Angela Gheorghiu: ‘I am devastated by the very sudden and early loss of my dear friend and great colleague, Marcello Giordani, a tenor with a golden voice with whom I had the pleasure to sing together many times at The Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Teatro Real in Madrid among others, and the last time in our Japan tour in 2017 with Teatro Massimo Palermo. May your soul rest in peace, your voice will live eternally in our hearts!’
Piotr Beczala: ‘I send my condolences to the family and I would like to dedicate my today’s recital in Linz to the memory of Marcello. ‘
Aprile Millo: ‘I am speechless. Marcello Giordani, truly fabulous tenor voice, passed away suddenly in Sicily. What a great shock and sadness. An exciting wonderful singer and friend. My heart goes to his family the amazing Wilma Ahrens and their sons and family. I am so deeply sorry. He will be in the beauty and harmony he helped give the world. Perpetual light and harmony. Pax Eterna. So young.’
Michael Fabiano: ‘ Very shocked to learn of the passing of Marcello Giordani. My heartfelt condolences to Wilma Ahrens, her family, and his dearest ones… My greatest memory of Marcello was the first time I heard him sing at the Met in Simone. He had a triumph as Gabriele above the rest of the cast in a role that isn’t the most triumphant. I also screamed my lungs out twice in a Tosca for him in places where people used to scream their lungs out but don’t these days. Opera fans know where. He will be greatly missed.’
Anna Netrebko: ‘Crying for Marcello Giordani…🙏🏻❤️ Fantastic singer and great partner on stage, we shared so many times… thank you for your Art… we always will love and remember you .. here is our last performance together. Manon Lescaut from Vienna, June 2016…
Salvo La Rosa: ‘Un dolore davvero enorme. La morte improvvisa di Marcello Guagliardo-Giordani mi ha sconvolto.
Ciao Marcello, Amico vero e sincero, sempre disponibile e premuroso; Artista straordinario e di grande talento, col quale ho avuto l’onore e la gioia di lavorare sempre su palcoscenici di grande prestigio; Uomo onesto e dalle grandi virtù.
Te ne se sei andato troppo presto, con tante belle cose ancora da fare e tanti progetti importanti rimasti nel cassetto. E te ne sei andato lo stesso giorno in cui un anno fa se ne andava un altro nostro grande Amico, Gilberto Idonea: incontrandovi in Paradiso con Gilberto ricordatevi della meravigliosa giornata che abbiamo trascorso insieme noi tre qualche anno fa a New York, tra sorridi e ricordi (che ridere quel giorno in piena Times Square) e dei tanti momenti trascorsi insieme sul palco e nella Vita.
Grazie anche per la bellissima sigla che mi hai regalato nel 2010 per il Festival della canzone siciliana: con me sei sempre stato tanto generoso e la tua voce e la tua presenza hanno dato ancora più valore al Festival.
Ciao Marcello, riposa in pace. Ci hai lasciati all’improvviso e ho perso un altro dei miei migliori Amici: mi mancherai tantissimo.
Sono vicino col cuore e con la preghiera a Tua moglie Wilma, ai tuoi figli e ai tuoi familiari.
Un abbraccio forte #cututtuucori.’
Patricia Racette: ‘I am reeling at this news! I sang with Marcello perhaps more than any other tenor in my career. What an amazing talent and what a loss. My heart goes out to Wilma and the kids.’
Speranza Scappucci: ‘Tristissima di aver appreso questa notizia Caro Marcello , che la terra ti sia lieve . Mi ritengo fortunata di aver potuto condividere insieme a te la Musica . Grande collega , artista immenso. Sei stato con me in Manon Lescaut e Aida, e ancor prima tante volte abbiamo lavorato insieme al pianoforte e mi chiamavi sempre con grande affetto e rispetto “Maestro” TVB mancherai ‘
The near-symbiotic relationship between Mendelssohn and his older sister, examined in my forthcoming book Genius and Anxiety, was so central to both lives that Felix was felled by a stroke on hearing of Fanny’s death and died before the year was out….
It is almost impossible on record to hear them together, which is why the present release is such a gift….
After initial reports that it had cancelled today’s lifetime award to Placido Domingo, the Premio Batuta (Batuta Prize) has issued this statement:
1) Maestro Placido Domingo will offer a special message for the award ceremony;
2) The award committee wishes to make it absolutely clear that the committee has not withdrawn the award for Maestro Domingo. On the contrary, the guild of classical music [represented by the committee] and the award gala concert will celebrate the Spanish tenor’s six decades of total dedication to the arts.
‘We are still going to give him the prize. We just hope for better times ahead and that everything gets better for him,’ the head of the organizing committee, Rene Platini, told Agence France Presse.
We regret to share news of the death today of the Italian tenor Marcello Giordani.
He was stricken by a heart attack after lunch at his home in Monte Tauro. Despite the arrival of a medical team by helicopter, it was impossible to revive him.
Marcello was 56. He leaves a wife, Wilma, and two sons.
He made his La Scala debut as Rodolfo in 1988 and began his international career that same year.
Is it possible that a composer did not leave a single work that fell so far below his usual standard that it qualifies as bad?
That would be inhuman, no?
Or just typical of classical music hagiolatry?
In his most revealing interview to date, Chopin Competition winner Seong-Jin Cho lets it be known that his parents knew little about music and have only lately begun to take interest. They now recognise, for instance, that the Berlin Philharmonic is quite a good orchestra.
There was an upside to their disinterest: ‘I grew up with a lot of freedom. No one, including my family, ever pushed me to practise. So in this sense, I am ordinary when I am with my family. I am an only child, so I spend a lot of time with cousins. There is nothing out of the ordinary in my everyday life.’
We can’t quite see the point of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s new promo video.
But two of the negative comments it presents are from Slipped Disc, so it can’t be all bad.
From my article in The Spectator this weekend, linked to the screening of The Song of Names at the London Film Festival and the publication next week of my new book, Genius and Anxiety.
… What I’m bringing to light is not a conspiracy of Elders of Zion nor a ridiculous notion of Jewish exceptionalism – Jews, said the chemist Chaim Weizmann, ‘are just like everyone else, only more so’ – but a way of thinking that has allowed Jews to see the world from an oblique angle. Do Jews think differently? The moment I asked that question, there could be only one answer.
As I reached the final chapters, antisemitism intruded. Born in London after the Second World War, I have lived my life as a Jew without hindrance, leaving work early on winter Fridays for the Sabbath rest and never encountering ugly prejudice. Now I heard antisemitism forming a normal part of daily discourse, a mainstream political party held hostage by haters and friends packing up for emigration.
I don’t share their apocalyptic fear. Antisemitism is a pendulum. I have to believe that my country will swing back away from it (or it will cease to be my country). My film The Song of Names recalls a time when Britain gave shelter to Jews. That mercy is not forgotten. This trouble time will pass. Some dissenting Jew, somewhere, right now, is about to change the way the world revolves.
The Song of Names can be seen at the London Film Festival on October 6 and 8.
Genius and Anxiety is published by Oneworld on October 10, price £20. Amazon link.
