World AIDS Day 2010 - Part II

I have referred to Roberto Bole occasionally in postings both as a great dancer and as a sex symbol and though he is both those things he is decidedly more than that. Back in 1999 at a Gala here at Rome's Teatro dell'Opera he was appointed a UNICEF Ambassador with the special task of raising awareness of the problems of the young.  It is a role he has taken seriously especially with the rising problem of children in Africa born with AIDS or left orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.

I was particularly taken by this photo that appeared recently on my friend Opera Chic's blog along with a post on Bolle's recent trip to Central Africa.


When I saw this picture I thought of all the people who preach that AIDS is God's punishment and thought: what has this child done that deserves any sort of punishment particularly this dreadful disease?

01 decembre - La giornata mondiale contro l'AIDS

Mercoledi Musciale

I can only join with so many others in celebrating the life of the great Joan Sutherland. Hers was a remarkable voice that I consider myself fortunate to have heard both live, on recording and in video.



I recall her first appearance in Toronto was a concert scheduled the evening that John Kennedy was assassinated. However she was to make later concert appearances and debut a few of her later roles with the Canadian Opera Company. I only wish I could have seen more of her live as I had almost all of her LPs at one point. But as well as her performances what also sticks in the mind was her incredible sense of humour and at times self-effacing manner in interviews and a few very memorable opera quiz round tables. She led a rich and very full life and saying goodbye should indeed be a celebration of all that she was and gave.

Dearest Joan may those Bright Seraphim greet you in their burning rows and may their voices be uplifted in glorious song as they welcome you.

My dear OC up in Milano wrote what I think is one of the most loving tributes to La Stupenda found in the last few days: The Time Traveler's Wife.

13 ottobre - San Teofilio di Antiochia

At Least the Trains Run on Time (Sometimes)

Well I have often screamed "balls" while trying to make a booking and their website is definately a cockup so this may be close to the truth than the writer knew!

Many thanks to the remarkable Opera Chic for this one.

10 gennaio - San Pietro I Orseolo

Sharing

I know that Laurent thinks I spend most of my day on the computer but I honestly don't. Some of its spent in the kitchen making coffee and snacks to have in front of the computer. And I do get out on the odd excursion about town.

Here's a few things I discovered in the past week on my rambles around the Internet. And there's a few photos on one of my town excursions a few weeks ago.
We've often driven past the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls on our way to the airport. Its an impressive sight from the highway and more impressive up close. It was raining the day I decided to visit but even in the rain the front courtyard was glorious. The present Basilica was build after a disastrous fire in July of 1823 which destroyed the 1400 year old church. The evening before the fire the dying Pius VII had nightmares of a fireball striking his beloved Basilica - its destruction was never revealed to him.

• My dear Scarlet Lady, Dora, provided a link the other day to a wonderful series of YouTube shows by the remarkable 93 year old Clara Cannucciari. Her Depression Cooking series has become one of the most popular on YouTube. Its a combination of practical and economical recipes and, more importantly I think, oral history. She has her own website and Laurent tells me she was interviewed on one of the major US network prime time shows. Even if you don't use her recipes her tales of the Great Depression are a living slice of history.
  

• And speaking of food the oft-quoted Opera Chic (the world press has become aware of what some of us have known for ages - she rocks) introduced me to a wonderful food blog: Orangette. In her own words Molly Wizenberg explains: So I started Orangette. Almost five years later, here I am, with this blog, a book, a monthly column in Bon Appétit, and a husband whom I met through this site. It’s been kind of insane - in a very good way, of course. I thank my lucky stars every night. Five years! I'm just wondering why I haven't discovered this great blog before.

• My buddy Yellowdog Grannie , from West, Texas, sent me this link to a fascinating virtual tour of a famous Chinese scroll painting: Along the River During the Ching-Ming Festival. It is lodged in the National Palace Museum in Taipei - part of the collection spirited off the mainland during the revolution. QhingMing is celebrated in one form or another throughout most of the Asia and there is a particularly lovely Vietnamese song that sings of the awakening of spring and this approbriate for a stroll through this remarkable website.
  

