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October 12, 2008 10:56:22 PM CDT

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Stories related to: opera

Stories

19 Stories

  • July 2008

    • 'Grateful' Symphony Debuts

      NPR  |  Jul 27, 08 2:00 PM CDT

      'Grateful' Symphony Debuts

      (Newser) - The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will debut this week an opera derived from the music of the Grateful Dead, on what would have been Jerry Garcia’s 66th birthday. Titled Dead Symphony No. 6, each movement goes truckin' on a different Dead song. The Grateful Dead is “long overdue to be taken as a phenomenon beyond the music itself,” composer Lee Johnson told NPR. More »

      Tags

      music  • Baltimore  • opera  • composer  • bands  • Grateful Dead  • Baltimore Symphony

  • June 2008

    • No-Longer-Fat Lady Sings Part She Was Denied

      New York Times  |  Jun 11, 08 8:34 AM CDT

      No-Longer-Fat Lady Sings Part She Was Denied

      (Newser) - In 2004 Deborah Voigt, one of the world's most gifted sopranos, was dismissed from a London production of Ariadne auf Naxos for being too fat to fit in the little black dress that the director insisted was integral to the production. On Monday Voigt, who has gone from a size 30 to a 14 after weight-reduction surgery, has what the New York Times is calling a "second date" with that black dress: starring in the same production of Ariadne. More »

      Tags

      London  • obesity  • weight loss  • opera  • Royal Opera House

  • May 2008

    • Global Warming, the Opera

      Associated Press  |  May 30, 08 4:45 AM CDT

      Global Warming, the Opera

      (Newser) - It started out as a slide show, became an Oscar-winning documentary and best-selling book, and now Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is about to become a full-length opera, reports the AP. Milan's La Scala opera house has commissioned Italian composer  Giorgio Battistelli to set Gore's stark warning on global warming to music, for the 2011 season. More »

      Tags

      climate change  • global warming  • Al Gore  • opera  • composer  • An Inconvenient Truth  • La Scala

    • Vivaldi Opera Revived 278 Years Later

      BBC  |  May 4, 08 5:57 PM CDT

      Vivaldi Opera Revived 278 Years Later

      (Newser) - A long-lost opera by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi has resurfaced nearly 280 years after its Prague premiere, BBC reports. Argippo , a tale of love and deception set in an Indian maharaja’s court, was first performed in 1730 but vanished soon after, leaving only a libretto. But that was enough for a Czech musician to start hunting around Europe for the rest. More »

      Tags

      music  • Germany  • classical music  • opera  • Czech Republic  • Prague  • preservation  • aria  • Antonio Vivaldi

  • April 2008

    • Bravo! Met's First Encore in 14 Years Wins Huge Ovation

      New York Times  |  Apr 23, 08 8:09 AM CDT

      Bravo! Met's First Encore in 14 Years Wins Huge Ovation

      (Newser) - Audiences at New York's Metropolitan Opera Monday night were treated to something they hadn't heard in 14 years: an encore. In the Met's new production of Donizetti's La fille du régiment , tenor Juan Diego Flórez nailed the nine high C's of the difficult aria "Ah! Mes Amis" and won a huge ovation. He then did the whole thing again and was rewarded with an ultra-rare mid-performance standing ovation. More »

      Tags

      opera  • Metropolitan Opera

    • Verdi, Naked and Anti-American

      Der Spiegel  |  Apr 12, 08 6:51 AM CDT

      Verdi, Naked and Anti-American

      (Newser) - A German staging of Verdi’s “A Masked Ball” leaves Uncle Sam wearing little but a mask, Der Spiegel reports. In a rebuke of US capitalism, the production parades naked retirees on a set of the World Trade Center's ruins, and offers a female singer with a Hitler mustache saluting the audience, the Daily Telegraph reports. "One has to introduce new elements" into Verdi's all-too-well-known opera, director Johann Kresnik says. More »

      Tags

      Germany  • theater  • opera  • Marxism  • East Germany  • anti-Americanism

    • Pavarotti Lipsynched Last Performance

      Guardian (UK)  |  Apr 7, 08 9:02 AM CDT

      Pavarotti Lipsynched Last Performance

      (Newser) - Lipsynching isn't just for neophytes like Nikki Hilton—none other than tenor Luciano Pavarotti faked his way through his final public performance at the opening of the Turin Winter Olympics, the Guardian reports. In a new book, Pavarotti's conductor and pianist claims that he recorded the cancer-stricken tenor and the orchestra, and used video trickery to pull the ruse off before millions of TV viewers. More »

      Tags

      classical music  • opera  • tenor  • Luciano Pavarotti  • orchestra  • lip sync  • conductor

