the mad scene

So now that Renee has set the precedence, lets see how her fellow colleagues fare in this newly added requirement to the job of being a Met Prima Donna.

Susan Graham has a bit of a ‘forced-festive’ look here while interviewing Diana Damrau; maybe its because her stage lover Renee is inside prepping for her own Gala and launch of her own fragrance, while the mezzo is being reduced to being the opening entertainment. Diana Damrau has a bit of a deer-in-headlights, “get me outta here!” kind of look, which we have already seen sported on the lovely face of Anna Netrebko as the first interviewee of La Renee:

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Contrastly, Deborah Voight seems like a natural in her new role, quizzing Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez during the controversial Sonnambula production. Juan Diego doesn’t look too happy though, maybe its the dark make-up, or because both leads had to wear their own clothes on stage:

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Now for more ditzy diva fun, here’s the original diva/reporter interviewing the cast of the Met’s Daughter of the Regiment, starring, again, Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Florez, and also Felicity Palmer and Alessandro Corbelli:

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So the Arts Festival has started and apparently the Impempe Yomlingo production of The Magic Flute has long been sold out. Here I wasn’t even aware that its showing this week! A friend actually called and asked why he wasn’t able to find me at the theatre which is how I found out. For once the Arts Fest brought in an opera and I MISSED IT!

Anyone attended? Keen to share with us how it went?

 

The current SSO season has barely ended a few weeks ago and the website has already been updated with performances of the upcoming season. Vocal works programmed include Mahler’s 4th in July featuring young local talents soprano Anisa Kureishi and conductor Darrell Ang, Mahler’s 2nd Symphony “Resurrection” in November featuring soprano Nicole Cabell, mezzo Patricia Bardon, conductor John Nelson and me the SSC. The choir will also be featured in Beethoven’s 9th in November, Verdi’s Requiem in April 2010 and of course, the much talked-about Sumi Jo Gala in May 2010.

Check out the SSO website for the full season programme: http://www.sso.org.sg

If you haven’t heard of Nicole Cabell, she’s a winner of the prestigious Cardiff Singer of the Year award with a record deal  with Decca. This promotional video for her debut album includes footage from her Cadiff win, making kissy faces with Dame Joan, and of course clips of her singing:

 And here I thought that the SSO is our first professional orchestra… Yahoo! News reported today that the conductor and composer of the now defunct (presumerably) SBC Orchestra had passed away this past Saturday. Check out the story here:

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20090523/tap-299-veteran-composer-leading-orchest-231650b.html

An excerpt (warts-and-all) from my Sep 2007 Mid-Autumn Festival concert On the Lantern Path at the Esplanade (the concourse, not the concert hall):

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Windows XP doesn’t allow me to write Chinese, doesn’t display Chinese text and doesn’t even allow me to install 3rd party software, so I’ll have to type hanyu pinyin instead (don’t get me started on Vista…). Anyway, hope you like it.

The latest issue of SSO’s newsletter Bravissimo (alright it was out in April…) carries some pretty exciting news of the next season vocal-wise: the program will feature me the SSC in Mahler’s 2nd “Resurrection” Symphony, as well as the popular Beethoven’s 9th. After this current season’s sold-out gala, Sumi Jo will make another appearance, but this time instead of musical theatre pieces, she will be showing us her trademark pieces from Lucia, Hamlet and I Puritani!

In addition, 2 British expat choir members (my “colleagues in art”) from the current season’s Damnation of Faust share with us their experiences singing in the SSC, after they had sang with the LSO in numerous works including the LSO Live recording of Damnation under Sir Colin Davis. There is also a feature of January’s outstanding Elektra concert. Read the current issue as well as other back issues on SSO website:

 http://www.sso.org.sg/bravissimo.html

Thanks to Tou Liang’s Pianomania for the tip.

Just because I’m still fascinated by the piece and the phenomenal project behind it:

-Maestro Tan discusses his inspiration for the piece:
-If they introduce a choral component for the next event, would you vote for me pleeeeeeeez? I would so love to slap my thighs at Carnegie Hall!

 

SLO has just announced a 2nd performance of their popular Opera in the Park series. Opera at the Race Course will be held on Sunday, 14 June 2009 at the Singapore Turf Club at 7pm.

Read more about the original line-up here if you haven’t read it already. Speaking the obvious perhaps, but I wonder if the William Tell Overture will be on the program?

The Concert Review Writing Competition, originally canceled due to fears of a potential swine flu outbreak, is now back on track. I don’t know what the initial fears are about since the speaker and judge is a medical doctor by profession anyway. Check out my original posting for details:

http://themadscene.athenarts.com/?p=743

Doesn’t the production look familiar?

-Why its also the production that SLO used of course! Just so that we can relive the good’ol days, here’s a TV news feature of the production’s premiere in Nice: