A Love Letter to Anmeris

EDIT; Ok, this was supposed to be a review of the Aida production I saw last week but I got a tad bit overly excited about Amneris so I think the title explains itself, hun?

What a crazy week! Wow, I was practically out of the house for most of it. But now I'm very happy to say that I'm home for at least the weekend. Before I get down to the subject in hand let me just tell you guys that my friend Xenia, who already has ReJoyce in her grasp, tells me that my picture made it to the CD! HUL! I'm very happy about that. I made all sorts of silly ReJoyce marketing this week in college. Wrote “#ReJoyce is Coming” every where chalk would write in. It was fun.

But what I want to talk about is my new found love for Aida. I know what you might be thinking, that I should already love Aida because it´s one of those IT operas, right? Ah well, let me explain myself then. About seven, six years ago an opera company came to Brazil in tour with Aida. I was 16 at the time and absolutely devoted to musical theater and dance. When my grandma invited me I didn't really want to go, but she told me there'd be loads of dancing, so I went. Well, the dancing itself disappointed me thoroughly, but what I think let me down the most was the fact that they were using microphones. Yeah! In opera, heresy! And I also didn't like the fact that Aida and Radames looked like two McDonald's junkies as opposed to fierce Egyptian/Ethiopian lovers. The only thing I liked was Amneris, especially in the final act when in their staging she’d crawl up steps of huge stairs begging for mercy. I LOVED that actually. 

Well back to modern days, last Saturday was the very first time I went to Theatro Municipal, the big opera house here in São Paulo. I have to tell you I was quite taken aback. The place is gorgeous, it really looks like someplace out of a dream or something. Like a palace, just magical! I was actually glad I was alone because then I could explore the whole building and take my time looking at everything. 

Well, I did go to watch this opera twice this week, on that Saturday and last Thursday so I’m going to try and review both performances at once. It was the exact same cast. Aida was played by the Uruguayan soprano  Maria José Siri, Radames was played by the north american tenor Gregory Kunde and Amneris by Tuija Knihtilä who is from Finland.  

On Saturday I sat on an orchestra seat but it was practically by the walls and directly under the boxes so I couldn't see the subtitles. I figured it was a great excuse to practice my Italian so I sat back and relaxed. Now on Thursday I sat on an orchestra level but center seat which was just my piece of cake, 6th row, perfect view of everything.

  

One good thing about my Saturday location was that I could see the orchestra play, so that was interesting to watch. I find it funny how an opera that is so grand has such a shy overture but I'm not going about to argue with Verdi. Curtain rises and I like what I see, in terms. I’m counting this as my first Aida but even being a newbie to a certain opera I still have historical baggage. The scenery, I think, was appropriate, they were composed by big walls of stone which would move to create different kinds of locations. I found that rather smart and it worked quite well with the lighting design, they were able to create a beautiful atmosphere for the first act finale inside the temple and also a festive and ´grand´ feel to the second act finale.

But, MA, what disappointed me thoroughly in this production was the costume department. I really don't like to criticize especially because I know it's very hard to put up any kind of theatrical performance. But I'm sorry, those costumes looked like something out of a High School production of Aida, the musical. The only costumes that looked the part were Amneris’s. In some cases it seems as if they cut a whole on a piece of eccentric looking fabric and gave it to the chorus to wear. Something that bothered me beyond measure was the fact that the chorus was all dressed in the same costume basically. We had the basses and baritones wearing that said sheet as they were the priests (or something). The tenors wearing clothes that I can't really begin to explain but that were absolutely unflattering to anybodies figure and made them look pregnant. There was a group of about 15 ladies who were wearing a simple blue/greenish dress (the ladies who sang in the second act opening scene). But the other ladies were wearing dresses of the same design in the most horrid khaki color. Egypt must have been in recession and the Princess was the only one who wasn’t informed. The Pharaoh was wearing such simple clothes, I, at first, didn’t realize he was in fact the Pharaoh. I mean it’s Egypt we are talking about, and it’s not nowadays, it’s thousands of years ago, they were in their absolute prime. 

And I know what you might be thinking, who am I to criticize their costumes? Well I’ve worked with the costumes in my theater group for a real long time now and we have a ridiculous budget of $500,00 to buy everything for our plays. From fabrics, to paying the making of the clothes, from scenery to stage objects and let me tell you, some of our costumes are much richer in design and taste than this production's. 

But enough about clothes, the opera itself is so amazing! All of the 3 major singers were in very good shape and I liked what they did with what was given to them. First act with Radames’s opening aria was quite sublime and the audience in both days agreed. One thing I found quite satisfactory was the fact that the house was packed in both days and in both days the applause was absolutely thunderous.

I must admit I'm a big fan of Amneris and also find Aida to be quite dull. Her Ritorna Vincitor was really good but the character never warmed up to me, people on the fence irritate me I guess. And Amneris knows what she wants and is intensively resolute in getting it (aka Radames’s naked body! HA). 

The temple scene was quite beautiful, the production was counting with fine dancers. This scene we had about ten ladies dancing together and a wonderful soloist. Many people have criticized the soloist's costume remarking that she looked like something out of the Avatar movie. But I disagree entirely.  Yes, she was painted in blue, but not for a second did I think of Avatar or Smurfs or The Corpse Bride. I actually thought it worked, it made her stand out a lot and in my conception her character was painted in blue because she was like an oracle or spiritually connected with the Gods or something.

The music composed for this ballet in particular is quite beautiful and what I loved about the choreography was the fact that it was molded in the music. This might sound a bit silly since most choreographies are made based on the music, but I find that the dance told the story of the music, which for me is amazing. I also had never seen so many people on stage in one scene live. Little did I know they'd be able to stuff even more people on that stage on act two. 

Well act two begins and the spot is finally on Amneris, about time! I found it odd how much I adored the music composed for this character, in her scenes and her lines, they just vibrated well with my personal vibrations. It's odd, while Aida or Radames would sing solos it was really wonderful and they were wonderful singers but there was something about Amneris that made me utterly drawn to her. 

The introduction of this scene played by the harp transports you from the depths of the ritual place to a sunny, bright environment where everything seems to be sunshine, cool water and bliss. I might be too crazy but with the harp music I can almost see Amneris lying lazily on overly comfortable cushions while eating grapes and being fanned by huge peacock feathered fans. But in this production she was actually standing and being quite amiable to her female chorus while they sang about Radames. Amneris’s lines were delivered with such heartfelt passion and devotion I couldn't help but warm up to her even more. I mean, she's in love with the guy, she would do everything for him. But what I like the most about her is that she never sets aside her personality for him, she doesn't change for him. Aida does and that's supposed to be our hero, a woman who changes for the likes of a guy. The hero should be the strong women who love and stand their ground with their beliefs. No wonder I'm single hun?   

The ballet for this scene was absolutely adorable. They had six young ones doing what you could call a children's playing choreography. Two girls and four boys played with swords and had a blast of a wonderful time under the watch of the powerful princess. Aida arrives and is left alone with Amneris. Now this duet is quite formidable, love the way Verdi composed the music accompanies Amneris and also her lines. Call me crazy again, but that music sounds like a perfectly poised Egyptian serpent slithering her way into Aida's trust. I find it magical when I can actually grasp how exactly the orchestral music is also telling the story. 

I guess I like Amneris because she's a thoroughly intelligent and perceptive woman, she smells there is something between her lady servant and the high captain of their armies. And since it's such a forbidden love, I'm sure they did their best to hide it, they are not THAT stupid. But even though, Amneris sensed it, because she's smart, perfect modern woman. Plus Aida is also a princess, the least she could do is be more cunning.

Well, Io son l'amica tua. Gee, Amneris is such a Slytherin, she plays Aida like the flute! Tricks her into believing that Radames is dead and then has her answer, Aida does love Radames. Of course she's beyond pissed, how dare Aida have feelings for him? Am I an awful person for thinking that this scene is awesome? Well I don't care, I love it. Amneris wants to show Aida her place so she makes her go to the big festivity that is celebrating Radames’s victorious return.

The music here is also first rate, GLORIA ALL'EGGITO. Oh man, I can't believe I didn't watch this opera before. It's so cool! We have the entire chorus and all the characters on stage at the begging of this scene. As the victorious arrive more and more people fill the stage, dancers and actors. The ballet was gorgeous! This time we had couples dancing to a choreography that looked like a dancy fight. There was a soloist couple who danced extremely well to again very well choreographed modern ballet dance.

The Pharaoh gave Amneris’s hand in marriage to Radames as a gift for saving the country, which made her even more smug and confident, gotta love her! They bring in the war prisoners and amongst them is Aida’s father, who is actually the king of the Ethiopians but passes as a simple soldier. Radames urges the Pharaoh to free the prisoners and after some turmoil he does free them but keeps Aida and her father as hostages.    

Well the most loud and amazing end of act I ever saw in a live opera! It was so loud and wonderful that a couple that was sitting in my box on Saturday actually went home because they thought it was over! I'm so not making that up! Well as usual the intermission flew by and before I knew it the lights dimmed and we were back in ancient Egypt.

I must confess that although the music is gorgeous and the singers were spectacular I missed two things in act three. One of them you must have guessed was Amneris and the other was the big chorus numbers with the catchy melodies. Radames has asked Aida to meet him in secret in the middle of the night. Her father reaches her first and asks her to have Radames tell her where he's leading his troupes. When she denies him that, he grows angry and tells her she's no daughter of his, she's an Egyptian slave now. Again, in the fence Aida irritates me, make up your mind with what you want, not what your father or lover tell you to do. Aida does give in into her father's wishes and as he hides, Radames arrives.

She convinces him to run away and all that jazz, and at first Radames doesn't really want to leave. That's the thing about these epic love stories, people are willing to give up what makes them happy for the sake of being with another person who makes them happy, and at the end of the day they mostly end up dying. I think there's a message there that not many people grasp. It's no use looking for your own happiness in other people, you have to be happy with yourself in order to be able to give happiness to another. I think that's why Radames is so full of love to give to Aida, he's so happy! He just had his life's dream come true, he led the army he had always wanted to command into a glorious victory and saved his patria. It's like working on something you absolutely love and getting that promotion you always dreamed of and thriving beyond your expectations! It's amazing!

Jesus, I'm so getting off topic here! And you guys must think I'm a huge self centered monster, I'm just career driven I guess. Well the plans don't work out very well though. Amneris discovers them and as Aida and her father escape, the guards seize Radames as a traitor.

Now fourth act is AWESOME. You remember that scene I liked way back in 2006 when I first saw this opera? It happened again. Things didn't really go as Amneris had planned, Aida escaped (that bitch) and Radames is to be judged as a traitor. Amneris wants him so bad that she's willing to try and help him in his trial. She calls on him in prison and offers her help and his life, because yeah, he's gonna be sentenced to death if she doesn't intervene. But then comes in love struck tenor who can't think of anybody else but the soprano while the mezzo tries her best to help him. Typical opera! It's so funny I say this since I'm a soprano. 

Radames does irritate me at this point. He's accepted he's going to die and doesn't want any help. While Amneris declares her love to him and tries to spare his life. Heartless prick! But again she's not willing to lower herself or compete with anyone. She tells Radames she will spare him if he NEVER sees Aida again. Something he doesn't agree to do. Something quite awful he says is that he's not afraid of death, he's only afraid of her pity. Ouch, that must have hurt. There was actual fire on Tuija's eyes as she tried to convince him to speak up in his own defense so he wouldn't be sentenced to death. Love, lust, hatred, anger, everything, gee, that woman was out of this world amazing!

