The 2014/2015 Metropolitan Opera Season (part 2)

Hey guys! I really hoped that I had finished this sooner but this week has been crazy! Going to job interviews, doing a billion things for my mum, seeing about Summer Programs (I got into the Opera Live in NYC Program), ending the bedroom makeover, successfully selling unwanted stuff online and also seeing about maybe going to Vancouver to study has totally taken up my whole week! But it’s been a blast really, it was a great week without a dull moment in it.

I’ve also sort of created some living rules for me now because since I’m a lot at home and working from the computer I tend to get very distracted. First rule was cutting all bread, sweets, sodas and fried stuff from my diet. I thought that it would be so awful but it actually wasn’t and I’m feeling a lot better. Then not stuffing myself with food, because what usually happened to me was I would put a lot of stuff in my plate because I was afraid to not have enough food to satiate myself. And then I would push the extra food in because I feel bad about leaving food on the plate. So now I eat in small portions and if I’m still hungry I grab a tad more.  And another thing was not eating under any circumstance carbs at night. I’ve been doing this for the last 3 weeks and have lost about 6 kgs, which is a lot.

Plus I can only read fanfiction at night. That rule helps a lot with my productivity during the days I stay home. Since I’ve decided to sell some stuff I don’t want any more I’ve been at home and in front of the computer a lot. It’s this great deal and I’ve already sold three things in the last couple of days, a belt, a bag and a pair of shoes.

But let's go back to the subject in question here, opera! Here are 6 more operas coming next season at the Met!

That Egyptian love story that never gets old

I don’t even need to say more, right? Aida has got to be one of my favorite operas and this production is probably the best I’ve ever seen. It features the Met’s entire chorus plus a couple hundred extras and dancers and horses and the whole shebang! Apart from the fact that we are talking Verdi here and most importantly we are talking about one of the most beautiful music ever written. It’s amazing how the tunes from Aida just stay with you, I remember when I first saw it that I simply could not stop hearing those tunes in my head!

Even though this is without a trace of a doubt an Italian opera it actually opened in Cairo back in 1871. I believe that the Khedivial Opera House commissioned this from Verdi, don’t remember though. Well the story is as old as time, the typical Verdian love triangle. Aida is an Ethiopian slave serving in Egypt, more specifically serving the Pharaoh’s daughter Amneris. Both ladies are head over heels in love with the captain Radames, who technically is hot stuff but normally what you see is over weight on stage (frustrating, much? Yes!). Anywho, Radames has a secret affair with Aida and they are both SO in love. But the thing is, like every good Slytherin (yes, I have HP house sorted opera characters, Radames goes to Gryffindor, Aida Hufflepuff and Amneris Slytherin, the hat never lies!) Amneris senses there’s something going on between Radames and Aida and will do everything she can to humiliate Aida and to get Radames to herself. Amneris is the BEST character in this opera.

So, to take on the difficult role of Aida the Met got 3 amazing and very different sopranos. First up is Liudmyla Monastyrska who you guys might remember as the Aida from the last HD broadcast of this opera. She is young but oh so incredible, her Aida is full of feeling and her voice is a jewel. I also saw her playing Lady Macbeth a couple of years ago for the ROH, fantastic! Next up is Latonia Moore who has played this role many, many times and does a terrific job. Last but certainly not least the Ukrainian Oksana Dyka and let me tell you, this woman’s voice is an absolute DREAM! I was fortunate enough to see her in Prince Igor live in February and she blew that Metropolitan roof up! I would LOVE to see her as Aida!

But the dream casting does not stop there, for Amneris we have two absolute opera jewels! First up my personal favorite Amneris of all time, Olga Borodina who plays this role like no one else. She is absolute poison, absolutely passionate and her voice is like melting dark, dark chocolate. And I was particularly pleased because I had heard statements of hers saying that now that she’d turned 50 she wanted to slow down her career to be with her family. I’m just happy she didn’t drop the Met completely, a trip to Saint Petersburg is quite impossible for me right now. And also the double threat soprano/mezzo soprano Violeta Urmana who plays both the role of Aida AND Amneris, who cool is that, hun?

Sharing our ‘hero’s’ shoes will be Marcello Giordani and Marco Berti who both have a vast experience with Verdi and his difficult and taxing tenor roles. At the pit we have two of my favorite conductor’s, Marco Armiliato and Placido Domingo (the coolest person ever).

