Angela Gheorghiu has joined forces with greying Romanian rockers Holograf ('Holocaust' in English, according to Google) to record what sounds from the clip like a Bono-style charidee single. Only not for charidee.
Curiously, they've not chosen to exploit the festive market; the record emerges sometime next year. If you can wait that long.
Anyone who's seen her tackle the letter scene in La traviata or Adriana Lecouvreur will no doubt be stupefied to learn that Angela Gheorghiu is planning a career diversion - acting on stage.
“I’m speaking with a national theatre in my country, I’m thinking to do just a drama, just speaking,” she told the Daily Telegraph. “After that, who knows? I love London theatre.”
Once she realises that it involves vocal projection and learning lines, she may of course fall back on the minicab option.
It appears the Karmic Wheel has turned full circle and slapped Angela Gheorghiu upside the face.
Plácido Domingo, long-announced as the main attraction in the Bolshoi's reopening gala, withdrew late on claiming a "scheduling conflict". (A wise if tardy precaution given his past form).
Fortunately the Bolshoi had found another big name to take his place a few days before the big night. Angela Gheorghiu, more experienced at pulling out than stepping in, used a score for her aria from The Queen of Spades and according to viewers sounded underprepared.
EMI are offering the opportunity to win Angela Gheorghiu's entire EMI back catalogue simply by signing up to a mailing list.
Don't forget to read the small print first. You are warned "By submitting your data you are agreeing to updates about Angela Gheorghiu."
Angela Gheorghiu has just confirmed - in front of a live audience at a Royal Opera House promotional event - that she'll be sharing the stage with her husband in La Bohème next year.
(If they can find a conductor brave enough.)
Faust - Royal Opera House, 18 September 2011 (first night)
looking for a John Tomlinson impersonator?
Despite some outstanding performances from a top-drawer cast, this second revival of David McVicar's Faust somehow fails to hit the mark. Part of the blame is of course Gounod's - never afraid to cut a flowing story dead in its tracks with a crowd-pleasing ballet or drinking song.
Tosca - Royal Opera House, 17 July 2011
There was something missing from tonight's Tosca - the Maestro's vocal accompaniment. Has he bowed to public pressure and resolved to conduct in silence?
Travelzoo have an excellent offer for Placido Domingo and Angela Gheorghiu at the O2 on 29 July. Tickets originally priced at £51.25 are reduced to £12.25, including booking fees.
The offer seats are at the very rear, so you'll be effectively watching on screen with amplified sound. Still, with the discount it's no more than a West End cinema ticket.
For full details and to book, go to http://www.travelzoo.com/uk/l/86832491-1066885/
Tosca - Royal Opera House, 14 July 2011
Talk about a hot ticket. Queuing for the 67 day seats for this Tosca started the night before. But after a season short on star power, the lure of Gheorghiu, Kaufmann and Terfel (for just two shows) is hard to resist. Even if the staging is well-worn, and frankly not that exciting in the first place.
Continue reading "Taking a stab at Tosca - Gheorghiu, Kaufmann and Terfel" »
Mrs Roberto Alagna has declared an interest in directing opera "and sooner maybe than you think! This is a real part of me, deep inside, and I do understand some things." Directors are of course less replaceable than sopranos, and whether any opera house is brave enough to take a punt on hiring someone with a cancellation record longer than their attendance record remains to be seen.
The full interview (sweet tooth required) is in this month's Opera magazine, teaser page online.
Friends booking opens tomorrow (public booking 5 July) for the first chunk of the Royal Opera House's 2011-12 season. As soon as the details were announced, people were complaining how boring it looked. That was my initial reaction too, but when it came down to working out what I wanted to see, everything seems to have some compelling attraction or other.
And you thought they were just a bunch of corporate sh1tbuckets. EMI show their human side with a an Ebay auction which benefits an incredibly good cause - Red Cross Japan Relief. A full 100% of proceeds will be passed to the charity.
On offer are a collection of very special items donated by EMI and their artists, ranging from Katy Perry's cupcake-shaped trampoline (condition - used) to Daft Punk's rare Ferrari (bidding starts at £15,530).
Of more interest to classical fans might be an hour's private singing lesson with the goddess of the very high C's, Diana Damrau. Bid for yourself or as a gift for someone who really needs it.
Or what about Angela Gheorghiu's very own kimono? Warning - EMI aren't promising that it'll turn up after you've paid for it.
Coming up in later auctions - a signed Martha Argerich ashtray? A private gig from the Berlin Philharmonic? The Bernard Haitink Monstah Book of Jokes (fits in a very small envelope)? We can but dream.
