Yodeling Legato

Wow. Just wow. I must admit I went into last week’s production of Elixir a little jaded, thinking, how could this be any better than what I saw with Juan Diego Florez and Diana Damrau? It wasn’t better, because it was a different. It was equally as wonderful. I remember the very first time I heard Anna Netrebko sing I was moved to tears, back when I saw her in Romeo et Juliette. Subsequently, hearing her in various recordings I’ve thought, what’s the big deal. Then I heard her again on Saturday. And BOOM! Tears.

Backing up, as usual, to the pre-opera activities... Realizing that it would cost approximately the same for the 2 of us to take the train as it would to drive, the Husband and I decided to take the car in. Plus then we wouldn’t be at the mercy of the train schedule. Those late night trains are all locals… putt putt putt between every.single.station.



So here I am, with the angry birds stickers apparently flying out of my head?



And you know, it's a good thing we drove, or we wouldn’t have been able to listen to the cowboy yodeling radio station we picked up somewhere near Newark Airport. I can’t make this stuff up. Well I probably could, but I’m not! We yodeled our way up the New Jersey Turnpike.

We went to the box office as soon as we got there. They had the tickets but “we don’t keep gifts here.” I even showed them the email from the rep saying that the gift and tickets would be at the box office. They had no idea. They took my phone into their little room, it was like handing my baby to a stranger. They returned it and suggested that I check at the shop. The shop people were like, that's not our department. Everyone was very nice, but they had no idea what I was talking about. So the mystery gift remained a mystery! I did email my contact and he said he’d mail the gift out.

Anyway the seats were in the orchestra ROW R!! Right smack dab in the middle. Like, $300 tickets. That is enough of a gift!

For dinner we went, where else, to Café Fiorello. I really need to start going somewhere else for dinner. We were seated on the opposite side as when I was there last week, but somehow we got the same waiter. I kept forgetting to take pictures of the food because I was having too much fun. But here's a picture of my drink, a vodka something-or-other, off their cocktail list.  It had red grapes and I think half a lime in it.

 

Here's what remained of the antipasto plate before I remembered to snap a pic. Still on the plate I see zucchini parmesean, eggplant caponata, shrimp and white beans, grilled sepia (which is like calamari) and potato pie. It was all very yummy.

We also got the fried ravioli, which was ok but I wouldn't get again, and for dessert, the lemon tart, which was fa-bu-lous. No picture but you can imagine. The top was coated with sugar and then burned, to give it a hard crust like creme brulee. Fresh whipped cream on the side. Yum I'm actually drooling while typing this.

And I even had a “star” sighting! Half-way though dinner, Pretty Yende, who had performed in the matinee, walked by with her entourage on their way out, carrying several beautiful bouquets of flowers.



Back to the Met we went, to our seats in row R. Check out this view!



The opera was SO MUCH FUN! Matthew Polenzani was Nemorino. I think he should change his name to Matthew PoLEGATOnzani. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard such beautiful legato, ever. This coming from the person who could listen to the legato pour out of Juan Diego Florez all day… so you know it’s a big deal. Wow. And Anna Netrebko. Her voice had a timbre to it that went right to my insides. Perfect resonance. Together they sounded heavenly.


The other singers were, Mariusz Kwiecien as Belcore, the conceited army sergeant who wanted to marry Adina, and Erwin Schrott, who, by the way, is Anna’s husband! That must be fun… anyway he played Dulcamara, the maker of the magic elixir, which, as we all know, is actually a nice bordeaux. He was so funny!! In last year’s production, the character of Dulcamara was an older, more grandfatherly type guy. This time, he was more like a Barber of Seville guy – he had everything to cure anything, and he always had a woman nearby. Mariusz K was adorable, as usual.

It was weird… I was a little distracted at first. My mind kept wandering to other things… and then suddenly they began singing and that was it. All other things left my mind and I was just there, feeling the music. Maybe it was the seat location, I don’t know. But the singing just resonated through me. It was like a drug. It's why I love live opera. Because when it hits you like that, you want more, more more. But unless I win the $25 ticket drawing again this season, I won't be going again until next season. Technically that could be this calendar year, I suppose. I imagine they'll announce the next season schedule soon.