Out of so many cast possibilities the one I’d like to see would be Dyka/Borodina/Berti/Domingo but no can do. I can have almost that cast with Urmana instead of Borodina in April of next year.

Posts related to this; Un Ballo in Maschera at the Met; A Love Letter to Amneris; Ratpack Rigoletto

A Lady Macbeth from Russia

I know what you might think, but Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk has nothing to do with Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It’s a Russian opera written by Shostakovich that premiered in the 1930’s based on the novel Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District by Nikolai Leskov. Before this season’s announcement I had never heard of this opera, I have only seen one Shostakovich opera in my live, the Nose (which fortunately was live), which I really liked.

As I read the plot of this opera I couldn’t help but think that it was one of the most dynamic and passionate and cool plots of opera I’d ever read. This is what happens, Katerina is unhappily married to this guy Zinovy and his dad is pretty much a pain in the ass because he blames her for not having any heirs (but apparently it’s not really her fault, her husband isn’t really into her so, I have a slight feeling he might be gay). Katerina’s maid tells her about this guy Sergei who is a womanizer. When Katerina goes on to confront him and tell him women are just as good as men they end up getting into an actual physical fight which results in Sergei throwing himself on top of her. He does that only in time for her annoying father in law to see the scene and become suspicious about her loyalty to his son. At night Sergei goes to her room to ‘ask for a book’ but then proceeds to seduce her and they end up having hot sex. Her father in law (thinking that he’s all so smart) locks her in her room not knowing that Sergei is in there and they resume to basically having sex all night long.

And this is just the first act! There are like 4 acts in which the story TRULY unfolds and loads and loads of things happen! As Katerina we have the amazing Eva Maria Westbroek. She is so incredible, she has played cool Wagnerian roles like Sieglinde and majestic roles like Didon in Berlioz’s Les Troyes and also the operatic role of the infamous Anna Nicole Smith. She has this smooth and gorgeous voice I wish I could hear live someday. As her lover Sergei we have a tenor called Brandon Jovanovich of whom I had never heard of but just seeing pictures of him I totally get it why it was easy for Sergei to seduce Katerina. Hot stuff!

I really wish I could see this! Not gonna be on HD though! Bummer, it's probably because it's very dark and heavy stuff.

Posts related to this; Trip to NYC - Day 6 - The Nose; How Anna Nicole Smith Could Save Opera in the 21st Century

The barber who sings more than works

This is such a blast of an opera! It’s probably my second favorite Rossini opera (Le Comte Ory is my utmost favorite) and I know that Il Barbieri di Siviglia has touched the hearts of many people I know. It’s a wonderful comedy filled with catchy tunes and smart jokes. The story was taken from the Beaumarchais trilogy, it’s how it all started, part 1!

The story is pretty simple, Rosina (Isabel Leonard) is a beautiful young lady who is kept locked away at home most of the time by her guardian. He is an old, greasy man who plans to marry her only to get his hands on her money. Enters the Count (Lawrence Brownlee) who fell in love with her at first sight when spotting her at her window. So he procures the help of Figaro (Christopher Maltman) so they can fool Rosina’s guardian and get hitched.

The Met’s current production is by Barlet Sheer and it’s all right. No super amazing and grand sets but very efficient and fun in telling the story. One thing I really like in this production is Rosina’s second act dress which is to die for. But I’m a sucker for fashion so…

As the feisty Rosina we have the amazing American mezzo soprano Isabel Leonard who as I’ve said in some other posts is so amazing and such a nice person. For the Count we have another American singer, Lawrence Brownlee who together with Juan Diego Florez is taking the Rossini tenor roles by storm! He’s very, very talented and has a very good comedic timing. For our Figaro we have Christopher Maltman who is another amazing American singer. I had the privilege of seeing him in the very last performance of Die Fledermaus in February and he was so incredible. Amazingly funny and the music just seemed so natural and effortless it was really an amazing performance.

Posts related to this; La Cenerentola; Opera in Rehearsal; Fairytaleish Dress Rehearsal

The craziest song contest ever

If have to be honest I have to confess I don’t have much patience when it comes to Wagner. It might be because his operas tend to last 4 hours or it might be because I don’t understand a word they say. Either way I found myself feeling very lazy to read the plot of Die Meitersinger von Nürnberg, but I did anyway. This is the longest Wagner opera which is performed nowadays, it lasts approximately four hours and a half and we are not counting intermission time. This opera I just like Capriccio and L’Orfeo because it revolves around the creation and composing of music.

