Just in: La Scala replaces Bartoli

Just in: La Scala replaces Bartoli

main

norman lebrecht

July 26, 2019

We hear that Danielle DeNiese is to replace Bartoli as Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare directed by Robert Carsen at La Scala in October.

Bartoli huffed off after her friend Alexander Pereira was replaced as the company’s sovrintendente.

It’s a house debut for DeNiese. Philippe Jarousky debuts as Sesto, Bejun Mehta sings Cesare.

Comments

  • John S Orel says:

    Let’s hope it’s better than Carsen’s infantile Glyndebourne ‘Rinaldo’?

    “And he and the crew
    Are on bicycles too
    Which they’ve somehow or other invested in…”

    • Robert Groen says:

      I’m lying awake, with a dismal headache….Joking aside, DeNiese may not have the vocal heft (or, apparently, the temperament) of the incomparable Bartoli but she is a wonderful singer/actress in her own right. And a seasoned Handel expert to boot. She will not disappoint.

      • Tristan says:

        do you really like the yodeling of La Bartoli? I think it’s unbearable
        She won’t be missed at all

      • John S Orel says:

        You don’t need ‘heft’ for Handel 🙂 You need agility, fioritura, cantabile – and energy. De Niese has sung the (soprano) role of Cleopatra extensively in McVicar’s Glyndebourne production.

        Bartoli is a mezzo-soprano.

      • Laura Sgarioto says:

        Vocal heft? Who, Bartoli?
        Oh please.
        People who attended her live performances say that her voice van be hardly heard beyond the third row.
        So happy that I’ll be able to hear something at the Scala.

    • MR MICHAEL SMITH says:

      That’s the only operatic performance I’ve ever left at the interval.

  • Olassus says:

    She’s really not in the same league musically — despite her personal charm and sincerity and notwithstanding the recent acclaim for her Cendrillon — because she doesn’t sing accurately.

    Losing Cecilia Bartoli, who did a wonderful job with the eight arias of Cleopatra in 2012, is a big loss for La Scala, and dumping Alexander Pereira, the most capable impresario of the last 40 years, was incredibly stupid.

  • Olassus says:

    Principals not mentioned include Giovanni Antonini, the conductor; Sara Mingardo, the Cornelia; Christophe Dumaux, the Tolomeo, and Christian Senn, the Achilla — a team assembled by Pereira and Bartoli.

  • Enquiring Mind says:

    Is she hugging a tree or a mannequin, not that it matters.

  • MOST READ TODAY: