Exciting Concerts to Come!

Hello there world! Was that stadium turned into a slaughter house or what? But I don't really wanna talk about it because quite frankly I don't give a shit about football. I didn't even watch any of the games! I have no patience to watch those games, I feel I could be doing something much more productive with my time. 

Anyways this last Thursday was my birthday and I can safely say that I was able to do everything I love and be with all the people that I love. I had a fabulous voice lesson with my fabulous teacher. Sang Mozart who is one of my favorite composers. Went to the book store and bought the other 2 books from the Fifty Shades trilogy (holy shit it’s so good!). Had a great lunch with a complete stranger who turned out to be super nice. Then I went to the MAC store because I got a free makeup for my birthday. It was kinda terrifying during the process of the make up because at some point I did think I was gonna look ridiculous but once it was finished it looked AMAZING! I'll post a picture bellow.Then I went to a nearby Starbucks to start reading Fifty Shades Darker (I got the pretty hard cover one because they had run out of paperbacks). And can you actually believe that the guy who sat next to me all smiles and nice manners actually scolded at me when he saw the title of my book. Fucking jerk. Then I went to my aunt’s house where we had popcorn, salame, cheese and chips while we drank Lemoncello and then red wine and laughed and chatted and laughed some more. My friend Caio was to pick me up but he was late because Prince Harry was visiting the building he works in, how awesome is that, hun? When I got into his car I was extremely tipsy and holding a bag of popcorn which I handed to him, a gift from my aunt. I got to meet his new boyfriend who is really nice and very friendly and since traffic was chaotic we had a lot of time to chat. I arrived at the bar I had told my friends to meet me in 45 minutes late, they were all already there though. Then I drank several mojitos and had a blast of a good time! We even read bits of Fifty Shades Darker out loud for some laughs. Thankfully the book is in English so the amount of people who actually had the capacity of understanding what we were laughing at was small. Bottom line, GREAT BIRTHDAY.

that's me in the cool make up and with my happy drink!

I’m real excited because even though Brazil lost, what a humiliating game, I’ve started prepping today for the two most important concerts of my year in Brazil, so fuck football. First in the beginning of next month we will receive the lovely Natalie Dessay and her husband. And I know, I know I might have bad-mouthed her a little bit here for walking out of opera as if they were a worn out pair unwanted Louboutins. But that was over a year ago so sod it.

She’s doing this lovely, lovely, lovely chanson repertoire and I couldn’t help with cheer and giggle as I saw the great list of Faure chansons I adore listed out! The other ones I must admit I do not know but that’s the great thing about YouTube and that great little program I have in my pc that downloads audios from Youtube. I have over a month to become acquainted with these songs so I can fully appreciate them when Natalie sings them. 

I find that to most rewarding because, for instance, even though I loved Jonas’ concert I didn’t know any of the songs he sang, not even one. And even though it was Jonas Kaufmann and he’s like a God, I know I would have enjoyed myself much more had I known the music. Like I enjoyed myself watching Gerry Finley sing Schubert’s Winterreisse. Gosh I can remember like it was yeterday how Gute Nacht just pierced my heart and literally made me cry, he drew freaking tears from me. And I want that experience repeated because I ADORE chanson with an almost scary force, they just speak to me. I’m not a very lieder person but chansons just hit the right spot. It's taste I guess, but they get to me, and to have an actual French person (and not just any person, it’s freaking Natalie Dessay) sing them it’s really something, so I’m super excited. I’m probably going on both days, haven’t decided yet but probably going to both performances.

And then towards the end of next month one of the inspirations of my life nicest people I’ve ever met is coming back. Joyce, the coolest opera singer EVER! I got the news that she was scheduled to sing in São Paulo in August of this year a little bit before going to NYC in October of last year and actually meeting her in person. So I actually got to ask her about that engagement and she told me she was super excited about coming back to Brazil and that the audience was simply superb! But I must say I was expecting a repertoire of opera favorites for this concert and when I saw it I was a bit shocked. Because I’m one of those fans that knows basically everything she sings and then I felt at loss looking through the rep and recognizing very few pieces. 

Joyce being her awesome self!

But no worries, I have already downloaded every single one of the songs, including one by Villa Lobos that I simply loved from an opera called Magdalena “”. It’s quite cool, this version bellow is sung by a great Brazilian mezzo soprano called Luciana Bueno. I remember the first time I saw her live on stage I was extremely shocked at how good she was, that was because she was playing the first wife in the musical “The King and I” and all of a sudden there’s this huge gorgeous operatic voice amongst the much shier musical theater ones. She was DA BOMB in that musical. Funnily enough this same musical was conducted by my own voice teacher who is all kinds of awesome herself.

