The mighty voice of Cap Verde will sing no more.

Cesaria Evora arrived in Paris in a state of such weakness that doctors ordered her to cancel the tour. Report here.

Having survived a stroke and heart problems, she decided to call it quits altogether.

Known as the ‘barefoot diva’, she sang in the ‘morna’ style and was discovered only in her late 40s. She also sang fado and Spanish songs.

Unmistakable in depth of voice and ease of delivery, she was a genre entirely to herself. Here’s an irresistible video of Besame Mucho. 

Oh, you thought it was another 70 year-old Hispanic singer? No, he’s just signed a new record deal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The writer of Billy Elliott, recently in conflict with Opera North over alleged homophobia, is off to Hollywood, we learn.

He’s writing a biopic of his pal and show angel, Sir Elton. Provisional title: Rocketman.

I wonder if they’ll film early scenes at the Royal Academy of Music, where young Elt was taught to tinkle, or if it’ll be cheaper to rebuild the RAM facade on set in LA.

First, he got the conductor kicked out. (According to Le Monde, the great tenor arrived late for rehearsal and didn’t like getting told off.)

Then, on opening night, the backstage crew walked out. Just another strike at the Paris Opéra.

Last night’s premiere was performed in concert version, it’s reported.

The late Kurt Sanderling will be laid to rest in a private, family ceremony in Berlin on Monday.

A memorial concert will be held on October 9 at 8pm at the Konzerthaus in East Berlin, where the great and humble man was chief conductor from 1960 to 1977.

Daniel Barenboim will play a concerto. Two of Sanderling’s sons, Thomas and Stefan, will conduct.

Gifts in Kurt’s memory can be made to “Orchesterakademie beim Konzerthaus e.V.”
Konto:6750041750
BLZ:10050000

Thomas and I will be talking about Kurt on the BBC’s Last  Word programme, Radio 4, today and tomorrow.

With 1,600 theatres signed up in 54 countries, the Met is rapidly mopping up the market for opera in cinema.

Fightback attempts by La Scla, Glyndebourne and Covent Garden are often thwarted by restrictive clauses in the Met’s contract with cinema chains.

For the moment, the Met’s initiative is mostly welcomed. But it’s steadily becoming oppressive, as we’ve shown a few months back.

 

Watch this space for developments. Meantime, here’s the latest press brag from the Peter Gelb bunker:

The Met: Live in HD Enters Its Sixth Season

With Largest-Ever Worldwide Distribution

 

Russia is the latest country to join the Met’s

groundbreaking live entertainment initiative

 

1,600 theaters in 54 countries, including new additions Israel and China,

are now part of the Live in HD network

 

The 2011-12 season of the award-winning series kicks off

Saturday, October 15, with Donizetti’s Anna Bolena,

starring Anna Netrebko

 

New York, NY (September 22, 2011)The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera’s award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters around the world, has expanded its worldwide distribution to 1,600 theaters in 54 countries, the largest global audience the initiative has ever reached. The newest countries to sign on for Live in HD transmissions include Russia, Israel, China, Cyprus, the Dominican Republic, Morocco, Slovenia, and the territory of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Last year, a record of more than 2.6 million Live in HD tickets were sold to opera lovers across the globe, effectively quadrupling the Met’s paying audience (approximately 800,000 people attend performances in the opera house in a Met season).

The sixth season of live transmissions begins October 15 with the Met premiere production of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena, featuring Anna Netrebko in the title role. She stars in the first transmission to be shown in her native country, joined by Russian colleagues Ekaterina Gubanova as Jane Seymour and Ildar Abdrazakov as Enrico (Henry VIII).

The opera, directed by David McVicar and conducted by Marco Armiliato, is based on the final, tragic days of Anne Boleyn and has been a dramatic and vocal showcase for some of the greatest sopranos in operatic history. In addition to Ms. Netrebko, the 2011-12 Live in HD season features many of the opera world’s most prominent stars, including Stephanie Blythe, David Daniels, Natalie Dessay, Joyce DiDonato, Plácido Domingo, Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufmann, Mariusz Kwiecien, René Pape, Marina Poplavskaya, Bryn Terfel, and Deborah Voigt.

The 2011-12 Live in HD season features 11 transmissions, which include a Met premiere, a world premiere, three new productions of repertory favorites, and the final two installments of a new Ring cycle. All 11 high-definition productions will be shown live worldwide on Saturdays. Most operas begin at 12:55 p.m EST, with some operas beginning earlier in the afternoon; exact starting times appear on the schedule below.  The majority of encore presentations in the United States will be shown on Wednesdays, 18 days after the live exhibition. For complete information on locations and tickets, visit www.metopera.org/hdlive.

Joyce DiDonato, David Daniels, Plácido Domingo, Danielle de Niese, and Luca Pisaroni are among the stars of The Enchanted Island (Jan. 21), a world premiere work inspired by the musical pastiches and masques of the 18th century. Devised and written by Jeremy Sams with a story drawn from Shakespeare, The Enchanted Island showcases arias and ensembles by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, and others. William Christie conducts; the production is directed by Phelim McDermott.

Tony Award-winning directors  Michael Grandage and Des McAnuff make their respective Met debuts with new productions of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (October 29) and Gounod’s Faust (December 10).  Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi leads Don Giovanni, which stars Mariusz Kwiecien in his first Met performances of the title role opposite Barbara Frittoli, Ramón Vargas, Luca Pisaroni, and debuting sopranos Marina Rebeka and Mojca Erdmann. Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and René Pape take on the demanding leading roles of Faust, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Netrebko sings her second title role this season in the new production of Massenet’s Manon (April 7), conducted by Luisi, directed by Laurent Pelly, and also starring Piotr Beczala and Paulo Szot.

Robert Lepage’s groundbreaking new staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen reaches its spectacular conclusion with new productions of Siegfried (November 5) conducted by Luisi and Götterdämmerung (February 11), conducted by Levine. Siegfried stars Deborah Voigt, Gary Lehman, Eric Owens, and Bryn Terfel; Voigt, Lehman, and Owens also star in Götterdämmerung.

Other highlights of the Live in HD season include Philip Glass’s Satyagraha, based on the life of Gandhi in an inspiring production by McDermott that stars Richard Croft (November 19); Renée Fleming in one of her greatest portrayals, the virtuosic title role of Handel’s Rodelinda (December 3), also starring Stephanie Blythe and Andreas Scholl; Verdi’s Ernani, starring rising soprano Angela Meade opposite experienced Verdians Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Ferruccio Furlanetto (February 25); and Natalie Dessay in her Met role debut as Violetta in Willy Decker’s production of Verdi’s La Traviata, also starring Matthew Polenzani and Hvorostovsky and conducted by Luisi. Complete casting and details of the season’s Live in HD performances follow below.

Natalie Dessay, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Eric Owens, Patricia Racette, and Deborah Voigt will serve as hosts for the Live in HD presentations this season, conducting live interviews with cast, crew, and production teams, and introducing the popular behind-the-scenes interviews and features; altogether the worldwide HD audience will be given an unprecedented look at what goes into the staging of an opera at one of the world’s great houses.

     The Met: Live in HD series is made possible by a generous grant from its founding sponsor, The Neubauer Family Foundation. Global corporate sponsorship of The Met: Live in HD is provided by Bloomberg. Transmission of The Met: Live in HD in Canada is made possible thanks to the generosity of Jacqueline and Paul G. Desmarais Sr. The HD broadcasts are supported by Toll Brothers, America’s luxury home builder®.

 # #

Contact: Lee Abrahamian/Sam Neuman
Metropolitan Opera
(212) 870-7457
labrahamian@metopera.org / sneuman@metopera.org

 

Contact: Lisa Jaehnig
Shuman Associates
(212) 315-1300
ljaehnig@shumanassociates.net

Unlike yesterday’s letter to the Daily Telegraph, which was signed by hardcore pro-Pal sympathisers, today’s in the Guardian draws on the whole on academics with no past stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Several are known to me as reasonable people and good thinkers.

Nevertheless, their reasoning is profoundly flawed. The thrust of their argument is to take a statement by the LPO chairman Martin Hohmann that ‘music and politics don’t mix’ and contrast it with the LPO’s recent video in support of Dutch orchestras who are suffering swingeing government cuts. If the LPO can intervene in Dutch politics why, they demand, can’t some of its players demand a ban on the Israel Philharmonic?

Let me spell it out. The Dutch video was a gesture of solidarity, musicians to musicians, no politics involved.

The call for an IPO ban was musicians against musicians, using the LPO’s name to align it with one side of a political conflict. If they had asked permission to use the LPO name, it would have been refused. If they had gone ahead anyway, they would have been sanctioned by their colleagues in the orchestra – as, ultimately, happened.

This is not a political or free speech issue, simply a matter of unprofessional behaviour.

