Una macchia per Natalie

Natalie Dessay as Lady Macbeth (obviously)

Natalie Dessay has sung Lady Macbeth and Norma.
Many times.

No, i haven't gone bananas, i read it in a very serious newspaper:

In the article/interview by Mercedes Cerviño (Agencia EFE) published on the 29th of March @ EL PAIS digital (one of Spain's major newspapers) and many other media
with the title
"Dessay: Vivo en un mar dudas, algunas me ayudan, pero otras me destruyen"
(transl. Dessay: I live in a sea of doubts , some help me, others destroy me)
it is said:
".... con las heroinas que le han dado fama. La Manon de Massenet, la Ofelia del Hamlet de Ambroise Thomas, la Lucia di Lammermoor de Donizetti, la Lady Macbeth de Verdi o la Norma de Bellini."
(with the heroines that gave her fame: i think the rest is easy for all to understand...)

The journalist goes on saying that all these heroines are gonna be present at her first recital at the Teatro Real (that took place last night).
Let's see what's on the program:
Manon blah blah blah, Norma ouverture, Lucia blah blah blah, Macbeth Act III ballet...

Now, please, somebody explain me....

I' m a journalist,
i write for a major newspaper-news agency
i have to write an article about a major artist,
i know nothing about her,
i don't wanna learn anything about her,
i don't have time to google her,
i hate opera,
i hate french divas,
i have to fill my 500 words limit,
i have to pick-up the kids from school,
the newspaper-agency doesn't have an internet connection
etc.

Was that the series of events?

UPDATE
Natalie Dessay at the Teatro Real de Madrid, singing Lady Macbeth i suppose...

Scheherazade on a desert island

After years and years of waiting, praying, yearning,
finally
Turandot
found the right setting and the right costumes,
Blonde Scheherazade on silver high heels,
cactus, palm trees, pirate boats, a sand storm
everything-but Jack Sparrows-is there!



(It's the great Ursula Schröder-Feinen of course)

Ecco un vero libertino!

Juan Dieguito
has already sang the dress rehearsal (last night, 28/3) of Rigoletto and everyone in Perú is waiting for la grande premiere!

Gracias a Dios, Juan Diego is an idol in Perú and the newspapers are full of details regarding his Duca!

First of all everyone is invited to this Rigoletto- for free!!!!

There 're gonna be 5 video walls all around the city of Callao!
How cool is that?

A local channel has already published a video from the dress rehearsal:



Along with our boy JDF you 'll see on stage:

Roberto Frontali as Rigoletto
Alexandra Marianelli as Gilda (she's 22 years old!!)
Carlo Malinverno as Sparafucile
Josefina Brivio as Maddalena

JDF with maestro Michele Mariotti

And you can read about JDF and Rigoletto here (where you 'll also find many many links), here, here, here, here AND here you may find a photo gallery from the dress rehearsal.

Of course Julia Trappe (la novia) was also there...

Read also HERE an article about the girl from Down Under,
la novia del año!

Bella figlia dell'amore,

schiavo son de'vezzi tuoi;

con un detto sol tu puoi

le mie pene consolar.

Vieni e senti del mio core

il frequente palpitar.

♥

The Queen of St. Tropez

Who would have thought that

the day
when we would see
the Queen of Belcanto

Edita Gruberova

in a bathing suit
would come...

(is that a cigarette, Edita????)

It's a murder on the dancefloor...

Herodes: What wouldst thou have? Speak!

Salome: I would that they presently bring me in a silver charger...
...the head of this gown's designer

Fly like a Baird...

After the sheenanigans of the last few
Tristan und Isolde performances at the Met,

it was about time for
Janice Baird
to shine as Isolde
(singing a complete one, not parts hehehe).

Listen to Janice Baird singing Liebestod
at the MET on March the 25th 2008 :

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Greek, young and talented.

I' ve been thinking about a new section of parsifal's lately,
dedicated to young greek singers that i like.
They 're not many, but they 're quite a few.

First on the list is Mary-Ellen Nesi.