As he leaves, Amneris is left alone and we can hear Radames’s trial happening off stage. That, I think is one of my favorite parts in the entire opera. It's quiet and intense, as the high priest asks Radames about his crimes, Amneris listens horrified as Radames remains silent. Her, “Ah pietà... egli è innocente... lo salvate, Numi, pietà!” were so heartfelt and desperate. It seemed as she was being sentenced to death as well. I actually cried watching this scene, it was as if she faded with every accusation and her pleads were in vain. So sad.  As the priests left after giving the death sentence of a traitor to Radames she confronts them, tells them they have thirst for blood and are irrational. But it's no use. The King's justice must be done (isn't that so Game of Thrones).

Radames is in his tiny cell, a tomb actually, where he will be buried alive. Yeah, that sounds pretty awful. But he's quite placid for someone who's going to die like that. Aida finds her way in there, God only knows how, you would think that thing is well guarded but elas, it's not. Stupid in the fence Aida wants to die with him and he wants to die for her and all that, at the end of the day they deserve each other. But their music is quite wonderful and the singers did it justice, I guess I just didn't buy their love story. But I did cry at the end, it's quite mooving when they say the sky is opening up to them to welcome them (A noi si schiude il cielo). It soothes me to think they managed to kill each other quickly or ate some poison so they wouldn't suffer much in that tomb.

Well, the opera ended and the audience was on their feet clapping like crazy! There were loads of young people there which pleased me a lot. I took some pictures of the curtain call, but they aren't really good, I took them with my phone. The applause was crazy, even the veteran singers got emotional with the immense cheer they got. 

On Saturday I ran from the opera house right after the curtain call was over because I was afraid the subway might close. But on Thursday I went to the stage door because I wanted to talk to the singer who played Amneris. Seriously, her performance was so touching I just had to tell her. I didn't know her name or nationality but I was resolute in talking to her. Unfortunately after about 20 minutes she didn't come out and the subway was about to close so I had to rush to get home. The worst part about this was that later as I looked at the program I saw her picture without makeup and she had passed by me and I hadn't recognized her. Yeah, big dumb face I am!

Well, that's basically it! Studying a lot, watching a lot of stuff, singing endlessly! Just how I like it! Peace everyone!

You'll never forget your first Master Class

As I’m running late for class again I figured I should do something productive with my time, since I hate arriving late at classes. Well, this past weekend was absolutely amazing! Friday I went to Annick Massis’s concert, then on Saturday I watched the Theatro Municipal’s production of Aida (which I am reviewing in the blog later this weekend since I’m watching it again on Thursday), and then on Sunday I went to Annick’s concert again. But I’m talking about those in due time but now I’d like to share with you the amazing experience I had yesterday.

As I told you in my previous post, me and my friend ended up chatting a lot with Annick and her manager after the concert on Friday. It was no different on Sunday and as we chatted about all sorts of things Annick invited me to sing in her Master Class the day after. I was so stunned! I had never sung in a Master Class before so I was kind of terrified too. But I obviously accepted and thanked her and her manager a billion times for the opportunity.

I got home that night with a buzz in my head and I had no idea what I was gonna sing. As I ruffled through my sheet music looking for something to sing I resembled a 16 year old adolescent looking for an outfit to go out in and saying those same words “I don’t have anything!”. I eventually selected 3 songs, Gavotte from Massenet’s Manon, Ach Ich Fulhs from Mozart’s Die Zauberflute, and Delibes’ Le Filles de Cadix. I got slightly calmer after making that decision and decided to make myself some hot tea and watch an episode of Marple to calm down. It helped a bit, but it took me an hour to sleep because I was trembling with anticipation, fear and cold (it was REAL cold that night).

Woke up the next day hardly believing this was really gonna happen. I hadn’t told many people, only my mum and my friends on twitter. I went to college and warmed up my voice and talked to two friends about it, they helped me enormously. I sang Ach Ich Fulhs for one of them and she said it was alright so I went on my way to the theatre for the Master Class which was scheduled for 3:00 pm.

When I got there I was very apprehensive because the only people I knew were Annick and her manager. Plus all the other people seemed to know each other really well in a very friendly way. And there I was, the stranger! Thankfully I sat close to her manager and we chatted until the Master Class began. Two people I did know arrived in that mean time though.

There were about 20 people there and I was just thinking to myself “Oh Lords, is everybody going to sing?”, and the answer was YES, almost all of them, 12 people sang.

I must say that while it was such a wonderful experience to watch her work on everybody, some people were very intimidating. Everybody sang such complicated and complex stuff. Stuff that I had never heard anybody sing in Master Classes before, like Lucia’s first Aria, the Queen of the Night’s First Aria, Micaela’s Thrid Act aria, Adina’s Cabaletta and the Mirror Aria from Thais. And those were the ones that I knew of, the guys also brought their A games, it was very frightening I must say. But I had a tactic to not get nervous about singing. Because there were a lot of people so I would just think to myself “This is gonna take an eternity, she’ll be tired by the end and won’t want to hear anybody else.”. And even though I knew that that wasn’t true at all, it kept me calm and enabled me to pay absolute attention to what she was saying during the 4 hour straight course of the Master Class.

I made notes like a crazy person. I like to make notes a lot, every time I watch a Master Class streamed online and on YouTube, I always make sure to take as many notes as I can. Unfortunately I was the only one who was doing so, which I found quite pitiful really, but I didn’t know any of those people and everybody has their own methods, right?

I’m gonna try and sum up what she said mainly about the Brazilian’s singing in general. One problem that all of us had was the fact that our emission is too horizontal and not vertical enough. Our language is to blame here since it is very horizontal.

The pronunciation wasn’t clear enough, not in any language people sang. in Again I feel like this is our language’s fault again, because in Portuguese we speak with a very lazy mouth and a somewhat compared to other languages a dragged sound not really taking the time to pronounce every inflection right. Plus it’s too much based on vowels, so it’s like a huge AOUIE vocalize, you know? And all these languages that we have to sing in give so much importance to consonants, so there’s the problem.

And since our mouths are sort of lazy we didn’t use lips and our face muscles not nearly enough to help us with our pronunciation. One thing she did to help us with that was making us speak the text and then sing it. She would go as far as to say the words of our next phrase in our ears to help us do it correctly.

