An apology...

Problem with sound card fixed. Problem with editing/processing software fixed. I start uploading gradually all the recordings that i "owe" . Beggining with the most recent. Patrizia Ciofi singing 3 Mozart arias in Athens is already online. Next will be Anne Sophie Von Otter singing Les Nuits d Ete in Athens and next the Domingo sound-clips that i promised a long time ago...

Ingmar Bergman 1918 - 2007

Rest in Peace maestro.

Patrizia Ciofi back in Athens!

Patrizia Ciofi & Parsifal...
(sorry for the foto, it was too dark...).

Patrizia Ciofi, one of Parsifal's favourites, returned to Athens for a short, short, petit concert! She appeared as a soloist in a concert of The Camerata (a greek orchestra) under the baton of maestro Christopher Hogwood and sang 3 Mozart concert arias :( . She sang brilliantly and she was stunning on stage (best-dressed diva 2007!). She has also gained some weight and she looks fantastic now..

The Concert of course has been recorded (...) just like Patrizia's first concert in Athens that you can find HERE

Here 's what Patrizia sang:
1. Voi avete un cor fedele
2. Basta, vincesti...Ah! non lasciarmi
3. Alcandro, lo confesso...Non só d' onde viene

After the concert Parsifal met Patrizia! She was so kind and sweet, we had a brief chat and the autograph i got reads: "Per Parsifal (well, replaced by my real name), un abbraccio! A presto, Patrizia Ciofi".

Parsifal was very happy indeed, so happy that he didn't attend the second part of the concert (Haydn's Symphony No.94) and went to a chinese restaurant instead...hehehe.

UPDATE
The recording IS NOW AVAILABLE HERE.

Sometimes the clothes do not make the man! Freedom!

I know this is an opera blog but Parsifal couldn't but share his enthusiasm for the George Michael concert last night in Athens! Fantastic! All the tunes i loved the past 2 decades were heard, even the old "Wham!" ones, like "Everything she wants" and the "Edge of Heaven" (find the Athens track-list HERE). And what a show guys! I left the Olympic Stadium exhausted, voiceless from yelling but also speechless.



Highlights of the night: The Greek audience screaming repeatedly "Yorgos! Yorgos!" (George Michael's original greek name), George Michael apparently moved saying "it's the first time that i hear my name properly pronounced", George Michael wearing an immense greek flag and saying "we greeks can sing!" and many many more (i would need hours to put my thought in an order after last night)...I think the fotos speak for themselves!





Flawless! Absolutely Flawless!



You re just too funky for me...

Breaking News: Nicola Zaccaria has passed away...

Another Greek myth has left us in 2007....Nicola Zaccaria, the world renowned bass left us earlier today...His funeral will take place in Athens on the morning of the 26th.

May he Rest in Peace.

RHEA by Spiro Samara

Cover of the original recording
of RHEA

I´m extremely proud of this recording of mine! In a couple of years i would find it in so many collectors' lists that i couldnt believe my eyes!

It's a performance of Spiro Samara's rarely performed opera RHEA with a great cast!

Dimitra Theodossiou starring, next to her Renzo Zulian as Lysia and also some great singing by Marina Voulogianni, Lucio Gallo and Dimitri Kavrakos.

It was a semistaged performance in the Odeon Of Herodes Atticus during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games in order to honour the composer of the Olympic Anthem and this opera-that contains the music of the Anthem- Spiro Samara (or Spiridon Samaras). I was sitting very close
to the stage so, even though its an open air recording the sound is very good.

here is the cast:

RHEA - Spiro Samara

Rhea - Dimitra Theodossiou
Lysia - Renzo Zulian
Dafne - Marina Voulogianni
Spinola - Dimitris Kavrakos
Guarca - Lucio Gallo
Marinaio - Yannis Christopoulos

Part1
Part2
Join with HJsplit and voila!

A strange Tosca....Bregenz 2007

This performance of Tosca took place some days ago and you can still watch it live at the Bregenz Festival till the 19th of August. This is not a typical Tosca (well, there's nothing typical about the performances in Bregenz) and i would define it as a modern, hi-tech, sexually primitive, big-brother, etherial, floating Tosca (i suppose we all know that the Bregenz stage is a floating one).
Nadja Michael - who we loved as Salome in Athens a few months ago- is singing Tosca and she seems to have left behind the mezzo-soprano repertoire
Zoran Todorovich - who we also saw as Manrico in Thessaloniki a couple of years ago- is singing Mario
Gidon Saks (who??) is singing Scarpia...

