OperaNow! #214: You Stay Classy, San Diego!

The show will go on for San Diego Opera (sans Ian Campbell)...Metropolitan Opera and ALL the unions seem to be at odds with the orchestra authorizing a strike should talks fail...3 of Great Britain's hunkiest critics mercilessly go after the Octavian in Glyndebourne's Der Rosenkavalier and Alice Coote strikes back...Opera fans suffer more after treatment for prostate cancer...Opera News (Nudes) appoints new publisher...Anna Netrebko does video ad for Austrian Air.

This week in Oliver's Corner - Cavalli: What happens in Venice stays in Venice.

This week features Michael, The OC and Jenny Rivera.

Comments

[Menuet alla Zoppa]

The original Octavian wasn't especially tall or willowy. I think maybe the idea that Octavian should look like that comes from the more recent pairing of (the tall) Anne Sofie von Otter and (the shorter) Barbara Bonney. Compare and contrast! -

http://i.imgur.com/3sGmMkI.jpg

Really interesting to hear about La Calisto. I have the Jacobs recording but have never gotten around to listening to it properly... so this will provide some motivation. Does anyone have a copy of the libretto and an English translation?

That Janet Baker recording sounds really good too! Just goes to show that those old versions are worth hearing, even if they are wildly innaccurate.

[Menuet alla Zoppa]

Also, I think Oliver is right that there is a Cavalli revival at the moment. The ROH recently staged L'Ormindo in the newly constructed Jacobean-style theatre next door to Shakespeare's Globe in London.

[Jeanniebeannie]

If I had reviewed the Rosenkavalier at Glyndebourne, I would have slammed the costume designer, who could have done a better job with ALL the leads. I think Ms. Erraught is a formidable talent who was not helped at all by a designer who did nothing to give her extra height (hello, lifts?), nor to elongate her lines so that people would be more capable of suspending their disbelief, which is a challenge regardless of how tall, short, zaftig, or pencil thin a mezzo in a pants role is. My criticism goes straight to the designer and director. But in the end...sadly, when a singer isn't helped by good costuming, they are always the one to take the heat. I am glad to hear she sang it beautifully, which in the end is the most important thing.

[Menuet alla Zoppa]

A couple of other things I forgot:

1. I'm going to be a pronunciation bore again and point out that its GlyndeBORN, not GlyndeBURN. Also (as I'm sure you know, really...) only very very posh English people pronounce tissue like TISS-you. Most people here just use the normal SH sound instead. Same with negotiate. Shshshs. Like Thomash Hampshon.
2. I'm going to see Rosenkavalier soon at the Proms with (I think) the same cast as the Glyndebourne production.

[San Diego Fan]

Great to hear from Jenny again! More, please!

[TX Fan]

New listener, here. Have been binge listening for 3 weeks now. LOVED the La Calisto coverage!!! Thank you Oliver (and Doug later on) for your history, information, and insight.