Plus the issue of breathing, everywhere I go people tell me that the breath is everything, breathe correctly you are half way through. So true, but it’s easier to say than to actually do it. Because at the end of the day what really works is the abdomen and your breathing muscles. If everything is sunshine and happiness down there, you won’t need to stress your vocal chords ever, meaning you won’t over work them nor hurt them and you can sing an entire opera without worry.

Well, talk, talk, talk but I never say how it went with me right? Well after the 12^th person had left the stage all the academy students assumed the Master Class was over and started asking for pictures. But then she turned to me and said “Come on! I wanna hear you sing something”. Holy Christ almighty all eyes were on ME. Because until then I was just someone who had gone there to listen. I latter found out that not even all of the students from that academy were in fact allowed to sing for her, only a select group of that select group that was that academy. And the pressure was on.

I looked at my friend Debora for reassurance and she mouthed, “Just go there and sing, she’s asking you to. You’re gonna be fine”. So as I took that stage that I had never sang in before. I was so nervous I could hardly speak, I gave the pianist the sheet music and thanked him for playing for me. And after 2 little chords I had to open my mouth and let whatever wanted to come out do so.

I really don’t know if I sang well. It’s odd how we can only remember the things we did wrong. I messed up some tempos and didn’t take my eyes from the sheet music. But in the middle of the aria there’s a little instrumental part that gave me time to think and to go “Dude, I’m here, I made it, holy crap. I might as well enjoy this ride while I can”. So I feel like the second part was less tense. The high notes came right, but don’t be fooled I was very nervous. Thank God I had peed just before going on on stage.

The odd thing was, before I thought I’d be so worried about what the others thought of me. I mean, I had Lucia and Thais watching me, and although some might have not liked me because I was getting to sing at their master class, I found it incredible how I really didn’t give a rat’s ass about what they thought. At the end of the aria I did look at Debora who was sitting in the front row and she gave me reassuring thumbs up.

Then as soon as I stopped singing Annick was already heading to the stage to help me. It was surreal. I, like everybody else, have that “too much horizontal, not enough vertical” issue. So she had me do my first phrase in “Bur” and then with the words. Then she held my cheeks with one hand and made me sing like that, also telling me the words before I sang them. And I found out that I wasn’t pronouncing not nearly as much as I should. And she also told me I wasn’t breathing very well. But that’s normal because I was very nervous and the breathing just goes whatever when you are nervous. She worked with me for a while and by the end of it I could hardly believe the sound I was making.

She also told me that that aria was very difficult, just like the others. To that I made little joke which people laughed to. Breaking the ice, lesson number one, make them laugh.

But for me it was a victory to get on stage at all and sing in front of those people. It’s so easy to sing for people who aren’t musicians because most of the time they think you are wonderful. And I don’t mind criticism, but for once in my life I was grateful that I couldn’t read minds. After it was over I stayed around for a while talking to her manager about the bizz, quite scary I must say. Then I chatted a bit with her and she was so gracious and nice, she told me I was very brave to go on stage like that, especially after practically not speaking for 4 hours straight. Also that I should keep on studying and never give up and that I was in the right track and a thousand more advice. I thanked her and her manager a billion times for this wonderful opportunity and for her wanting to hear me at all and took my leave.

I was so electric when I got home. I kept talking to myself like “I can’t believe I just did that”. I couldn’t possibly stay home after that, plus I hadn’t eaten all day thinking I’d puke at the Master Class. So I called my cousin and before he knew it I was in his house and then we went to the mall. I bought a pretty orange floor mop and two colorful glasses that were on sale as a gift for me. Then ate a million things at McDonalds because I was starving and feeling worthy of it.

And that was basically it. The first Master Class you never forget, hun? Cheers!

PS; There's an operarox live stream tonight. It's gonna be awesome, today's topic is "Funny Scenes from Operas" at 6:00 pm EST ;)

Annick Massis, tons of talent and sweetness!

Holy BeJesus. It’s been a month since my last post. Shame on moi. But you know I started like 6 different posts over the last month and wasn’t able to finish any of them. One about Glyndebourne's Don Pasquale, another about Munich's Il Trovatore, another about a Strauss/Wagner concert I watched 2 weeks ago, another about my opera anniversary, another about Manon, those are the ones I can remember. I'll probably finish them all, plus I want to write about the Don Carlo stream that happened yesterday. Time? Where did you go?

 

These past few weeks have been really busy. I'm back in São Paulo living alone in my tiny but adorable apartment and back to college which is always stressing. Plus I designed a study routine in which I’m not at home a lot, I wake up early make my lunch that has to consist on things that I can eat cold since we don’t have anything in my college to warm up food (ps; yes, that's outrageous). Then I go to college and have classes in the morning. Right after class I run to one of the practice rooms which I have the key for and lock myself in and have lunch ALL BY MYSELF (don’t wanna be), I actually don’t mind. And then study all afternoon long, ‘till about 5:30 when the guy kicks me out. Then I come back home and to make the story short have little time to write. Hence, this is Saturday and there’s no class. Plus I was working really intensively on an article for Opera21 magazine about the musical education in Brazil so that ate up a lot of my time. I’ll post it here when it comes out in the magazine.

But before I get down to the subject of the post, let me share some EXCITING news! I’m going New York in 48 days! YEES! This time it will work out! And I bought my Met tickets last Sunday so if anybody wants to meet there here are my dates:

Cosi Fan Tutte – 05/10

Norma – 07/10
The Nose – 08/10
Eugene Onegin – 09/10
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – 11/10
Eugene Onegin – 12/10

But, now I’m full of inspiration. Why? Guess! Inspiration strikes me when I see something wonderful live, hun? And last night I went to a wonderful concert that definitely stroke inspiration. It was of a French soprano called Annick Massis, now she’s sung all over the world, at the Met, in Paris, Munich, London you name it. She’s actually playing the Fairy Godmother in the Barcelona production of Cendrillon with Joyce DiDonato and Alice Coote in the new years. Well she performed in the opera house just around the corner, so the performance was at 20:30 I left my apartment at 20:15 with ASSASSIN shoes that I will NEVER EVER wear again.

I got there and my opera bff was already there sitting in the front row as per usual I sat next to him. I took a look at the program and it was daring, exciting, versatile and awesome. They managed to get a little piece of every kind of opera and jammed it into a concert. Lights came down and here we go.

First enters the São Pedro Theatre entire orchestra and the guest conductor Jamil Maluf. They played one of, probably my favorite really, symphonies from opera openings, DON GIOVANNI. That music does something to me. Mozart is my everything really, so I was quite pumped right from the beginning. This orchestra is quite good and man, they can play anything, I was quite surprised. Because I have just recently seen them play Strauss and Wagner really well and now they are playing Mozart. It’s a real good orchestra.

Then Annick enters wearing a beautiful red dress with a red scarf matching. One problem here, from where I was sitting and from where she stood I COULDN’T SEE HER FACE. But how, I was sitting in the front row, right? Yes! But her sheet music holder was standing in the way. So as she sang Lascia Ch’io Pianga I was leaning in every direction I knew possible so I could see her face, very frustrating. I eventually gave up in the beginning of the B section and just sat back and enjoyed the sound of her voice. And what was interesting was that the color of the voice was a tad different from the videos I had seen on YouTube, it was a bit darker, which I like very much. I loved what she did with the variations of the A section. So many people take this aria for granted just because it’s Top Hits from opera (like Babbino Caro and Libiamo), but it is baroque and people forget it. And baroque is a bitch to get right, just a freaking bitch, and she nailed it.

Next she sang Norma’s Casta Diva, now I don’t know that much about Bellini and I must confess that I never watched Norma. My first experience watching Norma is going to be on the 7^th of October at the Met. I had just heard Renée Fleming and Anna Netrebko singing this aria, I personally think it’s so gorgeous but I don’t know much else, nor do I know it by heart. But by then I had changed my seat so I could see her face and I did. And let me tell you, she acted her ass off! This aria is so gorgeous and full of feeling and you could see that she was totally feeling it!

Then she left and the orchestra played the opening of the opera Vespri Siciliani by Verdi, which I never heard of but I really liked, can’t expand much on this one as well, sorry. She came back and sang an aria called “Egli non riede ancora… Non so le tetre immagini” from the opera Il Corsaro which is also Verdi and which I also didn’t know.

But then if I didn’t know the next one they could send me back to Santos to sell hamburgers at McDonalds. One of the coolest and most difficult arias ever, “È strano… Sempre Libera”. Ah gee I love this aria and even though it was written in the program that she would be closing the first part with this aria when she started I gasped. Again, she was acting wonderfully with every word every nuance of the music. I love it when artists are not afraid to really use up the music and words to convey the story. Especially in a concert situation where some people might say that it is ok to not act as much as you would on stage of a full length opera production. She started with the turbulence of the doubt Violetta’s feeling getting her high notes always in piano which was quite nice. Then for follia, follia she changed, laughed, it was such a treat. When that little Sempre Libera melody started playing she laughed out loud and it was real, she was Violetta, ya know? And then at the end, against all odds and that damned air conditioning that was getting not only in her way but ours, she delivered that high E strong and sustained and the crowd went wild. She got a solid 2 minute standing ovation for that.

Then at intermission I decided to just sit back and tweet a little bit as opposed to talking to the people I knew in the audience. Why? Because after the whole Vesselina experience with the bitchy girls trashing her I didn’t want to ruin my mood hearing that kind of stuff. But as per usual intermission flew by and before I knew it the lights dimmed and the orchestra took the stage.

The conductor came in and after taking his place at the podium he turned around and addressed to the audience. It was so sweet, he told us how amazingly honored he was to be there conducting in that stage for the very first time. That he had always been a big fan of that theatre and that now he was going to conduct one of his favorite pieces of music, the prelude of the third act of La Traviata. He thanked us for being there and rocked that prelude out. It is interesting and inspiring to see really fantastic professionals doing a certain piece of music they TRULY adore. At that time I couldn’t take my eyes off Jamil Maluf and the prelude was heart breaking but beautiful (as it is supposed to be).

Annick came in and sang Teneste la promesa… Addio del Passato. This particular piece of music does something to me. I already sang it once, before I had a sensible teacher that hacked it away from me (quite rightly, I’m too young for anything Verdi, simple rule, just because you can read it doesn’t be you can sing it), plus Traviata is one of my favorite operas, so I was quite in heaven. Her reading of the letter was so heartfelt and then coming to the aria itself it was really gorgeous. Her voice boomed in this aria, it took a different strength to it and it was gorgeous. She acted so well and when she sang her second Ah della traviata soride a del sio she pointed out at the audience and had a fierce look like “Who are you to judge me” that was INCREDIBLE. The hairs in my arms and left leg were all up! The audience went WILD after every aria she sang.

 

The orchestra played the symphony from Norma that again, I know nothing of so can’t help ya. Annick came back and sang the famous aria from La Sonnambula “Oh, se una volta sola… Ah, non credea mirarti, Ah non giunge” again I’m no Bellini expert. But I do admire anybody who sings his music, because it’s just difficult, it seems to never end and has so many complex lines, at least my ears. This aria had everything, a bit of coloratura, high exiting notes, most especially a high E (I think) that for me came out of nowhere and was just right! She finished the aria to thunderous applause, the audience was really excited and for a good reason.

She came back to do her first encore, Je veux vivre! I love that aria and it was a breath of fresh air to be able to hear her sing in her own language. It was high spirited and brilliant, such an absolute delight really. It actually helped me to see someone sing it live to help me with those damned little notes before “Je” “Veux” “Vivre” which are really hard to do and that I could never really hear in recorded versions. I could hear them, but it was nice to see someone actually do them right in front of you, you know?