  Swift swallows and spring days were shuttling by
  of ninety radiant ones three score had fled.
  Young grass spreads all its green to heaven's rim;
  some blossoms marked pear branches with white dots.
  Now came the Feast of Light in the third month
  with graveyard rites and junkets on the green.
  As merry pilgrims flocked from near and far,
  the sisters and their brother went for a stroll.

• Michelle, who you may know by now drinks so much coffee that she swears if she were cut she'd be Bleeding Espresso, gave a shout out to a fun blog for those of us struggling with Italian. Diane Hales has a blog as part of her La Belle Lingua website. Becoming Italian Word by Word is a light-hearted way to find those words and phrases that we anglophones find so confusing. Example??? Well let's take "maleducato" - has to mean badly educated right? Well in a way yes, it actually means "ill-mannered". And in response to my Napolitano buddy Marco - then you ask why I have difficulty speaking Italian?????
  

• And as part of her Going Green series Michelle has some tips on what do to with used coffee grounds. Her commenters have added some dos and don'ts as well.

07 marzo - Sante Perpetua e Felicita

La Ceci - La Diva

Trying my best not to do an impersonation of poor little Mimi or one of those other fragile operatic heroines I sucked back a tin of eucalyptus cough drops and headed out to the Parco del Musica a few Thursdays ago. There was no way I was going to miss this concert - Cecilia Bartoli had brought her Maria Malibran show home to Roma and if all the opera queens where going to be there so was I - come death or destruction.

Now there are some blogs where La Ceci is shredded into little pieces by the cognoscenti- she's breathy, the voice is too small, she makes strange faces and contortions when she sings, her repertoire is too limited and the sniping and bitching goes on and on. Like many of these posters, whose greatest complaint seems to be that she's successful without having to appear on some of the world's larger stages, I had only heard her on CD or seen her on DVD so I really wasn't sure what to believe. Yes there are times on record when she sounds like she's climbing Mount Everest and yes there are some strange facial tics when she throws off the coloratura runs she is famous for. But to all those commentators all I can say is: desert your Ipods and flat-screens ladies - go and see her in person 'cause the only way to judge La Ceci is on stage.

Resplendent in royal blue and sporting a diamond necklace, Cecilia shows us how a Diva accepts her due. She knows we love her and damn she just loves us back.

My dear friend and She Who We All Love to Obey Opera Chic saw the same programme in Milan a few nights before and wrote about it in her normal witty and wise manner so I won't even try to compete. I agree with much of what she says - once past the Romantic stuff, which frankly isn't to my taste either, we heard some of the most incredibly virtuosic singing that can be heard today. And she is definitely a stage animal - her connection with those around her and her audience was electrifying. As OC says we may not know what Malibran sounded like but I won't let any of the opera bitches tell me La Ceci isn't in the same league!

And a Diva who wants to give her public a treat changes gowns for the second part of the programme. The necklace may be gone but the voice sparkles brighter than the diamonds anyway.

OC mentions La Ceci's interaction with the instruments and no where was that more apparent than in the Willow Song and Prayer from Rossini's Otello. Much of Asisa appiè d'un salice is a duet for singer and harp and here the two shimmering sounds intertwined until at one point they were indistinguishable but what I found most striking was the incredible half-voice she used for the repeat. It was a distracted whisper but a whisper that reached the back wall of the auditorium. Dramatically it was intense and as telling as all the glittering flights of coloratura in later arias. That to me was one of the most breathtaking and heart-stopping moments of the concert.

The other Rossini numbers showed of her lightening coloratura with the Cenerentola rondo - one of her signature roles - getting two outings; the second as an encore with new variations. And a little encore item written by Malibran's father the great Manuel Garcia was utterly delightful - it was fortunate that a small flamenco ensemble just happened to be waiting in the wings just in case we called for more. Laurent wondered out loud what would have happened if we hadn't demanded an encore - as if that was going to happen!