So the story is pretty crazy. There’s this knight named Walther who has no musical education whatsoever and he falls head over heels in love with Eva. But Eva’s dad is kind of delusional and says that she will marry the Meistersinger who wins the town’s song competition. So Walther tries to pretend that he’s a worthy candidate to be a Meistersinger so he can enter and win the competition and his beloved’s hand in marriage. But since he doesn’t have any musical education he fails miserably and the Meistersingers people don’t even let him finish his flaw filled song. From then on he’s gonna try and enter that competition anyway he can plus having to worry about a pain in the ass actual Meistersinger called Beckmesser who wants to win the competition. But he’s gonna have the help of the ultimate Meistersinger Hans Sachs so hope isn’t all lost.

As the savior of the day playing Hans Sachs we have Johan Reuter, as the hopeless knight (although he can resemble many things but a knight) is Johan Botha. As Eva we have Annette Dash who I had only heard singing Mozart and am quite curious to see how she will do with Wagner.

It’ not just any Verdi tragedy

I think this is the most popular of Verdi’s operas, hence it’s included every other season at the Met. If I’m going to be totally honest this is not my favorite production of La Traviata. Yes, the red dress is fabulous but there’s not much else to it. I think this kind of production is great to have at festivals or in one season of a big repertoire house but not as a reoccurring production. So every time you wanna watch La Traviata at the Met it’s this nude and empty production. This is my opinion, I don’t think the production is bad it’s just that for a house like the Met they should put up something beyond gorgeous for Verdi’s most beloved opera. My first experience with La Traviata was through this production and to be completely honest I didn’t understand half of it because they leave far too much to your imagination. I guess I’m just traditional.

Anyways, La Traviata tells the story of a courtesan named Violetta who was leading her life loveless but filled with luxury and wealth only too well before Alfredo came along. They fall in love and she decides to go and live with him in the countryside like the happy loving couple that they are and gives up her job. But everything is not sunshine and flowers, you see Alfredo does not have much money to afford the life they lead and Violetta is secretly selling her things to make ends meet. To make things worst Violetta receives the visit of Alfredo’s father who asks her to end their relationship because his association with a person like her is tarnishing the whole family name. And if they stay together nobody will want to marry Alfredo’s sister. It’s pretty sad from then on.

To play the dream role of 90% of sopranos the Met has brought two Marinas. The first is Marina Poplavskaya who actually opened this production at the Met some seasons ago. Again, I’m not a fan and her performance in this was actually filmed so you guys can judge for yourselves. Plus, isn’t she a bit old to have waist long hair? That hair is nothing special, don’t know why people make such a fuss about it. (Oh my, is that venom on my lips or what?). Our other Violetta is Marina Rebeka, now she was my first Donna Anna and she is just so good. She played this Donna Anna in the Met’s live in HD broadcast of Don Giovanni back in 2011.

For our love sick tenor we have the amazing Stephen Costello who is all sorts of awesome. I can’t help but feel sad because his wife Ailyn Pérez isn’t playing Violetta, she has played the part a billion times and oh so well plus they have insane chemistry on stage. Sharing the Alfredo duties with Stephen is Francesco Demuro. And last but not least papa Germont will be played by Ludovic Tézier aka the Severus Snape of opera (for that amongst other reasons I have sort of a crush on him). But he’s such a great singer, the very last thing I saw with him in was that Lucia I saw in a live stream back in July, he was playing Arturo, Lucia’s evil brother and he rocked it! (that’s when he got his HP nickname by the way).

Posts related to this; Lucia gives me the chills!; Annick Massis, tons of talent and sweetness

Holiday Candy Crush!

For the holiday presentation the Met is getting its huge chefs heads out of storage for an all English production of Humperdinck's Hansel und Gretel. So the holiday presentations work something like this; they normally take a comedy or a happy ending opera, translate the whole thing to accessible English and do a rather unnecessary cutting session to the piece. I really like the idea of making something more accessible to a broader public but I find it thoroughly unnecessary to make cuts, if the piece is good it will grab people’s attention. But that’s just my opinion.

The Met has a great, fun and somewhat family friendly (the witch does have a freezer full of children hanging by hooks that you can actually see that’s a bit disturbing) production of Hansel and Gretel’s tale. It always makes me hungry because they get to eat all sorts of sweets at the second act but then again most things make me hungry.

