Cesare Adventure

PS* before I even begin, let me point out that I’m writing this at the sound of Vesselina Kasarova’s
Moscow concert, which is awesome and everyone should watch, it’s on YouTube

 

I must admit I’ve been postponing writing another post since my “Vesselina Kasarova” adventures were such a tough act of follow. But it’s been more than a week and I’m kind of still under the effects of the concert. Sometimes I start laughing out of joy remembering how she extended her hand to me and how she so magnificently sang. Ok, too much information.

First of all I’d like to say a BIG GIGANT Thank You to everybody who read, commented, sent me messages. And most especially to Rob, Smorg, Thadieu and The Eyes Have it, , who went the extra mile to recommend my blog in their own blogs, I was extremely touched and very happy you guys enjoyed my writing so much!

Not much has happened this past week in regards to my musical life, no exciting new concerts, or operas (we unfortunately do not get as much of these as we should). But I did do that test I was absolutely terrified of, and believe it or not, it went pretty well. I was petrified as I entered the classroom, so very scared, but I tried to think about the wonderful moments of my past week and I managed to walk in with a warm smile. The teacher was really nice to me, I sang what I had to sing and he told me I had done pretty well. Then I told him I was sorry for the things that had happened between us, and he told me that what’s in the past is in the past and we shouldn’t dwell on that and that, if it depended on him, it was all right between us. I was, I must admit, at first stunned, but then said that I absolutely agreed with him and we ended up having a quite nice chat about the new building.

But back to opera, I’d like to tackle a subject I haven’t talked about before and that I most appreciate that exists. Audio Streams, more specifically the Met’s Live Streams that brighten up a couple of evenings of my week. This past Tuesday we’ve had quite a surprisingly wonderful stream of Giulio Cesare in Egitto. Look, I’m not going to lie, I’m just gonna say it that, in my opinion, it was just so great that Danielle De Niese filled in for Natalie Dessay. Now, some say that she hadn’t rehearsed any of the material of that production in a long time, and yet others say the director had secretly been rehearsing with her just in case something went wrong. Anyway, she did the most amazing job!

Danielle De Niese as Cleopatra

I was actually at the gym when I heard (saw on twitter actually) that Danielle was going in as Cleopatra that day and immediately regretted the class schedule I had prepared for myself that day which would keep me there until 8pm (7pm Eastern Time). The opera started at 6:55 and as I rushed out of my spinning class I desperately tried to get the Met player on my phone. But those guys in my gym are smart, in order for us not to be distracted by our buzzing phones they’ve done something in there and the signal is almost inexistent! So as I showered and changed I tried to listen to the broadcast, without any success, as I left the gym (cursing all involved in the signal shield) my bars went up and I was in, listening just in time to hear Dani sing, Non Disperar, chi sà? Her first aria, there was still hope, but then the obvious happened, since I’m such a lucky person, my phone died.

It was quite obvious that was going to happen, since I spend most of my battery trying to get signal. Well, I had a silent trip home, and as I am crazy, crazy I decided I wanted to only take one bus and one train, instead of having to change trains. So I took the bus to one of the most dangerous places in town, at night, and there I walked, alone. Yes, I’m insane, I’m not doing that again, rest assured, I just really wanted to get home soon! I did have an opera moment then though, a what I call Micaela moment, third act Micaela moment, when she enters the gypsies camp and is scared half to death for her life, that’s exactly what I felt.

David Daniels as Cesare and Danielle De Niese as Cleopatra

Got home and immediately tuned in and the first act had just ended. I was upset, since most of my favorite arias are in the first act. But then we had trivia, a tricky one I could never get: What characters in opera can be played by both men and women? Operas that are less than 150 years old, I must add. Well all my baroque dreams went to the dumps with that 150 years old thing. I had no idea, but my dear friend Melanie Spector did, she’s also known as the queen of trivia, and it was quite funny because when William Berger said the first answer was Melanie’s the presenter, Margareth, said “Why, of course!” and William went on to saying “But wasn’t she watching the Met’s game today?” and I was like, “Holy shot, my friend is famous on the Met Radio!”.

Well, trivia aside, the performance was wonderful, I can attest for the music at least. I was live tweeting with my usual international opera buddies, but to my delight I was also commenting the performance with my new opera bff on facebook in Portuguese. Which is, I think, so good, because there are some things I think about that only are funny and witty when said in Portuguese and I could finally share them with someone who knows what he’s talking about and who is actually also listening.

There was a pretty awesome plus in the whole performance, the fact that one of my favorite mezzo sopranos was singing, Alice Coote. Unfortunately she wasn’t playing Cesare, which I do prefer when is sung by a mezzo instead of a countertenor, she was playing Sesto, but she nailed it.