Let me add, I hope for the last time, that I believe the punishment was too severe and should be set aside, and have said as much in print.

Sony Classical have just announced the signing of an exclusive new artist.

His name’s Placido Domingo, and they don’t breathe a word about repertory. Not a whisper or a tease.

So what’s it going to be – a late reprise of his tenor glories at the age of 70? More likely a baritone rumble and a bit of conducting.

We’ll let you know as soon as we hear more. Meanwhile, here’s the press release:

http://www.sonymasterworks.eu/newsletters/images/domingo/newsletter2_slice_01.gif

http://www.sonymasterworks.eu/newsletters/images/domingo/newsletter2_slice_02.jpg

Sony Classical is proud to announce the signing of an exclusive recording contract with Plácido Domingo. This new agreement brings the legendary singer back to the company where his unparalleled recording career started in the late 1960s. Sony Classical’s catalog boasts many of his milestone recordings, and the renewed collaboration between Mr. Domingo and the label promises to explore new repertoire areas and showcase fascinating new aspects of this great artist.

His work in the recording studio has earned Plácido Domingo 12 Grammy Awards, including 3 Latin Grammys. His discography consists of more than 100 recordings of complete operas, compilations of arias and duets as well as crossover projects. He has also made more than 50 music videos.

This world-renowned, multifaceted artist is not just recognized as one of the finest and most influential singing actors in the history of opera, he is also a conductor and a major force as an opera administrator (he is general director of LA Opera and has led Washington National Opera for 15 years). As a singer, the extraordinary breadth of his repertoire ranges from opera and zarzuela to Broadway musicals and contemporary ballads. In opera, it encompasses 137 roles, a number unmatched by any other tenor in history, with more than 3500 career performances.

Plácido Domingo’s fame extends far beyond the confines of the operatic world. His celebrated “Three Tenors” concerts with Luciano Pavarotti and José Carreras at three consecutive soccer World Cup Finals have been seen by billions across the globe and his “Christmas in Vienna” TV specials have been international best-sellers on CD and DVD. He performed at the closing ceremonies of both the 2006 World Cup in Berlin and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. In addition to three feature opera films — Carmen, La Traviata and Otello — he voiced the role of Monte in Disney’s Beverly Hills Chihuahua, played himself on The Simpsons, and his telecast of Tosca from the authentic settings in Rome was seen by audiences in 117 countries.

Mr. Domingo is feted for his charity work, giving numerous benefit concerts and performances every year for a variety of worthy causes.

In 1993, he also founded the international voice competition Operalia, recognized throughout the business as the world’s most important platform for the discovery of new singers.

Plácido Domingo said: “I am thrilled to be establishing an exclusive recording relationship with Sony Music. Sony and its predecessors (Columbia, CBS, RCA/BMG) have played such an important part in much of my career, yet I have not had an exclusive contract with any company in nearly forty years. Finding a permanent home for my future recordings appeals to me very much, and this steady relationship will enable Sony Classical and myself to create a variety of new, innovative, and fascinating musical projects, many of them in repertoire that I have never recorded before. In this way, we are moving forward with hope and trust in the future of the music industry.”

Doug Morris, CEO of Sony Music Entertainment, stated: “Plácido Domingo is a true music icon and we are delighted to welcome him to the Sony Music family. The addition of one of the world’s most beloved and successful vocalists to the Sony Classical roster underscores our continuing commitment to building our classical music business, and further strengthens our line-up of world-class artists.”

Bogdan Roscic, President of Sony Classical, said: “Plácido Domingo surely is one of the defining artists of the recorded music era, in opera and beyond. He has created what is possibly the most comprehensive and diverse discography of any singer since the beginning of that era. It will be a privilege to work with him as we start adding new recordings to this astonishing body of work.”

 

Alberto Vilar, the financier who gave more money to opera than any other man or bank, has presented his appeal against conviction for consiracy to commmit fraud, for which he is serving a nine-year sentence at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

A source close to the defence tells me that the appeal argues there was no fraud, nor any conspiracy.

The jury was not told that there was twice enough money left in his company Amerindo’s account to pay the claims. It was revealed only at the sentencing hearing that $43 million was available for restitution against claims of $22 million.

‘Alberto and his partner Gary Tanaka never denied they owed this money,’ says my source. ‘When the government shut down Amerindo in 2005, Bear Stearns froze their accounts.’ That money is now at JBMorgan Chase, the bank that took over the collapsed Bear Stearns in 2008.