People were crazy with applause and she came back for a second encore when she sang La Rondine’s Chi Il Bel sogno di Doretta. I LOVE this aria, it’s one of those things that I crave to one day sing. I got shivers all over with her interpretation and voice. Her pianissimo high notes were just what the doctor prescribed, precise, bittersweet and full of feeling. That almost drove me to tears, my eyes were literally filling up. Had she sung another encore I would have broken down for sure.

Well the concert was over and we (me and the bff) decided to linger in the audience area. Then out of the blue Otávio said “Oh my God! It’s Odete Roitman!”. Now let me explain something, Odete Roitman is one of the most famous soap operas characters in the whole soap opera history in Brazil. The character was a vile, rich, stuck up woman who disdained everyone and was a huge success. I actually found quite comic that the actress who played her was there in the small opera house because there is a scene in the soap opera where Odete says that she never goes to opera houses in Brazil, she only goes to the Met, La Scala and The Royal Opera House. Well Otavio went to talk to her and took a picture but to me she looked a bit scary, she did have a very diva posture.

Another sneaky work of mine, I took a quick pic of her talking, in French, with the actress who played Odete Roitman

Annick arrived not long after and everybody formed a line to talk to her. I felt slightly stupid because everybody was speaking French and although I could understand them I couldn’t bring myself to speak in the language. Well our turn came and as usual Otavio couldn’t stop talking and the other people in line were getting impatient. But then her manager, who was so very nice, asked us to sit and wait a bit while the others took their pictures and exchanged a few words with her and then we’d be able to talk with more tranquility.

Everyone got their pictures and autographs and as soon as they left Otavio was talking non stop again. I chatted a bit with her manager about many a number of things, from the production of a Debussy opera she had just done (he showed us some lovely pictures on his phone) to the crazy weather in São Paulo. Then as she sat down in one of the audience chairs to autograph programs I got to my knees (not kidding) and we chatted.

I told her I was studying to be an opera singer and she was immediately very interested in knowing more about me. I really wasn’t ready for that conversation, I was very nervous and on my knees wearing a dress I might add. She asked what repertoire I was singing, we chatted about maturing voices and he gave me tons of advice and inspiring words. It was really wonderful, I felt like a million bucks. She stood up and said “I want a picture with this girl, she’s a singing student”. We took a lovely picture together and then Otavio said “Another” and I said “Let’s change sides!” and she said “I just gonna say that!”.

 

It was really a delight! Her words will be with me until the day I die. She told me never to doubt myself and to just do the job. We only parted when one of the staff members told us to leave because they were closing up the theatre. We hugged and she told me again to believe in myself that I was bound to do great things. Man, I almost cried, it was SO surreal! Then we left through the artists exit, so we got to go by the stage wings, and of course I took a pic!

 

Tonight I’m watching the Theatro Municipal’s production of Aida, I’m excited! Review will probably come out tomorrow, and then tomorrow I’m watching Annick’s concert again! HUL! Fun! Peace everyone!

Lucia gives me the chills!

Long time no see hun? Shame on me! I’ve been home a lot, but actually taking the free time I’m getting to study and writing these babies takes up a lot of time. I also have been watching a lot of episodes of the series Poirot, if there’s an author I love that is Agatha Christie and if there’s a detective I adore it is definitely M. Hercule Poirot.

But let’s talk about opera, shall we? Last Wednesday I watched the Munich broadcast of Lucia di Lammermoor with Diana Damrau as Lucia, Joseph Calleja as Egardo and Ludovic Tézier as Enrico. It was done as a concert as opposed to being staged but it was magnificent. I haven’t watched many productions of this opera I must admit, I think I’ve only watched one, the Met’s 2007 with Anna Netrebko and Piotr Beczala that I thought was rather good, but didn’t really like Anna’s Lucia.

One thing I find most revolting is that, for instance with Lucia, you can’t talk about Lucia without bringing Joan Sutherland into the conversation, or about Traviata without bringing Callas in. I mean really, that EXAUSTS me. We all know that was probably Sutherland’s best role and that it took YEARS for another soprano to portray Violetta in La Scala without being booed out of there. So, I’m sorry, but when I’m talking about Diana Damrau’s Lucia I don’t want to hear in how many ways this or that person thinks that Sutherland is better than her.

Why? Why do we have to point out THE BEST of everything? Diana was fantastic, just like Sutherland, but they are different people! Sutherland was born in Australia and did opera from the late 1950s till the 1980s while Damrau was born in Germany in the late 1970s and is a current performer. Many things that were asked of Sutherland aren’t asked of current opera singers and many things that are asked of modern opera singers nowadays didn’t even cross the past generation singers mind! That’s why I HATE comparing the generations! Actually I hate comparisons in general, I think everybody tries their best to bring what they feel is their interpretation to the picture. Anyways I’ve extended myself too much on this, let’s get down to the opera.

This broadcast was quite a treat, first because I thought it was just an audio broadcast so you can image the amount of happiness that emanated from me when I learned I’d be able to SEE Diana Damrau. Now she was perfection, she’s done this character quite a few times so you can see that she’s got a real grasp of who Lucia is and her road into madness.

What I really liked about this concert was that some of the performers didn’t keep themselves chained to the sheet music and actually interacted with each other. Like for instance the first duet of Lucia and Egardo in act one, they actually hugged and took each other’s hands and looked each other in the eye while singing which was so fantastic to see! I had no idea that Joseph Calleja’s and Diana Damrau’s voices would sound SO utterly perfect together. Gosh I don’t know what it was but that first duet made me wish there were more intimate duets of the two characters later in the opera. Calleja has got a little bit of that squillo (that PING in the voice, you know? It’s pointy but not Rossini tenor pointy but still a bit pointy) and a vibrant vibrato and how amazing it was that it fit quite gracefully with Diana’s light but lyrical color voice! Well that first duet was so delicious to listen to, I had the dumbest dreamy took on my face.

