Rafael Fingerlos tours with Nederlandse Reisoper

Rafael Fingerlos as Harlekin (photo by Marco Borggreve)

Austrian barihunk Rafael Fingerlos is touring as Harlekin with the Nederlandse Reisoper in their production of Richard Strauss’Ariadne auf Naxos. The production is directed by Laurence Dale with stunning costumes by Gary McCann and features Soojin Moon as Ariadne, Jennifer France as Zerbinetta, Martin Momrich as Bacchus and Karin Strobos as the Composer.

Performances are remaining on September 20 and 22 in Zwolle, 24th in Arnhem, 27th in Maastricht, 29th in Breda and October 1st in Den Haag, 6 and 8 in Amsterdam. Tickets are available online.

Trailer for Ariadne auf Naxos at the Nederlandse Reisoper:

Fingerlos will become a fest ensemble member at the Vienna State Opera beginning with their 2016/17 season. His first role will be Figaro in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia on November 12 opposite the Rosina of Isabel Leonard and Almaviva of Pavel Kolgatin. Performances run through December 20.

Philippe Sly Featured; Sidney Outlaw Carnegie Hall Announcement

Philippe Sly

Philippe Sly was recently featured in La Scena Musicale as one of opera's major new talents. 

With his superb voice, leading man good looks and astounding charisma, bass-baritone Philippe Sly has rapidly seduced a considerable part of his Montreal International Musical Competition audience. Yet it still came as a surprise when the young singer walked away with almost all of the prizes. 

This last year has been very fruitful for the 23-year-old artist. He was one of the 2011 winners of the famed Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Radio-Canada’s 2012-2013  “Révélations” in the classical music category, and the Radios francophones publiques’ Young Soloist prize winner. For the MIMC, Sly picked different styles of works and sang them with restraint, hoping that his personality would shine through. He even closed his performance on a meditative note with an excerpt from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. [Continued HERE]

Philippe Sly will record his first album in September with pianist Michael McMahon for Analekta Records. Among the pieces will be Dichterliebe; Quatre Poèmes d’après l’Intermezzo d’Heinrich Heine by French composer Guy Ropartz, based on the same Lyrisches Intermezzo by Heine that inspired Schumann; Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée, and Three Tennyson Songs, composed for Sly by his friend, the English composer Jonathan Dove. A second CD, of Rameau’s Cantatas with soprano Hélène Guilmette, harpsichordist Luc Beauséjour and a small ensemble will follow the version performed in concert on September 30 at Bourgie Hall. 

Sydney Outlaw

Sydney Outlaw, another amazing young talent and fellow participant in San Francisco's Merola Opera Program, recently announced that he'll be performing at Carnegie Hall on January 17th. The gifted recitalist will perform lieder by Richard Strauss, Vaughn Williams' "The House of Life" and some Cole Porter and George Gershwin songs. 

We've had the great fortune of hearing Outlaw in recital and we highly recommend this concert. Click HERE for tickets and additional concert information.

R.I.P. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012)

The esteemed Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau has died at age 86. Known throughout the world for his romantic Lieder interpretation, he died just 10 days before of his 87th birthday.

German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau died on Friday, just shortly before his 87th birthday, his wife, Julia Varady, announced.

Fischer-Dieskau was one of the most famous 'Lieder' performers in post-war Europe. He also had success as an opera singer, music teacher and aspiring novelist.

Fischer-Dieskau’s name will forever be linked to his interpretations of Franz Schubert’s “Winterreise."

Born in 1925 in Berlin, Fischer-Dieskau retired from singing in 1992.

Among the many highlights of his career was his participation in the world premier of Benjamin Britten’s "War Requiem" at the inauguration of the new Coventry Cathedral in the UK in 1962.

Elektra and La Cenerentola Both Debuted on February 25; Nelson Eddy's Connection to Elektra

Gino Quilico

Rossini's comic masterpiece "La Cenerentola" and "Elektra," Richard Strauss' bloody story of revenge couldn't be more different in mood or music. However, both debuted on this day in history almost 100 years apart. La Cenerentola debuted at the Teatro Valle in Rome in 1817 and Elektra in Dresden in 1909. We thought it would be fun highlight these two great works, despite neither being known as vehicles for barihunks.

The role of Don Magnifico is usually performed by older compramario singers, but here is barihunk Jason Hardy singing "Miei rampolli femminini"

La Cenerentola actually rivaled Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" in popularity for decades before mysteriously following out of favor. It found new life during the 1960s, as a series of great mezzos began taking on the title role. In 1899, Jules Massenet had success with his opera "Cendrillon," which is also based on the Cinderella story.