11 ottobre - San Alessandro Sauli

Elephants, Tigers and Tenors! Oh My!!!! - Part II

So there I am last Thursday reading Opera Chic – the many armed Goddess of Opera on the Internet – and I come across this post about the Spoleto Festival. Laurent and I enjoyed a weekend in Spoleto during the winter and knew that the famous Festival di due Mondi was in question for this year – frankly I had given up looking at the website. After Gian Carlo Menotti’s death last year things had been left in disarray and a typically Italian battle was going on for control of the once prestigious festival. Then OC goes and posts about a production of Albert Roussel’s often discussed by seldom seen Padmâvatrî - and its star the young American contralto Nicola Piccolomini - that opened the Festival last Friday.

That got me thinking – and when I start thinking after visiting OC that normally means I end up travelling and spending money – we had a few things planned for the weekend but they could be worked around the second performance on Sunday afternoon. Friday night we were having dinner at a great little Thai restaurant in our neighbourhood and I mentioned it to my friend Betty Jean. When I promised her an elephant on stage she offered to drive with me.

So after dithering for a day I decided I had to grasp this opportunity – when would I ever get to see Padmâvatrî, an Elephant, a Tiger, a Horse, gorgeous costumes from India and an up and coming young contralto – a species as rare as white tigers – all in one shot?

Sunday morning Betty Jean and I headed up, its only a little under two hours by car, had lunch at the newest addition to Il Gambero Rosso in the area, the wonderful La Pecchiarda - Eggplant Parmesan, Roast Lamb, rosemary roast potatoes, a glass of the house white (yes I fall off the wagon on occasion) and a honey melon for dolce and all for next to nothing. Until you get out of Rome you tend to forget how expensive a city it is.

We sat in their garden enjoying the sunshine then wandered around town – I had forgotten how steep those hills can be, particularly in the blazing sun - stopping in at the Duomo and the odd shop here or there.

As we were walking towards the Teatro Nuovo we came across one of the stars of the opera having a bath in the middle of a side street – not a common sight but he didn’t seem too upset when we took his picture. Unlike the elephant, who was an French import, this guy was a local who was having his day in the spotlight.


It seems that every town in Italy has a theatre like the Nuova – the standard 18th century opera house with poltroni (ground floor seats,) several levels of palchi (boxes) and at least one if not two galleries for those short on cash and not afraid of heights. In a rather charming touch the proscenium clock in Spoleto only shows the correct time twice a day – it appears to have stopped at 5:45.

Roussel's piece of orientalizm hasn't been heard in Italy since the 1970s and Italian opera goers are not known to be terribly responsive to the unfamiliar so it came as no surprise that the house was about two-thirds full. Fortunately it was an appreciative audience and there was much to appreciate, and I'll write more about that in the next posting later today.

04 lulgio - San Odo

Salzburger Zeitung - Monday I

My good blog friend and the doyenne of Opera bloggers, the fabulous Opera Chic managed to get up to Salzburg for the second performance of Il matrimonio in aspetatto. As always she has posted her witty and wise view of the performance.

And she also found what has to be the ultimate winner in a city awash in Mozart ticky-tacky souvenirs. Though I honestly think this runs a close second:

Poor Mozart! Other than give many of them a source of income, what has he ever done to Salzburgers to deserve having his face emblazoned on a cow's udders?

12 maggio - San Epiphanius

29 Hours in Milano - Before the Opera

A week ago last Tuesday (February 5) I headed up to Milan for the day; its a quick jaunt by Eurostar - 4 hours 30 minutes. However I can't mention train travel without bitching about the horror that is the TrenItalia website - talk about user unfriendly, make one mistake you're told the system isn't available, you're kicked out and have to start all over again. And why or why does the seat assignment programme feel it has to play matchmaker: why, when there are plenty of single seats available, does it always put me with three other people? Its not that I'm unsociable but sometimes you just want to read quietly or look out the window or even take an afternoon nap. Bitching over! The dining car was pleasant, the food respectable - spaghetti with tomato and basil, roast pork with grilled vegetables, a slice of apple torte and coffee - and the young lady I sat with, a Turkish architect who lives in Milan, a charming luncheon companion. Okay one more bitch - you can't get a single glass of wine and a half-litre is sleep-inducing on a train that time of day.

