All Mixed Up :D

Performance Butterflies

I don’t even have to say that this was yet again a very stressful week. I had all my singing tests this past week and I’m happy to say I did well in all of them. First my Chamber Music one in which I sang Faure’s Cinq Melodies de Venice song Cycle, it’s quite lovely although there are some songs that my voice doesn’t shine as others, because it’s a mezzo cycle, but anyways, it’s gorgeous.  I actually started making my new Chamber Music repertoire with more sopranoish stuff, it only has two songs Shubert’s Die Männer sind méchant and Fauré’s Après Une Rêve.

Well a couple of hours after my Chamber Music test I had my singing test in which I sang both Cherubino’s arias (choice that was utterly inspired by Vesselina Kasarova’s concert). I was kind of pissed off in this one, because the pianist screwed it up BIG time, she probably played everything wrong. I started off with Non So Piu Cosa Son, Cosa Faccio and as she began to play it was so wrong I asked her to stop (there was an audience by the way, it was recitalish kind of test) and start over after giving her the right tempo. No use, she stumbled her way through the aria, made NONE of the dynamics plus continued playing while I was singing the cadenza. Yeah, it was awful, but I just continued to sing, my voice didn’t sound as good as I hoped.



I made this little fun montage with Renée Fleming as Ariadne (I know this is the Strauss one and I did the Monteverdi one), then a pretty picture of Venice to represent the Faure song cycle I did and finally the one and only Jdiddy as Cherubino at the Met



Then Saturday and Sunday I sang the Monteverdi repertoire for the Opera Studio subject, it was also a concert. It was rather fun, we sang the Ariadne Laments, I was singing the second soprano, which I hate because 1- it’s written in a tessitura that is in no way flattering to my voice  2- I DESTEST singing in thirds, especially if I sing the lowest part (I mean, I don’t mind doing a bit of Cosi and Nozze di Figaro thirds). But second act I was the only girl soloist, YAY, we did Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda and I was Clorinda. I was very nervous, but I found my singing acceptable (I’m very strict with myself, acceptable is the highest praise I give myself). But I did get flowers and a standing ovation at the end and TOTALLY felt like Gheorghiu/Fleming hahaha

But I must confess that what I felt while I was singing, especially as Clorinda, was utter bliss. Of course there was that nervousness, but there were moments in which I forgot I was singing and I felt I was soaring, magical really. I was only able to ‘soar’ because I had rehearsed and studied that A LOT and felt protected and being taken care of by the conductor, orchestra and colleges. One of my bestest friends in college was playing the second violin and he said he got chills at certain parts when I sang, while he was playing, I think this was the best compliment I ever got.

And Dessay Dropped the Bomb

I think I’m going to babble about several things/news I heard this week then, I don’t have a particular topic in mind. First then, the freshest, Natalie Dessay is quitting opera. WHAT? Yeah, that was my reaction too, but most people weren’t particularly surprised. Maybe I’m slightly misinformed but I liked her Cleopatra so much at the Live in HD of the Met. Her technique might not have been the best in the world but so what? Her acting Marie was my favorite but I prefer Damrau singing wise. I just find it so odd to become “tired” of something that offers you so many possibilities of different roles as opera and different productions resulting in different interpretations of the same character. I mean, she’s 50, she’s technically still at her prime, I hear 50 year old singers like Krassimira Stoyanova rocking every kind of role you can imagine from 17 year old Tatyana to mesmerized Marguerite. But yes, she did have many vocal problems in the past and I hear that she does indeed smoke, which is never good in any level for anybody really.

But I just think it’s darn odd for her to give up on opera, not to be a mother or retire as is what singers usually do when they “give up”, to do live theatre. Don’t get me wrong, I love live theatre, I do live theatre, but I just find it odd. Because when I think of international star and theatre I think of Broadway and since the Tony’s were just the day before yesterday I couldn’t help but imagining Natalie Dessay there. It’s so weird! But as my twitter friends said, she’ll most probably do theatre in France in her mother tongue. Well, the best of luck to her, she will be missed that’s certain.  

Joyce DiDonato is Simply the Coolest person in the world



I just think this picture is simply awesome!



As many of you know Joyce launched Joyce and Me, the coolest project ever, a couple of weeks ago for fans to help her produce her 10^th year anniversary double CD. This project is really quite marvelous, just last week she released the dreamy track list that had MANY of my suggested favorites in it. And now our new mission is to take cool creative pictures for her, at first I really didn’t have a clue of what to do and had kind of given up on the idea of sending anything really. But this morning it dawned on me and me and ma sister are taking the coolest picture ever! Since we haven’t taken the picture yet I’m going to keep the suspense up on the subject, but as soon as we send it I promise to post it here! I just really hope she likes it!

Joyce had quite a wonderful night on Sunday at La Scala singing her Venice themed repertoire and some good old Rossini. And something that I thought would never happen there did, a phone started ringing just as Joyce was reaching the top note for the ending of one of her Rossini arias. WOW, I mean, really WOW. The audience was quite revolted shouting stuff (as they customarily do in La Scala) but Joyce, refined and awesome as always, asked if it was Rossini who was calling to know if the aria went well. You can read more about it here ;)

Plus Joyce gave a brief but thought provoking interview to our friend Kevin, you can read it in his blog Non Piu Di Fiori(I love that name I wish I had thought of it first haha) So Joyce DiDonato, you win the trophy for most awesome and incredible person in the universe!

Master Classes from the Gods

And to wrap this crazy post I’m going to talk about some amazing Master Classes I’ve seen last week that have helped me so much in understanding this crazy thing that it is to sing.

I’m starting with the longest that is actually part of a series of Master Classes given by super professionals from all arts areas and the first episode was Placido Domingo Master Classes (what a way to start). This is truly a gift, four young singers win a competition and get to not only sing for Maestro Domingo, but have lunch with him, meet him during intermission of the opera he’s doing and GO TO HIS HOUSE. I mean WHAT? That is so cool, my favorite part of this is when they arrive in his house and there’s a huuuuuge wall filled with opera scores and their mouths are just hanging opened in awe. Mine was too by the way, it’s quite incredible.  

The next one is really only little snippets of 3 master classes given by the great Joan Sutherland, Ileana Cotrubas and Tom Crause. This is really inspiring and quite funny, it’s delicious to listen to the way they speak about the music, it’s so intimate to them already! Cotrubas is hilarious from her first “Are we singing Charlotte in pants?” to her last “Do you agree? You have to agree because I’m right!”. Also the way Crause describes the ball Don Giovanni throws at the end of the first act as an orgy and that he tells Leporello to pick up some hot chicks on the street is really amazing.

Going now to more current people I looove Renée Fleming’s Master Classes, because she’s a total nerd so she knows A LOT of stuff and I mean A LOT. And most importantly knows how to pass it on in an informative, clear and fun way. The two master classes that I like the most are first one she gave at Harvard for a girl who was singing the Fairy Godmother of Cendrillon. The girl was really good but Renée manages with her suggestions to decorate and make the girl’s performance even better, it’s quite inspiring to watch.

And also, a rather brief one that is also part of the Master Classes Series (just like Placido Domingo’s) that I couldn’t find on YouTube and am very upset because of that. But in this one she’s working with a mezzo who is singing the role of the page boy in Romeo et Juliette. Again she has exquisite good taste to give the finishing touches that make the difference. Just as if she’s decorating a wedding cake, you know? The cake is yummy already, but she is the one who makes the beautiful sugar flowers that make the people go wow, and she places them on the cake in a way that it looks perfect as if it was always there. You guys get the analogy, right?

And finally a snippet of a Master Class I should have watched before my Cheburino test. Susan Graham explains the character and really just shows the right intonation to every single word. Just brilliant stuff, Gosh I really wish I had seen it before my test! Although I did warm up with Vesselina Kasarova’s Master Class that started with Non So Piu also. I can't seem to put the link for the video here, so click here to watch Susan rock that Master Class :)

Well that’s it I guess, you guys have a wonderful week and peace always ;)

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!