Alberto’s appeal was submitted yesterday. A separate status conference dealing with the money matter will be held tomorrow.

Alberto, who is 70, should not be kept in jail at a time when none of the collapsed US bankers, who committed far greater conspiracies, has been prosecuted. He should be allowed to pay the claims and walk free, while continuing to fight to clear his name – a name that the Metropolitan Opera, which received  gift of $30 million, lost no time in removing from its wall.

Setting Alberto free would give payback to the claimants, and justice to him.

But this is America, where justice is blind and a man can be sent to execution, despite prosecution witnesses revoking their testimony.

I hope Alberto has better luck, and better lawyers.

with Michael Kaiser, at Washington National Opera

The Daily Telegraph has published a letter from cultural individuals, urging the LPO to re-admit the four players it suspended for calling on the BBC to ban the Israel Philharmonic. It is a position with which I have some sympathy, having publicly urged the orchestra to mitigate itssentence.

However, the list is distinguished by its standard anti-Israel stance. I cannot find one name – correct me if I’m wrong – who can even be considered neutral on the Middle East. There is not one pro-Israel voice. The letter, therefore, is not about natural justice for the players, rather a restatement of known political positions. Here’s the text, and the list:

Dear Sir,

We are shocked to hear of the suspension of four members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra for adding their signatures to a letter calling for the BBC to cancel a concert by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

According to a statement from LPO managers, quoted in the Jewish Chronicle (“UK musicians suspended over Israel Proms row,” 13-9-11) the action was taken because the musicians included their affiliation to the orchestra with their signatures (a convention which is common practice within the academic world, for example).

One does not have to share the musicians’ support for the campaign for boycotting Israeli institutions to feel a grave concern about the bigger issue at stake for artists and others.

There is a clear link being forcibly created here between personal conscience and employment, which we must all resist. A healthy civil society is founded on the ability of all to express non-violent and non- prejudiced opinions, freely and openly, without fear of financial or professional retribution.

The LPO management state that for them, “music and politics don’t mix” – yet their decision to jeopardise the livelihoods of four talented musicians for expressing their sincerely held views is itself political.

Why should it be so dangerous for artists to speak out on the issue of Israel/Palestine? We are dismayed at the precedent set by this harsh punishment, and we strongly urge the LPO to reconsider its decision.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Barrett, composer

Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC, solicitor

Howard Brenton, playwright

Caryl Churchill, playwright

Siobhan Davies CBE, choreographer

John Harte co-director, Choir of London

Philip Hensher, novelist

A.L. Kennedy, author

Ken Loach, film director

Miriam Margolyes actor

Simon McBurney OBE actor, writer, director

Mike Leigh, playwright and film director

Steve Martland, composer

Annette Moreau Founder Arts Council Contemporary Music Network

Cornelia Parker OBE artist

Prof. Jacqueline Rose, Queen Mary University, London

Michael Rosen, writer

Alexei Sayle, writer and comedian

Kamila Shamsie, writer

Mark Wallinger, artist

Dame Harriet Walter DBE, actress

Benjamin Zephaniah, author and performer

Kirsty Alexander artist and teacher

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, writer and broadcaster

Michael Attenborough, theatre director

Prof. Mona Baker, University of Manchester

Derek Ball, composer

Chris Bluemel, pianist

Richard Black, pianist

Ian Bournartist/filmmaker

Prof. HaimBresheeth, University of East London

Victoria Brittain, author and journalist

Michael Carlin, production designer

Jonathan Chadwick theatre maker

Prof. Michael Chanan, University of Roehampton

Sacha Craddock, curator

Andy Cowton, composer

Raymond Deane, composer

Ivor Dembina, comedian

Dr KayDickinson, Goldsmiths College, University of London

Dr HughDunkerley, writer University of Chichester

Tony Dowmunt filmmaker, Goldsmiths College, University of London

Patrick Duval, cinematographer

Gareth Evans, writer and curator

Moris Farhi, MBE writer

Dr Naomi Foyle, poet and writer

Jane Frere artist, theatre designer

Carol-AnneGrainger, soprano

Tony Graham, theatre director

Lee Hall playwright.

