Tabla de contenidos para March 2023 en Opera Now

Who would want to be an opera singer? The training is long and demanding, and fame and fortune at the end of it all is far from certain. You can expect a life of unsociable hours, long absences from home, strain on your friendships and relationships, and minimum pay after hours of rehearsals. Then there are all the skills involved: effortless mastery of several languages, astounding feats of memory, acting talent and levels of physical exertion (while singing) that defy belief. Perhaps it’s no wonder that around 70 per cent of singers who embark on an operatic career go on to do something quite different with their lives. What are the rewards for those who make it through the arduous early years? Only a handful of opera singers will join…

The Royal Opera House has announced that it will no longer be accepting sponsorship from BP following pressure from environmental groups and a general shift in public attitudes towards oil giants. BP has supported the ROH for the past 33 years, and its latest sponsorship deal expired in December 2022. Chris Garrard, co-director of the pressure group Culture Unstained, said: ‘What we are witnessing is a seismic shift, a near wholesale rejection across the arts of BP’s brand and the climate-wrecking business it represents.’ BP said, ‘We’re proud to have supported the Royal Opera House for more than three decades. Over that time, BP Big Screens brought world-class opera and ballet performances free to thousands of people across the UK, and more recently we have supported some of the ROH’s…

‘There are so many intangible factors that defy a surefire prediction as to who will definitely succeed’ PeterGelb, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, has a very important role in singers’ careers. An endorsement from him is enough to launch and propel a young singer to success and often to fame and fortune. Therefore, an insight into the qualities he and his team at the Met value most when assessing singers is not only fascinating, but also extremely valuable to aspiring young talent. ‘One has to remember that the risk of casting for the Met is greater, because of our sheer size. For this reason, not every good European singer can sing on our stage. What I personally look for in a singer is musicality, vocal virtuosity and theatricality. Because,…

‘It’s not about rebuilding, but rather perfecting what we already have’ Martina Russomanno began her career as an actress and singer in her native Livorno in Italy when she was 11. She sang ‘a lot of pop’ up to the age of 15, when she began her studies as a classical singer. ‘Coming from pop music, I was singing very low, with a dark voice and so I was classified as a mezzo.’ In 2017, aged 19, she left Livorno to study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she eventually obtained her Bachelor’s Degree. There she had the good fortune to study with Michèle Crider, the distinguished American soprano. ‘Michèle Crider was amazing! She sensed what was right for my voice. She knew I was an Italian lyric soprano, full…

Greek National Opera MUSIC ★★★★★ STAGING ★★★ This was an eagerly awaited production of an opera never before staged in Greece. It was directed by one of today’s most interesting and controversial directors, Krzysztof Warlikowski, and conducted by the GNO’s former music director, Lukas Karytinos. The whole run sold out within days and expectations were high. This uber-busy mega-spectacle, replete with giant screens and gimmicks galore, fulfilled the expectations of some sections of the public but disappointed others. Warlikowski’s avowed aim is to make operagoers think and he certainly did that – but not necessarily in the desired way. It was often difficult to figure out was going on, or indeed to discern which of Warlikowski’s insertions were part of the plot and which were not. The original plot is…

Beyond prejudice I wanted to start by saying how much I love Opera Now, and how it really helps me understand the opera world and also enables me to give a flavour of what a brilliant and exciting world it is to my friends when I show them the magazine. I was really happy to see the coverage you gave to the Voice of Black Opera competition in your January issue. Full disclosure: I am a Black singer from Trinidad who is in the UK just starting my opera training. To be in a world which respects the differences I bring to the table in terms of my cultural background is fantastic. However, I am also concerned about the possibility that I will be put in a ghetto, and that…