But anyways, back to the topic, Joyce’s concert which I’m super excited about plus I’m taking ton of friends to see it and we will fangirl and it will be awesome. From the stuff I do know she is doing only two Drama Queens arias, “Piangero la sorte mia” which I one of my personal favorites so there’s a big YAY for that and “Morte col fiero aspetto” which is also one of my favorites. But I would just DIIIIIE (and this is the seventeen year old ´die´) if he sang Madre Diletta, it’s my favorite track from the whole CD and it turns me into a puddle of feels. Stuff that I didn’t know includes Haydn’s Ariadne of Naxos (I downloaded a version with Vesselina Kasarova posted by my good friend Mike, thanks hon!) and some Santoliquido (had no idea of his existence until today) canzonettas. But I’m still hopeful for operatic encores, SEVERAL, pretty please!! If I can expeculate, what I would love to hear as encores. Some Rossini awesomeness like “Tanti Affetti”, “Una Voce Poco Fa” and “Non Piu Mesta”. Also some Baroque bliss she does so well, like “Ombra mai Fu” or “Lasciami piangere”. Or Mozart, what I wouldn’t give for “Ecco il Punto oooh Vitelia/ Non piu di fiori” or even a simple “Deh Viene non tardar”. If she sang in French I would quite possibly DIE (that seventeen year old DIE again), like “Je suis gris” or ANY aria from Cendrillon (like THAT’s gonna happen).

Anyhow I’m excited and since I’m SUPER UBER nice I’m posting here the repertoires both are doing followed by links of the pieces in my favorite versions for us all to get acquainted.  My computer i kind of fucked up right now so I'll post the links when I can.

Natalie's and Laurent's Repertoire

Gabriel Faure

Puisqu'Ici Bas Toute Ame (V. Hugo)

Clair de Lune (letra P. Verlaine)

Après un Rêve (R. Bussine)

Mandoline (P. Verlaine)

Les berceaux (S. Prudhomme)

Prison (P. Verlaine)

Fleur jetée (A. Silvestre)

Pleurs d'Or (A.V. Samain)

Henri Duparc

Invitation au Voyage (C. Baudelaire)

Au Pays où se Fait la Guerre (T. Gautier)

Soupir (S. Prudhomme)

La Vague et la Cloche (F. Coppée)

La Fuite (T. Gautier)           

Francis Poulenc

Colloque (P. Valéry)

Calligrammes (7 poèmes de G. Apollinaire)

L'espionne

Mutation

Vers le sud

Il pleut

La grâce exilée

Aussi bien que les cigales

Voyage: Adieu amour nuage qui fuit

Fiançailles pour Rire (6 poèmes de L. de Vilmorin)

Leo Delibes

Les Trois Oiseaux (F. Coppée)

Charles-Marie Widor

Nocturne (A. Dorchain)

Qu'un Songe au Ciel m'Enlève (V. Hugo)

Joyce’s Repertoire

HAYDN - Arianna a Naxos

SANTOLIQUIDO I canti della Sera

1. L’assiolo canta

2. Alba di luna sul bosco

3. Tristezza crepuscolare

4. L’incontro

ROSSINI Beltà crudele

La Danza

HASSE/HANDEL "Drama Queens”

Morte col fiero aspetto (Antonio e Cleopatra)

Piangerò (Giulio Cesare)

AMERICAN SONGS

Beautiful Dreamer (Canção de Stephen Foster / Arr. David Krane)

Lovely Jimmie (Jerome Kern)

Food for Thought (Heitor Villa-Lobos de “Magdalena”)

ROSSINI Riedi al soglio (Zelmira)

Best Recordings and Books of 2013

So I’ve decided to continue the “best of 2013” lists, so here are the best CDs and books that I have acquired in 2013. Mind you, these were not all out in 2013, some of them are as old as 10, 15 years, but I bought them this year so there you go! I’m also organizing these in alphabetical order because I can’t choose which one is best. I’m also going to give the places and prices I paid should anybody be interested in getting any of them.

Best CDs

Angela Gheorghiu – My Puccini (2008)

  

I got this CD in my last trip to NYC at the Met shop for about $20, but it’s not on the website so here’s the Amazon link. I love Puccini with every fiber of my being and I think Angela does a great job in this Verismo repertoire. This is a two disc set, the first disc is a CD with some of Angela’s Puccini signature roles like Mimi (La Boheme) and Magda (La Rondine), as well as Angelica (Suor Angelica), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Manon (Manon Lescaut) and Tosca (Tosca, duh!). The second disc is actually a DVD of clips of her singing and her reflections about Puccini. The tenor in this CD is Roberto Alagna which at the time was fine but now I find kind of odd. My favorite tracks in this are Magda’s part, specially the two arias and the end duet which is absolutely heartbreaking. I also liked her “Mario, Mario!”, it’s sweet and it sounds like they are having a wonderful time singing this piece.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky & Sondra Radvanovsky – Verdi Opera Scenes (2009)

