Start with this so you can see the fabulousness that is Elizabeth Caballero. She's the soprano with the scarf in her hair.
And finish with these Alex-related, Carmen-related, Lego-related tidbits:
Alex asked to watch Carmen today. That was a change from his usual request of either a Star Wars or an Indiana Jones movie. He loves those movies... and he loves playing the Lego versions on the Wii. And, of course, he loves singing all the music, teaching me the background so I can accompany him when he sings the melody (you should hear our Darth Vader and our Indiana Jones pieces!!) and then comparing the music in levels on the Wii games to the corresponding scenes in the movies. So it's only natural that today he said wistfully, "I wish there was a Carmen Lego game for the Wii."
That's my boy. He went on to describe what the cave scene and what the ending would be like in the game. Maybe he'll grow up to be a software developer and will turn operas into interactive Lego video games. The market is open, as far as I can tell.
His favorite scene in Carmen is when the kids are singing during the changing of the guard. I wish that scene from the Met was on YouTube. And I don't recall if I mentioned this already - When he first saw the children he was astonished - "I didn't know KIDS could be in an opera. That looks like fun." Of course he couldn't be in his Kindergarten end-of-the-year show today (sniff) because he couldn't handle the echoing cafeteria during rehearsals... that, and he said he didn't care for the music. But the children's chorus for an opera... I bet he'd overcome those sensory issues pretty quickly... Fascinating. That link is for a little feature on the children's chorus for Carmen in San Diego.
Showing posts with label elina garanca. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elina garanca. Show all posts
Friday, May 28, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Carmencita
Carmen was wonderful. No surprise there!!
Husband and I deposited Alex with the neighbor and hopped on an afternoon train to NYC. When we got to Penn Station we walked up to Salumeria Rosi, meaning, we walked from 34th and 8th to Amsterdam between 73rd and 74th, just over 2 miles. Good thing I was wearing my hiking shoes because while my heels are comfy, they're not 2 miles comfy. The block before the restaurant I leaned on a wall and changed into the shoes.
The meal was awesome. Go to the link above to see what the place is about. We ordered the Chef's Choice meat plate, which consisted of two slices of all these different types of cured meat. I didn't take a photo of it, but I did get one of a separate plate of something Husband ordered:
This is some type of meat. Some sort of air-dried beef maybe? I can't recall.
Another fab dish we had was the anchovies:
They may look odd, but they were the most delicious, melt-in-your-mouth bites of richness. These are not the same fishy, spiny anchovies you're getting on your local pizza. These were marinated in lemon and oil and other spices and my mouth is watering just writing about them.
All of the dishes are small plates like that, which is great because you get to taste all different sorts of things.
Then we walked to Lincoln Center and took a few photos outside before going in:
We tootled around the gift shop before going in. Asked a security guard where to go after the show to get backstage. He said to go down the right side of the orchestra until we get to a guy with a clipboard. Keep that in mind as you read this because that wasn't entirely accurate... what else is new?
Wasted $11 on a glass of BAD champagne.
All those plastic champagne flutes were lined up on the bar. It was so tempting to "bump" into them, but I restrained myself. Instead I asked the bartender if anyone ever has. He was like, "Oh yeah, all the time! That's why they're plastic!"
We went to our seats. (By the way, I was also tempted to press my nose against the glass of the control booth at the top of the section, but Husband convinced me not to. The champagne may have been cheap, but obviously it had gone to my head.) I have to say that I was mixed up about what bathroom is on what level. The Grand Tier doesn't have that private bar and secret bathroom - that's I think two levels up? But that's ok. Our seats were great and that's what counts... Here's the view from the seat.
Up went the famous chandeliers:
And then... the opera itself was great. The orchestra played the overture at breakneck speed. The scenery was so cool. Roberto Alana was great - what a voice! And Elina Garanca - WOW! She steamed up the role. Whew she was HOT!! And of course Elizabeth Caballero was in it - Fabulous!! Her gorgeous rich soprano soared above the mezzos and rang through the building.
Intermission.