We go on to act two and what a confrontation between brother and sister, I hadn’t seen Ludovic Tézier sing ever since that Gala Concert he did with Netrebko, Garanca and Vargas which I found a shame because he’s a wonderful singer. I like this kind of baritone, full and big voiced, slightly deep but not too much, plus I think he’s kinda hot. But not important, what kinda disappointed me a bit was that he was too tied up to the sheet music and didn’t interact as much as the others, but who am I to judge? If I were in his place I wouldn’t even move. Haha But nevertheless he sounded divine and in his duet with Diana we see how these singers have such beautiful ability so express specific feelings through the voice (of course the text helps).

Because for me the character of Enrico is very layered and has many facets (as opposed to the others that have the same face, what changes is the emotions they feel), Enrico is the famous “two faced” character. Like Otello’s Iago, but with Verdi’s music, I think, his good/evil moments were greatly helped by the music and in Donizetti, because the character isn’t as vile as Iago, it’s more subtle.

Also the journey towards Lucia’s madness, I think, begins to really take its way in this duet, before she was just seeing things but she was confident that was going to end up with Egardo.  But now that she thinks he’s been unfaithful everything starts to crumble, together with the pressure of her brother to save the family estate, there is so much one can bare, right? I really love it that she’s kind of frozen from the moment she agrees to marry Arturo until Egardo appears; she seems to come out of her trance. But for Egardo there is no excuse she can give for her betrayal to him, now Damrau’s pleads are heart breaking and the final sextet was mind blowing.

Third act the moment we were all waiting for, mad scene. This mad scene had me hanging for every single note, I’m listening to it right now again as I write this and am literally breathless. What is wonderful about Damrau is that apart from the beautiful voice, the woman can act. And she don’t need no costume or props, right there she made us all believe she was wearing a blood soaked wedding dress and going completely bananas!

Jesus Christ almighty those high notes were so fantastic, of course she is great technically, but there are SO many people who are great technically but fail to give a performance such as this. I’m not saying technique is not important, no, actually it is vital, but what ALSO is vital, is believing in your character, not judging him. Not just walking in and thinking “Ok, I’m playing Lucia, she’s going crazy, so I’ll make my best crazy face” or even worst not doing anything at all just singing in pitch perfectly, that for me is death.

That is, I think, what Joyce DiDonato in her ROH Master Class said was generic opera, and I must quote her on this “There is nothing worse than generic opera, am I right? It’s ridiculous. We look stupid when we are doing that!”. Plus I think it’s utterly disrespectful towards the character and its creator, I mean, really, who are you to judge? You’re just a singer, have you ever had hallucinations and then were forced to marry a man you don’t love while your lover curses you after he’s found out which leads to you killing your husband on your wedding night? I don’t think so. And thank heavens I feel Diana really respects Lucia and does an amazing job portraying her.

I feel like I’m a little mad at everything I don’t like today, this post is kind of revolted. But back to the mad scene, the glass harmonica starts playing and we see Diana walking in with half closed eyes and I’m like “Damn this is gonna be GOOD!”. Just the glass harmonica itself with it’s almost hypnotically sound transports us into Lucia’s tormented mind and kind of helps us understand her state. Her first lines delivered with such sweetness, and then the word “discesa” in the most perfect piano melted my heart! Ah it’s wonderful to watch such bliss coming not just through the voice but in her eyes every time she says “Egardo”, she’s so happy! She almost doesn’t seem mad at all, but the glass harmonica does its job to keep us aware that she is in a dream state. And I also think it’s wonderful that she doesn’t appear to be mad at the beginning if you just listen to it not thinking of the plot, I think it shows she’s really gone the extra mile to convince us of her happiness and love.

But of course as the aria continues and the music becomes a little bit more tense with “Un gelo mi serpeggia nel sen!” you realize she’s not alight at all. It’s amazing her instrument is SO in her control, she gives us exactly the right amount of sound and depth that the notes delivered need. Then the little mad theme comes along with the ghosts and she totally changes, it’s quite incredible “Il fantasma ne separa!” in a forte desperate and scared cry. Two seconds later she just poof changes again, that change I found quite fun, she does a thing with her arms that’s pretty cool as if they shoed away the ghosts and she doesn’t even remember they were there in the first place.

For her now, Egardo is right in front of her and it’s their wedding day! Oh, how wonderful is Damrau’s portrayal of Lucia’s excitement about her wedding, she actually conducts the wedding music with such delight and such pleasure it’s impossible not to be touched. And how happy she is, it’s almost like a child’s delight, she’s so happy she can hardly contain herself. And it’s funny how you know it’s a mad kind of happy because when she was actually REALLY planning to marry Egardo she wasn’t happy like that, she didn’t express her happiness in that way. And she talks about her bliss with the seriousness of a child, especially when she sings “…e non si dice!”. She is literally melting with delight which is so sad and makes me melt with depression, good depression, meaning I feel for her not that I’m really depressed.

And the coloratura is just unbelievable, she gives a meaning to every passage and tells the story through her coloratura which is one of the things that make this performance SO good! My favorite part of this whole thing is when the glass harmonica starts echoing her line and she starts to listen to it and again, like a child, plays with it, as if daring the instrument to go as high as she does it’s quite a treat! Then there’s a passage when for the first time she’s brought back to the real world and sees herself drenched in blood which quickly changes into her really acting normal mad with the bogey eyes and everything. But as she sings, what I like to call her little mad theme she’s taken back to that particular happy mad place that she was. If someone can coloratura through madness that person is Diana Damrau, Gosh, as I said before, every coloratura phrase is a different kind of mad and it’s so clear. You get goose pups, you don’t know what coming next, she could faint at any minute or jump right at you! And the last note was glorious and she well deserved those two minutes she got of ovation.

At this point I was thanking God I wasn’t there, because I’d A- be crying B- I’d have sprung to my feet to applaud her like a retarded person.

Then she confronts her brother, mad eyes, but with meaning, it’s very different from generic mad eyes. Then she continues her madness with more and more coloratura in a more andante aria which builds into a pile of nerves and anticipation that could only conclude to a splendid final note by Damrau that brought the house down. Her “aaaah si, aaaah si!” were beautiful and her ornamentation was just right for her, not overdone, so you could still recognize the music which I find most important and which unfortunately sometimes does not happen.