Meanwhile, I'll announce what at the Special Gift is once I receive it.

Vintage Cherry Rewards

Remember a few months ago when I begged everyone I knew, and many people I didn’t know, to vote daily for my entry in the Met Opera’s “Elixir of Love” contest? And remember how I won!

Not because my drink was the best, but because I nagged the most people to vote. The prize was, two tickets to see Elixir of Love at the Met, plus a “special gift” from the Metropolitan Opera. Well, finally, this coming Saturday, Husband and I will be seeing the opera. It’ll be interesting to see this new production, especially since I saw the other production TWICE last year. This one stars Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani.

So the tickets will be waiting for us at the box office, along with the “special gift.” We have no idea where the seats are, or what the gift is. I will, of course, post again afterwards with all the boring details. Stay tuned!

From Wine to Lucia to La Fille to Barbiere

What did we all do before the days of DVRs? I have mine set to automatically record Great Performances at the Met, and then I can protect them so the DVR doesn't record over them when it runs out of space.

So today after running my finger around the rim of my wine glass to make that tone, I naturally suddenly felt like hearing a bit of Lucia. First I put on the Greatest Moments countdown which has Joan Sutherland doing the mad scene. That link is not the the performance we have recorded, but it looks pretty much the same. I have to say, the shape of her head in that totally freaks me out. So then we switched to the recent HD transmission, with Anna Netrebko. It was set at Alex's favorite part. Well, one of his favorite parts. No, now that I think of it, this is the first thing he asks to see - the scene where Lucia sings about the ghost in the fountain. In the Met's version, a dancer plays the ghost and exits by slowly spinning down in the fountain.



So we watched that. Then he said he wanted the dogs, which is the very opening scene, but quickly changed his mind and asked for "when she's all bloody." Fast forward to the Mad Scene. Meanwhile, Husband and I are talking about other Lucias. I mention Diana Damrau, he mentions Natalie Dessay and asks, "Wasn't she the one in Fille with Juan Diego Florez?" Well of course then Alex wanted to see a scene from that. He pretty much only ever wants to see the Rataplan scene.
Ha well I can't find the video clip at the moment however I did find a Dutch cartoon about a dog named Rataplan. Now I understand how Alex can watch Woody Woodpecker in Russian. Who needs to understand the words? But as usual I digress. So we watch that, which as we all know leads into this.



And I just want to point out, as I point out to Alex every time we watch La Fille, that I was THERE that very day. I tell him that I was in the same room - but it's a Very Big Room. So after the famous 9 high ones, as JDF is standing there basking in the audience's admiration, we switch over the Barbiere. And wouldn't you know... there he is, it's the end of Cessa, and he's in the exact same position, exact same look on his face, pretty much the same adoring crowd. It was funny. I swear it was. Ok, I guess you had to be there.

ps I survived Torchwood, but barely. It wasn't quite as intense as Rape of Lucretia, but it was 5 days of intense tension in a row, culminating with the final episode. I bawled like a baby and even hid behind a pillow at once point. But I survived.

Singers v Lovers

Lucia was on Great Performances last night. The post-show Facebook status updates were veeeery interesting. The opera singer friends on my list were not all that impressed. Their opera singer friends commented on their status updates with various things that were wrong with it, including some Anna bashing. Now, while I prefer Diana Damrau in the role, Anna is no slouch! Her mad scene was great. Her voice… I think I mentioned this before – she caresses the notes. Anyway, I’m not an Opera Singer so my opinion falls into the other category – that of Lover. Live at the Met was best, of course. Live in the movies was great for the big screen, surround sound and behind-the-scenes stuff. So to me, the only "issue" was that my tv isn’t very large and it was rather quiet. Oh and then there was Husband. He graciously "allowed" me to turn off the baseball game and put on Great Performances - very cool. But then during the third act when things were getting intense he remembered that his doctor had suggested he use that wax-dissolving stuff in his ears. Sorry if that's TMI... but anyway... so he used the drops and stuck a tissue into each ear. He looked ridiculous and of course he knew it. Lucia was stumbling around in her bloodied wedding dress while Husband was wiggling his head back and forth the make the tissues wave. Welcome to my life. So overall, I enjoyed the production on TV. The other Opera Lover fans on my friends list seem to agree. We all have our own insider and outsider perspectives. Interesting stuff.