Weather in Milan was cool but with that winter's-almost-over freshness in the air that you normally find in Ottawa at the end of April - or being Ottawa May or even sometimes June. Being near the Alps even the light has a different colour from here in Rome - a more northern quality. A quick subway ride down to the hotel, and I unpacked to discover that I had forgotten a belt and there's a dress code at La Scala (more about that later) of jacket and tie and I just can't wear suit pants without a belt. Now to be honest I don't really need another black belt but I suppose if you're going to go shopping in Milan you should get something good so - add one E35.00 belt to the collection.

I've made the walk through the Galleria to La Scala on four or five other occasions but it still gives me a little thrill when I see it across the Piazza.

The Box Office opens at 1800 and when I went to pick up my ticket I found a crowd of people waiting. Two hours before the performance 140 numbered tickets for seats in the Gallery are sold for around E12.00 (CAD18.00)on a first come first served basis. Looks like a bit of a mess doesn't it? But the whole thing is very organized - yes I know Italy!!! Organized??? - a woman from a group called Association l'Accordo had assigned each person a number as they arrive and the numbers were called out two at a time. No shoving, no pushing around the box office. With true Italian logic they were processed before those of us who have confirmed reservations - and why not we know we have our tickets and in some cases they've been waiting since early morning. Many of these people are the (in)famous loggione who have been known to drive a singer off the stage but just as many are dedicated opera lovers who will stick around to keep a well-deserved ovation going as the platea and palchi patrons head out for the good tables at Biffi or the last Metro home.

Ticket and programme in hand I walked back into the Galleria and headed past the floral arrangements at, the Opera Chic recommended - see her photos and post here, Savini for a a pre-opera snack - one of their "opera" panini, a glass of a respectable Veneto white and a coffee. I wish I had noticed their cocktail nibbly display before I ordered. As you stand at the bar with your mimosa in hand you can snack on savory toasts, meat-filled rolls, home-made potato chips and various cocktail goodies. A great idea if you know you're not going to be having dinner until sometime well after 2200. I'll keep that in mind for next time. And I'll be posting a few pictures of some of their sweeter goodies later.

13 febbraio - Santa Fosca

Io Sono Ammalato

Now just imagine that said with a throb in the voice and a clutching of the throat - sounds better than "I'm sick" doesn't it? I was all set to post about the glorious day in the spring-like weather on Tuesday with pictures of happy patrons at outside cafés etc when this flu hit Wednesday morning.

And of course it couldn't have come at a worse time - we've got a lot going on in the next few days.

• Tonight is our first subscription ballet night - a rather strange evening built around works designed by the Greek-Italian Surrealist Giorgio de Chirico.
  Set design for Bacchus e Ariane by Giorgio de Chirico (Source: Rome Opera)
  
  Its a varied programme involving the disparate talents of Igor Stravinsky, Albert Rousell, Vittorio Reiti, Serge Lifar, George Balanchine and Luigi Pirandello. Aside from the Stravinsky-Lifar Appollon I can honestly say I only recall reading about the other ballets as Ballets Russefootnotes. Next week we'll be getting three ballets designed by Picasso.



• Tommorrow night is our regular night at the Academia de Santa Ciecila and the promise of the Brahms Symphonies 1 and 2 conducted by Antonio Papano. The season thus far has been plagued with cancellations and not all that memorable.
  However last month's concert with Maurizio Pollini doing the Brahms Number 1 Piano Concerto was a truly moving experience. He's such an unassuming man - slightly stooped and almost apologetic as he approaches the piano. Then he sits down, his fingers touch the keys and he becomes a Titan. Jack tried to get a few shots with his Cell camera during the curtain calls but none of them turned out except this one of Pollini with his back to us.



