Here is another opera review in honor of my mother’s birthday. This time, I review Marco Filippo Romano’s performance of an oafish yet iconic doctor trying to win over his young ward. Please enjoy my review and let me know your opinions.
Bel Canto
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Hey, everybody, Antoni here with a set of operatic dream casts I have in store for you. For someone who has been a huge aficionado of opera ever since I was nine years old, I thought it would be fun if I came up with a set of dream casts of twelve of my favorite operas. What better place to start than with some of my favorite Bel Canto operas if I were to travel back to the 2000s. This is also my contribution for this year’s Red Ribbon Reviewers month. Gaetano Donizetti’s Anna Bolena Anna Bolena- Anna-Kristiina Kaappola Giovanna Seymour- Nancy Fabiola Herrera Smeton- Christine Rice Enrico VIII- Jaco Huijpen Riccardo Percy- Roberto Alagna Lord Rochefort- Graeme Broadbent Sir Hervey- Matthew Beale Gaetano Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda Elisabetta I- Ruxandra Donose Maria Stuarda- Anna-Kristiina Kaappola Anna Kennedy- Valentina Kutzarova Talbot- Franz Hawlata Leicester- Roberto Alagna Cecil- Sebastian Holecek Gaetano Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux Roberto Devereux- Roberto Alagna Elisabetta I- Anna-Kristiina Kaappola Duca di Nottingham- Carlos Alvarez Sara- Stephanie Blythe Gualtiero Raleigh- Giovanni Furlanetto Lord Cecil- Colin Judson Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor Lucia Ashton- Marlis Petersen Edgardo Ravenswood- Paul Groves Enrico Ashton- Lado Ataneli Raimondo Bidebent- Hans Peter König Arturo Bucklaw- Chad Shelton Normanno- Saverio Fiore Alisa- Atala Schöck Gaetano Donizetti’s Linda di Chamounix Linda- Marlis Petersen Carlo- Paul Groves Pierrotto- Elizabeth Bishop Maddalena- Michaela Schuster Prefetto- Carlo Colombara Marchese di Boisfleury- Maurizio Muraro Antonio- Carlos Alvarez L’Intendante- Chad Shelton Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma Norma- Luba Orgonasova Pollione- Antonio Nagore Oroveso- Roberto Scandiuzzi Adalgisa- Zheng Cao Flavio- Will Hartmann Clotilde- Patricia Risley Vincenzo Bellini’s La Sonnambula Amina- Elena Mosuc Elvino- Ramon Vargas Conte Rodolfo- Roberto Scandiuzzi Teresa- Iris Vermilion Lisa- Dawn Kotoski Alessio- Michele Pertusi Notaio- Kevin Conners Vincenzo Bellini’s I Capuleti e I Montecchi Giulietta- Natalie Dessay Romeo- Beatrice Uria Monzon Tebaldo- Roberto Sacca Capellio- Albert Dohmen Lorenzo- Hao Jiang Tian Vincenzo Bellini’s I Puritani Elvira- Mary Dunleavy Arturo- Marcelo Alvarez Riccardo- Roberto Servile Gualtiero- Clive Bayley Giorgio- Giacomo Prestia Bruno- Matthew Polenzani Enrichetta- Stephanie Novacek Gioacchino Rossini’s Semiramide Semiramide- Hellen Kwon Arsace- Sonia Ganassi Azema- Laura Claycomb Idreno- Chris Merritt Mitrane- Jeffrey Francis Assur- John-Paul Bogart Oroe- Kristinn Sigmundsson L’Ombra di Nino- Walter Fink Gioacchino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia Figaro- Paolo Gavanelli Almaviva- Roberto Sacca Rosina- Natalie Dessay Dottor Bartolo- Gilles Cachemaille Don Basilio- Kristinn Sigmundsson Berta- Jadwiga Rappé Fiorello- Christian Gerhaher Ufficiale- Detlef Roth Gioacchino Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims Madama Cortese- Klara Kolonits Corinna- Diana Damrau Marchesa Melibea- Kate Aldrich Contessa di Folleville- Anna Christy Conte di Libenskof- Michael Schade Cavalier Belfiore- José Bros Don Luigino- Steve Davislim Don Alvaro- Andrea Concetti Antonio- Carlos Alvarez Don Profondo- Hans Peter König Lord Sidney- Carlo Colombara Don Prudenzio- Stephen Milling Barone di Trombonok- Maurizio Muraro Zefirino- Dietmar Kerschbaum Gelsomino- Peter Marsh Maddalena- Stephanie d’Oustrac Modestina- Ailish Tynan Delia- Sabina Puertolas So, fellow opera fans, these are my dream casts for my favorite Bel Canto operas if ever I wanted to go back in time to the 2000s. Please let me know if you also have a dream cast for these twelve Bel Canto operas. Happy Holidays and stay safe, everybody.
At this rate, this video should be retitled “I wish were a woman and singing dramatic mezzo-soprano and contralto roles” because they always get the best roles in opera. I thought it would be great if I also did this for fun. I hope you enjoy my rendition of Azucena’s closing lines from her second aria in Act 2 “Condotta ell’era in ceppi” from Verdi’s Il Trovatore.
Lord Arturo Bucklaw from Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. His role in this opera may be thankless, especially for a lyric tenor, but his little solo during Lucia’s wedding is absolutely fun to do. Perhaps, it would have been more fun with the chorus. Enjoy listening to my rendition of Arturo’s little number as much as I enjoyed singing it.
Conquering the stage and the screen for many years as an actress and stage director , let us see how Katharina Thalbach fared as an opera director with this particular production of Barber of Seville. Enjoy my review and let me know your opinions as well.
I have come back to Dresden to catch a Rossini opera, which called for an army of soloists. The question remains, how well did this cast of singing actors fare in their respective roles? Stay tuned to my review to find out more.
I take myself back in time to take a look at a recorded version of Bellini’s popular tragic opera starring La Stupenda herself, Dame Joan Sutherland as Norma, and the dramatically versatile, Madame Marilyn Horne as Adalgisa. These two Bel Canto empresses are joined by a veritable troupe of equally versatile singers from the grand yet underrated John Alexander, Richard Cross, and Joseph Ward and the elegant and fabulous Yvonne Minton in her younger years. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well.
Ah, Maestro Lawrence Brownlee and Signora Albina Shagimuratova, two fabulous Bel Canto specialists. With their flawless interpretive powers combined, they scored A+’s all across the board in musicality, theatricality, for being complete performers, and for leading a most brilliant ensemble cast. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well.
The years roll by. Even more so, our dearest Mademoiselle Pretty Yende has been gaining in grandiosity, virtuosity, grace, elegance, and stature, as evidenced in her latest album. Enjoy the review and let me know your opinions as well.