Jürgen Flimm, one of the most influential theatre and opera directors of the past half-century, has died aged 81. After establishing his name in Hamburg, where he worked for more than 15 years, he was appointed artistic director of the Salzburg Festival from 2007 to 2010 and then Intendant of Berlin State Opera from 2013 to 2018, where he worked fruitfully alongside music director Daniel Barenboim. The conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt was Flimm’s constant creative partner. Conductor and director brought out unexpected qualities in each other. Anyone lucky enough to have seen Flimm’s uproarious production of Offenbach’s La Périchole at the Zurich Opera in 1998 would remember the usually austere Harnoncourt joining the cast on stage, singing and dancing in the boisterous encore of the finale. Flimm’s charm had worked again.…

‘I always knew that my destiny was to perform on big stage. Once I get an idea into my head, I can be very determined! I won’t bang my ‘Ialways head against the wall, but slowly, slowly, I will prevail. My way is to go step by step and it has worked for me so far. At the moment it feels like my career is taking off at great speed but if I want a long life on stage, I have to be sensible.’ The first time I saw Aigul Akhmetshina perform was not on a big stage. It was at Wilton’s Music Hall in December 2017, when Peter Katona, Director of Casting at the Royal Opera, invited me to see La Tragédie de Carmen, a reduced version of…

‘Finding the right teacher is the most important thing’ Greek soprano Maritina Tampakopoulos began her studies at the National Conservatoire in her native Athens aged 14. By the time she was three, she grabbed the microphone at any Kindergarten performance and continued to perform at all suitable occasions. ‘I made up my mind there and then that this was my vocation, my calling.’ In 2021, Tampakopoulos made a triumphant debut in the historic Teatro Massimo in Palermo as Elena in I vespri siciliani, followed by Polina in David Pountney’s production of The Gambler at Martina Franca, conducted by Jan Latham Koenig. She had another triumph in the hugely demanding role of Smaragda in Manolis Kalomiris’ The Master Builder at the ‘Maria Callas’ Olympia Theatre in Athens, in memory of the…

‘The relationship between teacher and student is about trust’ Michèle Crider, an acclaimed lirico spinto soprano with a glorious international career to her credit, has devoted her retirement years to passing on the flame to younger generations of potential ‘greats’. ‘The relationship between teacher and student is about trust,’ Crider says. ‘How do you develop the voice and their talent? As a singer/teacher, I look for an interesting vocal timbre, vocal and physical health, character and the ability to work hard in an intense study period. ‘There are some vital disciplines all singers must master, such as a grounded basis of technical knowledge and choosing the repertoire that accommodates the level of their ability. I wouldn’t say that a career today is all that different from the years past. Talent,…

‘Coloratura is always harder for basses than for other voices’ This highly promising young basso cantante, currently singing the King of Egypt in Aida at Rome Opera, was born In Georgia and started off by singing church and other polyphonic songs in a Folk Ensemble plus a little bit of opera. But he noticed that he was getting tired easily and decided to go to a vocal teacher, where he began to have voice lessons and study classical singing. Twelve years ago, Manoshvili enrolled at the Conservatoire in Tbilisi, where his teacher was the distinguished Georgian baritone Eldar Getsadze, ‘who understood my instrument and helped me solve my breathing problems and create a big, rounded voice’. Luck would have it that Orlin Anastassov, the famous Bulgarian bass, attended one of…

An excursion earlier this year was planned as something of a nostalgia trip, taking me back to places in North Germany familiar from my working days there as a lawyer. My train from Brussels having been cancelled (the way of the world, these days), I arrived in Aachen in a frazzled state – not ideal to appreciate Verdi’s infrequently performed Stiffelio. But the composer wrote some fine music for the piece and the drama centring around a pastor who discovers that his wife is having an affair contains some rich characterisation. In the theatre it makes, or should make, a significant impact. But what I saw and heard did not do the work justice. The main problem lay in the musical interpretation. The conductor Chanmin Chung treated the score as…