Michelle Hanson, columnist

Laura Hastings-Smith, film producer

Dr Wallace Heim, writer

John Hegley, poet

Matthew Herbert, composer

Prof. Susan Himmelweit

Mary Hoffman, writer

Dr Fergus Johnston, composer

Ann Jungmana, author

Reem Kelani, musician

Judith Kazantzis, poet and writer

Conor Kelly, artist

Anthea Kennedy, filmmaker

Aleksander Kolkowski, musician

Dr AdamKossoff, artist/filmmaker

Malcolm Le Grice artist, Emeritus Professor, University of the Arts, London

Prof. Yosefa Loshitzky

Jamie McCarthy, musician and lecturer

Dr CaroleMcKenzie FRSA

Ewan McLennan, folk musician

Jeff McMillan, artist

Helen Legg, curator

China Mcville, novelist

Lowkey,musician

Roger Mitchell, film and theatre director

Jenny Morgan, film director

Carol Morley, film director

Alan Morrison, writer

Paul Morrison, film director

Ian Pace, concert pianist

Sam Paechter, composer

Miranda Pennell, filmmaker

Jeremy Peyton Jones, composer

Henry Porter, novelist and commentator

James Purefoy, actor

Laure Prouvost, artist

William Raban, filmmaker, reader at University of the Arts London

A.L.Rees, writer

Lynne Reid Banks, writer

Frances Rifkin, theatre director, Utopia Arts

Leon Rosselson, singer songwriter

Martin Rowson cartoonist

Dr Khadiga Safwatwriter

Sukhdev Sandhuwriter and historian

Dominic Saunders, pianist

Guy Sherwin, artist

Kevin Smith, art activist, PLATFORM

Prof. John Smith, filmmaker University of East London

Anne Solomon, violinist

Ahdaf Soueif, writer

Helen Statman, performer

Michael Stevens, co-director, Choir of London

Susannah Stone picture researcher,

Trevor Stuart, performer

Ingrid Swenson, director PEER

Alia Syed, artist

Jennet Thomas, artist, senior lecturer, University of the Arts

MirandaTufnell, dance artist

Prof. DavidTurner

Francesca Viceconti,artist

Michelene Wandor, writer

David Ward, composer

Samuel West, actor and director

Ian Wiblin, photographer

Andrew Wilson, curator

Eliza Wyatt, playwright

RobinYassin-Kassab novelist

An opera that should have premiered this week in Beijing has been cancelled, according to its promoter, ‘for political reasons’.

The opera deals with the life of the nationalist leader Sun Yat-Sen, who is anathema to the Communist regime. It was always a delicate proposition.

Its composer, Huang Ruo, is represented by Karsten Witt music management in Berlin. Their statement on the cancellation says that the western-instrument production was ‘cancelled at short notice due to political reasons’. The management is seeking another venue for the world premiere.

A journalist in Beijing tells me that an official postponement had been ascribed to “technical difficulties in the vocal and orchestral score”; the production has been replaced by a work called Chinese Orphan.

The impresario has messaged this site to say that the Chinese-instrument version of the opera is still going ahead in Hong Kong on October 13.

Meanwhile, I hear privately from someone who was present at the first rehearsal in Beijing that the reason for cancelling the western-instrument was that one senior official decided, there and then, that the music was ‘too modern’ for senior Party cadres, who were due to attend the opera, which marks the centenary of the Chinese Republic. More information is still coming in.

Here is an advance report on the opera and its first act, previewed in New York in May.

Sun yat sen opera

 

Researchers in Germany have been working on the age-old legend that sopranos have their monthly ups and downs.

After intensive study of 23 female singers, the Department of Cognitive Ethology in Göttingen, working with partners in Britain and Israel, has come up with an answer. Or maybe half an answer. Sort of.

It concludes that there is no apparent change to the voice with ovulation, but some roughness and higher pitch during menstruation. The survey leans rather heavily on male perspectives of changes in the female voice. Here’s a sample:

In the perceptual preference tests, British heterosexual males who did not speak German rated the free speech samples recorded three days prior to estimated ovulation to be, marginally significantly, more attractive than those recorded in the middle of the ovulatory period (t27 = 2.662, p = 0.013). There were no significant differences between attractiveness ratings during the period of ovulation and at the onset of menstruation (t27 = ?0.377, p = 0.709; see Fig. 4). For the sustained vowels, we found no difference in preference (vowel /a/ pre-ovulation vs. ovulation t27 = 0.493, p = 0.626; ovulation vs. menstruation t27 = ?0.891, p = 0.381).

 

Here‘s the full peer-reviewed academic report.

 

The opera house and dramatic theatre in Cologne have run into deficit after cuts to their public subsidy.

Director  Uwe Eric Laufenberg says he has taken five million Euros from reserves and still faces difficulties. More here.