This one I also got in my last trip to NYC at the MetShop ($19) plus this one is totally autographed by none other than Sondra Radvanovsky. These tracks were taken from a live concert they did together in The Great Hall of Moscow with conductor Constantine Orbelian. Now I’ve listened to this CD from back to back about a billion times I love absolutely everything in this CD. First it’s Verdi Opera Scenes with two of the BEST Verdian singers in the world. You have that GREAT scene of the beginning of act 3 of Un Ballo in Maschera, Amelia’s desperate plea “Morró, ma prima in grazia” followed by Renato’s “Eri tu” that is also so incredible, and it’s fun to hear the audience roar like CRAZY while clapping. Another scene that just drives me over the edge is the Confrontation Scene from Il Trovatore. HOLY. MOTHER. OF. GOD. They just ROCK this scene like no other! This is probably one of my favorite parts of this opera. Plus there are some neat solos like “Song to the Moon” from Dvorak’s Rusalka, “Deh vieni alla finestra” (PLEASE COME TO MY WINDOW!) from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and “Vissi d’arte” from Puccini’s Tosca. It’s a great CD, buy it! And fun-fact, the trousers Dima is wearing in the cover are actually Sondra's, it does not get any cooler than that! Just for you guys to get a little taste of that Trovatore scene, here it is!

Jonas Kaufmann – Romantic Arias (2008)

This is yet another one I got in my last trip to NYC and also got it at the Met Shop for $17. Jonas has to be one of my favorite tenors and in this recording in particular he’s sounding quite dreamy. With the use of the most varied repertoire that ranges from Wagner to Massenet and from Gounod to Verdi and from Puccini to Berlioz he sings all those songs that makes us sigh for the tenor. His brilliant rendition of Carmen’s “La fleur que tu m’avais jetée” is golden and his Werther is so passionate and heartbroken. Just as well as his De Griex from Massenet’s Manon, the hero blinded by love and his Cavaradissi from Puccini’s Tosca with his last words of love to his beloved. He makes you basically want to put him in a bag and take him home. And I think this is such a great recording because it has such a varied repertoire and you get a little taste of everything that Jonas does, which is great!

Joyce DiDonato – Drama Queens (2012)

I bought this CD on Amazon in February for about $16 (but now it’s $21) and it is also super signed! (all my Jdiddy CDs are signed) This is probably my favorite CD by Joyce DiDonato because I love every single aria in it and almost know all of them by heart (and that’s saying something when it comes to baroque repertoire). This CD is basically all baroque queen arias (which I thought was such a great idea!) with Alan Curtis conducting and Il Compresso Barocco accompanying. I wish I could have seen one of the concerts she did with Il Compresso Barocco with this repertoire, I have some friends who did go and said it was beyond incredible. If I have to choose some favorites in this recording they would have to be “Madre diletta, abbracciami” by Porta, “Lasciami piangere” by Keiser, “Da torbida procella” by Orlandini and “Mort ecol fiero aspetto” by Hasse.

Joyce DiDonato – ReJoyce – The best of Joyce DiDonato (2013)

I couldn’t possibly leave this one out. This was the very first CD I bought at the Met Store last October and it was about $19. As the name explains this is the best of the last 10 years of Joyce’s recordings but it’s so much more than that since Joyce let her dear fans choose most of the things about this CD. The title, the tracks, the cover picture was taken during a concert by a friend of mine, and also she filled the booklet with pictures of her fans (including me and some of my friends) and also quotes from fans (including mine), so it’s a real special thing and I’m so honored to be part of it. But on to the CD itself, this one is also a two disc set, first CD filled with mainly baroque repertoire (most of my suggestions made the cut!) and also some Mozart. Some of my favorites are “Crude furie degl’ orridi abissi” “Where shall I fly” “Scherza infida” by Handel and “Voi che sapette” by Mozart. The second CD is filled with belcanto specially Rossini and also some contemporary work she’s done. My highlights would be “Una voce poco fa” “Tanti affetti in tal momento” by Rossini, Strauss’ “Seien wir wieder gut!”, Jake Heggie’s “He will gather us around” and of course “Over the Rainbow”.

Olga Borodina & Dmitri Hvorostovsky – Arias/Duets (1997) 

This one was a difficult one to get, I got it at Amazon from a random person for $7 but now they apparently have one left in store. I love these collaboration between singers CDs, they turn out so great and fun because you don’t get only one voice all the time but two alternating. I adore these two Russian jewels that are called Dmitri Hvostovsky and Olga Borodina and I think their voices sound incredible together. Both have that Slavic depth and darkness (not too much but some) that I absolutely ADORE. This is a fun recording with my favorite parts being the Il Barbieri di Siviglia exerpts that include “Una voce poco fa” “Largo al factotum” and “Dunque io son… Tu non m’inganni”. I also love it that they get to sing in Russian as well in this CD, the excerpts from Tsar’s Bride couldn’t be more beautiful. And finally to close the CD wonderfully they sing the act 2 duet from Saint-Saens Samson et Dalila “J’ai gravi la montagne”

Renée Fleming – Strauss Four Last Songs / Signature Roles at the Met Opera (2008)

I got this CD on Amazon for $12, great deal, specially because this is a double CD set! This is like all the best from Renée Fleming, she’s so amazing in the repertoire she chose for these CDs. First all Strauss bliss starting out with the Four Last Songs that are hands down one of the most beautiful things I ever heard followed by selections from Ariadne auf Naxos and Die ägypische Helena. And then we have the 5 things I mostly love Renée in. First the letter scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin that I think she gets so fantastically well and her characterization of Tatyana is probably my favorite! Then we have her signature aria from Dvorak’s Rusalka “Song to the Moon”, fun fact about this aria in particular, the first time I heard Renée sing it was when I saw her concert live, yeah, PRETTY COOL. Then we have her heartfelt rendition of the “Willow Song” and Ave Maria from Verdi’s Otello and the mirror aria from Massenet’s Thäis. And to close we have the last scene from Strauss’ last opera Capriccio. This is a wonderful recording to have!

Sarah Connolly – Heroes and Heroines – Handel (2004)

This one I also got on Amazon for $17. Mezzos are awesome, they get such great ideas for different kinds of CDs! This one is awesome, Sarah Connolly is famous for her baroque repertoire and even more for her incredible performances in pants roles. So I guess this was what inspired Joyce’s Diva/Divo. In this CD Sarah sings Handel ladies and lords. She sings a lot of Ruggiero (Alcina) my personal favorite is, of course, “Verdi prati” and also the hero Ariodante, my favorite piece is obviously “Dopo notte”. She also sings Dejanira which is one of my favorite opera characters, she’s so insane! Her “Where Shall I fly?” is priceless and incredible! Plus this cover couldn't be more awesome, her lady self looking at her lord reflection! 

Sondra Radvanovsky – Verdi Arias (2010)

I also got this CD at Amazon for about $16. This is another one of those CDs that I listen back to back a billion times. Because A- Verdi is awesome and B- for me, there is nobody who can do more justice to these pieces than Sondra. Her voice was made to sing this repertoire so there is really no weak track in this CD. I love all of these arias but if I had to choose the ones I listen to more often I would have to say Il Trovatore’s “Tacea la notte”, Un Ballo in Maschera’s “Ecco l’orrido campo… Ma dall’arido stelo divulsa”, La Forza del destino “Pace, pace, mio Dio”, Ernani’s “Ernani, Ernani involami”, Aida’s “O patria mia” and Il Vespri Siciliani’s “Bolero”. Basically all of them, seriously, I left like, 3 songs out of that list. The coolest thing is that I got to tell Sondra how much I loved this recording and she was so thrilled, she even drew a little heart in her autograph. It was awesome.

Best Books

I’m listing here first my favorite opera related books of the year with the long notes I always make and after some other books I read this year that I also liked. Everything in alphabetical order.

As Óperas de Richard Strauss (The Operas of Richard Strauss) – Lauro Machado Coelho (2007)

This book is actually by a Brazilian writer and it’s only available in Brazil and I’m pretty sure I bought one of their last copies back in July. This book is part of a great (and expensive) collection that talks about all kinds of operas, Baroque, Romantic Italian, French, Wagner Opera so on. And this in particular speaks only of Richard Strauss and it’s such a wonderful guideline to travel through Strauss’ operas and also to understand his compositional methods. The writing is filled with knowledge but it’s not stuck up and quite a pleasant read.

Contos de Óperas e Cantos (Stories of Operas and Singing) – Sergio Casoy (2009)

Another Brazilian author, I’ve had the great pleasure to actually watch two talks he did about voice types. He’s an opera history professor and an opera critic. This book is so delicious to read and I actually read it in various ends of afternoons at the beach. It’s a compilation of texts Sergio Casoy wrote for opera programs here in Brazil over the years. They usually tell a little bit of the story of the opera but also of the back story in the making of these operas which are always super cool and sometimes funny. How did Verdi decide he would write Otello? How long did Donizetti take to write L’elisir d’amore? Plus, this book is dedicated to my vocal coach! How cool is that?

Diary of a Redneck Opera Zinger – Jay Hunter Morris (2013)

I got this on Amazon but you can also get it at the Met Store. The funniest opera book I’ve ever read! This book is like a compilation of the best emails he’s sent to his family and friends while pursuing the career of an opera singer. Jay is such a sincere writer and his take on situations are absolutely hilarious. There are all sorts of words written the way a Texan would say them which really adds to the reading because you imagine a Texan with a real strong accent narrating these situations to you. Like the time a crazy lady asked him to keep in his freezer a dead frozen dog sized bird. Or the time when he ripped his pants right in the butt area in the middle of the last scene of a concert version of Carmen and the audience roared with laughed. Or the time when he saw some people slip in orange vomit just out of stage door. Or when he finally got his big break as Siegfried only 2 years ago at the Met. This book is GOLDEN!

The Inner Voice – the making of an opera singer – Renée Fleming

I got it on Amazon in the beginning of the year for about $16. This is the best opera singer guidance book I’ve ever read. I love it! I think I read it 3 times already and would gladly read it again, I’ve underlined and copied my favorite passages. I’m actually quite self conscious about asking Renée to sign it because it’s kind of worn out! I translated the introduction to Portuguese for my repertoire teacher to give to her students but those people are so clueless they barely read it. There was ONE (out of twenty people who say they want to be opera singers) girl who asked me if I could lend her the book and I did and she loved it, most of the others don’t even know who Renée Fleming is which is both sad and utterly unacceptable. But on to the book, Renée tells the story of her voice and about all her difficulties and insecurities growing up to become the absolute success that she is. This book is a MUST for anybody who wants to pursue a career in singing classical music, specially opera, it’s so great!

True Tales from the mad, mad, mad world of Opera – Lotfi Mansouri

This isn't the cover of the book, although I would totally buy a book with this cover, but the thing is, Lofti wrote such a beautiful message to Joan Sutherland right at the very end of this book that drove me to tears so I though I'd be nice to have a pic of them together here

I also bought this book on Amazon for $15. First of all, the foreword is by Carol Burnett, I mean, come on! How cool is that? These are the memories of stage director Lofti Mansouri, of all the absolutely insane things he’s been through in this truly crazy business. Plus he worked with big legends of opera like Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Renata Scotto, Maria Callas, Jesse Norman and many, many others. This book is the literally proof that we do this out of love, because there is no money that can pay being put through the situations Lofti was. Like having a patron from an opera house tell him that a certain young soprano had to play the role of the Duchess in La Fille du Regiment. Or have a Russian mezzo sing a role she barely even learned in an English version of Der Fledermaus, ah, and the singer didn’t speak English, like at all. It’s funny now, but it must have been hell back then!  

Other titles that I read this year I thoroughly enjoyed that have absolutely nothing to do with opera are:

A Pocket Full of Rye (Agatha Christie) – Miss Marple’s case of various murders happening in the same house, you gotta love that old bird watcher!

Curtain (Agatha Christie) – Poirot’s last case, it’s just freaking GENIUS! And I was so glad I got to read it before the episode came out!

Death on the Nile (Agatha Christie) – ok, you noticed I love Agatha Christie novels, this is particularly amazing and with always such a surprising ending!

Eugene Onegin (Alexander Pushkin) – This is sort of opera related since it was because of the opera that I bought it. It’s such a wonderful work of art and even though it’s an English translation it captures some of the amazing essence of Pushkin’s words. Plus it’s written like poetry but it has a very narration feel to it.

The Big Four (Agatha Christie) – another master piece of mystery featuring my dear Poirot

The House of Hades (Rick Riordan) – Book 4 from the Heroes of Olympus Series which I absolutely love! It’s fun, easy to read and I read all the 600 pages in exactly 5 days.

The links for these last books are all from Amazon because if you live in the US the best deal is always to get it from Amazon! Well, I guess that's it! I might come up with another crazy list idea until the end of the week, I actually already have, so stay tuned. I'm watching La Boheme here in São Paulo tonight and I do hope I'm not enraged by what I see, my last experience in that theater was horrid to say the least. Ah well, my grade hasn't come out yet, so I'm suffering, so I appreciate any positive energy heading my way! Peace everyone!

The best of my musical 2013

The end of the year is near! And so I thought it would be fun to do some “best of 2013” lists! I might do this in more than one post, depending on the amount of stuff I write.

Best Operas

It’s in alphabetical order because I really don’t wanna choose which I liked best than the other, so those are the highlights of the year of operas I’ve seen live in 2013

Aida (Theatro Municipal de Sao Paulo)

This was my first time seeing Aida and it was really love at first sight! The music is just so incredible, the chorus parts are exhilarating and the solos, duets and trios just swept me off my feet! The staging was simple but dignified and Radames and Amneris were particularly wonderful. I saw this production of Aida twice at the Theatro Municipal in the city where I live, Sao Paulo, it was my very first time going there.

Eugene Onegin (Metropolitan Opera)

I felt so privileged to be able to see this opera live not only once but twice! Before I even saw this production I already loved this opera thoroughly. And then having such a stellar cast under the musical direction of none other than Valery Gergiev was just an absolute delight. The staging was beautiful and the interpretation of the characters was slightly different but it worked incredibly well for that particular set of performers.

La Cenerentola (Theatro Sao Pedro)

This opera I also saw more than once, if you have been reading this blog for a while you will know that I actually watched some rehearsals of this opera. The cast was adorable, the staging slightly bleh but the performers totally made up for it! Special spotlight for the ladies who played the evil step sisters who are sisters in real life and totally stole the show!

Norma (Metropolitan Opera)

I had never seen this opera and let me tell you, even though the staging was as dull as it gets, I loved it! It was my first night at the Met and I was alone and it couldn’t have been more perfect! I remember my eyes filling up with tears seeing Sondra come out for the first time and feel the tears roll down my cheeks when she started singing. Again, I saw this opera twice when I was there and feel so fortunate!

Best Concerts

Again in alphabetical order because they were all such different kinds of concerts and I really can’t choose, each had a very different kind of special meaning

Annick Massis Concert (Theatro Sao Pedro)

Two incredible nights. Annick is such a fine artist and with such an impressive repertoire. I remember that in her very last encore I nearly cried at her rendition of “Chi bel sogno di Doretta”. And also her reading of Papa Germont’s letter and “Addio a del passato” was heart breaking and inspired. I was SO lucky to sit in the front row for this concert in both days!

Maryinsky Theater Orchestra plays Stravinsky led by Valery Gergiev (Carnegie Hall)

I’m such a grateful person to have seen this! I guess that’s why I wanna live in NYC, I mean, come on! I stayed there 10 days and was able to watch so many top notch musical performances, like with the absolute best in DA WORLD! Ah well, this concert was incredible. I mean, it’s not every day that I get to see an entire all Russian orchestra play Stravinsky. I was particularly moved when they played “The Rite of Spring” because my history teacher back in college dedicated quite a lot of time to this piece in particular. So to be able to see an orchestra like that play it was something I will never forget! Plus this concert was on the very DAY of Verdi’s 200th anniversary so as a present to the audience maestro Gergiev led the overture of La Forza del Destino that was composed for the Maryinsky theater! By the end I was in tears, tears, tears!

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Joyce DiDonato led by James Levine (Carnegie Hall)

This was one of those things that is on one’s bucket list, again I felt very blessed to have been able to attend this one night only sold out event! First of all y’all know Joyce is one of my personal heroes, so just to get to see her perform was already such a thrill for me. And let me tell you, she was everything I had ever dreamed of and more, such an amazing artist. Then you add the Met Orchestra led by none other than the legendry James Levine and it’s heaven! Seriously, Beethoven’s 7th Symphony was just impossibly gorgeous and the overture of Il Vespri Siciliani being played the WEEK of Verdi’s 200th anniversary was just a marvelous slap of my musically drugged face.

Vesselina Kasarova and the Camerata Berg (Sala Sao Paulo)

Two magical nights in a row! I was already a great fan of Vesselina’s work but to actually see her live right in front of me was so incredible. Plus, as you guys have read in my posts about this concert, she kept looking and smiling at me and my bff for almost half of the concert which was just impossible and insane and wonderful. She did her Mozart and Rossini repertoire which I love and I got to fall in love with her Sesto once again! *sighs*

Best Opera Singer Meetups

Now this is where I get overly emotional like a good Brazilian always does and start crying. I can’t help it though, these are also in alphabetical order because they were all equally awesome.

Annick Massis

Annick is such a generous person and I knew that from the moment she walked on stage she gave it her all to that performance. I will never forget the kindness she showed towards me, looking in my eyes and being sincerely interested in what I had to say. She showed such interest in me I was a bit shocked and even gave me my very first opportunity to sing in a real life masterclass, her masterclass. I look back at those two amazing evenings that I chatted for a while with her after her performances with always a smile on my face.

Joyce DiDonato

I think this was one of the best moments of my life, getting to meet Joyce the way it happened. It was so surreal, first to walk in that room and see her SO DAMN CLOSE and just wait a few minutes that felt like 974298734 hours. Then to get to have her first words uttered to me be my own freaking name, I mean, how cool is that? She’s like one of my heroes and she actually knows who I am and plus was so thrilled that we had finally met and that I went to see her. I mean, that’s daydream material, that’s fanfiction material and it happened to me in real life. I got several hugs and even more kind and amazing words from her. Plus I got to walk around the Carnegie Hall backstage area WITH HER and talk.

Sondra Radvanovsky

Now Sondra is someone who inspires me SO MUCH to pursue this career. She’s also one of my personal heroes and ultimate role model. And I got to see her twice! First time I met her it was in the Met’s stage door area and I was terrified because A- it was my first time stage dooring at the Met B- she walks out and she’s like SUPER TALL C- I’m afraid I won’t be able to speak because of nervousness and/or unexpected tears. So I just stood there like an idiot with my mouth probably hanging opened looking her while she sighed stuff feeling my heart beat in my throat (Lord help me I might choke in my own heart!). She saw me there and walked up to me, took my hand and shook it and said “Hi! I’m Sondra! But you probably know that, right?”, for the first 3 seconds I was frozen but then I regained consciousness and was able to speak fluently and well and we hit it off quite well. After talking to her for a while I told her I’d be watching Norma again on Monday and she proceeded to invite me to go to her dressing room to talk to her after the show on Monday. I nearly had a heart attack then. Monday we met again, in the dressing rooms area backstage at the Met and she was again, SO SWEET and SUPER KIND. Seriously, I wanna be like this lady when I grow up, she’s fabulous and all kinds of wonderful!

