A Muse of Fire Oct 31, 2009
Always he lacked the cheery professional detachment of Rossini and Donizetti, who could toss off an entire opera within weeks, cynically recycling earlier music if punitive deadlines loomed. The dedication with which young Wagner shed the hypertrophic cliches of his first major opera, Rienzi major in bulk rather than in value to arrive at The Flying Dutchman s astonishing originality is among 19th-century art s most inexplicable and laudable developments. (The American Conservative)
Soprano's energy translates easily onstage Oct 28, 2009
When this superb German soprano isn't charming the culottes off San Francisco Opera audiences this month in Donizetti's "Daughter of the Regiment," you'll probably spot her in dance teacher La Tania's flamenco class ... Damrau's rigorous preparation serves her well for Marie, the orphaned heroine of Donizetti's sentimental comedy, both her role and company debut ... Yet, the soprano remains aware of the clouds that occasionally pass over Donizetti's farce. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Ewa Podles makes her Boston operatic stage debut in ‘Tancredi’ Oct 18, 2009
The resulting gender confusion produces a calculated and fascinating artificiality, used to considerable theatrical and musical effect by Mozart and later by the masters of the so-called bel canto style, such as Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. In the opera s libretto, adapted from a 1760 tragedy by Voltaire, Tancredi is a fearsome warrior and ruler, exiled from the Sicilian city of Syracuse around 1000 A.D. He has been sent away mysteriously by his beloved Amenaide (a soprano), who fears that... (Boston Globe)
No comments posted. Sep 19, 2009
When L.A. Opera modestly opened its season with a revival of Gaetano Donizettis The Elixir of Love, talk centered on the absence of two stars: Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon and Italian bass Ruggero Raimondi ... Like all the great bel canto composers, Donizetti is complex but hummable, and conductor James Conlon achieved his characteristic balance, capturing the happy spirit of bel canto while coaxing just enough emotional heft to draw the audience in. (Los Angeles Downtown News, CA)
Music review: Opera in the Park a splish-splash Sep 16, 2009
Nicola Luisotti, beginning his first season as the company's music director, led an all-Italian program of solos and ensembles by Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti and Mozart, with stellar contributions from cast members of the company's first two productions and several Adler Fellows ... The Adler Fellows more than held their own - particularly the outlandishly gifted soprano Leah Crocetto, who won the crowd over with a formidable account of "Regnava nel silenzio" from Donizetti's "Lucia di... (San Francisco Chronicle)
Fisher, Lawson team up for special free concert Aug 27, 2009
The concert will feature the works of Jorgensen, Mozart, Ravel, Snedecor, Widor, Clarke and Donizetti. Originally planned to honor the 50th wedding anniversary of Mark Fisher s parents, Darrell and Susan Fisher, the event will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mark Lawson s parents, Murray and Jean. (Mason City Globe-Gazette, IO)
Taking Liberties Aug 24, 2009
The conductor Will Crutchfield, who specializes in bel-canto opera and doubles as a musicological detective, recently sat down to compare all extant recordings of Una furtiva lagrima, the plaintive tenor aria from Donizetti s L Elisir d Amore ... Donizetti included a cadenza in his score, and later supplied two alternative versions ... Each summer at the Caramoor Festival, in Katonah, New York, he presents two or three works from the golden age of bel canto Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and... (New Yorker)
Alex Ross: Donizetti and Rossini, at the Caramoor Festival. Jul 27, 2009
Donizetti and Rossini, at the Caramoor Festival : The New Yorker ... This summer s offerings are Donizetti s L Elisir d Amore, which played on July 18, and Rossini s Semiramide, to be given on July 31. (New Yorker)
Songs My Mother Taught Me CD Notes May 9, 2009
Australian soprano Dame Joan Alston Sutherland is famous for her magnificent tone and brilliant coloratura voice, in particular, for Donizetti and Bellini ... Although her Covent Garden debut was in 1952, her recognition came seven years later, in 1959, when she played the role of Lucia in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. (Suite101.com)
Voice of the Century Apr 6, 2009
She presented, as she had done countless times before, a mixture of classical selections O mio Fernando, from Donizetti s La Favorita, and Schubert s Ave Maria and African-American spirituals. Perhaps there was a hint of defiance in her rendition of My Country, Tis of Thee ; perhaps a message of solidarity when she changed the line Of thee I sing to Of thee we sing. (New Yorker)
'The Composer is Dead' introduces kids to classical Mar 22, 2009
Pick something small, manageable or thematically apt - a Mozart symphony, say, or "The Elixir of Love" by Donizetti - and plunge ahead. There's something to be said for this approach, but it lacks subtlety, not to mention a certain pragmatism about how children react to new things. (San Francisco Chronicle -- Entertainment)
Lawrenceville singer gets prize in vocal competition Mar 12, 2009
He sang Una Furtiva Lagrima from Donizetti s L Elisir d Amore, Total Eclipse from Handel s Samson and Rodelinda, and a Spanish folk song arrangement called Noche Serena. Recent headlines. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution -- Metro)
From a vault in Paris: The sound of opera in 1907 Feb 17, 2009
Wouldn't any opera season today also offer evergreens by Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini as well as by Bizet, Gounod, Wagner and Mozart ... The great tenor Enrico Caruso can be heard in three excerpts from Verdi and one from Donizetti and Puccini each, while the Australian soprano Nellie Melba sings a solo from "Rigoletto" and Cherubino's "Voi che sapete" from "Le Nozze di Figaro.". (International Herald Tribune)