The 4 chunks below are really representative of the performance

Part 1 - Beggining, Angelotti' s entrance




Part 2 - Vissi d arte




Part 3 - Franchigia a Floria Tosca...



Part 4 - Finale






If you want to see more there are PLENTY of fotos HERE

Rolando is going bananas..

Forgive him, its the New Years Concert in Baden-Baden and he's over-excited!

Medea, Epidaurus 2007

Parsifal is full of surprises! Here's a Enkelejda Shkosa singing an amazing "Solo un pianto" at the Ancient Theatre of the Epidaurus on July the 14th 2007. Next to her, Anna Caterina Antonacci as Medea.

Sir Simon is poor & A Greek Requiem

Two scoops i fished today on the greek newspapers...



Sir Simon Rattle' s intention of getting married to Magdalena Kozena will cost him half his fortune, o sia 4 million pounds (5,95 mil. euros)!!! This is the sum of money asked by his (ex)wife Candace Allen in order to give him the soooo desired by the maestro divorce... More to be read at the Telegraph but also HERE and HERE

AND



Due to the political situation, the Concert planned to take place on the 22th of July in Lebanon (G. Verdi - Requiem Le Vie dell'Amicizia 2007) has been moved to Rome... What might be of interest is that this, is a really greek Requiem as half of the soloists are greeks....Soprano Alexia Voulgaridou and tenor Mario Zeffiri (real name Botsarakos) will sing next to Olga Borodina and Ildar Abdrazakov under the baton of Riccardo Muti. More to be found at Maestro Muti's website....

Turandot, Athens 2003 with the complete Alfano finale!

hi all!
This was a second cast performance, first cast being Galina Kalinina with Vladimir Galouzine - also available 2 performances of the first cast, not the most flawless Turandot in the world but it features the complete Alfano finale - without the Toscanini cuts- that makes it really exciting.

Turandot

Turandot: Giovanna Casolla
Calaf: Lando Bartolini
Liu: Althea-Maria Papoulia
Altum: Aldo Orsolini
Timur: Carlo Cigni
Pang: Giorgio Trucco
Pong: Nicola Pamio
Ping: Pierro Terranova
Mandarino: Aris Argiris

The Athens Megaron, 10 April 2003
Athens State Orchestra
Maestro Donato Renzetti

2 links, 2 cd's, CD1: 5tracks, CD2: 9tracks. Excellent in-house sound
ripped at 192kbps

CD1 CD2

Teresa Stratas sings a mantinada / μαντινάδα

Hilarious video: What's Opera in 10 minutes!

Marlis4eva!

No, this is not Vivienne Westwood, nor a member of the Osbourne's! This is Marlis Petersen's new look! Groovy!

"Parsifal's" adores Marlis and cheered vividly her etherial, sensational, divine Lulu a couple of years ago in Athens. Marlis returned to Greece last year (July 2006) in order to give a recital in Nafplion but poor Parsi couldn't be there....

But, as mentioned, i watched a couple of her Lulus and as always i immortalized the performance of a truly memorable cast..



Lulu - Alban Berg

Lulu: Marlis Petersen
Dr. Schoen: Wolfgang Schoene
Alwa: Fabrice Dalis
Countess Geschwitz: Daphne Evangelatos
Painter: Tom Allen
Schigolch: Jaffe Monte
Schoolboy: Fredrika Brillenbourg
Animal trainer: Andreas Macco
Prince: Garegin Hovsepian

Radio Orchestra of Prague
Nikos Tsouhlos
The Athens Megaron
Athens 21 October 2005

Cd1 Cd2

Enjoy!

More bad news from our Opera Planet....

Breaking News

Tenor Jerry Hadley Seriously Injured Following Apparent Suicide Attempt
July 11, 2007

Jerry Hadley, an acclaimed American tenor who gained notice in the nineties for his performances in major American and international houses in lyric-tenor repertoire, apparently shot himself in the head yesterday morning at his home in upstate New York, the New York Times has reported. The police are reportedly investigating the incident as an attempted suicide.

Hadley, 55, is reportedly on life support after sustaining severe brain damage. Doctors do not expect him to recover.

As published @ OperaNews...

Numi, venite a me, inferni Dei!

Thank you Anna Caterina Antonacci
for the magic you offered me last night!

Thank you Enkelejda Shkosa
for the peak moment, your
heartbreaking, warm, earthly
"Solo un pianto"!

More rare Dimitra (let's pick up a fight-once more!)

hi all!

The last upload of Dimitra Theodossiou singing Lucia, brought many controversial comments! What about fighting also about Dimitra in Attila??? It would be greaaaat! (But leave that for when we come back)
***Parsifal and his blog-friends are going tonight to the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus to watch a unique performance of Cherubini's Medea sung by Anna Caterina Antonacci in the famous Yannis Kokkos production from Paris. This is -i think- the first Medea at the Epidaurus after Callas' in 1961! And we're all sooooooooo excited!!!***
Now back to Dimitra, this is a video of "Santo di Patria" plus cabaletta of a performance given in Athens in 2001 with Dimitra, Franco Vassallo and Giorgio Surjan among others. The video is non-professional but it has been recorded with the theatre's (old) cameras and it has been ripped off the theatre's archive.
Watch it on youtube




Or download both files and join with HJsplit

Part1
Part2

Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Athens 2005 with Aris Argiris

Aris is a young and very promising baritone. Copying from his website:
Aris Argiris was born in Athens in 1974. He attended the Athens Music Conservatory between 1989 and 1995 where he initially studied Saxophon, Counterpoint and Classical Music Harmony. In 1993 he commenced his studies of Marketing and Languages (English, Italian) at the university of Athens and simultaneously studied Voice under Kostas Paskalis, Frangiskos Voutsinos and Despina Calafati. In 1996 he took part in an international master class under the direction of Gabriella Ravazzi in Orvieto, Italy. In 1999 he was awarded the Maria-Callas Scholarship in Athens and continued his vocal studies with the eminent Professor Daphne Evangelatos at the Music Academy in Munich. Whilst studying he sang regurarly in Concert and Opera performances, at the ”Prinzregenten” Theatre in Munich (Don Giovanni) and at the ”Gewandhaus” in Leipzig.

In 2002 Aris Argiris was prize-winner at the International Voice Competition at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and sang the title role in Mozart’s ”Don Giovanni”. From 1999 he has made regular guest appearances in Greece, amongst others, in the Athenian State Opera House, the Music Megaron in Athens and Thessaloniki.

Apart from Don Giovanni, his repertoire includes the following roles: Escamillo (G. Bizet: Carmen), Belcore (G. Donizetti: L’elisir d’amore), Schaunard (G. Puccini: La Bohéme), Dandini (G. Rossini: La Cenerentola), Fieramosca (H. Berlioz: Benvenuto Cellini), Sharpless (G. Puccini: Madama Butterfly), Guglielmo (W. A. Mozart: Così fan tutte), Figaro (G. Rossini: Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Don Fernando (L. v. Beethoven: Fidelio), Orfeo (J. Peri: Euridice), Pilade (Ch. W. Händel: Oreste), G. Germont (G. Verdi: La Traviata), Donner (R. Wagner: Das Rheingold).

He has worked, among others, with the conductors Christian Thielemann, Kurt Masur, Yakov Kreizberg, Gustav Kuhn, Heribert Beissel, Nikos Athineos, Donato Renzetti.

Now, what i ve got for you is a performance of Barbiere given in Athens a couple of years ago with a fine cast! Argiris PLUS Antonis Koroneos as Almaviva and Vassiliki Karayanni as Rosina!

This performance was a-well deserved- triumph for Argiris, one of the very few i can remember during the last few years in the Athens Lyric. People were screaming for bis after his Largo and i think he actually bised the aria in the next performance...

Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Almaviva: Antonis Koroneos
Figaro: Aris Argiris
Rosina: Vassiliki Karayanni
Basilio: Dimitri Kavrakos
Bartolo: Marcelo Lippi
Fiorello: Dionisio Sourmpis
Berta: Maria Marketou

Greek National Opera orchestra and chorus under the baton of
Chrisanthos Alissafis

Athens , 8. 5. 2005
Personal in-house
Very good sound

Cd1Part1
Cd1Part2

Cd2Part1
Cd2Part2

Enjoy!

Who doesn't just love Vera Galupe Borszkh??

An alternative drag Lucia by the Gran Scena group! Hilarious! (as everything that Gran Scena have done...)

Dimitra Theodossiou as Lucia! What a sweet rarity!

This is an absolute rarity! Dimitra singing Lucia di Lammermoor in Messina back in 1999! Here' s "Quando rapito in estasi" from Act 1!

And if you want to download this video, just click HERE...

Myrtó Papatanasiu rehearsing La Traviata in Rome

Myrto Papatanasiu, rehearsing "Addio del passato" in Rome...Plus some words about Violetta...

The Greek Army goes Madonna! DON´T MISS THIS VIDEO!!!

Régine Crespin, 1927-2007

The La Scala Traviata, Angela looks fine huh?

To find out if she also SOUNDS fine, just download the performance of the 3d of July...
Part1
Part2
Part3
Part4
Part 2 and 3 to be joined with HJsplit
This is a RAI broadcast, booeing included.

Go girl!

Opera News, July 2007:

IN REVIEW

VIENNA — Elektra, Wiener Staatsoper, 4/23/07

July 2007 , vol 71 , no.1

Opera-lovers hold a special place in their hearts for the diva wise enough to know when to move on. Agnes Baltsa, who turns sixty-three this year, may have tossed Carmen's rose or given Samson a haircut for the last time, but she sounds (and looks) as if she still could. At Wiener Staatsoper's fiftieth-anniversary gala in 2005, Baltsa wiped the stage clear of any pretenders to the title of diva with a scorching rendition of Aida's judgment scene duet (with Plácido Domingo), and later bailed out the company when another pretender was fired three days before the opening of L'Italiana in Algeri. Baltsa's first-ever Klytämnestra in Elektra (seen April 23) reminded the listener that this role can, indeed, be performed by a singer in prime vocal health. What a pleasure it is to hear all of Strauss's notes sung as written, with no screams on high or guttural swoops into chest voice! Baltsa's instrument remains basically untarnished by time, only a tad less opulent. Commanding the stage with a haughty, regal air, she looked spectacular (blond hair peeking out from a skullcap, a glittering black sequined gown, a slash of scarlet lipstick), suggesting that the queen's infirmity is purely psychosomatic. Klytämnestra tells us it is her mind that is "zerfressen von den Motten" (devoured by moths), and Baltsa used Hofmannsthal's creepily expressive text to create a portrait of guilt-induced hysteria. Few and effective were Baltsa's interpolations — a cackle, a groan, a sudden snarl. Her only miscalculation was her second offstage death scream: sounding more like she was sick to her stomach, the ensuing noise garnered hearty laughter. Alas, Deborah Polaski does not share Baltsa's wisdom: her voice is no longer capable of fulfilling Elektra's duties....etc etc

NO FURTHER COMMENTS.

OMG! June Anderson reads my blog!

BEFORE


...Or so it seems, 'cause last night was an absolute triumph, especially for June Anderson! She, together with Beatrice Uria-Monzon and Dimitri Kavrakos offered us a wonderful night under the stars.
Here's what they sang:

First Part

Carmen Habanera - Seguidille (B. Uria-Monzon)

Macbeth - Banquo's aria (D. Kavrakos)

Samson et Dalila - Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix (B. Uria-Monzon)

Werther- Air des lettres - Air des larmes (B. Uria-Monzon)

Don Carlo Ella Giamai m' amo (D. Kavrakos)

O Don fatale (B. Uria-Monzon)

Second Part

Norma Casta Diva (J. Anderson)

Mira o Norma ( J.Anderson-B.Uria-Monzon)

La Sonnambula - Ah Non credea mirarti - Ah non giunge ( J. Anderson )

La Traviata - E strano - Sempre libera (J. Anderson)

Encore: O mio babbino caro ( J. Anderson)


AFTER

Highlights of the Gala: Beatrice Uria-Monzon came on stage wearing no shoes, but just a (very elegant) little black dress. She was absolutely stunning (she's a doll! visit her official website for more pics) even if she had some problems with the projection of her voice in the huge open-air Roman Odeon. Best of Beatrice: Her two Charlotte arias from Werther! Heartbreaking!

Dimitri Kavrakos gave us a breathtaking rendition of Filippo II aria that was received with a tremendous ovation just like Banquo's aria.

June Anderson, elegantly coiffed and gowned was pure perfection. Total control of her voice, volume, her voice would pass through the thick orchestration and climb up to the most remote point of the theatre.

Funny or not so funny: A dog sang a duett together with ms. Anderson! Yes, this is the first rendition of Casta Diva for orchestra, soprano and a dog. And then Mira o Norma became a trio (for soprano, mezzo and a dog). Then suddenly the dog's voice dissapeared...I don't wanna know what happened to the poor creature...hehehe.

The recording of last night is being processed but Parsifal just waits to receive his new PC later this week....