tosca: gheorghiu & kaufmann

saw the tosca, live from the met, yesterday -- plan to go back, wednesday -- great 'vissi d'arte,' by sonya yoncheva -- great screams too -- spine-tingling -- blood-curdling -- and a magnificent 'e lucevan' by vittorio grigolo -- pours it all out

here's the 2006 vienna pairing of angela gheorghiu and jonas kaufmann -- i saw them in the movie theater, from covent garden -- incredible -- i watched act three of the below, and act two and the 'mia gelosa' scene -- kaufmann encores 'e lucevan,' and gheorghiu doesn't come out, on cue -- terfel really has fun with his role

addendum: yoncheva and grigolo were singing their roles for the first time -- actually, grigolo sang in the opera, when he was 13 -- as the shepherd boy -- and, in the broadcast, he talked about being congratulated, after the opera, by luciano pavarotti, his cavaradossi, and looking forward to the day he'd sing cavaradossi -- here's the picture they showed, on the broadcast -- 27 years ago

turns out, yoncheva and grigolo were also replacements for the originally cast stars -- kristine opolais and jonas kaufmann -- wouldn't that have been great -- they've paired up, in europe, on at least two operas, i think

not only that, bryn terfel was replaced by zelko lucic, and opolais's husband, andris nelsons, pulled out as conductor, and his replacement, met music director james levine, was suspended by the met for sexual misconduct, and replaced, in turn, by emmanuel villaume

look at gheorghiu & kaufmann, in action

too bad...it gets cut off, at the end

i think he and villazon are the two top tenors, today

what the heck -- here,...with her 'ex' -- before he was...'ex'

she's a powerhouse

i forgot florez

some great soave fanciullas

what a great concert that was

what a great voice -- beautiful high note she finishes on

the cover image, below, is not right -- the voices, though,....

what a gorgeous voice elizabeth holleque has

what a concert that must have been

there they are again -- before

he's such a cutie

she gets around,...that mimi -- very popular

he gets around too

a bucharest duo

all we need now, is a bohemian boheme

gheorghiu & sutherland: vissi d'arte

another great vissi d'arte

and another

barcelona boheme

a couple of weeks ago, i saw, in the movie theater, a boheme from barcelona -- great -- a much better production than the previous one i saw at the movies, from vienna, with maps of the city, all over the stage

the liceu's promo is on youtube, at http://youtu.be/VYh8pYqREcI -- i couldn't include it here

they have another trailer -- charming -- with the four leads, inviting people to attend...and introducing themselves and the opera -- in three languages...maybe four -- at http://youtu.be/J53NgS8CL_I

[i just looked on wikipedia, and it appears that ainhoa arteta, the musetta, is basque]

here's el periodico's video -- clips from the opera, the house, and an interview with the mimi, fiorenza cedolins, who was wonderful -- perfect, for the part

here she is, singing si, mi chiamano mimi

vargas seemed a little off, though -- didn't...'turn it on,' till the last act, when he was back in the apartment, with mimi

the colline, carlo colombara, looked so familiar

he might have been the colline in the vienna production, from the previous year, starring anna netrebko and piotr beczala

he was great -- as were the musetta (arteta) and the marcello (christopher maltman) -- his duet with rodolfo was great -- she did an unbelievable trill (if that's what it's called), at the end of quando m'en vo' -- she really 'turned it on' -- the charm -- the sex appeal -- not to mention, the voice -- i wish i had a video...audio...of it

here she is, singing it at the met, in 2008 -- the video goes all the way to the end of the act, into the curtain call, and beyond -- it starts, though, right with her, singing -- we don't get the music...leading up to it

here's another version, which starts with the music lead-up, but cuts off, abruptly, as she finishes her...main portion -- the picture is bad -- the sound is great -- and we've got subtitles

yup -- i just found him -- it was salzburg, though -- not vienna -- colombara is in the green top

the blog around the world with irina has pictures from the barcelona production, with angela gheorghiu and saimir pirgu in the leads -- instead of fiorenza cedolins and vargas, whom i saw

from boheme: quando me'n vo' & rodolfo-marcello duet

i attended opera western reserve's annual show, friday, and the quando me'n vo' scene...is quite a...dramatic scene -- lots...going on -- from all quarters

i'd like to find a longer video, with translations of all the lines

what a cast, though, here -- vargas and gheorghiu -- the musetta is ainhoa arteta

here's another version -- longer -- with pavarotti

also, the rodolfo-marcello duet is beautiful

old friend jason budd was colline

in june, we led jason, on and off the stage, in opera circle's rigoletto -- he was monterone -- nice job with the coat song, tonight