Vesselina Kasarova

Vesselina’s heart is the size of a house. And it’s funny because she has such a strong stage presence that me and my bff were a bit apprehensive about going up and talking to her. But she was a bucket of sugar, so sweet I couldn’t believe it. She was particularly fond of us because she saw us in the front row smiling at her every 5 seconds. We both quickly connected with her and had a lovely time talking to her. The second day she waved at us from the stage when she walked in and actually took my hand during one of her last ovations to thank me. That was SO SURREAL!

Well, I guess that’s it for now. In other news I’m NEARLY graduating, I have one grade to come out yet. I pray to God everyday to help me pass, so help me God I WILL!

Trip to NYC - day 10 - Joyce Didonato, James Levine and Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall

So the day has finally come! On that faithful Sunday, the 13^th of October I had the best time of my life!

I made plans with Melanie (aka Ms Opera Geek) to meet for lunch at 11. But as fate would have it, my mum got stuck in the elevator of the hotel, just her luck. I laughed at her, I must admit. Well I got to Carnegie Hall about 15 minutes late and there I met my good friend Melanie! I was really so thrilled to meet her because we’d been talking for such a long time over the internet, it was a very special moment for me. So me, Mel and her dad (real cool guy) went to a restaurant called Carnegie something (sorry I forgot the name of the restaurant, shame on me!) for lunch. Me and Melanie ordered a quite large basically all bacon sandwich each and devoured on as the three of us talked nonstop about opera. I really had an amazing 2 hours talking to those two about opera while slowly ingesting ridiculous amounts of bacon. Plus we had a cherry cheesecake that was to die for, but we couldn’t finish it!

Then we went to Starbucks and the opera talk continued! We met some real nice people and also people from the orchestra. One problem, I picked my coolest dress to attend Joyce’s concert, gold and strapless and gorg and the only shoes that matched it had very high heels. Now I’m not a high heels person, I went to all the operas in pretty flats but I just couldn’t wear flats with this dress. So I put the heels inside a Starbucks bag and wore my havaina flip flops thorough the whole lunch thing. We got into Carnegie Hall through the stage door (COOL OR WHAT!) and I still had my flip flops on as Melanie and her dad introduced me to some important people like this and that soprano who sang with Pavarotti and I’m wearing flip flops for CHRIST SAKES! I dragged Melanie to the restroom and changed my shoes to those torture machines, beautiful, golden and sparkly but absolute foot killers!

When we came out Melanie introduced me to Carrie-Ann Matheson! Mel said “This is Carrie Ann Matheson, she works at the Met” and I said “Oh, hi, I’m Isabela, I know you from “The Audition”” kill yourself Isabela! But she was so nice and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. Unfortunately I had to find my mum because the concert was almost starting so I had to bid the gals goodbye and search for mother. After some panic I found her and we headed to our seats, we got quite nice seats in the Balcony front, although it was covered by another level above us so I don’t think we got the best sound, but anyways.

The concert started and the Met Orchestra was already on stage, James Levine comes in to a gigantic wave of applause and I count myself so damn lucky to be able to see him conduct both at the Met and here at Carnegie Hall.

We started off with one of my favorite composers, Verdi. They played the overture of Il Vespri Siciliani and aaah, I could just die then. Ah, what gorgeous sound, what gorgeous music, tears came to my eyes and it was simply the best way to open! Then they played a piece by Carter that I did not know and since it was a modern piece it didn’t particularly touch my heart. I started to get anxious about seeing Joyce. The piece was over and I could barely hide my overflowing enthusiasm.

And on stage comes my beloved Yankee Diva. Guys, I broke down the minute she walked on stage and I could not stop crying. Joyce for me is such a huge idol and hero and all sorts awesome so to see her like that was just too much for me. The music (Rossini’s Giovanna D’Arco) had a pretty long intro in which I cried all the way and then when she started singing I thought I wouldn’t be able to not make noise while wept and wept. Again, I was able to cry with my eyes open and watch all of it. It was just so amazing, I didn’t know this piece but it’s Rossini so of courses we had those beautiful Joyce cadenzas and those sparkly trills that make us go over the edge.

Intermission time and was I embarrassed or what? Wiped my tears and met up with Sasha and a friend of hers and chatted. Ah I love talking to my opera friends, it is so refreshing to have people who get you and can discuss stuff at the same level. Sasha showed me the AWESOME job our friend Xenia did, an actual photo book of Joyce’s performances, it’s gorgeous (well done Xenia!)!

Well intermission was over and I walked back ever so slowly, because Carnegie Hall stairs are steep and I was in killer heels, back to my seat. Second part started and I almost thanked God that I managed not to cry, I mean, getting emotional is fine but my weeping was embarrassing me. Joyce sang two arias from Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Sesto’s “Deh, per questo istante solo” and then Vitelia’s “Non piu di fiori”. It was so gorgeous! The treatment she gives Mozart is just remarkable, Gosh what an artist! And such a big voice, those brilliant, brilliant high notes soared! And it was quite interesting to hear her sing the aria she coached at the Masterclass only the week before. Then you could really notice the fine detailed work she had with this piece and how she absolutely makes it her own. Just incredible!