Polish National Opera, Warsaw MUSIC ★★★★ STAGING ★★★ La Forza del destino, the opener to Polish National Opera’s season, is the company’s third collaboration with New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and the largest and most expensive production it has ever staged. Director Mariusz Treliński’s background as a film maker is evident in a somewhat overblown modern version where cinematic tricks and too much movement on stage often distract from the music and the plot. As the overture plays, characters run through rooms on a rapidly revolving stage, whose creaking is audible over conductor Patrick Fournillier’s precise and delicate direction. ‘Round and round goes the ruddy great wheel,’ as the rugby song has it. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up as it swiftly becomes a battlefield, then a field hospital. The tavern…

After the demise in 2019 of the majestic American soprano Jessye Norman, it is a delight to hear these previously unpublished recordings. Lest punters worry about betraying the diva’s wishes by relishing material she refused to have issued during her lifetime, Decca specifies that the project was done ‘with the support of Ms Norman’s family and estate’. So this set might be seen as something akin to an author permitting letters or diaries to be published posthumously, in an Après moi, le deluge spirit. This Gallic expression, attributed to King Louis XV, is particularly appropriate due to Norman’s career-long regal approach to music from France and elsewhere. The sonic deluge revealed here is indeed monarchial in command. Of these CDs, a 1994 concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra of three…

Semele Handel Opus Arte OA1362D ★★★★★ Semele is a joyous romp of a film, bursting with wit and vivacity. Directors Thomas de Mallet Burgess and Jacqueline Coats stage The Wedding of the Year in Auckland ’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, and if they ever tire of operatic work they should become event planners. The audience sits in the pews and then the fun starts as the wedding guests arrive in full rig and process to the front to gather around the altar. Then reluctant bride Semele is walked down the aisle by her father Cadmus to meet her intended, the eager Athamas, as her sister Ino reveals her secret to the congregation – that she loves Athamas. And the plot then erupts as everyone involved lies, schemes and bitches for our…

Favourite time of day? A couple of days ago was I was driving on the M40 and in my rear view mirror there was an amazing sunset and in front of me there was a full moon. And when I can galvanise myself to get up early, mornings are amazing. Favourite season? I’m an Indian so I only like the summer, and searing heat. Favourite colour? I like lurid colours, lurid lime green. I just found an amazing dress in a lurid kind of lemony yellow in the shop Egg. Favourite artist? I’m very inconsistent but most recently in the Würzburg Residence, there’s a massive Tiepolo ceiling. Favourite building? The ancient caves of Ajanta and Ellora, east of Mumbai. Some are slightly BC and some are 1st and 2nd century…

1 Who is the father of Fyodor (Feodor) and Kseniya ( Xenia)? 2 Which tenor permitted ‘The Aristocrat of Cigarettes’ to be named after him as they were developed specifically not to damage his voice? 3 Talking of aristocrats, who was Marquise de Caux through her first marriage and Baroness Cederström through her third? 4 And if you know answer no 3, which Broadway legend is her great-great niece (the clue is in the name)? 5 Who would you find in Forteringa and Buenos Aires (and also on Upper West)? 6 Where would you find the Civic Opera Building: an opera house, a 45-storey office block and two-22 storey wings? Wacky! 7 Teatro La Fenice is in Venice: what does ‘la fenice’ mean? 8 What is ‘a mirror of soul’?…

Imagine you’re a parent of a child who has strong inclinations to sing. A natural sense of musicality and rhythm usually starts becoming noticeable around four years old when little humans start singing back all the tunes they’ve heard around them. While you proudly film a cute video on your mobile phone, your brain leaps 20 years ahead: the Royal Opera House is packed, up goes the curtain and there in the spotlight is your beloved offspring making their much-vaunted professional debut. Perhaps they will become the next Sutherland or Pavarotti? Perhaps… but where do you start? Where to find a recipe for a successful singing career? That is where this article might come in handy. You don’t really have to be a parent to a talented kid to find…