Alice Coote as Sesto and Patricia Barton as Cornelia

When Da Tempesta was up everyone in their little corner of the world seemed to be doing the Bollywood dance of this production and Danielle sounded so enthusiastic and amazing. And her Piangero La Sorte Mia was heart breaking, I love this aria, it’s one of my favorites of the whole opera! I was so very lucky because my cousin wasn’t home so I could sing along to everything I knew, which was about 60% of the opera so you can imagine it wouldn’t be possible to have my fun with the cousin home.

The opera ended around 1:30 in the morning in my local time and I knew I was doomed the next day, but again, I didn’t care, I somehow had gotten yet another great day at the opera listening to top notch singers, so I was cool. The next day I was a wreck, because I’ve also contracted a flu, but did get a great day of study.

AAAH, and I got today my DON’T SMOKE, SING BAROQUE (OPERA IT’S COOL: YOU CANT HANDEL US) shirt and wore it in college and none of my ‘musician’ friends thought much about it (I say ‘musician’ because you can’t be a real musician and not thing that shirt is FREAKING AWESOME), but what do they know? My cousin liked it!

Gotta go! Peace all!

Dream Baroque Drama Queens Roles

I was battling between writing about the dream Pants Roles and the Dream Mozart Roles, but then I decided I wanted to write about baroque music since I’m doing so much baroque music this semester. By the way I’m so writing this to the sound of the Met’s production of Eugene Onegin with Renée Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky, so off topic, but it’s glorious, and I love it!

Before getting down to it I’d like to make a few announcements, first that I decided to break it off with the so called Don Giovanni I was seeing. And when I say Don Giovanni you can think of him with every aspect of the character, and elas, I was Elvira. But never more, as I’ve said in twitter earlier, I’m too young for that character anyways! And second and coolest news is that I’ll be watching Vesselina Kasarova’s concert here in São Paulo next week and I’m super excited, but I have two big perception tests before it so the concert will be like a gift for studying so hard.

I’m kinda terrified because of one of these tests, surprisingly so, it’s the easiest one I’m most terrified of. I had a problem with the teacher a couple of semesters ago (he basically humiliated me in front of the whole class and wouldn’t let me do the test, it was awful) and I spoke out and complained to the director, I don’t know what the director did to him, he’s still teaching same as he was before, but I am pretty sure he hates my guts.  And this test is an individual and oral one, and I really do not know what to expect when I’m put in a room alone with him, I’m terrified actually. Not that I think that he’s gonna hit me of anything, but he’s likely to destroy me verbally and I’m probably going to burst into tears and it’s gonna suck and I’ll fail this subject YET AGAIN. Therefore, I’m terrified.

Well anyways, we gotta wait and see, in the meantime all I can do is study, which is exactly what I’m doing, I’ll give it my best, let’s just see if it’s enough…

Happy talk now, let’s talk about some cool baroque Drama Queens roles to honor my favorite singer Joyce DiDonato and her fabulous recording. So I’m picking my favorite four baroque queens to talk about, but this is probably gonna be Baroque Dream Roles (part 1) since, there’s so much cool stuff in this repertoire!

First, in no particular order whatsoever, maybe because I’m totally doing her this semester, Cleopatra from Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto. I mean, come on! Cleopatra is super iconic and such an awesome personality, as David Daniels said in a recent interview, that all little girls dream about being Cleopatra and so did he as a little boy! That was just amazing!  And the character goes through so many transformations, she actually falls for Cesare, something she wasn’t particularly planning to do, and their reunion is so romantic. All their parts together are quite inspiring and her alone solos go from witty and “Wee, I got him!” to extremely dramatic which is fantastic to have in one character alone.



Danielle De Niese as Cleopatra above in the Metropolian Opera and bellow in Gynderbourne

Then we go from Drama Queen from Egypt to super awesome sorceress, but since she’s in Joyce DiDonato’s Drama Queens, I totally consider her a queen as well. The life destroying Alcina from Handel’s Alcina. Just a parenthesis here, my friend has a teacher named Alcina, and I freaked when I found out and asked him if she turned her naughty students into stone, he just started as I laughed at my pathetic joke alone. Anyways, Alcina is ass kicking and an amazing baroque queen, having power and beauty and being in control of everything around her until she falls helplessly in love and literally looses the ground beneath her. Plus “Ah mio cor” is one of my favorite arias ever, I totally can relate to it I every level you can possibly image (who can’t hun?) and she’s also a two faced character just like Cleopatra, which I like a lot.



Anja Harteros as Alcina, with Vesselina Kasarova as Ruggiero.

Next another empress in the making, Poppea from Monteverdi’s L’Incornazione di Poppea. That’s another great character, one that is control of probably one of the most dangerous man in history, at least in the opera she is. He’s completely crazy for her, and you can never know if she’s crazy for him or not, it depends on the production. There are Poppeas that act purely selfishly and don’t look like they care much about him, but others she seems to like him, even love him, I prefer the latter interpretation. Their first duet is super sexy and super one of my favorite baroque “duets” ever, although their last duet is so beautiful, ending in unison meaning that now they are one.

