  

La Scala recitals for the next season

Great recitals in the next season of Teatro alla Scala:

Mariella Devia - March 26th, 2012

Edita Gruberova - May 14th, 2012

Elina Garanca - June 4th, 2012

Rolando Villazón

Rollando Villazón is not one of my favorite singers. I don't like is tone (timbre) and, im my opinion,  his approach to some roles is completely inadequate.

After surgery to his vocal cords, the tenor came back to performances but with some vocal problems. Many people, included myself, thought that his carrer as a singer was seriously compromised, but after saw the following video from a concert in Liceu (Barcelona), I think now he is definitely back. The voice is in good shape, although I still think that is voice is not suitable for Donizetti.

Mariella Devia in Seville

Mariella Devia, italian soprano, will be in Seville (Spain) for a concert in Teatro de la Maestranza on April 30th. 

Devia will sing pieces by Massenet, Chopin, Gounoud, Lizt, Donizetti and Bellini, accompanied by Max Bullo on piano.

Unfortunately I can not be present, but this concert is a good opportunity to appreciate Devia extraordinary vocal instrument for those who live in Portugal and Spain.

Tickets here.

Bel canto Opera in english

Today I decided to start writing Bel canto opera posts in english, hoping that more friends and bel canto opera fans can read my texts and interact with me, discussing the wonderful world of opera.