‘Everyone is freer to become artists if they feel safe, looked after and made familiar with their surroundings’ This exceptional programme is responsible for nurturing and shaping the careers of some of most exceptional young talents in the operatic world, including our cover artist in this issue, Aigul Akhmetshina, discovered in Moscow by David Gowland, the programme’s artistic director, when she was only 17. Since then, she has been helped, step by step, to reach the threshold of international, stardom. And she is one of many. What is Gowland looking for when either auditioning or seeing young singers perform at competitions? ‘Someone who tells a story and somebody who moves you. They can be from whatever culture and they are young people who I feel, will benefit from working in…

‘We all really loved that instrument – it’s a wow!’ ‘When Maritina first came to my attention, she was over-darkening her voice. The top was sensational, but in the middle voice some vowels were distorted, and overall the voice wasn't lined up. I said to her, ‘‘If you decide to apply, work on these things’’. And she did. When she left us two years later, the voice was pretty well lined up, it had so much more elasticity, the range had increased – both up and down and in terms of dynamics. But it’s a sizeable voice, and she was still young, so everyone knew it would continue to grow and settle. ‘Just to be clear, I was not her voice teacher, though I was one pair of ears she trusted.…

‘Don’t make a clone of yourself!’ ‘It’s important to trust another pair of ears. We singers don’t hear in our own heads what the audience hears. I do my best to guide and refine the voice technically while at the same time encouraging artistic creativity and also maintaining confidence. The biggest challenge as a teacher is not to try to make a clone of yourself. In other words, to encourage a singer’s own individuality and imagination in decision-making. ‘The qualities I look for in an aspiring young singer are : abeautiful voice; an intelligent artist; and a natural charisma. Beyond that, the vital disciplines a young singer needs to grasp are physical fitness to maintain consistency of breath flow and stamina. Professional behaviour is important: always being well prepared, knowing your…

‘Every singer should work on creating their own style, their own stamp’ T heBulgarian bass Orlin Anastassov is himself a distinguished artist and performer, which makes his wholehearted endorsement of a fellow bass doubly significant. Equally impressive was his immediate eagerness to invest time and effort in helping to launch and propel Giorgi Manoshvili into a world where the young singer had no previous experience, and indeed at that stage, no repertoire. Eventually he also enlisted him in the roster of artists at his agency. ‘I first heard Giorgi Manoshvili at a concert in Tbilisi three years ago. He sang just one Georgian aria and my first impression was that this was a rarely beautiful vocal instrument, technically correct and with ease throughout the entire bass register. So I wanted…

Royal Northern College of Music Manchester MUSIC ★★★★ STAGING ★★★★ You might have thought that, for a performance by students, Die Fledermaus would be considered a pushover; but you would be wrong. Musically, Viennese operetta requires, above all, style in vocalisation. Then there is the large amount of spoken text, not always easy for those for whom accompanied recitative is the norm. Nor should the difficulties of convincingly portraying a mid-19th-century fun-loving society be under-estimated. The Royal Northern College of Music, in its 50th anniversary year, facilitated the undertaking in several ways. First, the work was given in English, in a first-rate, witty and racy translation by conductor David Parry and director Stephen Barlow. Second, the setting was successfully updated to a near-contemporary King’s Road Chelsea in which dalliance and…

The Doll Behind the Curtain Tafreshipour BIS 2596 ★★★★ Passacalle de la Folie Pluhar/Jaroussky Erato 5054197221873 ★★★★ Arias of Love and Sorrow Gevorg Hakobyan Delos 3572 ★★★ Nicht Wiedersehen! Günther Groissböck Gramola GRAM99280  ★★★★ Arias Jonathan Tetelman DG 4862927 ★★★★ Falstaff Verdi C Major 761504 ★★★ CDs and digital This is a first – an opera by an Iranian composer: The Doll Behind the Curtain is based on a short story by the modernist author Sadeq Hedayat, active through the 1930s and ’40s, and starts with a theme you might know from Les Contes d’Hoffmann or Coppélia, (both inspired by ETA Hoffmann’s Der Sandmann): a man who doesn’t realise that the object of his desires is a doll. What gives Hedayat’s story a twist is that the story starts in…