Got yelled at by an usher-type in a cloaky sort of cape when I took this photo in the lobby:
Intermission lasted FOREVER. It was long to begin with but also some piece of the set apparently broke and we could hear them hammering like crazy for an extra 15 minutes. Finally the opera began again, to a loooong boring (yet very beautiful) aria of Micaela, the "good" girl, about how she's afraid of Carmen but will be brave... on and on about that... for far too long... the singing was beautiful but it was just too long!!
At this point, perhaps because it was way past my bedtime, my right eye started watering. Of course it took the mascara with it. Husband insisted that you couldn't tell, but you be the judge when you look at the photos.
The final scene was amazing. Carmen wanted to see Escamillo, her new lover, fight in this very exciting bullfight, but Don Jose showed up all distraught, accusing her of ruining his life and demanding that she go away with him. She tosses him away, saying she no longer loves him. Every time the crowd in the stadium cheered she got more impatient and he got more angry, and finally, in a true, "If I can't have you, nobody can," manner, he stabbed her to death. Then the very final moment, as she died, the stage turned around so you could see the inside of the stadium, and there is Escamillo standing over this bull he just killed. Wow. What a visceral, shocking ending. I mean, I knew that Don Jose killed her, but the way they showed it like that, so that it was obvious that Escamillo killed the bull at the same time, was really effective.
When the opera was over, we made our way down to the right side of the orchestra... where an usher found us and asked if she could assist us... because of course, we were in the wrong place! We had to go back out to the lobby area and down this little flight of stairs opposite the doors to the orchestra, then down a hallway that had a couch at one end, to where some dude stood with a clipboard. I gave him our names, he let us in. He said to go down the hall where we'd have to wait until Wardrobe had finished taking all the costumes from the performers, then they'd let visitors in. So went down another hall past boxes marked "Wardrobe - chorus" and things like that, to a raised security desk. All sorts of people were milling about. I gave our names to the woman at that desk. She directed me to another guy with a clipboard who was standing at yet another door. He confirmed we were on the list but there were so many people coming out that we couldn't get in. Finally we got in and went down a loooong hallway lined with lockers, turned right and there was this open space with lots of doors around it - stairs down, stairs to the stage, green room for soloist singers and the individual dressing rooms. Not too star-struck walking past Roberto Alagna's and Elina G's dressing rooms... hoping they'd come out but not really looking... there were lots of people just standing around. We found Liz's dressing room and gave a little knock. She had another set of visitors too. They were very nice - they brought her flowers and took our photos. I had chosen this lovely pair of earrings for her - multi-faceted crystal beads with a small purple rhinestone rondelle. That means nothing to anyone but me so click here to see a photo. But look no further to see pictures of us all posing together. Yes, this is a dressing room at the Met. Looks just like... a room... with a piano, and a chair, and a desk, and a mirror.
Looking at this photo I'm just realizing now that Liz is holding the flowers backwards! Oops. But you can see the little organza bag for the earrings.
Grabbed Husband for another photo, and then it was well beyond our bedtime and nearing the time of the 12:40am train so off we went!
Future scoop for all you South Floridians out there - keep an eye out for FGO's fall season production of Turandot - Liz will be singing the role of Liu, which means she'll get a fabulous suicide scene.
This production of Carmen will be on PBS in their Great Performances series. I'll post details when I get them.
Husband and I deposited Alex with the neighbor and hopped on an afternoon train to NYC. When we got to Penn Station we walked up to Salumeria Rosi, meaning, we walked from 34th and 8th to Amsterdam between 73rd and 74th, just over 2 miles. Good thing I was wearing my hiking shoes because while my heels are comfy, they're not 2 miles comfy. The block before the restaurant I leaned on a wall and changed into the shoes.
The meal was awesome. Go to the link above to see what the place is about. We ordered the Chef's Choice meat plate, which consisted of two slices of all these different types of cured meat. I didn't take a photo of it, but I did get one of a separate plate of something Husband ordered:
This is some type of meat. Some sort of air-dried beef maybe? I can't recall.
Another fab dish we had was the anchovies:
They may look odd, but they were the most delicious, melt-in-your-mouth bites of richness. These are not the same fishy, spiny anchovies you're getting on your local pizza. These were marinated in lemon and oil and other spices and my mouth is watering just writing about them.
All of the dishes are small plates like that, which is great because you get to taste all different sorts of things.
Then we walked to Lincoln Center and took a few photos outside before going in:
We tootled around the gift shop before going in. Asked a security guard where to go after the show to get backstage. He said to go down the right side of the orchestra until we get to a guy with a clipboard. Keep that in mind as you read this because that wasn't entirely accurate... what else is new?
Wasted $11 on a glass of BAD champagne.
All those plastic champagne flutes were lined up on the bar. It was so tempting to "bump" into them, but I restrained myself. Instead I asked the bartender if anyone ever has. He was like, "Oh yeah, all the time! That's why they're plastic!"
We went to our seats. (By the way, I was also tempted to press my nose against the glass of the control booth at the top of the section, but Husband convinced me not to. The champagne may have been cheap, but obviously it had gone to my head.) I have to say that I was mixed up about what bathroom is on what level. The Grand Tier doesn't have that private bar and secret bathroom - that's I think two levels up? But that's ok. Our seats were great and that's what counts... Here's the view from the seat.
Up went the famous chandeliers:
And then... the opera itself was great. The orchestra played the overture at breakneck speed. The scenery was so cool. Roberto Alana was great - what a voice! And Elina Garanca - WOW! She steamed up the role. Whew she was HOT!! And of course Elizabeth Caballero was in it - Fabulous!! Her gorgeous rich soprano soared above the mezzos and rang through the building.
Intermission.
Got yelled at by an usher-type in a cloaky sort of cape when I took this photo in the lobby:
Intermission lasted FOREVER. It was long to begin with but also some piece of the set apparently broke and we could hear them hammering like crazy for an extra 15 minutes. Finally the opera began again, to a loooong boring (yet very beautiful) aria of Micaela, the "good" girl, about how she's afraid of Carmen but will be brave... on and on about that... for far too long... the singing was beautiful but it was just too long!!
At this point, perhaps because it was way past my bedtime, my right eye started watering. Of course it took the mascara with it. Husband insisted that you couldn't tell, but you be the judge when you look at the photos.
The final scene was amazing. Carmen wanted to see Escamillo, her new lover, fight in this very exciting bullfight, but Don Jose showed up all distraught, accusing her of ruining his life and demanding that she go away with him. She tosses him away, saying she no longer loves him. Every time the crowd in the stadium cheered she got more impatient and he got more angry, and finally, in a true, "If I can't have you, nobody can," manner, he stabbed her to death. Then the very final moment, as she died, the stage turned around so you could see the inside of the stadium, and there is Escamillo standing over this bull he just killed. Wow. What a visceral, shocking ending. I mean, I knew that Don Jose killed her, but the way they showed it like that, so that it was obvious that Escamillo killed the bull at the same time, was really effective.
When the opera was over, we made our way down to the right side of the orchestra... where an usher found us and asked if she could assist us... because of course, we were in the wrong place! We had to go back out to the lobby area and down this little flight of stairs opposite the doors to the orchestra, then down a hallway that had a couch at one end, to where some dude stood with a clipboard. I gave him our names, he let us in. He said to go down the hall where we'd have to wait until Wardrobe had finished taking all the costumes from the performers, then they'd let visitors in. So went down another hall past boxes marked "Wardrobe - chorus" and things like that, to a raised security desk. All sorts of people were milling about. I gave our names to the woman at that desk. She directed me to another guy with a clipboard who was standing at yet another door. He confirmed we were on the list but there were so many people coming out that we couldn't get in. Finally we got in and went down a loooong hallway lined with lockers, turned right and there was this open space with lots of doors around it - stairs down, stairs to the stage, green room for soloist singers and the individual dressing rooms. Not too star-struck walking past Roberto Alagna's and Elina G's dressing rooms... hoping they'd come out but not really looking... there were lots of people just standing around. We found Liz's dressing room and gave a little knock. She had another set of visitors too. They were very nice - they brought her flowers and took our photos. I had chosen this lovely pair of earrings for her - multi-faceted crystal beads with a small purple rhinestone rondelle. That means nothing to anyone but me so click here to see a photo. But look no further to see pictures of us all posing together. Yes, this is a dressing room at the Met. Looks just like... a room... with a piano, and a chair, and a desk, and a mirror.
Looking at this photo I'm just realizing now that Liz is holding the flowers backwards! Oops. But you can see the little organza bag for the earrings.