For me, and most people I believe, the opera could end right there, ‘cause it really can’t get any better than this, right? I feel for the tenor who plays Egardo because he has to bring his best game to equal Lucia’s madness. I remember when I first saw Lucia and was so very moved by Egardo’s aria at the end, I actually cried, especially because she appears as a ghost to come and take him with her, it’s so SAD! And Joseph’s rendition of the aria was very heart breaking and from the gut, you know? You could see that he was giving it his all and I love to see that.

Ok, this post is four pages long and I need to study! And if you guys want to watch this magnificent concert just click here. Today there is an OPERAROX live show, fairy tales in opera is the theme and it’s always pretty awesome so I recommend to all who love opera and love to talk about it. It’s a pretty nice safe place to do just that and make friends! Cheers everyone!   

Ps; the smells coming from the kitchen are killing me! I’m hungry!

Big Opera Wins

Although we are still going through a lot of manifestations all over Brazil I think I should take a break on the subject here. Anyways I’m not up to speed to what’s actually going on right now because I had a pretty busy weekend, only that on Wednesday they did lower the prices on public transportation here in São Paulo and at Rio but the protests didn’t stop.

ReJoyce

First I’d just like to announce that the picture me and ma sista took for Joyce and Me was selected as a finalist! YES! Oh Gods and here comes how I found out. I was on my way to my singing lesson and my teacher’s 14 year old cat had died just the day before so I bought her some flowers. And as I boarded the subway my opera bff called me FREAKING OUT and I just knew it, I just knew that it had happened, that she had chosen my picture. I was so happy and he was also hysterical over the phone and I started crying out of sheer happiness and the people on the subway stared, A LOT. It was quite a sight to see, me holding flowers in one hand and the phone on another with my sunglasses but it was perceptible that I was crying and making the strangest sounds, well that’s me in a nutshell!

Well I was also very happy because Joyce selected pictures from many a number of my twitter friends, so we’ll all be in REJOYCE togetha! Awesome! And as I promised a couple of weeks ago, here is the picture me and Dani took for Joyce. We were going for the Cenerentola/Cendrillon thing.

But now I don’t know what’s going to happen, I mean there are 45 finalists and I’m guessing not all can be in the CD. And Joyce doesn’t say anything, it’s been a week already and I don’t know and I’m nervous!

DON’T LEAVE YOUR CREDICT CARD WITH ME

I had a sort of spending spree madness this week. Everything just looked so cheap to me and I had to buy it. I spend about R$200,00 which would be like a little less than $100,00. But I bought TWO dictionaries, TWO books and THREE cds.

Well, turns out, that some major CD/DVD/Book stores here in Brazil are just like Macy’s after all! If you look superficially everything seems expensive, but when you dig a little deeper, and that might take a few hours, you find a mine of gold. That’s what happened last Sunday to me, I actually went to this Mega Store to buy the sequel to “The Devil Wears Prada” book, “Revenge Wears Prada” and was very disappointed to learn that the book wasn’t in any of their stores yet.

Then I went to the music books section with my expectations hitting the layers of the earth and at first I wasn’t surprised that their so called “music books” consisted mainly of rock stars biographies. But to find the good stuff you have to quite literally get to your knees, and that’s what I did and ended up finding The Eyewitness Opera Guide, which I already have. But then I found a series of books by a Brazilian author called Lauro Machado Coelho (who I just learned is a very good friend of my singing teacher) and each book tacked one type of opera by country, sometimes composer, sometimes period in history! So before I knew it I had Italian Romantic Opera and Italian Baroque Opera in my grasp, but then I found The Operas by Richard Strauss on sale and let everything go.

Then I went to the CDs floor, the so called “Classics” section was filled with Andrea Bocceli, Sarah Brightman, Katherine Jenkins, Il Volo and all that sort of “classical music”, but again I diged and found DIVA DIVO! YAY! For R$30,00 (that would be like $15, Amazon price, hello?) And since I already have it I got it for my best friend as a birthday gift. I also found Anna Netrebko’s Live at the Metropolitan Opera cd for R$9,99! (that’s like $5!) plus her Pergolesi Stabat Mater with Marianna Pizzolato and Tony Pappano!

 

AND I convinced my good friend Caio (he went with me to watch the Live in HD of Rigoletto) to buy The Art of Renée Fleming. And I went to his place for dinner just last night and he told me he absolutely loved it and we listened to it all night long!

I was very happy with my purchases, apart from the fact that I didn’t get what I went there for in the first place. So today I went to another book store, even bigger, HUGE bookstore, I love this book store. It’s called Livraria Cultura and they have the most impressive books in English department. It’s really big and they have all sorts of books all in English, they didn’t have “The Devil Wears Prada” though, but they did have “Revenge Wears Prada”. But then again, you gotta dig in there to find affordable prices; most of the things I wanted were abusively expensive.

Well then I made a big mistake, I let myself be led to the music department and there I found just what I was looking for: Offenbach’s La Belle Helene the Zurich production with Vesselina Kasarova and Handel’s Alcina the Vienna production with Anja Harteros and Vesselina Kasarova, they were so ridiculously expensive that I don’t even have the courage to post the prices here, but I was very disappointed. But then the language department was having a sale and what do we opera singers wannabes need more than anything in the world? DICTIONARIES! I already have a fantastic dictionary for German but lacked my Italian and French, problem solved, got two from Oxford that I trust is an excellent publisher.  

Lighting Management

On other news, I’m performing much these past couple of weeks but I’ve been in the theatre a LOT. I’m helping my friends in my hometown theatre group by operating the lightings for their fantastic new and completely original play called “The Box”. It’s your typical ridiculous comedy but with very smart humor, I mean by that that we have Harry Potter jokes. It’s a lot of fun, I’m actually quite happy to be working not on stage because if I was on stage I would probably crack up all the time because they keep on making up dialogues and they just get funnier and funnier.

Ah well, I guess that’s it! I’ve been watching a lot of Poirot lately too, you gotta love Agatha Christie. Cheers everyone!