80-year-old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm

 music  No Responses »
Apr 202013
 

Caballe 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an armA resi­li­ent , still singing into her 80s, has been forced to can­cel upcom­ing con­certs in April and May after break­ing an arm. She had dates in Aus­tria, Switzer­land and Ger­many, includ­ing ’s Konzer­thaus, which announced that she would need to con­tinue physio­ther­apy until the end of May.

Last Octo­ber Caballé, then a sprightly 79, suffered a stroke while in Rus­sia and, while briefly los­ing con­scious­ness, fell and broke an arm. Reports are not clear whether she is still under­go­ing treat­ment for this arm, or whether she’s broken one again.

Caballé was 80 on 12 April.

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  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm
  • wp socializer sprite mask 16px 80 year old Montserrat Caballé cancels concerts after breaking an arm

Boris Bilinsky: costume and set designer for ballet, opera and film and legendary graphic artist

 costume design, set design  1 Response »
Dec 062012
 

Bilinsky Casanova Boris Bilinsky: costume and set designer for ballet, opera and film and legendary graphic artistBoris Bil­in­sky was born in Odessa in 1900, but left Rus­sia in 1920, escap­ing from the after­math of the Revolu­tion. He settled in Ber­lin where he was still able to col­lab­or­ate with Rus­sian theatres, but in 1923 he moved to and worked with the Stu­dio Albatros, a pro­duc­tion com­pany in Montreuil. Albatros had only been set up in 1922, but was soon to pro­duce some of the most import­ant mas­ter­pieces of early cinema, includ­ing Abel Gance’s mam­moth Napoléon in 1927.

Dur­ing this period Bil­in­sky designed numer­ous cos­tumes for French cinema such as Jean Epstein’s Le lion de Mogols and a series of exquis­ite designs for Alex­an­der Volkoff’s film Cas­anova.

For ten years Bil­in­sky pro­duced designs for two or three films a year.… [con­tinue reading]

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La Famiglia: opera Italian-style with the Muti family

 interview, Italy, opera  2 Responses »
Jun 252012
 

Riccardo Muti Chiara Muti 2012 La Famiglia: opera Italian style with the Muti family’s daugh­ter is about to make her dir­ect­ing début: Chiara Muti will dir­ect Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna, which her father will con­duct, for the Ravenna Fest­ival. Oh yes, her mother, Cristina Mazza­vil­lani is the Festival’s artistic dir­ector. Nice and cozy…  keep it in the family.

Chiara Muti isn’t new to the theatre. She emerged from the pres­ti­gi­ous theatre school of ’s Pic­colo Teatro in 1995. She’s played Lady Macbeth along­side Italian heartthrob Raol Bova, and has worked in film and tele­vi­sion. With M° Muti as her father she grew up watch­ing  opera, see­ing work­ings of an opera house from the inside. She might well be an excel­lent opera director.

There’s no “it’s been dif­fi­cult work­ing in the same busi­ness as my extraordin­ar­ily suc­cess­ful and power­ful father” for her. … [con­tinue reading]

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Cecilia Bartoli finds a last-minute replacement for Anna Netrebko in Salzburg

 music, opera  No Responses »
May 242012
 

Mojca Erdmann Cecilia Bartoli finds a last minute replacement for Anna Netrebko in SalzburgCleo­patra is the theme of ’s first sea­son as Artistic Dir­ector of the Salzburg Whit­sun Fest­ival, but one of her Cleo­pat­ras has fallen ill. , who was due to sing the première of “Cleo­patra and the Ser­pent” by Rodion Shchedrin, as part of the con­cert “Cleo­patra ori­entale” on 28 May is sick, and will be replaced by sop­rano Mojca Erdmann.

When Anna called me, con­sol­a­tion was called for, but also imme­di­ate replace­ment cast­ing. My young col­league Mojca Erd­mann is learn­ing the piece in 2 days, ready for the world première.

said Bar­toli.

It will not be Erdmann’s first appear­ance in Salzburg. In 2007 a critic wrote,

The sur­prise of the even­ing, how­ever, was Mojca Erd­mann. …young, slim, blond, sporty, she was Mozart’s “Zaide” last year here in Salzburg.… [con­tinue reading]

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Vienna Opera and La Scala exchange goes ahead tomorrow

 music, opera  No Responses »
Sep 082011
 

opera logos Vienna Opera and La Scala exchange goes ahead tomorrowA much-anticipated exchange between the Vienna Opera and Milan’s Teatro alla Scala will go ahead des­pite earlier fears it might be can­celled because of a strike.

Two uni­ons at the Milan opera house — Cgil and Uil — had threatened to strike tomor­row, because of pro­posed changes to staff con­tracts announced earlier this year, thereby can­cel­ling the per­form­ance by the . But after talks with the man­age­ment, the trade uni­on­ists agreed not to go ahead with the protest action.

Tomorrow’s per­form­ances mark a renewal in tra­di­tional exchanges between and the Vienna Staat­soper. The last exchange between the two world-famous opera houses — both cur­rently led by French­men: Stephane Liss­ner in Milan and Domi­n­ique Meyer in Vienna — goes back to 1956 when the Staatsoper’s invited sop­rano Maria Cal­las and La Scala’s orches­tra to per­form “Lucia di Lam­mer­moor” in Vienna.… [con­tinue reading]

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Manuel Légris talks about his first year in Vienna: “I wouldn’t programme a new work by Mats Ek at Christmas!”

 ballet  No Responses »
Jul 072011
 

manuel legris 2 400x266 Manuel Légris talks about his first year in Vienna: I wouldn’t programme a new work by Mats Ek at Christmas!The Aus­trian Bal­let in is get­ting a makeover. Dan­cers, dir­ect­ors, crit­ics and pub­lic are all enthu­si­astic and optim­istic. Patri­cia Boc­cadoro spoke to Manuel Légris, the ballet’s new artistic dir­ector who has come to the end of his first season.

On my arrival here I real­ized the enorm­ous poten­tial of the dan­cers and imme­di­ately planned a var­ied pro­gramme of bal­lets which were well within their reach. I didn’t take a single risk, with no cre­ations but only well-loved works with lovely music. How could bal­lets like Balanchine’s Rubies, set to Stravinsky’s music or his beau­ti­ful Theme and Vari­ations to a score by , or yet Cranko’s One­gin, again to ’s music, bal­lets I know and love so well, not be appre­ci­ated?… [con­tinue reading]

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Manuel Legris’ Nureyev tribute ends the Vienna Ballet season

 ballet  1 Response »
Jun 292011
 

583px Rudolph Nureyev 6 Allan Warren 400x411 Manuel Legris Nureyev tribute ends the Vienna Ballet seasonA trib­ute to Rudolf Nureyev topped off a hit sea­son for ’s Bal­let with the former French star provid­ing two of the high­lights. The Nureyev Gala, due to become an annual event, marked the end of Legris’s first sea­son as dir­ector of the ensemble, which has seen a renais­sance on his watch. The dan­cer also kept his prom­ise to appear on the stage this season.

Clock­ing over three hours, not includ­ing inter­ludes, the mara­thon even­ing kept the audi­ence enthralled with a mix­ture of genres, pas de deux and set pieces. In total, 13 pieces fol­lowed in quick suc­ces­sion, cho­reo­graphed by Nureyev or con­tem­por­ar­ies like Jerome Rob­bins, , Maurice Bejart and Wil­liam Forsythe.

“Before Night­fall” by Nils Christe, a mod­ern piece with four couples, presen­ted a first breath of fresh air, with Nina Polakova and Mikhail Sosnovs­chi steal­ing the show. … [con­tinue reading]

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