Voice lesson tonight. I was going to call this post, "Back into the Sing of Things" but I do like when the title refers to the majority of the content. Instead I'm mentioning it here because I thought it was clever.

Vanity Fair, "Look at me!"

Vanity Fair features a bunch of pretty opera singers in its May 2009 issue.

Can't.... stop... laughing...

Ahem. Sorry. Seriously. Love how they're all posed, especially Mr. Front-And-Center. Click the link or the photo itself for the full-sized version and the full-sized effect of the facial expressions and shoe detail. But here's a smaller version, pulled from their website, to whet your appetite.



Can someone please tell me what is up with those shoes? Or am I going to have to pick up the magazine for the description, price and where to purchase?

Sneaky Peeky at Lucia in HD!

Of course yesterday before the HD transmission and during the intermissions I was updating my facebook status and communicating via facebook with Carlos.

And then someone wholly unrelated to opera commented on my status update about Lucia:

Oh - the song that's used in the Fifth Element.

So of course today I googled it and sure enough, Il Dolce Suono is in the movie. Totally weird. I've only seen bits of the movie but from what I remember, that fits right in. Can't tell if it's the glass harmonica though. I think it's the flute.

I decided to give the commenter a link to the same piece with the glass harmonica. I searched YouTube, sorted by date added and look what I found! Someone somewhere captured a bit of yesterday's transmission on film. Film on film. How meta. But look! And listen! It's that scene with those beautiful caressed notes I mentioned yesterday.



I didn't give my facebook commenter the link to that because I wanted him to hear the same part as the part in the movie, so I sent him this instead.

Now I can't wait for this to be on PBS so I can watch it over and over and over.

Blog Post Salad

Many things to write about. I considered making a separate entry for each topic but decided instead for ensalata mixta.

Starting with: Mixed greens

This past Thursday's voice lesson!!!!

The lesson was great. Really great. I love the vocal exercises she has me do. I really love them. I practice caressing the notes and smoothing things out and ironing the break and all that other fun stuff. I had my eyes closed and I pictured myself on a stage. Since I've actually been on a stage as a super I imagined that theater. In my mind, the house was mostly empty save for a few people in the top row and standing behind that top row. I sang so that they could hear me. Ok, I'll admit it - I pretended I was auditioning. For what? For anything, really. Bathroom Divas. Opera chorus. Community theater. And WOW it totally made a difference. Adding that exercise to "sing like no one is listening" improved my sound immensely! Of course if I really were auditioning for something I'd probably be so nervous that I'd open my mouth to hear a trembling warble, but alone with my teacher in the room it was really good. We did Una Donna a few more times before putting it back on the back burner. Amazing how far I've come with it.

Then we went back to The Tipsy Waltz from La Perichole. Even with IPA and my own pronunciation notes I have trouble remembering all the vowel sounds. French has different sounds when you sing it from when you speak it, because apparently French isn't difficult enough for native English speakers to pronounce just one way. I studied French for years, which makes it worse - I have that interference (along with Spanish and Italian) when I try to sing. But little by little I'm improving.

All in all a pleasing lesson, I'm making progress and (this week at least) I'm happy with the sounds I'm producing.