• As this horrid flu was starting to take affect I turned to some of my favorite bloggers (many of whom seemed to have the same thing - could it be a real computer virus????) for solace and comfort. OC, that divine diva of Opera Bloggers, had just come back from opening night at La Scala of Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac with Placido Domingo. Even before she had her Prada heels off she was writing a quick review that sent me running to the La Scala website. There were a few tickets left for this Tuesday's performance. Snapped one up real quick like; navigated the shoals of the treacherous TrenItalia website to book a train (its only 4 hours 30 minutes) and used travel points to get a hotel near the opera house. When I read her complete review I knew I had made the right choice. As OC observes Domingo is approaching his 70s and we can't expect him to go on forever, so this may be the last chance I'll have to see him on stage. I know it won't be the voice I heard in 1976 in SFO or Paris in 1986 but I do know that he is still the greatest tenor around and it will a spectacular event. I am getting antsy with anticipation.
  
  (Photo from Royal Opera House Covent Garden - Catherine Ashmore)

So I really have to pull myself together and get right over it. None of this wallowing in self-pity that man-flu would normally demand; though when I'm sick I just like to be left alone. So just let me go and die in my own manner just promise me the body will be given a decent burial.

01 febbraio - San Orso

Sharing

Though things have been a little off kilter here the past week or two doesn't mean I haven't been following my favorite bloggers. Though in many cases I haven't been commenting a great deal - imagine me keeping my mouth shut - I still found so much to enjoy out there.

• The doyenne - so young and she's a doyenne already - of Opera here in Italy if not all of Europe, the beloved Opera Chic has been featured in Classical Singer magazine. Interviewer Amanada White, rightly IMHO, calls her the world's foremost opera blogger.


• My darling Auld Hat is back in full force after a brief sabbatical and is as wise, witty and talented as always.


• Sageweb went on a trip and gets tripped up at Ikea. And then she goes and gives us the cutest damn puppy and puddy picture around. And you all know how I feel about puppy and puddy pics.


• RG has totally ruined The Wizard of Oz for me, I'll never look at getting back to Kansas the same way ever again.

• Once again Tater writes from the heart and reaches our hearts with a memory profile of his beloved Jimmy.


• Lorraine is touched by grace at a time and place she least expected. And in the telling proves that grace can be in the written word.


• And Elizabeth muses on the nature of friendships and the kinship of being an outsider.

And that just a random sampling of what I've been reading from my blog buddies - all of them more than worth a regular visit if they're not on your list already.

These pictures where taken on a back road in the Reiti plain in November. That old dog was very concerned when we separated him from the flock. The shepherd had given us the all clear when there was a break - but that old boy kicked up quite a fuss.

25 gennaio - Conversione di San Paolo

Happy Blogday OC

Opera Chic is celebrating her first annivesary of telling-all in the Opera and music scene here in Italy - and beyond. Her quirky take on and incredible inside knowledge of what's happening is beyond spooky (see now I've linked the All Hallow's theme into this post.) And we always know that if you want to spot her she'll be the most fashionable woman in the audience.



As soon as I learn the technical end of these things I'll do my MM voice over and replace Birthday with Blogday and Mr President with Dear Opera Chic. I promise.

31 ottobre - Santa Lucilla

We Got Culture; We Got Couth

Teatro Dell'Opera di Roma just announced their 2008 season and they really should have hired Opera Chic to handle the launch for them - she's got me all worked about what's coming up on stage at Piazza Beniamino Gigli next year. One rather strange item: Andrea Bocelli in a rare Mascagni opera Amica; understand I have nothing against Bocelli for what he is - an lovely untrained voice - he is fine but an opera singer he ain't. However given the rest of the season I'm getting my lily-white kester over to the Box Office to see about subscriptions.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I was there on Sunday afternoon for a performance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck - not the most cheerful of operas when you not in an up mood but it has always been one of my favorites*. The theatre was a little over half-full - I had a first tier center box that normally holds 6 all to myself. Granted Wozzeck isn't every one's cup of tea - a team of hunky Roman firefighters in full dress uniform** couldn't have dragged Laurent to see it with me - but it is a powerful piece of music drama and when it was played and sung as well as it was here its a shame there wasn't a larger audience.