Grabbed Husband for another photo, and then it was well beyond our bedtime and nearing the time of the 12:40am train so off we went!
Future scoop for all you South Floridians out there - keep an eye out for FGO's fall season production of Turandot - Liz will be singing the role of Liu, which means she'll get a fabulous suicide scene.
This production of Carmen will be on PBS in their Great Performances series. I'll post details when I get them.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Introductions and Other Subjects
Every now and then someone who wants to learn about opera asks me for recommendations. "What should I listen to first?" or, "I usually don't like opera, although I recognize that the singers are talented." So what is the best thing to recommend? I personally am not into Puccini, so I'd never recommend him as a first listen, although many people recommend Boheme as an easy first opera. I usually recommend Mozart or Rossini. I find it's hard to recommend just one aria, like, just one YouTube clip, because it all has so much meaning within the context of the entire story. So what do you recommend people listen to, either to sit down and read along with, or just view some YouTube clips?
Totally new subject: Back to the "What kind of press is this?" scenario. Meaning, this, from Our Favorite Baritone. Time? Program name? Anyone know? That's sort of important information to include, especially if you take the time to post it in the first place. And look at that list of stations - ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS - all the major commercial networks, all over the country. Other than some sort of political event, what sort of program is shown on several networks at the same time? It's very confusing. Is he running for office? Anyone have any more info about this? There's an entire group of sort of curious people. Post a comment or send me a message at luindriel@gmail.com.
Totally new subject: Was watching La Cenerentola with Alex and I said, "Isn't she cute," referring, of course, to Elina Garanca when she was all dressed up in blue. "No," he replied, "She's beautiful."
Totally new subject: Was listening to Diana Damrau as Lucia today, from the radio broadcast of the performance I saw last October. She is amazing. I'm so glad I'm going to see her in La Fille.
That's all... for now.
Totally new subject: Back to the "What kind of press is this?" scenario. Meaning, this, from Our Favorite Baritone. Time? Program name? Anyone know? That's sort of important information to include, especially if you take the time to post it in the first place. And look at that list of stations - ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS - all the major commercial networks, all over the country. Other than some sort of political event, what sort of program is shown on several networks at the same time? It's very confusing. Is he running for office? Anyone have any more info about this? There's an entire group of sort of curious people. Post a comment or send me a message at luindriel@gmail.com.
Totally new subject: Was watching La Cenerentola with Alex and I said, "Isn't she cute," referring, of course, to Elina Garanca when she was all dressed up in blue. "No," he replied, "She's beautiful."
Totally new subject: Was listening to Diana Damrau as Lucia today, from the radio broadcast of the performance I saw last October. She is amazing. I'm so glad I'm going to see her in La Fille.
That's all... for now.
Friday, August 21, 2009
7th Inning Stretch - Take Me Out to the Opera
When I was a teenager my mother told me that if I hung out with people who did drugs, no matter what my original intentions, eventually I'd start doing drugs with them.
That said, Husband is slowly coming around. He is actually excited to be going to the Met. Excited! He said he'd be willing to listen to Carmen beforehand, to familiarize himself with some of the music. And then yesterday when La Cenerentola was on PBS I pointed out to him that Elina Garanca, who is so adorably cute as Cenerentola, would also be singing the title role in Carmen... Well, that settled it. He has hung around with me long enough, he's finally dipping in and sampling the drug on his own. Ok ok I wouldn't go that far. He's not listening to opera with I'm not around, as far as I know. But while before he went along with me to the local performances, now he's looking forward to going. No doubt some of the prestige surrounding a performance at the Met rather than our local opera company is fueling some of his enthusiasm. I wonder if I'd feel the same about going to see the Yankees in Yankee Stadium after having been to so many games of our local Yankees AA team in the stadium down the road. Thinking about that now... nope. I get bored right around the 4th inning. Hm does this mean he'll get bored by intermission?
Ah so much to think about. Opera. Baseball. Which tickets are more expensive. Are the food and drinks more expensive and/or higher quality in the opera house or at the stadium? If you don't factor fashion into it, I think it's a toss-up.
