So not opera-related, but…
The most fantastic, amazing, astounding, phenomenal, stupendous, superb, divine diva of all time sends us another masterpiece. Get out and get a copy TODAY!!!
And if you haven’t seen the fabulous music video of 4 Minutes with Justin Timberlake yet, here you go, you’re welcome:
Lastly, the indefatigable Queen of Pop sends an amusing message to her fans via YouTube:
Ok I’ll stop gushing now…
Our beloved Monserrat made an appearance on German TV recently, ’singing’ March with Me, a song composed for her by Vangalis in the 90s way before the whole ‘popera’ nonsnense became a buzzword. Any young artiste caught miming to pre-recorded music would probably receive a whole lot of backlash and deservingly so, but Monserrat has long proven her worth; who’s gonna dispute that she’s one of the top singers in her generation, and one of the best ever?
Once upon a time, reporters had asked Maria Callas who in her opinion is deserving of the title of “The New Callas”. La Divina’s reply was “only Caballe”. Time has passed so quickly that Callas’s successor is in need of a successor of her own. Brazillian Liriel Domiciano attempts to take on this lofty title:
Oy… I think she has a very interesting voice with great potential, but she still needs a lot of work to keep it under control before hitting the opera houses.
OMG what gorgeous music! So full of life and pathos and passion, wiith such simple, accesible melodies that bloom into this gripping music drama! Now I understand why the Big B is such a genius!
The style of music is rather disparate: Act 1 tunes are quite similar to his early symphonic style in the mainstream classical tradition, or what I called ‘Mozart with extra bass’. Act 2 is distinctly much heavier as he puts his late symphonic style into use.
One distinct difference I feel that sets him apart from his other German/Austrian counterparts is the opera’s brevity: clocking in at under 2 hours, it is much more accessible than the works of Wagner or Mozart that can take half a day or even four days to sit through (ok I admit that the German rep for me is still very much a work in progress). Spoken dialogue is used often and music only comes in when its needed; and how sublime are his ideas… From Rocco’s jaunty comic aria about earning money, to Don Pizzaro’s rage arias, to Leonore and Florestan’s soul stirring numbers. The Act 2 confrontation scene had me figuratively gripping on the edge of my seat, and the ensuing duet that followed was such an overwhelming display of vocal and orchestra baruva and melodic beauty. The finale is another thrilling ending much like the ending of the 9th Symphony (one of my faves). Its definitely one of my favourite operas now!
Then there’s the Met production: despite my unfamiliarity with the music I can always trust Levine to do a good job, and he did so with his usual panache. As Rocco, Rene Pape played the buffoonish old man with a touch of wisdom, his big bass-baritone easily negotiating the role’s simpler demands. Falk Struckmann as Don Pizzaro barks his music in the most ungainly manner, and is out of tune most of the time. I thought Karita Matilla held back quite a bit on Abscheulicher but her singing from Act 2 onwards was simply stunning. Ben Heppner’s voice was at its best as Florestan; strong, bright and powerful. Both leads gave strong dramatic performances as well. Jennifer Welch-Babidge and Matthew Polazani sang adequately in the small roles of Marzelline and Jaquino, although Polazani scores a few extra points in my book for looking especially dashing in a guard’s uniform 
Which brings me to Jurgen Flimm’s modern dress production. I usually prefer more traditional interpretations when watching an opera for the first time, but this was the one that my good friend and Mad Scene co-contributor Salome lent to me so what’s a poor blogger to do? But true to typical Met perogatives, this update does little more than using updated costumes and props, the storyline is followed pretty closely otherwise (no old and naked mickey mice here!). The somewhat anti-climax-ing scenario of the Minister’s arrival was solved in this production with a short knife and gun fight, giving the story s bit more plausibility IMHO.
So now that I’m a convert, I need some help from the more experienced readers: which audio recording should I buy? Who are the foremost interpreters of Leonore and Florestan in the first place? Birgit and Vickers? Any worthwhile period instrument recordings worth mentioning? I’ve read quite a few raves about Simon Rattle’s recording with the Berlin Phil. If you’ve heard it what do you think about it? Please leave a comment below and share with us which is your favourite recording of Fidelio!
Now that Nancy’s participation in the August Turandot is confirmed, lets take a look at her previous attempt at the part of Liu in Bangkok 2004. Note the strange ang moh Calaf in black tights, sleeveless shirt and big blond hair too.
I had only heard about this concert by the Amadeus Choral Society today after receiving a call from my friend Iris, and was rather surprised that I didn’t know about it earlier. It was a rather charming evening of baroque chamber music held at the NAFA Auditorium, topped of by a performance of Chapentier’s setting of Te Deum accompanied by members of the NAFA orchestra featuring no less than 5 soloists. The soloists did a good job in displaying their own strengths as well as blending with the greater ensemble. Baritone William Lim’s chocoletey voice is in good form, as are the voices of sweet-voiced tenor Adrian Poon, alto countertenor Thomas Mannhart and soprano countertenor Phua Ee Kia who impressed me with his uniquely silvery-silky timbre. The other soprano soloist, the one with the real boobs, was well prepared but severely hampered by a throat infection and had a difficult time onstage. We wish her a speedy recovery.
The choir performed with a very high standard, their harmonies blending evenly in one unified timbre and negotiated the music as one single entity. Special honours go to the exciting performance of the trumpeter and timpanist; conductor Dr Zechariah Goh has assembled a winning team this time.
To find out more about the Amadeus Society, visit their website www.amadeus.org.sg. You can also find a link on our Singapore Music Directory Page.
To our regular Mad Scene readers: by now you’d think you’ve figured out who most of the main cast in the August Turandot are don’t you? After all Lee Jae Wook has already given us the exclusive scoop of his participation last month and it doesn’t take a genius to guess who’s playing Liu right? WRONG!!! It turns out that the production will be double cast, two sets of singers battling it out over 6 shows! Here’s who’s singing what:
Jessica Chen (Taiwan) and Young-ae Kim (South Korea) as Turandot
Lee Jae Wook (South Korea) and Wei Long Tao (China) as Calaf
Nancy Yuen (Singapore) and Rachelle Gerodias (Philippines) as Liu
Directed by Lo King-man [Hong Kong]
With Tsung Yeh: Conductor [USA/Singapore]
The Philharmonic Orchestra
Singapore Lyric Opera Children’s Choir
Singapore Lyric Opera Chorus
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Choir
First came the soap operas, then tourism spots, followed by pop stars named after weather conditions, Korea mania now extends its invasion to the local opera stage with Mad Scene favourite Lee Jae Wook joined by Kim Young-ae as Turandot. Since the Koreans are making moves to claim bean curd and poet Li Bai as their cultural heritage (if the news are to believed) I suppose the next logical move is to claim Turandot as an opera about Koreans. Thankfully we have the Chinese team of mainlander Tao Wei Long, Taiwanese Jessica Chen and Hong Kong-born Nancy Yuen here to dispute their claims.
But seriously, the cast looks promising already. We are of course familiar with the work of Jae Wook, Nancy and Rachelle Gerodias (last seen as Susanna opposite Nancy’s Countess). The SLO has kindly provided us with bios of the less familiar cast and their credentials are pretty good: Jessica Chen has already staked her claim as the Turandot of Asia-Pacific with performances in Malaysia and Thailand, as well as featuring Santuzza and Tristan’s Bragane in her resume. In the alternate cast, Kim Young-ae counts Aida, Andrea Chenier, Fidelio and Manon Lescaut among her more stentorian repertoire. Both ladies seem blessed with that all-too-rare gift of glass-shattering, raise-the-rafters vocal power. For the men, Tao Wei Long has previously sung in Otello, Tannhäuser, Aida and Turandot so we can all expect some serious vocal powah from him.
As for the stage and pit direction, we have director Lo King-man from Hong Kong and Singapore Chinese Orchestra conductor Yeh Tsung in charge so we can all look forward to celebrating CNY again come August (i.e. expect some fabulously gaudy splashings of red and gold yah?).
So what will happen come August? Will Singapore’s favourite operatic couple be forceably split into separate casts? Who will get to sing opening night? Will 6 continuous nights of bombastic singing peel the gold paint off the Esplanade Theatre’s walls and shatter its glass fittings? Will Lee Jae Wook surmount Calaf’s enormous musical demands? (of course he will like duh…) Will the cast fall out over disputes about bean curd? Make sure you get tickets to find out!
Turandot runs from 29 Aug to 3 Sep 2008, check out the Events Page for details.
No word on who’s singing Timur but then again who cares?
Read Also:
Here’s Taiwanese Jessica Chen singing O patria mia from Aida in Bangkok. Think she’s any good?
Many concert goers may not recognise this lady in the picture, such is her desire to keep a low profile. She is a major sponsor of the arts, having funded numerous events for many years and enabled many performers the avenue to for further growth. Nancy Shen Xiao Hua will be remembered and missed by the veterans of the Singapore stage.
In memory of her passing which took place late last year, the Echo Philharmonic Society is organising a concert that will take place on 25 May. The roster reads like a who’s who of the Singapore music scene; performers making appearances include coloratura soprano Han Ying, baritone William Lim, pianist Ong Lip Tat, representatives from the Philharmonic Chorus (where Nancy Shen was a member) and the Echo Philharmonic Chorus and Chamber Chorus. My own teacher Elena Ng will be presenting Ebben n’andro lontana from Catalani’s La Wally. But will she sing the aria while suspended on wires and perform backflips simultaneously? Come to the concert to find out!
Click on the ad on the sidebar for ticket information and program, or you can just click here instead.
Post contributed by Salome and Steven:
OMG our beloved Montsie turns 75 today, that’s exactly three-quarters of a century! Congratulations and hope you’ll have many many more good years ahead!
And while We Will Rock You fever is still rocking Singapore, lets hear Monserrat discuss her brief partnership with Freddy Mercury. Montsie will deservingly be remembered as a great singer, in addition she has also a personality of great warmth. You can view clips of their collaboration by clicking through to the YouTube page.
Wouldn’t it be great to have dancing bees on our local opera stage? Till that day comes at least we have Sylvie Valarie on youTube: