Anna Netrebko in La bohème The Movie and Returns to Met for Bart Sher’s New Production of Les contes d’Hoffmann

By -

“Reigning New Diva” Also Performs Four Back-to-Back Roles at Vienna State Opera and Makes Appearances in Berlin, London, Paris, and St. Petersburg

Anna Netrebko’s first full season of performances since the birth of her son is highlighted by a new Metropolitan Opera production of Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, and opening on December 3 in New York. Meanwhile, this month sees the Russian soprano on the big screen, when Emerging Pictures releases a feature film version of La bohème, in which she stars alongside Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón. Puccini’s Mimì is also one of the four characters Netrebko will portray at the Vienna State Opera, where she takes on four leading operatic roles over a six-week period near the season’s end.

In the Met’s new production of Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, Netrebko appears as the young Antonia. Audiences worldwide will be able to see her in the role, thanks to the Met: Live In HD movie theater broadcast of the matinee performance on December 19. The soprano’s castmates in this production include rising star mezzo Kate Lindsey as Nicklausse and Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja as Hoffmann. Alan Held plays the four villains, and Metropolitan Opera Artistic Director James Levine conducts.

Anna Netrebko will also reprise her signature role of Mimì in the Met’s beloved Franco Zeffirelli production of La bohème, opening February 20. But those looking to get their Puccini fix before the new year will be delighted this month, when Emerging Pictures releases a feature film version of La bohème, starring Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. The movie, which was filmed in 2008 in Vienna and is directed by Oscar- and Emmy-nominated director Robert Dornhelm, will be shown in theaters in select cities starting September 23. Information on exact show times and locations, as well as a list of participating venues, is available at www.labohemethemovie.com/showtimes. The theatrical trailer for La bohème can be viewed at labohemethemovie.com/trailer.

To coincide with the film’s release, Deutsche Grammophon has issued an iTunes exclusive release called La bohème – Five Favorites, which features five must-have selections from the full-length version of Netrebko and Villazón’s recording of the opera, and which will be available for only $3.99. A more traditional highlights recording will follow, both in physical and digital versions, later in the year. Netrebko and Villazón’s complete recording of La bohème, which is used as the movie’s soundtrack, was released in 2008 on DG.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In &quo
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

The Art of String Quartets by Brian Ferneyhough

By -
Image
When an artist sets paint to canvas, there are brush strokes used for different effects. Sometimes those strokes are subtle, imperceptible; they produce works of art like the Mona Lisa . Other times the very obvious nature of the stroke is the art, as in works by Van Gogh. With some composers of music, the notes on the page are their craft. How those notes translate into an aural experience is what defines some composers as great artists. Brian Ferneyhough has a masterful command of the techniques of putting notes on the page. These techniques are sometimes so subtle, even though written in black and white, they escape detection. Some of what he attempts with his music is just that, to escape detection, to bury the framework, diverting the ear away from the structure, so only the music is heard . The subtlety is so fine it is almost imperceptible. Even though he studied at several institutions, he is considered self-taught, studying scores from Boule
Read more