It was a pleasure to watch the young, very talented soprano, Elizabeth Caballero, as Frasquita (Carmen’s gypsy friend) in the Met’s new production of Carmen this week at the Rialto Cinema. Caballero first came to my attention about 5 years ago when she was an Adler Fellow at San Francisco Opera. She wasn’t just any Adler fellow, either. I can still hear her voice ringing in the Adler’s final performance as she sang Marguerite in the final act of Faust. Her voice was powerful, dramatic and beautifully colored, and I predicted then that she would be on the stage of the Met within a few years. She was even more impressive at a recital she sang in Berkeley a year later which made me feel that not only was she a gifted soprano but could be a Verdi soprano.
It’s strange how the world of opera unfolds. Much to my astonishment, her career has moved much more slowly than I would have expected. So it was great to see her in her Met debut in a not insignificant role and with the voice as fresh, exciting and as impressive as ever. I only hope that this is the beginning of a major career that will soar and bring her back not only to the Met but to San Francisco Opera where we could really use her.
Here’s Caballero from 2 years ago as Mimi in Act 3 of Boheme…the voice is stunning! She may need a little help with her acting, but the audience needs massive dosages of Robitussin!!
Desperate Divas and Divos
Posted Jan 10th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I’ll try my best to start the year on a positive note. So here it is: the great tenor, Rolando Villazon has recuperated from his vocal cord surgery and is scheduled to sing again soon, although in but a wisp of his former repertoire: L’elisir d’amore, some Handel and a few recitals. If Mr. Villazon never appears on stage again, I will be forever thankful for the few years in which he revitalized my Passion for Opera. Romeo et Juliette, Traviata, Manon, Boheme with Villazon were definitive performances with vocalizing so beautiful and beyond exciting that I thought Opera might have found its savior.
And then disaster…some say Villazon’s heavier repertoire choices ruined his voice (Carmen, Don Carlo), others that his singing was reckless from the beginning and it was bound to catch up. He wouldn’t be the first to burn out early but memorably. DiStefano and Callas come to mind, of course.
As Mr. Villazon starts his comeback, I welcome his hesitant re-entry..it would be a miracle for him and for us that he recapture his voice that once enthralled. And here perhaps is where 2010 turns operatically sour as we look beyond his posted opera schedule.
Rolando Villazon is part of a new British Reality TV (6 weeks) series entitled “From Pop Singer to Opera Singer”, hosted by Katherine Jenkins, a generic, beautiful blonde with few if any credible credentials as an opera singer ( other than a top selling “Classical CD” and joining Andrea Bocelli in providing Opera Lite for the general public). Ms. Jenkins, to my knowledge, has never sung/ much less starred in any significant production of a full length opera nor is she listed to do so on Operabase in the future. She, along with Villazon and other opera “stars”, will attempt to teach pop singers to sing opera arias!
With her looks and endorsements by Placido Domingo, Jenkins and the babe media have aroused and exposed a certain group of newbies to “opera”, who, as a result, are unlikely to show up at the Met box office anytime soon. These newbies apparently buy CD’s and now can possibly generate ads for television. Little benefit will reach opera and classical music.
Katherine Jenkins is not desperate for she has a great gimmick going. She also is no diva in the traditional operatic and archaic sense of that appellation. This TV show is not beneath her talent and she may attract attention with both her looks and her ability to sing opera songs (just as Paul Potts won a talent competiton singing Nessun dorma). What the public perhaps misses when introduced to opera in this out take fashion is that these opera songs are so inherently beautiful and the world so starved for beauty, that the collective gasp from listeners and hackneyed standing ovations are really for Puccini or Verdi, etc., not for Jenkins, Potts or Bocelli. A great opera singer interprets Nessun dorma adding his unmistakable vocal abilities thus elevating Puccini’s music to its intended highest art form.
The appearance by Villazon at this time in his career in such a format is a bit desperate if not pathetic. I can imagine how difficult it is for him emotionally and financially to have had his career yanked from under him. He is a unique personality in opera ( hyper and a major risk taker) but in the world of pop culture, with those credentials he hardly has a chance to shine and his vocal credentials are meaningless. It sounds to me as though Villazon, like any good survivor, is looking to his future in two directions…the one of which he has dreamed and the one in which he can capitalize lest he fail at the first. As the Marschallin says of Baron Ochs in Rosenkavalier. ‘s ist doch der Lauf der Welt (It’s the way of the world.)
I have great respect for Rolando Villazon as a singer, an artist and a personality. I wish him all the best in whatever path he must follow. In either path, he has served his music well.
8 Operatic Resolutions for 2010!!
Posted Jan 6th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
It’s a New Year and a New Decade, so it’s a doubly great time for resolutions!! Here are my 8 opera resolutions of events to attend iin the New Year. This of course only includes those events that have been announced. In the next few months, Opera Companies will be announcing their 2010-11 seasons and as they do, I’ll blog about which additional events will be a must see.
1. DER ROSENKAVALIER: The Met presents Strauss’s best loved opera with the greatest cast, including Renee Fleming and Susan Graham. In HD at the Rialto Cinemas not to mention live at the Met beginning 1/9/10.
2. ARMIDA: The Met premiers this rare opera by Rossini only for Renee Fleming (who rose to stardom in this role 17 years ago at the Pesaro Festival where it was recorded LIVE ( a must have CD). She’ll be surrounded by 7 TENORS which the opera calls for. In HD at the Rialto and live at the Met in April/May. Here she is singing Armida’s big second act aria: D’amore al dolce impero
3. DIE WALKURE: the 2nd installment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle and the most beautiful in my opinion. Live at San Francisco Opera this summer with the compelling soprano, Nina Stemme, in the role of Brunnhilde.
4. ROMEO ET JULIETTE: Forget Netrebko and Villazon in this opera? Never!! But you will get to see opera’s newest couple with voices that may challenge some of the greats when San Diego Opera casts rising tenor, Stephen Costello, and his wife, soprano Ailyn Perez, as Gounod’s tragic young lovers. March 13-21.
5. WERTHER: Word has it that Massenet’s infrequently produced tragedy will be the second offering of the 2010-11 season at San Francisco Opera this fall. With star mezzo, Elina Garanca making her debut and tenor, Ramon Vargas, in the lead, it will perhaps be the hit of the season. Garanca was Cinderella in the Met HD production of La Cenerentola last year and is the Carmen in the HD production this year. Catch a rising Diva!
6. CARMEN: Jonas Kaufmann in only two performances of his iconic role of Don Jose at the Met this year! Kaufmann is the greatest tenor in the world, and I doubt that we will see him on the West Coast since he is in huge demand around the world. Angela Gheorghiu is his Carmen. Worth the Trip. April 28 & May 1.
7. MANON: La Scala presents a ho-hum cast in Massenet’s masterpiece; but who cares with the wonderdude, Gustavo Dudamel, conducting in his foray into opera. Dudamel is the most discussed conductor in the world today, bringing astounding hair, youth and apparently talent to the Los Angeles Symphony and classical music. June- July, 2010.
8. LA DONNA DEL LAGO: Paris Opera presents Juan Diego Florez, Joyce di Donato and Daniela Barcelona in this “serious” opera by Rossini. Those of you who attended di Donato’s recital in San Francisco in February heard her sing for the first time on stage Elena’s final aria, Tanti affeti…. from the opera, and she did it beautifully. Di Donato, a mezzo, will sing the role of Elena, often cast with sopranos. June, 2010. It’s a wonderful opera and one to see. Here’s Caballe singing Tanti affeti