Danielle De Niese as Poppea and Alice Coote as Nerone

Last but definitely not least is the first baroque opera I ever saw, Rodelinda from Handel’s Rodelinda, yet another awesome queen. I first saw this opera in a sort of gangster European (duh) production with Dorothea Röschmann as Rodelinda, and absolutely adored it. A queen standing still against all odds to protect her throne and her child, she’s so bad ass. Then I saw Renée Fleming as Rodelinda and my love was solidified for all eternity. Strangely so my favorite Rodelinda aria is “Morrai Si” but “Ritorna Caro” comes right after it. Again 2 facets, one grieving and weak because of her husband’s disappearance and another strong and firm that won’t be manipulated. Love it, love her.

Renée Fleming at the Metropolitan Opera as Rodelinda

And I guess that’s it! For now, next post will probably be my views on Vesselina Kasarova’s concert here in São Paulo, I’m thinking about going to both, because who knows when she will return, right? One more thing, I’ve decided to post here in the end of every post some of the quotes I’ve been collecting in my little green book, some are huge, others just a sentence, but all very wise. Peace everyone!

“Big rockets require big launchers” – Marilyn Horne

Double Baroque Trouble

Is the title too Harry Potterish? Ah well, this has been a week of studying languages (Italian and French mostly, I’m kinda running away from the German), talking a lot about opera (I really had a blast at the #operarox live show, really, those people are awesome, they get me! It’s so difficult to find people who are willing to talk about opera nonstop), and watching new stuff (new to me, this stuff is ancient actually).



Sarah Connolly as Cesare and Danielle De Niese as Cleopatra

Well, I’m gonna talk about the two last operas that I saw, Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Monteverdi’s L'incoronazzione de Poppea both productions from the Glyndebourne Opera and also staring Danielle De Niese as the leading lady. What I think is super cool about these baroque operas is that gender isn’t really an issue, I mean, you have women playing man and man playing women and it’s ok. And it works, and that for me is awesome, especially since I came from a very theatrical background where gender sometimes really doesn’t matter.



Danielle De Niese as Poppea

and Alice Coote as Nero

 

Well I automatically feel in love with the two leading couples! I love this more fiery kind of love that both have as opposed to sweet and tender one, I like love with action! Also I think it’s so cool how both ladies start off maybe not really in love with the guys, but then fall helplessly for them (especially Cleopatra, she turns out to be so devoted to Cesare!). And really, I don’t blame them because, those guys are really something! I don’t know if it’s the fact that they are Emperors, they have that power allure, although the power doesn’t attract me, what does it’s the attitude and the posture one has when it has absolute power. Does that even make sense?

Well, I loved both productions, I thought they were very well done, and it was my first time seeing both and they were both staged in a nontraditional setting. But as I’ve said before, these stories live through so many years because they are timeless. So you get it when Cleopatra wears a little black dress to seduce Cesare and then does the victory dance when she’s successful! I absolutely adored the guy who was the lady in waiting for Cleopatra (his character is a guy) so funny, like the sassy gay friend! Who would have thought there were sassy gay friends in Ancient Egypt! Again TIMELESS stuff!

While watching Poppea I made sure my bedroom door was locked, the last thing I needed was my parents walking into one of those spicy scenes. The opera itself kinda shocked me a little bit because I kept going back to something Tony Pappano said in a documentary about Italian opera, that Monteverdi was 70 something years old in the 17^th century holding the most important church musician position when he wrote this opera. And it’s pretty steamy; it’s one of the fieriest things I’ve seen so far in the world of opera.



Danielle De Niese as Cleopatra



I love Danielle De Niesse, I think she’s so fresh and she brings something so hers to the pieces. She’s a very physical performer, which I like very much, she can move, she can dance while singing and that I think adds so much to the whole interpretation of the operas. Sarah Connolly stole my heart as Cesare, she’s one of those women that just KNOW how to play man, she’s got the man swag, and I felt a lot of attraction toward her Cesare, she looked really hot. But to me, you really can't tell that she's a woman in that costume or whenever she plays guys really. Just to be sure, I asked my sister (expert cross-dressing cosplayer that she is) if she looked like a real man or not, and she told me she definitely did. Another mezzo who has got the man swag up her sleeve is Alice Coote who was playing the ever scary Nero (he scares me because he’s kinda like a serial killer). I’ve said before on the Cendrillon post that she is such a marvelous pants role performer and in this that the character is so different from Prince Charmant, she also nails.



Sarah Connolly as Cesare

I particularly like the scene in the second act where Nero is singing a duet with one of his senate companions (I really don’t know who that guy is actually) and they are talking about ruby red lips, delicious, irresistible, and it’s just so sexy! The music, Alice’s face changes with every passing phrase, Nero seems to at first be talking about Poppea’s lips, but then he looks at his fellow differently, and at first it’s an odd feeling for him, but then he kinda surrenders to it and just enjoys singing about the guy’s lips. And then singing about it isn’t enough, he has to kiss him, so he does and it’s a very “hold your breath” moment, he seems to enjoy it and but then he can’t do that, so with all his absolute power and grace he drowns the guy, still singing about the red lips! For me that was unbelievable, it was so intense, I loved it! 

But to me one of the most moving piece of music in Poppea is the final duet, oh God, it's so beautiful and the way they end in unison, they are one! And even though this opera is about power, sex and passion, with that duet it ends up being a piece about love and about two people who adore each other. Even though historically Nero kills Poppea one year after with a kick on her pregnant stomach, but let’s just pretend they lived happily ever after :)



 Alice Coote as Nero

Well, I don’t care about what other people say baroque opera rocks!

Baroque Hercules

Well then, we are doing this hun! Yesterday was pretty busy, even though I didn’t step foot outside my apartment there was never a dull moment. It’s Christmas Eve, yay! The Christmas parties are gonna be in my house, we the people here are going sort of insane. My Christmas wish? To be able to put up the layout I made for this site instead of using this awful layout made by blogger, it’s so cool, it features my 3 favorite opera performers, Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato. And Blair Waldorf ‘cause she’s awesome hahaha.  OMG! It's a Christmas miracle! I got to put up the layout, it's not exactly the way I wanted, but it's there at least! New Christmas wish, to be able to watch Drama Queens: Larger Than Life which is so not airing here in Brasil :( You see why I complain so much about this country! Another thing I really wanted to watch was the Tucker Gala, well, I didn't, did I? The best I could do was follow what was happening on twitter, oh life!

Now let’s stop the ranting and get down to some serious business, yesterday I watched my first production of Handel’s Hercules. And since I’m a super fan of Joyce DiDonato’s (you people will notice this from an early stage since I’ll probably mention her in every post) I’ll always prefer to watch the productions that she’s done. Just to make it more organized I’ll put the cast list up.

William Shimell (Hercules)
Joyce DiDonato (Dejanira)
Toby Spence (Hyllus)
Ingela Bohlin (Iole)
Malena Ernman (Lichas)
Simon Kirkbride (Prist of Jupiter)

Orchestre et Choer des Arts Florissants
William Christie (Conductor)

I really liked it, I was very confused at first, since it wasn’t a traditional setting and I didn’t know the story I got a bit puzzled but then I realized something quite ridiculous. I’m a big big fan of these fantasy reality books like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Percy Jackson, I mean BIG time fan, I absolutely love it, my adolescence was practically based on Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings alone. So I’m reading the new Percy Jackson book and there is a part where Jason (a son of Zeus, Jupiter, actually since he’s roman) and Piper (a daughter of Aphrodite) go to this island where Hercules is. And the continuing chapters tell a little bit about Hercules and his wife, and Nessus, and it wasn’t until like the middle of the second act that I made that connection, that I actually knew the story because I had read it in Percy Jackson. And if I’m not mistaken Dejanira kills herself at the end. Now that should have been in the opera, it would have been a KICK ASS aria! Not that “Where Shall I Fly” isn’t kick ass enough, it is. As my singing teacher told me the other day is a awesome mad song ‘cause it’s a mezzo’s mad song, needless to say that my teacher is a mezzo, I’m a soprano, but I agree with her.

Anyways, watching the whole thing I had only already seen Joyce DiDonato, Malena Ernman (in a wonderful production of Dido and Aeneas) and Toby Spence (in Barber of Seville same setting as the wheelchair Barber but with no wheelchair and a darker shade of blonde on Joyce’s head) perform before.

 Something that made me uncomfortable, and please, this is not criticism, I don’t write critics, I prefer to write about the good stuff and that’s it! Anyway, what made me uncomfortable was the sand, the stage was filled with sand, and I’m from a seaside town, so I know how sand can work its way through your clothes and itch endlessly. I actually felt sorry for the guy playing Hercules because he was lying on the sand wearing fake blood, and man, fake blood looks really good, very real, but it feels very gross against the skin, again I speak with experience, I already wore that, and it’s not pleasant. Imagine the fake blood with the sand getting all clingy on your face, and you have to sing and die, kudos for our Hercules, that was heroic.

But the highlight of the opera was without a DOUBT Dejanira’s “Where Shall I Fly?” it was the only aria that I already knew prior to watching this, but it was exquisite, and so awesome to actually understand why she was going crazy! And Joyce goes crazy like no one else! Just superb! The chorus was also really really good, they really did sound as one, and is a passage where they do several subto piano that I got goose pups all over, well very done indeed.