Next in the salad: White asparagus, tomato and ventresca

Lucia in HD!!! Anna Netrebko as Lucia - WOW that woman can sing. Talk about caressing the notes - in the mad scene her voice was like luxurious silk. Different sound than Diana Damrau. I loved loved loved Diana at Lucia. But I loved loved loved Anna too. And then of course, it was the HD thing. In the movies. So I heard the woman on my right tell her companion that Lucia is her favorite opera and she even has the libretto. Yep. She hummed along for about 75% of the performance. One of my friends was on my left. The man next to her... cough... cough... slowly unwrap cellophane hard candy... fold the wrapper. What is UP with folding the wrapper??? Hint to all opera goers who might want a hard candy during the performance: Unwrap them before. Ok so then the movie situation itself. The teenagers running the thing didn't turn the lights down until about 10 minutes in, after about 6 people left their seats to go tell someone to turn the lights off. THEN they had the projector focused in such a way that the subtitles didn't show. Well that's not entirely accurate. When there were two lines of titles, the top line showed. So every 5 minutes or so we'd see a line of text. At the first intermission one of the alta kockers in the audience clued the teenage projectionist that maybe they could zoom out just a little so we could READ ALONG???? At this point some of you might be thinking I'm a bit harsh with my alta kocker reference. But seriously. The hard candy guy was letting them rip, audibly, during the last act. Lucky for me my hair is still long enough that I could pull it around and use it as sort of a shield, like a gas mask.

Yep. You pay $22 for a ticket, you get a $22 experience. Oh and the water. I won't tell you how much I paid in the theater for a bottle of water, but it was a good percentage of the ticket price.

Finally: The salad dressing. And some boquerones for good measure. Yum I might have to order a can or two. But as usual, I digress...

Check this out! Opera Karaoke! Ok so it's really piano accompaniment for a bunch of different arias and duets and so on. But you can download one or many without having to purchase an entire book and CD. Fun stuff.

Another Take on Romeo

How beautiful is this???!!!



Thanks to the person who alerted me to this video!

Video, take, oh... whatever

Finally obtained the technology to cut clips from DVDs. More to follow, but here's what I've done so far:



and




So I deleted the short, poor-quality clips... sorry to anyone who tried to watch them a few posts back...

So go to YouTube, rate and comment!

Romeo Still Makes Me Cry

Here I am alone on New Year's Eve... well, not exactly. True, Jim is out overnight at a party that I'd rather not be at... but Alex is here after all... with a fever... and a cold... and what appears to be pinkeye. This leads to opera, I promise...

So he hasn't napped for over a year, but today he took a 90 minute nap, then he asked to go to bed early. He woke up about an hour later and was pretty wide awake, so I sat him on my lap in front of the computer while I played Scrabble on Facebook (it's my other addiction!) and we listened to the Met's live broadcast of Romeo. Alex finally went to bed and I listened to the rest on headphones.

So I've heard this opera dozens of times... yet I still cry at the end.

Tonight Matthew Polenzani was Romeo. I've heard him dozens of times since he's Tamino on that ever-famous English Magic Flute Alex used to watch every day. He was fabulous tonight. What a beautiful voice, like flowing water.

I listed through the curtain call. Most of the cast was gone by then- only 4 or 5 came out for curtain calls. That's odd - I thought they all always did. I guess I was wrong.

I didn't get to hear Nathan Gunn's first aria because the laptop wasn't cooperating... grrr.... Even though I have three different recordings of it, it's just different when you know it's live. It's like watching gymnastics in the Olympics - there's that tension that anything can happen.

My online friend who likes Anna Netrebko flew to NYC from Barcelona to see the performance tonight. I'm sure he had a great time. I'm envious!

If only I had unlimited funds, I'd go to the opera all the time.

Happy New Year to all. It's 11:15 and I'm going to bed.

More Kindness of More Strangers

I love the internet.

A fan of Anna Netrebko read my review of her fabulous performance last Wednesday and commented on my blog. We began emailing back and forth. He has a subscription to Sirius Radio and has recordings of the 12/12 and 12/15 broadcasts. He uploaded them to a file sharing site and explained how to download them. So I know have the full operas from both days! Denise sure was surprised when I handed her a copy on CD the other day. I've offered to send him my copy of Opera News with Anna on the cover but haven't heard back.

I love the internet.

In the comments section of a Juan Diego Florez video on YouTube people were writing that they were going to see him in Fille Du Regiment at the Met. I chimed in and it turns out I'm going the same day as someone else who posted. We began corresponding and it turns out we have a LOT in common - it's sort of scary. First off, not only are we going to the same performance, we're sitting 10 seats away from each other in the same row. We both used to teach ESL and now do something else. She taught a TOEFL prep course and I work at ETS writing, reviewing and editing portions of the TOEFL. We have the same favorite authors, books and movies. She's a little younger than me. It's like we fit some demographic for the young opera fan.

I corresponded a little with another YouTuber after reading her comments for a Nathan Gunn video. I've also corresponded a little bit with other Juan Diego Florez fans.

The internet has made the world smaller. I love it. Husband and I each just got an iPhone, which includes a cell phone, internet access, weather, email, YouTube, iTunes, traffic reports, maps, an iPod and many other features. My son will grow up in a completely different world than I did. It's like the people who grew up before TV... we can't imagine life without it, even when we don't have one in the house. He won't be able to imagine life without the internet.

One more tidbit. I have a tracker on my Myspace page. On Dec 12, the day I went to the Met, someone at the Metropolitan Opera viewed my Myspace page:

Location

Access

Organization

New York, US 207.237.181.16

12/12 10:22:26 AM

Metropolitan Opera

Private

Private

At first I didn't see that it was AM because it was on the next line, and I thought, holy ***! who at the Met looked at my MySpace page during INTERMISSION????? Then I saw it was the morning... so someone was probably at NG's page and clicked onto mine. Oh well, there goes that random thought that I won't even put here. Ok, so I'll concede... he probably didn't actually make eye contact with me during the curtain call, although he did scan the balcony.

Ok, where was I? Men in tights... more

So let's talk about the costumes. The Capulets were all in red, the Montagues in some version of blue. Romeo, as I mentioned before, was in these skin-tight aqua pants with matching boots. Mercutio was in turquoise tights with some kind of skirty jacket thing. Juliet wore beautiful gowns of course.

More about Nathan's performance... if I didn't already write this before... He was totally into it, like he BECAME a teenager out for a rumble. With his flouncy shirt and his hair flopping in his face... well the word rakish comes to mind. The fight scene was awesome. Interestingly, all the other men came out for that scene with their shirts buttoned up, but his was halfway open and opened even more during the scene. Then after Mercutio was stabbed, it crossed my mind that I was in the same room as Nathan Gunn, and he was laying sweaty on the floor with his shirt half off. It was a very big room... but lest I digress into more behavior more fitting for a 16 year old than a 40 year old...

One more point before I go to bed.

During some of the interludes they projected an image onto the curtain with some Latin words on it. Well, Denise majored in Latin at Princeton (wow) and Stan has studied it. With his binoculars he was able to read it. The top part was something used as filler for when they want to use up space - sort of a nonsense phrase. The part around the bottom said something silly, which of course I don't recall right now because they were talking about it in the limo ride home and I was concentrating on not getting car sick (I failed). But it was obviously some sort of inside joke by whoever made the image. I'll find out what it said and will post it eventually.

Ok now off to bed. More to come in dribs and drabs.

More on those Men in Tights...

Here we are at Part 2 of ? of my ramblings about last night.

Let's talk about the stage.

Did I mention the celestial theme? Ok so the stage had this raised circular dais and THAT had a circular inset that rotated and ramped in any direction. It was cool b/c at some points it would slowly rotate, or else it would ramp up, and they changed it for different scenes. Ok so on this they'd sometimes project a circular map of the stars, I'm sure it has a name, and it would slowly rotate. They also had that against the back wall at some points. Above the stage they had an orrery, which is a model that shows the planets in the solar system in their relative positions as they move. I couldn't really see it except when part of it dipped below the curtain swag thing, but you could see the shadows on the stage as the planets moved. The shadows included not just the planets but the bars attaching them to the device. They also had clockworks, I think near the end, in one corner, also in a circular piece.

Agh must go to bed... will continue... tomorrow.