The story pretty much follows the original tale. Hansel and Gretel are brother and sister and their family is extremely poor. They have to do many chores around the house to help out their parents but all they want to do is play. During a bed jumping session they break the only milk jar in the house, their parents are furious and send them to the woods to pick up berries so they’ll have something to eat. They end up losing their way in the woods and as it gets dark start seeing what truly happens when the sun goes down. All sorts of odd and magical creatures appear in their dreams and when they wake up they happen upon a house made entirely of candy, chocolate and cake. The rest we all know, don’t we?

As Gretel the Met has called back Christine Schafer the soprano who actually originated this role in this production a few seasons ago. As she is a very petite woman with a very pretty voice and incredible acting skills she suits Gretel quite perfectly. As Hansel we have the mezzo soprano Christine Rice.    

Wow, that was time consuming but extremely satisfying! And I guess that's it for today guys. Today is Once Upon a Time day and I'm excited! I actually got a way to watch it live so it's pretty cool :) Peace everyone!

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!

Last Night of the Proms - Rule Joycetannia!

The BBC Last Night of the Proms was last Saturday and I myself was dying to see it so I didn’t even go back home to Santos I just stayed here in São Paulo electrically waiting for it to begin. I was kind of disappointed because I wasn’t able to see it, as I tried to download the things the BBC 2 website told me to I probably got a hell lot of virus in my PC. Then I learned that nobody outside Europe or the UK was able to see it as well. That’s strike number 2 for BBC (strike number one was that ridiculous Hard Talk with Thomas Hampson). But I did have a lovely day!

A few hours before the show began BBC 3 was on with a program in which Joyce was the dj and she’d choose all her favorite songs to play. It was so lovely, many things I didn’t know but I think that the one I liked the most was the Vivaldi concert for a violin played by one of her friends, just remarkable! The program was two hours long but I myself didn’t even feel it, I used up this time to FINALLY end translating my arias in German.

There was an absolute angel who posted the whole event on YouTube, here’s the link to the playlist.

Well, 7:30pm in the UK, 3:30pm here in Brazil and it was time for the BBC Last Night of the Proms. I was so very excited and it is much more fun when you have a whole twiterspere of people watching/listening to the same thing and tweeting about it. This was an extra special night and not just because one of my favorite singers was in the spot light. It was actually because this was the first ever Last Night of the Proms conducted by a woman, the amazing Marin Alsop. I’m not going to talk about the events in their right order because quite frankly I don’t remember.

It featured music that I adored and music I barely knew so it was quite a treat. One thing I was absolutely and thoroughly entertained with was Nigel Kennedy’s performance. He’s a violinist and he performed the Csardas which is a ridiculously fast Hungarian dance. But oh man he did so much more than that. He managed to insert little bits and pieces of all sorts of classical tunes into the dances while playing so fast I couldn’t help but start jumping on my seat. Even Marin wasn’t able to keep a straight face as he goofed around while playing the violin like no other. I had the feeling he was going to toss the violin when it ended because it’d catch on fire or something, the man was on fire and it is absolutely delicious to watch! One more thing that I thought was so cool was that he came on to the stage wearing a football team shirt and drinking a cup of tea, he had just performed in Hyde Park. How awesome is a person like that?

Then he also played Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. This one was serious and absolutely gorgeous. But for this one he was hardly formal, he was wearing a leather jacket and sporting clothes that resembled a rock star. AWESOME!

We also had a little tribute to Verdi’s 200^th birthday the amazing Hebrew slave chorus from Nabucco, Vá Pensiero. If you have already sung this you know how it feels. It’s bigger than you and so incredibly magical. Marin Alsop conducted the overture of Bernstein’s Candide to utter perfection, I loved it how this evening embraced music of all times. I don’t know Candide all that well but when I heard the coloratura of Glitter and be Gay being played by the flutes in the Overture I couldn’t help but sing along!