Rossini's libretto actually varies substantially from the actual story, which may have contributed to its decline in popularity. In Rossini's version, the wicked stepmother is replaced by a stepfather, Don Magnifico and the Fairy Godmother is replaced by Alidoro, a philosopher, and the Prince's tutor. Cinderella is identified not by her glass slipper but by her bracelet.

Gino Quilico sings "Come un'ape ne' giorni d'aprile" from Rossini's La Cenerentola:

In the opera, the Prince of Salerno, Don Ramiro, changes places with his valet, Dandini, and then meets the girl of his dreams - Cenerentola (Cinderella). Meanwhile, Cenerentola's stepsisters, Clorinda and Tisbe, fawn over the fake prince (Dandini). When Cenerentola is left alone, weeping, the Philosopher, Alidoro, takes her (dressed in beautiful clothing) to the palace, where she is an immediate hit with everyone - including Dandini. Confusion reigns when the identity of the real Prince is revealed.

The great ensemble "Questo è un nodo avviluppato"

Richard Strauss' "Elektra" is a one-act opera set to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal. Elektra is musically complex and requires great stamina from the singers and orchestra. The role of Elektra is one of the most demanding in the dramatic soprano repertoire. Nevertheless, it solidly entrenched in the standard repertory and is certainly one of the most popular operas based on classical Greek mythology.

Nelson Eddy: The first Orest in the U.S.

The first United States performance of the opera in the original German was given by the Philadelphia Grand Opera Company at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia on October 29, 1931 with Nelson Eddy as Orest. Eddy, of course, would become one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars. However, he had a succesful career in opera before being forever remembered as Jeanette McDonald's singing partner in a series of musicals. 

Nelson Eddy sings "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Barber of Seville":

In 1924, Eddy won the top prize in a competition that included a chance to appear with the Philadelphia Opera Society. By the late 1920s, Eddy was appearing with the Philadelphia Civic Opera Company and had a repertoire of 28 operas, including Amonasro in Aida, Marcello in La bohème, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, both Tonio and Silvio in Pagliacci, and Wolfram in Tannhäuser. Eddy also performed in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas with The Savoy Company.

Leonie Rysanek as Elektra and Dietrich Fisher-Dieskau as Orest.

The plot of Elektra is based upon the great Greek tragedy of the same name by the tragedian Sophocles. The unrelenting gloom and horror that permeate the original play produce, in the hands of Hofmannsthal and Strauss, a drama whose sole theme is revenge. Klytaemnestra (Clytemnestra), helped by her paramour Aegisth (Aegisthus), has secured the murder of her husband, Agamemnon, and now is afraid that her crime will be avenged by her children, Elektra (Electra), Chrysothemis, and their banished brother Orest (Orestes). 

Eberhard Wächter was a great Oreste

Elektra, who is the personification of the passionate lust for vengeance, tries to persuade her timid sister to kill Klytaemnestra and Aegisth. Before the plan is carried out, Orest, who had been reported as dead, arrives, determined upon revenge for his father's death. He kills Klytaemnestra and Aegisth; Elektra, in an ecstatic dance of triumph, falls dead in front of her horror-stricken attendants.

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Edwin Crossley-Mercer in Ariadne at Opéra De Paris

We've been following the career of Edwin Crossley-Mercer for a few years now. We've been particularly impressed by his wonderful lieder singing, which he honed in master classes with Thomas Quastoff and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. The 28-year-old was trained as a clarinetist and sings with the beauty of line and tone of a wind player.

Although we admire him for his song recitals, we were thrilled to see him on the roster at the Opéra De Paris singing Harlequin in Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos." (By the way, you don't want to miss Jane Archibald singing Zerbinetta). Performances begin tonight and run through the end of the month. You can watch a highlight video on their website.

Although opera is creeping onto his schedule, Crossley-Mercer still has plenty of lieder on his schedule. He has performed critically acclaimed renditions of Schubert's Winterreise at Bayreuth and at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, prompting one reviewer to call it the definitive portrayal of our time.

You can hear him perform "Auf dem Flusse" from Winterreise by clicking HERE and Frühlingstraum by clicking HERE.  There are also a number of clips on YouTube, including this rendition of Taüschung.

Schubert singing doesn't get much better than this.

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