  • March 2008

    • Famed Tenor di Stefano Dead

      Los Angeles Times  |  Mar 4, 08 9:53 AM CST

      Famed Tenor di Stefano Dead

      (Newser) - Giuseppe di Stefano, the tenor whose short but brilliant career made him an operatic legend, died yesterday at his home near Milan. He was 86. His widow told reporters his death resulted from head injuries dating to 2004, when robbers in Kenya left him temporarily comatose. Di Stefano's superb voice earned comparisons to Enrico Caruso, but his temperament and personal conduct cut short his career, the LA Times reports. More »

      Tags

      music  • obituary  • opera  • tenor  • Milan

  • January 2008

    • Margaret Truman Daniel Dead

      Los Angeles Times  |  Jan 29, 08 5:20 PM CST

      Margaret Truman Daniel Dead

      (Newser) - Margaret Truman Daniel died today at 83 after breaking the mold of First Daughter and embarking on careers in singing, acting, and writing, the Los Angeles Times reports. The go-getter braved opera critics as a singer in the 1940s and '50s before acting alongside Jimmy Stewart on radio and television. Her career cooled after she married a future New York Times editor, but she wrote biographies—one of father Harry—before turning to mystery-writing on a whim. More »

      Tags

      obituary  • White House  • book  • Washington  • opera  • mystery  • Harry Truman  • first families  • Too Much Media

  • September 2007

    • High C is a Drink Best Served Bold

      New York Times  |  Sep 9, 07 5:00 PM CDT

      High C is a Drink Best Served Bold

      (Newser) - Pavarotti’s obits called him “King of the High C’s,” a nickname he earned for hitting a note that many tenors have to fake in falsetto. “It’s the absolute summit of technique,” says a coach. “More than anywhere else in your voice, you have to know what you’re doing.” The alluring note has made and ended operatic careers, and even helped drive one star to suicide, the New York Times reports. More »

      Tags

      opera  • tenor  • Luciano Pavarotti  • Metropolitan Opera  • Placido Domingo  • aria  • Romanticism

    • Thousands Mourn Pavarotti

      Associated Press  |  Sep 8, 07 9:24 AM CDT

      Thousands Mourn Pavarotti

      (Newser) - Modena's main piazza was filled with throngs of Luciano Pavarotti fans today as invited mourners gathered at the cathedral for the tenor's funeral. The service, which was shown on huge screens in the piazza and broadcast live, was attended by an ecclectic group of dignitaries and artists with whom the opera star had collaborated, including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and U2 lead singer Bono. More »

      Tags

      Pope Benedict XVI  • funeral  • opera  • Kofi Annan  • tenor  • Luciano Pavarotti  • Bono  • Modena

    • Thousands Pay Respects to Pavarotti

      Reuters  |  Sep 7, 07 5:53 PM CDT

      Thousands Pay Respects to Pavarotti

      (Newser) - Thousands lined up today to pay respects to opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti at the cathedral in his hometown of Modena, Italy. Though the tenor's family wants a private funeral tomorrow, an international array of celebrities and fans–among them Bono, Andrea Bocelli, and Kofi Annan–are planning to attend, Reuters reports. The tenor died of cancer yesterday at age 71. More »

      Tags

      obituary  • Italy  • funeral  • opera  • Kofi Annan  • tenor  • Luciano Pavarotti  • Bono  • Placido Domingo

    • Opera World Mourns 'King of the High Cs'

      New York Times  |  Sep 6, 07 8:05 AM CDT

      Opera World Mourns 'King of the High Cs'

      (Newser) - Placido Domingo is the better musician, but no other voice could match the late Luciano Pavarotti's, Anthony Tommasini writes in today's Times . The music critic looks at a career dotted with highs as lofty as the high Cs Pavarotti "tossed off" with "ease, pinging tone and utter glee" and concludes his take on Pavarotti's "Nessun dorma" with an unapologetic "Wow!" More »

      Tags

      obituary  • musician  • opera  • Luciano Pavarotti  • Placido Domingo

    • Tenor Luciano Pavarotti Dies

      New York Times  |  Sep 6, 07 1:00 AM CDT

      Tenor Luciano Pavarotti Dies

      (Newser) - Opera star Luciano Pavarotti, one of the greatest tenors of the last century, died early this morning of pancreatic cancer, surrounded by his wife, sister and four daughters, in his hometown villa in Modena, Italy. He was 71. "The Maestro fought a long, tough battle," said his manager. "Fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness." More »

      Tags

      obituary  • Italy  • singer  • pancreatic cancer  • opera  • tenor  • Luciano Pavarotti  • Metropolitan Opera  • Modena