That said, Husband is slowly coming around. He is actually excited to be going to the Met. Excited! He said he'd be willing to listen to Carmen beforehand, to familiarize himself with some of the music. And then yesterday when La Cenerentola was on PBS I pointed out to him that Elina Garanca, who is so adorably cute as Cenerentola, would also be singing the title role in Carmen... Well, that settled it. He has hung around with me long enough, he's finally dipping in and sampling the drug on his own. Ok ok I wouldn't go that far. He's not listening to opera with I'm not around, as far as I know. But while before he went along with me to the local performances, now he's looking forward to going. No doubt some of the prestige surrounding a performance at the Met rather than our local opera company is fueling some of his enthusiasm. I wonder if I'd feel the same about going to see the Yankees in Yankee Stadium after having been to so many games of our local Yankees AA team in the stadium down the road. Thinking about that now... nope. I get bored right around the 4th inning. Hm does this mean he'll get bored by intermission?
Ah so much to think about. Opera. Baseball. Which tickets are more expensive. Are the food and drinks more expensive and/or higher quality in the opera house or at the stadium? If you don't factor fashion into it, I think it's a toss-up.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Cenerentola - Small Glitch, Large Fun!
Cenerentola in HD was so much fun!! What a great production. It's the same production I watched last week during the free Met Player weekend, only, of course, with an entirely different cast. It was kind of cool to see it with all different people because that meant that, in spite of the music, the scenery and the costumes being the same, it was still very different because each singer brings his or her own self to the part.
The small glitch was that the people who worked in the theater didn't seem to know what they were doing. Usually during an HD broadcast, the screen is on about 30 minutes before showtime. The people in the movie theaters can watch the people find their seats at the Met, we can watch the orchestra tune up and they also show little trivia questions and ads for other HD productions. This time... nothing. At about 12:25 the lights went out completely for approximately 30 seconds, then came back up. The sound was on and then.. it began. Blank screen. Brightly lit theater. Then we got the sound. We could hear Thomas Hampson introduce the production and then he introduced the Maestro and then... it started... and still... blank screen, bright room. About 3 people went out (including me because I can move fast compared to the rest of the crowd there) to find out what was going on. There was one youngish girl on a walkie talkie trying to reach a manager... a manager type finally showed up behind the popcorn counter and said, "It's a live feed. We're waiting for it." And we were like, "Uh, it's here. Turn on your projector and shut the lights..." Finally someone got a clue and suddenly in the middle of the overture the screen came alive and the house lights went down. Hooray!
I love watching the orchestra. Usually you don't get such a close-up view of the individual musicians. I love seeing how totally absorbed they get with the music, swaying, making faces as they play and so on. I love seeing all the bowed instruments move together like a dance. This particular overture has plucky parts and it was really cool to see them all pluck at the same time. It sounds silly as I reread it but it was cool to see.
The performance was so much fun. Everyone was fabulous. Elīna Garanča (yeah I pasted her name in from wikipedia because I have no idea how to type those characters over the i and c) was so cute!! She was so pleasant to watch. And she sounded wonderful. The two sisters were HILARIOUS!!! Perfect - great sense of timing, beautiful singing, silly but not too silly - perfect.
The guys were all great too - the stepfather was ridiculous. During the intermission interview he said that he takes the ridiculous characters seriously because the characters take themselves seriously. They don't know they appear ridiculous. He was awesome.
Dandini and then of course the Prince - WOW! The Prince - Lawrence Brownlee - WOW WOW WOW! What a voice! Beautiful, like sweet liquid flowing out of him and into your ears. The moment he first sang I regretting not seeing him live in Philadelphia last fall. I'm sure I'll have other opportunities to see him live though. Gotta save my pennies and sell more earrings. And the fairy-godmother character... he's the Prince's advisor, and also, apparently, an angel come to save C. from her wretched life - that was John Relyea. He was great. We've all seen him before - he was the music teacher in the HD Barbiere with Joyce DD and JDF. Basses fascinate me - how do they sing sooooo looowww??????
I was a little distracted during the performance - see my most recent posts where I discuss feeling blue and so on - but the beautiful sounds did finally draw me out of my funk and into their crazy world. Oh and I almost forgot - things caught on fire!! On purpose, that is. Don't get all freaked out! During the thunderstorm scene the house gets struck by lightning. The rain had been leaking in the roof so C. gave the stepfather an umbrella... and... BOOM! FLASH! Umbrella ablaze! The walls caught too. You could hear the entire audience, both at the Met and in the theater, gasp. Love it! Fire. Very exciting moment. And then silly of course because the characters didn't seem to care.