Gianluigi Gelmetti (the Music Director here) led an intermissionless performance (95 minutes) that was most convincing in the lyric passages - Berg can be a hard nut for any orchestra. Jean-Philippe Lafont, despite direction that had him acting like Boris Karloff's monster without the endearing qualities, is still one of the best interpreters of Wozzeck today. He's response to the Captain's accusation about a child born unblessed by the church was the cry of the world's poor. Janice Baird's Marie was good but less than I expected based on prevous reports - but then I still have memories of Eleanor Steber and Anja Silja bringing tears to my eyes in the bible reading scene.

And that was the problem I had with this new production - there was no bible, no candle light, at least not in Director-Designer Giancarlo Del Monaco vision. It was all very stylized - we even had the Idiot played as a Marcel Marceau wanna-be - symbolic of something or other I guess but I honestly didn't get the point. Del Monaco's set was so steeply raked that singers were constantly worrying about toppling over - particularly Marie in her high heels. A great deal of the action was limited to singers sitting on the edge of holes in the stage floor singing to other singers in other holes in the stage floor. It was sort of N. F. Simpson meets Samuel Beckett. What tension there was - and what the hell is Wozzeck without tension - was in the music. And that chilling final scene lost all its power by having the child (who was more 10 than 3) standing still in the middle of the stage with a drum majors staff - no children around him playing ring-aring-arosy, no hobby horse, no running off to view his mother's body with the other children - no impact.

Musically a good afternoon - theatrically less so but at least it was a chance - still not given that often - to see one of the great operas of the 20th century.

*I first heard Wozzeck on a Met Saturday afternoon broadcast in 1958 or 59 and was intrigued with it - particularly that last scene. I was a church choir boy soprano - don't go there - and I just knew I could sing "Hop, Hop. Hop, Hop" on key with the best of them, if only the Met would bring Wozzeck to town on their annual tour.

**Two members of Il Guarda di Fuori attend every performance at the Opera and stand in the lobby in full dress uniform - including plumed helmets - to reassure us that in the event of fire all will be well.

24 ottobre - San Antonio M. Claret

Finita la comedia

The Sybil of Opera in Italy has been slapped with a cease and desist order from the temple where, if there was anyone sensible in charge, she should be, if not high-priestess at least in charge of publicity.

Earlier this week legal council for La Scala instructed Opera Chic to remove her logo (a fun spin on their rather dull coat of arms) from her blog. She was also directed to remove all photos taken inside the theatre. Though within their legal rights its rather pathetic that no one at Italy's premier opera house recognizes the great - free - publicity she gives them. She writes with wit, charm, knowledge and a deep love of the place and music; and she makes going to La Scala sound like the major event it should be. Her piece on the upcoming season was certainly more exciting than what was posted on the official site - where by the way some of the money spent on legal council could have been directed to hiring an English proof reader.

Fortunately no group of dark-suited Milanese lawyers can keep a feisty New York babe down. OC (Opera Chic not Orange County) will continue to give us her pronouncements on things musical and operatical under a new - and frankly imho hotter - logo.

By the way that is not OC in front of La Scala in that picture - she is younger, hotter and far more stylish. Also note I did not include a link to La Scala - just to punish the bastards!

Opera Chic's Milan

As well as her quirky and ultra-hawt postings on opera, Opera Chic (I'm a young American woman in Milan.... and you're not. I go to La Scala alot.... and you don't) has taken to giving us insights into her fabulous life in Milan... where we're sadly not!

Today (May 18th) she's highlighted a few of her favorite spots - other than La Scala... where we're sadly not! - in and around the Duomo. I can almost taste those marron glacé and damn it the minute we get settled in Rome I'm heading up north to do exactly that - and maybe, just maybe catch a performance at La Scala.