I was upset that when “Non piu di fiori” was over the would be no more Joyce. I mean, I love orchestral music but I love sung music so much more! Joyce had quite an ovation, I think it took about 4 minutes of coming in and out and bowing as the crowd cheered and cheered!

After Joyce was gone (snif!) we have Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony to delight on! My favorite part of this Symphony is without a doubt the second movement, I’ve been in love with it ever since I was an annoying teenager. Funny story, here in Brazil when a girl turns 15 her family usually throws a debutant party for her. And there’s a part in this party when you have to come out with a beautiful dress and waltz with your dad, granddad and godfather and optionally boyfriend but I had my best friend dance with me. So we get to choose a cool song for when we come out and guess what I chose? Second movement of Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony, guess what my mother said? “NO WAY, it’s too depressing!” What? It’s fucking gorgeous!

Back to 2013 it was in fact, gorgeous and poignant and amazing! And the crowd went wild and it was incredible! The very second the clapping ceased I flew down those Carnegie Hall stairs to the backstage area entrance to meet Melanie. I had an amazing feeling going on, something like “Oh God I gotta get there quickly, oh man I’m gonna fall down these stairs if I run, HOLY MACARONI I’M MEETING JOYCE!”.

I met Melanie, her dad and her lovely, lovely mother in the backstage entrance and after giving our names to the thug looking security guard we were in! We went up on an elevator and me and Melanie were hopping like two rabbits with excitement! It was SUCH a happy moment, Mel’s parents seemed to be so happy to bring us there and me and Mel were just over the moon! Well we got to this nice big room where I could spot Joyce talking enthusiastically with a group of people. It was so funny because we went in and walked past her to wait for her. I remember I tweeted “I’M IN THE SAME ROOM AS @JOYCEDIDONATO WITH @MSOPERAGEEK”. I was so happy! Probably one of the happiest moments of my life, definitely!

Well, the people who were speaking to Joyce left and she came to talk to us! First she greeted Mel’s parents, then Mel and then she turned to me and with that beautiful smile on her face said “ISABELA!”. Now do you know how amazing it is to actually meet the person who most inspires you? Nevertheless to have her greet her saying your name, I cry just remembering about it! She gave me a huge hug that lasted about 20 seconds and while we hugged she started thanking me for the stuff I had sent her and all I could say was “Oh my God I’m gonna cry!”.

When we parted from our tight long hug she complimented my clothes and I was like “Omg I can’t believe it’s YOOOU!”. We took a lovely, lovely picture together and as we took it Joyce said this one was for the next CD, hence my facial expression of total and complete rejoyce!

I seriously do not remember what I said to her after the photo but the guys from Carnegie Hall were pressing her because she was giving a signing and she was kinda late. So she told me to come along with her to the signing and wait for it to end so then she could sign all my CDs and we could talk better. What? Yes! It was so surreal, I bid Mel and her parents the quickest goodbye and followed Joyce and the 791948 security guards escorting her. I must admit it was very surreal to walk along Carnegie Hall’s backstage with Joyce. We got to the signing only too quickly though and it was packed!

I went to some solitary place to wait for her and lean on something because my feet were absolutely killing me. One bad thing about the signing, the stage door freaks were there being as inconvenient as they could possibly be, cutting line, being rude and all that crap that they do. After about half an hour the place started clearing out and I met a lovely German lady named Alexandra who was last in line. She asked me to take pics for her and sure enough I did, I was happy to help, she was so excited about meeting Joyce.

But then what happened was that when it was her turn there was only me, her, Joyce, 3 girls, 834798 security people and the stage door creeps there. You see the stage door creeps had already gotten their stuff signed so they could sell it on Ebay or something but they insisted in harassing Joyce to the last minute. Taking pictures and being their rude selves until a moment when Joyce hit the table hard with the palms of her hands and said in a scary tone “ENOUGH!”

They backed off but did not leave, she told us (me, Alex and the 3 girls) that she was gonna pretend to leave so they would go away. And as she left I started calling out “Bye Joyce! It was so cool meeting you!” and the girls followed me suit with loads of goodbyes and thank yous. The security people actually threw the stage door freaks out and Joyce came back!

I got to talk to her again but again I seriously do not remember what I said. I just remember I said “It’s Isabela with one ‘L’” as she wrote my name with 2 Ls but I don’t really care. And then I remember quite vividly looking at her while she was signing the 289840 CDs I brought and just saying “You know you are my hero, right?” and she said amused “Ah, swap it!”. We took another picture and exchanged a few words about her coming back to Brazil in August next year, she’s very excited to be back! Then she left and me and Alexandra just stood there star struck.

Then we went out for some Starbucks and I was the happiest puppy in the world! What an amazing day! Truly one of the best I’ve ever had! Now there’s only one post left to go, the day I met James Levine and unfortunately the day that I left! Gotta go peeps! Peace!