Joyce talk? Please? Oh you think I forgot about my favorite diva? Well in her first appearance she was sporting a gorgeous vine colored dress and that warm beautiful smile of hers. For her first selection she sang a “Mashup” (as the lady in the radio said) of opera favorites. She started with Massenet’s “Je suis gris” from the opera Cherubin, I love this song, it’s in her Diva Divo cd and it’s absolutely gorgeous. It doesn’t even give you time to think about it, before you know it beautiful Joyce sound is ringing through the hall. Then changing completely the time and feel of things she rocked Handel’s “Ombra Mai Fu” from the opera Xerxes. This is one of those arias that you go, “AWW, I love that, it’s so gorgeous!”, although if you think about it it’s totally creepy because Joyce is playing not even a man, but Xerxes, that weird 3 meter tall king that wanted to destroy everything in the 300 movie. And how he’s in love with a tree because the tree is taller than him while nothing else is, very weird indeed. But, quiet refined and true, Joyce always manages to get to that soft spot in my heart.

Then comes the coloratura fireworks we’ve been waiting so long to listen to. She closed her selection with “Tanti Affetti/Frai padre” from Rossini’s La Donna Del Lago which I found was quite the right choice since she spent her last 3, 4 months singing this role first in London and the in Santa Fe. It was like an explosion of little diamonds as Joyce’s voice went up and down faster and faster. And you could clearly notice that she was very emotional, especially when she said “Tanta felicita” she was literally bursting with happiness and it was such a wonderful thing to watch.

What I found most curious about this evening was that the audience was on fire! I mean, this is not by any means the usual classical music concert audience reaction. It, to me, almost resembled a football game in some moments with screaming, cheering, and a lot of noise! I loved it, but when the music began there was absolute silence, it’s that sense of respect that is totally lacking in my country but I’m not even gonna go there.

Nearing the end of the concert Marin Alsop made a wonderful speech. She first thanked everybody involved, the soloists, the orchestra, the chorus and the audience who was superb. But I really loved it when she said she was incredibly honored to be the first woman to conduct this ceremony but that was also quite shocked that we were in 2013 and there could be “firsts” for women. And I couldn’t agree more, I’m happy that that’s happened and a battle has been won against the ridiculous prejudice there is regarding women who conduct. In my college for instance the best conducting student in the whole school is a girl (who happens to be my friend), my voice teacher is also a conductor and has been conducting the biggest and most important musicals in São Paulo for years. Marin Alsop herself is the head conductor of our most important Orchestra, OSESP.

Moving on on the speech she also thanked her parents who always supported her in her career decisions and even made a little remark about how people were saying just last week that “Girls can’t do that.”. I thought it was wonderful for her to say that, God knows how many people are in need of support and understanding in these “modern” times.

Then she moved on to talking about the power of music and of course my eyes were already filling up with tears. It’s odd how what she said resembles something one of my coolest teachers (her name is Aida, you can’t get any cooler than that right?) always says. The arts is what makes us human beings, without it we are nothing. And music and art cannot be pushed to the margins they have to be front and center. It’s really very moving. My teacher always tells us that we have the power to change people’s lives by touching them in the most extraordinary ways. If we are true to ourselves and to our art form we can accomplish so much not just for ourselves but to anybody who cares to listen.

Back to Joyce talk, she comes back to rip our hearts out with her amazing performance of Over the Rainbow. You know I’ve never been a big fan of The Wizard of Oz or Judy Garland or this song, BUT Joyce made me fall in love with it. As I listened to it live last Saturday tears started falling no stop and before I knew it I was sobbing, yes, SOBBING, making noise. And then I actually watched the video and of course there was much more sobbing happening. I loved it how absolutely emotional she looked when she said “Dreams, really do come true”. And every time I watch the video or hear the song sung by Joyce I cry. So I made a little test with my sis and mom to see if I wasn’t going insane. They both watched the video and cried, so I’m not that weird.

Joyce closed her participation singing the anticipated “Rule Britannia”. Wearing a rather odd looking overdress she rocked the song and put some lovely Joyce coloratura in there. It’s so cool to see everybody singing along to the chorus and getting to their feet with their flags proud and strong. It’s just one of those great moments that you wish you could be there.

I know I didn’t talk about everything that happened but I only talked about my favorites, but you guys can check out the whole performance on YouTube. Now I’m going to have my microwave lunch and head off to college to one more day of incessant studying! Peace everybody!

Dream Mezzo Roles

So, these last few days I’ve been wanting to write so much, almost like in the beginning of the blog when I’d post every day. Ah well, who listened to La Traviata on Thursday night? It was quite something hun? This one I really wish I was actually seeing, I mean, Placido and Diana in roles debuts, it’s too good to miss. Well there is another radio broadcast on the 30^th so I’ll have to make do with that.

I’ve decided to make the dream role thing a series, I already got loads of categories like Dream Pants Roles, Dream French Roles, Dream Baroque Roles, Dream Mozart Roles… But today I decided I’d talk about roles I’m not very likely to play, My Dream Mezzo Roles.

This is in no particular order, but the first role I wrote down was Carmen from Bizet’s Carmen. I mean, she is all kinds of awesome, and absolutely can have the world on the tip of her finger. Apart from the fact that the music written for this whole opera is just perfection, and one of my favorites, the character is so iconic that I’d love to give it a go. She’s a proud woman which I like a lot, plus you get to die on stage maybe being murdered by Jonas Kauffmann, you never know… (So not gonna happen!)

Vesselina Kasarova as Carmen

Another French heroin(ish) that I’d love to play is Charlotte from Massenet’s Werther. At first I must admit she kind of annoyed me a bit because she wouldn’t just give in and run away with Werther. But in this sort of situation you have to put yourself in their shoes but not with your 21^st Century they can get a divorce anyway eyes but with their eyes and see how they were brought up and such to see that it is absurd and against everything they believe leaving one’s spouse. It’s sad, but true, I’d love to play the parts they are together in the third act and she almost gives in, it’s such a dramatic role and I love it.

Alice Coote as Charlotte

Still talking about the fantastic roles Massenet wrote for mezzos one of my biggest dream roles is definitely Cendrillon/Lucette in his Cendrillon. This one is mainly because of the beautiful, beautiful music that is written for Cinderella, and who never wanted to play a princess, hun? It might as well be in French and with lush and melodramatic melodies! Plus the trio from the third act makes it all worth it, and the way Prince Charmant and Cendrillon love each other is so different from say Cenerentola and her whole “let good reign” motto. They are indescribably in love not just dazzled by one another, and that I think is super!

 Joyce Didonato as Cendrillon in the 2008 Royal Opera House production

Now let’s go, back, back, back to one of favorite baroque characters, the most definitely unstable Dejanira from Handel’s Hercules. I say that Dejanira’s mad aria “Where Shall I Fly?” is hands down the best mad scene/aria EVER! I know what you are gonna say, what about Lucia? Yeah, I get that a lot, but think about it, Dejanira just killed the REAL love of her life, not someone she was forced to marry, but someone she wanted to grow old with and whom she utterly adored, and she, with her suspicion killed him. And the fact that she starts also hallucinating is fantastic, but it’s not the nice kind of hallucination like in Lucia, it’s the sisters or whomever that have come to judge her and punish her. Awesome role!

Alice Coote as Dejarina

Something I just could not leave out is Rosina from Rossini's Il Barbieri di Siviglia one of the sassiest roles in opera. I mean she has beautiful arias and musical interventions and actually is smarter than anyone else in this opera. Sure she gets fooled by Figaro and Almaviva to think Almaviva is Lindoro, but she makes up the most ridiculously brilliant excuses to get out of trouble. Plus she is the kind of strong proud character I love (funny how these are always the Spanish girls, Carmen, Rosina, Beatrice). And it’s comedy, as much as I love to die on stage, making the audience laugh does something to me, it gives me a lot of joy, that sometimes I laugh myself because I’m so happy they laughed at my joke, but I have that under control now…

Vesselina Kasarova as Rosina

Last but definitely not least is the amazing Béatrice from Berlioz’s Beatrice et Bénédict. I’ve already played this character in the Shakespearean play Much Ado About Nothing and I must say it’s one of the most fun roles I’ve ever played. She’s , just like Rosina, sassy and impetuous, plus you get to real spit on the guy before you say, “Ahh, ok, I love you too, let’s get married”. The fights they have are absolutely delicious and their vocal exchange is hard to match!

Joyce DiDonato as Béatrice in the Houston Grand Opera in 2008

That’s basically it, again my examples of the roles floated around my favorite singers (aka Joyce DiDonato, Vesselina Kasarova and Alice Coote). Today I have a pretty wild party to go to, and still have to make lunch. Yesterday I made risotto while singing along to Danielle De Niese’s Cleopatra arias and Joyce DiDonato’s Furore. So when my mum asked me what was my secret because it tasted wonderful I just said “Well, I sang on it” hahaha I’m pathetic, ok bye!