Then today I had a fantabulous day with Husband and Alex - picnic in a park, hike in the woods, we saw lots of people on horseback, played on a cool playground that had a fence-maze, played in the backyard, I had a nap (hooray!!), we grilled chicken and shrimp and then we roasted marshmallows over the coals and made s'mores with spicy chocolate! YUM!!!
Next event: Vocal evaluation, this Wednesday. So far I feel pretty good about it but ask me again on Wednesday afternoon...
The small glitch was that the people who worked in the theater didn't seem to know what they were doing. Usually during an HD broadcast, the screen is on about 30 minutes before showtime. The people in the movie theaters can watch the people find their seats at the Met, we can watch the orchestra tune up and they also show little trivia questions and ads for other HD productions. This time... nothing. At about 12:25 the lights went out completely for approximately 30 seconds, then came back up. The sound was on and then.. it began. Blank screen. Brightly lit theater. Then we got the sound. We could hear Thomas Hampson introduce the production and then he introduced the Maestro and then... it started... and still... blank screen, bright room. About 3 people went out (including me because I can move fast compared to the rest of the crowd there) to find out what was going on. There was one youngish girl on a walkie talkie trying to reach a manager... a manager type finally showed up behind the popcorn counter and said, "It's a live feed. We're waiting for it." And we were like, "Uh, it's here. Turn on your projector and shut the lights..." Finally someone got a clue and suddenly in the middle of the overture the screen came alive and the house lights went down. Hooray!
I love watching the orchestra. Usually you don't get such a close-up view of the individual musicians. I love seeing how totally absorbed they get with the music, swaying, making faces as they play and so on. I love seeing all the bowed instruments move together like a dance. This particular overture has plucky parts and it was really cool to see them all pluck at the same time. It sounds silly as I reread it but it was cool to see.
The performance was so much fun. Everyone was fabulous. Elīna Garanča (yeah I pasted her name in from wikipedia because I have no idea how to type those characters over the i and c) was so cute!! She was so pleasant to watch. And she sounded wonderful. The two sisters were HILARIOUS!!! Perfect - great sense of timing, beautiful singing, silly but not too silly - perfect.
The guys were all great too - the stepfather was ridiculous. During the intermission interview he said that he takes the ridiculous characters seriously because the characters take themselves seriously. They don't know they appear ridiculous. He was awesome.
Dandini and then of course the Prince - WOW! The Prince - Lawrence Brownlee - WOW WOW WOW! What a voice! Beautiful, like sweet liquid flowing out of him and into your ears. The moment he first sang I regretting not seeing him live in Philadelphia last fall. I'm sure I'll have other opportunities to see him live though. Gotta save my pennies and sell more earrings. And the fairy-godmother character... he's the Prince's advisor, and also, apparently, an angel come to save C. from her wretched life - that was John Relyea. He was great. We've all seen him before - he was the music teacher in the HD Barbiere with Joyce DD and JDF. Basses fascinate me - how do they sing sooooo looowww??????
I was a little distracted during the performance - see my most recent posts where I discuss feeling blue and so on - but the beautiful sounds did finally draw me out of my funk and into their crazy world. Oh and I almost forgot - things caught on fire!! On purpose, that is. Don't get all freaked out! During the thunderstorm scene the house gets struck by lightning. The rain had been leaking in the roof so C. gave the stepfather an umbrella... and... BOOM! FLASH! Umbrella ablaze! The walls caught too. You could hear the entire audience, both at the Met and in the theater, gasp. Love it! Fire. Very exciting moment. And then silly of course because the characters didn't seem to care.
Then today I had a fantabulous day with Husband and Alex - picnic in a park, hike in the woods, we saw lots of people on horseback, played on a cool playground that had a fence-maze, played in the backyard, I had a nap (hooray!!), we grilled chicken and shrimp and then we roasted marshmallows over the coals and made s'mores with spicy chocolate! YUM!!!
Next event: Vocal evaluation, this Wednesday. So far I feel pretty good about it but ask me again on Wednesday afternoon...
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