*for one hour only. Package is for one (1) person. You may bring a guest to watch. Location is Munich opera house. Date of the experience is mid-September and based on Diana’s schedule. No travel or accommodations are included. Lesson will last up to 60 minutes. A background check may be required for the winner and guest. If the winner or guest fails the background check, they forfeit the prize. Please bid accordingly. This package does not include any items/services that are not detailed in the above description. Any upgrades, extended stays or changes to the provisions of this package are the sole responsibility of the winner. This package must be for use by the winner and his/her invited guest only. They are not transferable by the winner or any of his/her invited guests, and may not be sold, otherwise transferred or used for any other purpose, including promotional, commercial, advertising, or other trade purposes. The package may be given as a gift only. Respect for Diana Damrau and her staff will be expected at all times. Inappropriate behavior by any member of the winning party could result in the immediate conclusion of the experience with no refund. No lawyers have been harmed in the marketing of this prize.
Angela Gheorghiu claims to The Georgia Straight "that an American composer, whom she declines to name, is penning an opera for her in which she will play a female version of Dracula"
But can Angela's memory be trusted? She apparently told Peter Gelb she was pulling out of the Met's recent Roméo et Juliette because she'd been poisoned. Now she recalls merely that “I had a cold.”
Yes, remarkably, that's the excuse she gave the Met on withdrawing from Roméo et Juliette recently. So says Peter Gelb, no less. It came, unimaginatively, just "one day after marking her way through Juliette’s “poison” aria during a rehearsal".
Now who would want to do a thing like that?
The hot ticket for the Royal Opera House's summer season is undoubtedly the will-she/won't-she booking of Angela Gheorghiu as Tosca. Even if she does deign to grace London with her presence, it will be for two nights only, 14 and 17 July, when she is joined by Jonas Kaufmann and Bryn Terfel and immortalised on DVD. Be warned Kaufmann's recent cancellation record is beginning to resemble Gheorghiu's, though at least in his case there's been audible evidence of genuine medical issues. If you're entering the Friends booking scrum tomorrow, grab these first (the second date has more availability) or you may find nothing left.
A respectable cast featuring Martina Serafin, Marcello Giordani and Juha Uusitalo fleshes out earlier dates in the run, and Pappano conducts all but one show.
Running alongside it is Massenet's Cendrillon, from 5 July 2011. This Laurent Pelly mezzofest is new to Covent Garden and is worth taking in for the legendary Ewa Podles alone. Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote and token soprano Eglise Gutiérrez aren't shabby either.
Willy Decker's Peter Grimes returns on 21 June 2011. Ben Heppner is booked for the title role, though given his recent form I'd be surprised if he makes all dates. Amanda Roocroft, so impressive in the recent ENO production, is Ellen Orford. Andrew Davis conducts.
Leiser and Caurier's Madama Butterfly returns on 25 June 2011 with the serviceable Patricia Racette, James Valenti and Anthony Michaels-Moore, but more excitingly, Andris Nelsons in the pit.
What I'm looking forward to most though is Luke Bedford's opera Seven Angels which makes its London debut in the Linbury Studio on 12 July after premiering in Birmingham on 17 June. No cast details yet.
Fill in the blanks, if you will:
"Even by the famously hot-blooded standards of opera, last week's passionate dramma giocoso at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City was positively -- well, operatic. In the fiery lead role was the mercurial lyric soprano ....renowned for leaving a trail of ill will in her wake wherever she goes. Opposing her were the forces of decorum and rectitude, represented by Met general manager ....The denouement was catastrophe......citing "unprofessional actions . . . profoundly detrimental to the artistic collaboration among all the cast members," summarily fired ... from this week's production of ...... and withdrew all future offers. In so doing, he set off grand international choruses of "It's about time.""
Perhaps you really can teach an old dog new tricks. Tonight Angela Gheorghiu achieved something even her most rabid fans thought was beyond her. She sang her sixth and final Adriana Lecouvreur at the Royal Opera House.
Yes, sixth. Out of seven scheduled public performances (including the general rehearsal).
That's a hit rate most normal singers would find hard to match in the height of the flu season, let alone the world's most cancellation-prone diva. And a better batting average than she's managed since yours truly was in nappies. Possibly since she herself was in nappies (a date four years earlier than Wikipedia might suggest, I am reliably informed).
Has she finally made a full recovery from cancellitis? Next summer's Tosca will tell. But for now, congratulations Angela!
(By the way, if anyone would care to caption the lovely photograph, please go ahead).
So, after last night's all-too-predictable news, which other dates do you think Angela Gheorghiu will cancel? Any - or all? Vote below (you can vote for more than one date if you're particularly pessimistic).
*UPDATE 7/12* - with Angela's dates now completed, the poll is CLOSED - here are the final results:
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