As we learn from her official website :

Born in Montreal, Canada, of Greek parents, Mary-Ellen Nesi studied in Athens under Misa Ikeutsi, graduating with distinction in 1994. She also studied at the Mayer-Lismann Opera Center in London and took voice lessons from Ernst Haefliger in Zurich, Arrigo Pola in Modena, Frangiskos Voutsinos and Kostas Paskalis in Athens.

In opera she has performed the title roles in Handel’s Serse and Oreste, Ruggiero in Alcina, Andronico in Tamerlano, Polinesso in Ariodante, Iside in Giove in Argo, Megacle in the first world revival of Paisiello’s L’Olimpiade, Orfeo in Orfeo ed Euridice, Adalgisa in Norma, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Penelope in Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria, Antiope in the first world revival of Vivaldi’s Ercole su’l Termodonte (in Spoleto Festival 2006 under Alan Curtis), Anastasio in Vivaldi’s Giustino, Mitrena in Vivaldi’s Motezuma, Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Ramiro in La Finta Giardiniera, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Bradamante in Orlando Furioso, Teresa in La Sonnambula, Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana, Tebaldo in Don Carlos and principal roles in operas by contemporary Greek composers such as Helen of Sparta in The Return of Helen by Thanos Mikroutsikos, Night in Manuel Salinas by Periklis Koukos, and others.

Mary-Ellen Nesi has appeared at major international venues such as the Carnegie Hall, the Avery Fisher Hall (NY), the Places des Arts (Montreal), the Théâtre de Champs-Elysées (Paris), the Teater an der Wien (Vienna), the Arriaga (Bilbao), the Sao Carlos Opera (Lisbon), the Comunale (Florence), the Monumental (Madrid), the Caio Melisso (Spoleto), the Wiesbaden Opera House, the Teatro de la Maestranza (Seville) and festivals such as the Spoleto Festival, the Göttingen and the Halle Händel Festspielen, the Santiago de Compostela Festival, the Athens Festival and she is a regular guest at the Greek National Opera, the Megaron of Athens, the Megaron of Thessaloniki, the Opera of Thessaloniki.

Great CV, huh?

Her last engagement was the role of Andronico (Tamerlano) at the Bayerische Staatsoper (Munich) which is something like the Baroque Mecca.
The performance was broadcast and a recording is available. I hope that later today i will upload some fragments of this and other performances featuring Mary-Ellen Nesi.

But first, here's a wonderfully sung aria (well, two actually) from "Ercole Sul' Termodonte" at the Festival di Due Mondi di Spoleto (yes, it's the famous "naked" production)
with Mary-Ellen as Antiope:

Per Fiorenza

parsifal's
sends to
Fiorenza Cedolins
all the positive energy of the universe
in this most difficult moment of her life,
when words are hard to be said
and the grief is silent.
Friends and fans, we 're by her side.


(Our Fiorenza Cedolins seems to have lost the baby she was carrying, some days ago)
Exclusively at parsifal's

In questo popoloso deserto che appellano Salonico...

The Opera of Thessaloniki is a rather small organization that produces a couple of operas annually with a medium budget but with lots of love.

During the 07/08 Season they already had a production of two Leoncavallo operas in a double bill (Edipo Re/I Pagliacci) that received excellent reviews, an Aida with Norma Fantini, a production of Orff's Die Kluge, and now they 're in rehearsals for a new production of La Traviata starring Fiorella Burato, Carlos Silva (Alfredo) and Yannis Yannisis (Germont) under the baton of maestro Lukas Karytinos.

Maria Elena Mexía, stage director and set designer, a young girl with an impressive CV, talked to parsifal's about the new Traviata, modern operatic productions, marketing, her favourite singers etc. and provided some pics from the rehearsals:

Parsi: Is this your first time in Greece?

Maria Elena: Yes

Parsi: Thessaloniki is a city of 1,5 million people but still there’s no Opera House, just a Concert Hall with 1 or 2 annual operatic productions…Any comments?

Maria Elena: It’s time to make much more opera since it’s a city full of young people. With this Traviata the main goal is to demonstrate that opera can be done even in smaller theaters with not much budget, but always having quality.

The Opera of Thessaloniki called me first to see the place where we are doing the Traviata and if I could create a situation with a small amount of money and a structure that’s not adapted for theater. I imagined I could do it and I accepted. I love opera too much to let an opportunity escape. Now days it is very difficult to work around the world.

Maestro Lukas Karytinos

Parsi: What’s your opinion on modern productions by directors as Bieito and Konwitschny?

Maria Elena: Sooner or later they had to appear. Opera doesn’t belong to our time and language, and they are theatre directors of today, that means they intend theater in a contemporary way.

Of course they try to be “different” and away from tradition, but the music and way of singing remains the same of the 600-700-800’s. For some people it doesn’t make any sense seeing 8 men sitting on a toilet, or Filippo II eating pizza, for example, but it's their way or imagining the drama in an exaggerated and provocative way, since today's life doesn’t belong to emotions anymore but technology and cinema.

The consequences are that the music written by Mozart, Verdi or Wagner is much more higher on ideas and quality than the ideas of the directors which become nothing after ten minutes. Is just the opera that remains untouchable. Now if they compose new operas with new dramas for these kind of directors, I would like to see if they remain in history for the next 300 years, but it is the language of our time.

If I had a theater I would call them, not to make repertoire, we already have seen enough of recycled ideas, but new ways of opera and stories of our time.

I think these directors, and the ones that are coming, like my generation, are the sign that opera needs to continue, needs to be developed, needs to be created again, and the time of the repertorio is getting narrow on ideas. We need to interpretate our time, in every sense, like theaters did with the composers of the past. They were always inventing and renewing theater. It was the time of the singers and composers, in fact stage directors didn’t exist, they were “created” in the 40-50’s… when opera stopped being composed like it was conceived for.

We need to work with the musicians of our time to make that kind of messe in scene we see today all over the world. Then it will have a sense.

There are directors like Carsen, Willson or McVicar that have a style that has no time and they create with almost nothing a high quality messe in scene which remain in our mind for ever. I find this way of making theater more interesting and constructive than provocative ones.

Parsi: And your opinion on model-like singers?

Maria Elena: What do u mean by that? If I like Netrebko or Villazon?
The new way of being an opera singer?

I Think marketing makes a lot of a difference in a singer, but at the end is on stage you see an artist and after some years of career. Today it's difficult to see a singer vocally sane after 10 years they started their career. They get burned too soon, they sing too much and not always what they should.

If we talk about my model of singers, mine are Caballé and Domingo for the past generations, and as young ones Norma Fantini, Natalie Dessay and Marcelo Alvarez, for example.

Parsi: Some years ago you worked at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano with Luciano Damiani and Giorgio Strehler. What are the things you remember the most of this collaboration?

Maria Elena: They created theater all the time, they investigate the space, materials, lights…

They created on their artists, never imposing but letting art and imagination invade their work.

For me it was the discovery of the way I want to make theater. Both were genious.

Parsi: Prima la musica e poi le parole? Is this still the rule in opera?

Maria Elena: Yes, at least for me. Music says everything, much more than words. Words explain situations and feelings. In opera is not always possible to understand the words, but you can understand the meaning on them if the interpretation is clear and deep. If the singer is an actor, then you can work in develop the actitude and vocal colours that help to understand the music in the interpretation you want.

I think it is a rule; opera is music and also theatre, but its bases are limited by the music.

Parsi: What’s your perspective of La Traviata? What will the audience of Thessaloniki see on stage?

Maria Elena: It will be the fourth time I do Traviata.

I never had the chance to do it with a huge budget and in a big theater. So I always had to invent a circumstance that was credible.

This time I have a small space on stage, no grid, not much budget… but I have great singers.

I intended the opera in our time, Paris today. I gave only some ideas of decorations. Big windows where we can see Paris by night, a garden that symbolizes the colors of love and youth through 3 windows… Flora’s place is a big club for game and prostitution…

La Traviata has no time as the story could have happened any time of the history of mankind. Is universal. I just followed the score taking out as deep as I could the emotions and situations, I’m loyal to Verdi always.

I use a method with the singers where they can be natural and develop the ideas we work on using creativity and their way of interpretating, I never impose a movement but I create a role out of them.

The people of Thessaloniki will see Traviata translated in our times.

Of course with the disponibility we have to make it true.

♫

Magda Olivero 's 98th Birthday!

We celebrated last year and i wish we keep celebrating for many many years...

Happy Birthday Magda!
(born March 25, 1910)

Nathan Gunn, 2 videos

Video A

Nathan Gunn as Billy Budd in Munich and short interview



Video B

Nathan Gunn rehearses Papageno and short interview

Plácido says: Stop the crap, Caruso is da best!

Placi, rehearsing Tamerlano-role #127- in Madrid

Some days ago, BBC Music magazine, published a list of the 20 Greatest tenors ever. Top of the list was Placido Domingo who according to the 16 british critics is the Greatest of 'em all.

And what has been Domingo's reaction to this?

The legendary tenor said that when he first saw the list he blushed and that "in the list there are people that are not, and there ain't people that are!" (no son todos los que están, ni están todos los que son). Meaning that not all tenors on the list should be there and that many are out of the list (Parsi totally agrees, Pears? But not Del Monaco? ohhhh c'moooon...)

Placido goes on saying that on the list should also be present Di Stefano, Del Monaco, Carreras, Fleta. And that Jaume Aragall is one of the greatest voices 'cause of his vocal beauty.

And regarding the best best best Placido says "without doubt, Caruso. The vocal quality and what he did set him on the top of the list".

Songs my country taught me

Super Vintage 80's cover!

Agnes Baltsa
will sing at a benefit concert
in Athens
on the 3rd of April.
The program will be non operatic.
Agnes is gonna give us the pleasure of
listening to her ''greek songs'',
the ones she has already recorded for the
Deutsche Grammophon best seller cd
"Songs my country taught me"
back in 1986.
Her classical approach to these songs had been criticised by composer Manos Hadjidakis
back then, but nevertheless, today her interpretation still sounds very exciting.
She did justice to popular greek songs
that could easily equal some german lieder or some chansons.

Listen to two among my favourites from Agnes' cd:

Aspri mera ke ya mas/ Άσπρη μέρα και για μας

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To treno fevgei stis okto/ Το τρένο φεύγει στις οκτώ

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Rolando and Placido, or should i say Mario and Pablo?

Do you remember "Il Postino"? A wonderful italian film about the relationship between a postman and Pablo Neruda???

It seems that in September 2009, Rolando Villazon and Placido Domingo are gonna sing the roles of il postino (Mario Ruoppolo) and Pablo Neruda, in Los Angeles in an opera called "Il Postino", in spanish, composed by Daniel Catán.

This is what Placido says in an interview he gave for the spanish newspaper ABC.

In the Postino film, the female character of Beatrice was played by italian diva Maria-Grazia Cucinotta, a spectacular looking woman.

Who will be the operatic Beatrice?

The journalist asks Placi whether it will be Gallardo-Domas or Gheorghiu.
Maybe La Netrebko?

But the answer is "we still don't know. There are two options: a new girl that has just started her career or a TV contest (!!!!??????)

In the interview you can also read -in spanish of course- about his new roles, among them the role of Bajajet that he will sing in Madrid, his new cd with spanish coplas called "Pasión española"-how original etc etc.

No stubbing for Nicola Beller Carbone

The german soprano Nicola Beller Carbone, a radiant Salome in Torino a few weeks ago, is currently in Athens for a series of Tosca performances that will (would???) have their premiere today, Friday the 21st at the National Opera.

What she, and the National Opera don't seem to know yet is that probably the performances will be cancelled. This time not to the general strikes, but due to the choir/orchestra/dancers/technicians strike!

***UPDATE***
Strike postponed, Act I has just ended at the Greek National Opera and my spies have informed me that they are amazed by Beller Carbone and Stephen Kechulius as Scarpia.

Divine Agnes

Back from the 3rd (and i think last) performance of L' Italiana in Algeri, and what a show! That must have been the best among all three performances i watched!
And if dear Agnes was complaining that her compatriots are a rather dull and cold audience, tonight the audience rewarded her with many "brava" (Parsi was also yelling) and her curtain call at the finale was triumphant!

If you 're thinking why da hell do i write a new post about L ' Italiana instead of updating the existing one, here's the answer:

In the first two performances, it was Mario Zeffiri (Lindoro) who sang along Elvira the act I finale high C. Weeell, this time, Agnes Baltsa joined the company and surprised as all when she sang the high C and then turned to Lindoro and gave him a warm smile!

You don't believe me? Well, go ahead, listen for yourselves:

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Collective paranoia. (Updated)

"I saw this kind of musical madness seize upon the orchestra and the spectators from the beginning of the first act, at the first burst of applause, and give everybody the wildest pleasure.
I took my part in this folly, which caused so much joy in a poor little theatre where certainly nothing rose above the level of the mediocre.
I hardly know how to explain how it all happened. There was nothing in this charming performance to recall the reality and the sadness of life. There was certainly not a person in the theatre who thought of judging what he saw.
The singing, the scenery, the lively playing of the orchestra, the acting full of improvisations-there was nothing in them all to halt the imagination of the spectator, who, if he had only some good-will, found himself in a different world, a world of another kind of gayety."

This is what Stendhal wrote back in 1817 when while visiting Italy, he found L' Italiana in Algeri playing simultaneously in Brescia, Verona, Venice, Vicenza and Treviso. Stendhal enjoyed himself greatly at "L' Italiana in Algeri" performed by a mediocre company in a minor Italian theatre. 190 years later and Stendhal's impressions seemed to me so fresh, so updated, so e-x-a-c-t-l-y what i had in mind but couldn't express with words...

48 hours after the opening night of the Italiana in Athens and i still cannot decide if i should write a review on the performance or an ode to joy! Even after having seen a most mediocre performance, i was feeling the happiest man on Planet Earth.

Isn't this what Stendhal had in mind?

Let's begin with the production: The Jean-Pierre Ponnelle 1987 production still looks fresh, full of ideas, chic, balanced, full of gags etc. etc. The audience seems to be having great fun and there was nothing in this charming performance to recall the reality and the sadness of life as already Stendhal told us above.

I am very aware that Agnes Baltsa is currently 64 y.o. (born 1944) and it has not been long since the last time i saw her on stage.

Agnes Baltsa has always been an idol for me. I worship her Eboli, I have listened to her Italianas, Rosinas, Angelinas, Santuzzas etc etc a thousand times and there are many things she has sung that I find top of the tops. For example her “O mio Fernando” from La Favorita. I still haven’t found any other singer who can send shivers up and down my spine when listening to this. Her 1981 rendition of this aria on "Orfeo" is unsurpassable. Period.

But singing Santuzza or Klytemnaestra is light years away from singing Rossini. And even if Agnes used to be a most accomplished rossinian, nowadays she doesn't have the voice capital to support it.

The once agile voice has lost agility, it's sometimes shriek, the coloratura is not clear enough, high notes are not there anymore , and whatever lies on the passaggio gives her a very hard time.

But what an artist of the calibre of Agnes Baltsa can still give to this role?

Agnes IS Isabella.

She 's so into it, she's done it a thousand times, and despite all difficulties she seems to be having great fun!

Mario Zeffiri (Lindoro) is a world renowned greek tenor (real surname Botsarakos) in the big league and tradition of tenors like Matteuzzi, Merritt, Ford etc. Impressive high notes, coloraturas, some showing off, but also instability, tone problems -in more than one occasion- and nasal sound, some times even squeeky.
Something that i didn't like in particular: Poor Elvira has only a few occasions to shine on stage and i suppose that, what everybody will think about when reading this, is the Act 1 finale where Elvira has to sing these high C's. Well, if i were Elvira and the Lindoro stole one of my C's (as Mario Zeffiri did) i would kick his ass.

Lorenzo Regazzo, seemed to be lacking the power and volume of Mustafa and his high notes sounded really strangled at times. But on stage he was more than credible, an extremely funny Mustafa (his Alidoro that i watched in London in December was also beautiful).

Renato Girolami (Taddeo) and Andrea Patucelli (Ali) in their smaller but significant roles both gave excellent performances. So did Kleopatra Nasiou (Zulma), a young mezzo we should keep an eye on, who the past summer sang Lucia in La Gazza Ladra in Pesaro (with the surname Papatheologou).

Vassiliki Karayanni was a weak Elvira, sometimes unsteady, with mediocre volume and loooots of stress...

Last but not least, the Athens State Orchestra gave one of the worst performances ever! (So did the Fons Musicalis Choir!) I was really close to the pit and felt pity for maestro Antonello Allemandi who had to deal with so bad professionals.

But enough with grouching!

Listen to the Act I finale as performed in Athens on the 14th of March
Pay attention to Mario Zeffiri´s (stolen hehe) high C.

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***UPDATE***

Back from the second performance of L' Italiana in Algeri (17th of March). Not many changes, Agnes Baltsa -more confident- sang a lot better, Zeffiri also, Regazzo seemed a little bored, Karayanni (Elvira) was also a lot more stable and secure. The audience seemed to be having a great time, and offered a big, deserved applause to all.

On strike!

Due to the strikes on Wednesday the 19th, the Athens Megaron has decided to move the performance of L' Italiana on the 20th of March...

Which means that Agnes Baltsa and the rest of the cast will sing on the 20th of March their third performance and on the 21st of March their fourth performance?!

Or not...???

According to the rumours, Baltsa will NOT sing the last performance and there will be a replacement.

(But of course they won't say a thing till the very last moment...).

Languir per una bella! Da real thang.

First things first. The last night premiere of L' Italiana in Algeri at the Athens Megaron was quite successful. You 'll just have to wait a bit for the full report, till then, here 're some hors d'ouevres:

Mario Zeffiri singing Lindoro's Act I cavatina,
Languir per una bella:

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Oh inferno!

Did you listen to Rolando's new cd??????
Parsi did, about 10 times in just 2 days.

I 'm driving around Athens and the cd is constantly playing.
Today my favourite was Gabriele Adorno's aria from
Simon Boccanegra, "Oh inferno".
Yesterday it was the big scene from Poliuto,
"Veleno é l´aura".

Not sure about tomorrow.

Cheryl la greca!

EXCLUSIVELY AT PARSIFAL'S

Cheryl Studer will be in Thessaloniki from the 17th to the 23d of March 2008 where she will give masterclasses at the National Archaeological Museum.

Cheryl is visiting Greece very often over the last few years as her amouuuur is Greek....

The first time i saw them together was-i think- in a Jessye Norman recital at the Odeon Of Herodes Atticus some 5 years ago. The recital was disastrous and Jessye didn't let her fans in for autographs etc etc but, at least, while backstage i met Cheryl and her fiancé who were both lovely, kind and warm hearted (au contraire to what miss Norman was).

L' Italiana ad Atene!

News from the dress rehearsal of the Italiana in Algeri at the Athens Megaron were very positive indeed!

Parsi wasn't there as he was called to be at the generale on very short notice and couldn't make it but my spies did and they called me as soon as they left the Concert Hall.

Mario Zeffiri was the one who received the best of reviews together with Lorenzo Regazzo.

Comments on Agnes Baltsa said that she was a quite impressive Isabella, a great actress etc etc but her voice cannot respond in the way it did some years ago (well, she's 60+, i would be very surprised if she could).

Less than 48 hours left to the premiere!

A Tribute to Inga Nielsen

Placido and Inga

Three videos that give a total of about 28 minutes.

Half an hour of Inga Nielsen being interviewed and of Inga Nielsen singing.

Three videos about a great artist who we 'll gonna miss for sure.

Rolando speaks!

An interview of Rolando Villazón for the Radio Nacional de España.

Rolando speaks about his new cd, his life, his choices.

During the interview you can hear bits of Rolando´s new cd, heard for the first time.

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Almost 27 full minutes of Rolando!!!

Top Gear!

Not an episode of Top Gear, definitely.
Just an opera singer with his Jag!
Ferruccio Furlanetto and his 1954 Jaguar
© Johannes Ifkovits 2008

Bjork for the Independence!

We love Bjork because she's a great artist

we love Bjork because she's a bit nuts
we love Bjork because she's a fashion icon
we love Bjork for the times we have cried with her songs
we love Bjork for the times we have danced to her songs
we love Bjork for her interpretation in "Dancer in the Dark"
now we 've found one more reason to love her:

The Guardian
Tania Branigan in Beijing

First Steven Spielberg upset China's internet users after resigning as adviser to the Olympics over Darfur. Now Björk is under attack after shouting "Tibet! Tibet!" at the end of her song Declare Independence at a concert in Shanghai.

Her remark was not reported in official media, but led to criticism when it began to circulate on the web. While China's 58-year occupation of Tibet remains controversial abroad, most Chinese see Tibet as a part of their country and regard calls for its independence as intrusive and divisive.

One fan said it was "disrespectful" and "very selfish" to raise the issue while visiting China.

The Icelandic singer first dedicated Declare Independence to Greenland and the Faroe Islands, which still have formal links to Denmark, and the song's video shows her in clothing bearing their flags. She dedicated the song to Kosovo while performing in Japan last month.

Its lyrics include: "Don't let them do that to you. Raise your flag!"

Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet Movement, said it was delighted by her remarks, contrasting them with Gordon Brown and David Miliband's "shameful" decision not to raise the issue publicly on their recent visits to Beijing.

"Speaking out while in China has shown it is perfectly possible to make a high-profile visit and raise the ongoing plight of the Tibetan people," he said.

Björk's representatives could not be contacted for comment last night.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said last month: "Tibet has been an inseparable part of Chinese territories since ancient times, which is universally recognised by the international community."

Watch the video HERE

And some Rolando for the whole week...

Some beauuuuutiful pics of Rolando as shown at the ¨Cielo e Mar¨site that Deutsche Grammophon has created for the promotion of Rolando´s new cd!

All fotos © Felix Broede for DG

C´mon people at DG!!! What are you waiting for???

Some Plácido for the weekend!

Watch a clip from the Dress Rehearsal of Cyrano de Bergerac at La Scala a few weeks ago starring Placido Domingo and Sondra Radvanovsky!

Greek Festival 2008, a summer full of excitement.

As you first read at parsifal's ,

La Renée

WILL be in Athens for a Gala on the 3d of July and is gonna sing under the Acropolis at the Odeon Of Herodes Atticus!

It was finally confirmed during a press conference given on the 4th of March in Athens when the vast event calendar of the Athens Festival 2008 was finally announced.

Many exciting things to see in a long festival expanding over 2 months (June, July, August) and some extra-festival performances in September, not yet announced.

What Parsi found more interesting by a quick viewing were the following:

Greek National Opera

Giacomo Puccini, TurandotJanice Baird as Turandot

1, 3, 5, 7 June 2008, 21:00

The Cast seems excellent (well, Franco Farina isn't exactly my cup of tea)
Turandot: JANICE BAIRD
Calaf: Franco Farina
Liú: Elena Kelessidi
Timur: Dimitri Kavrakos

The last time that we saw Turandot at the Odeon Of Herodes Atticus was back in 1996 in a production of the Greek National Opera with Francesca Patané as Turandot and Nicola Martinucci as Calaf.

What seems to be of interest is that Renata Scotto is about to do the regia of this new Turandot.
It's gonna be the third time that Scotto does a stage direction in Greece (Lucia di Lammermoor and Madama Butterfly in Thessaloniki) and the first time in Athens.

~

Then we 're gonna have the pleasure of watching once again
The Wooster Group
that seem to have begun a stable relation with the athenians after their previous performances in Athens.
This time it's gonna be Hamlet (12 - 15 June 2008).

~

Whoever has not seen this magnificent choreography by Maurice Bejart shouldn't miss the chance.

A Tribute to Maurice Béjart
Sylvie Guillem - The Tokyo Ballet
16&17 June 2008

Le Sacre du Printemps
La Luna
Le Chant du Compagnon Errant
Bolero

Soloists: Sylvie Guillem, Laurent Hilaire, Manuel Legris.

I had the luck of watching Sylvie Guillem twice dancing these extraordinary choreographies and i think i could definitely use a third...

~

A few days later,
Christophe Rousset and his Talens Lyrique
will pay us a visit.

27 June 2008

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764), Quam dilecta (CMBV / Jean Duron edition)

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704), Symphonies pour un reposoir, H515

André Campra (1660-1744), De Profundis
I. Symphonie
II. De profundis clamavi
VI. Quia apud te
VIII. Requiem

André Campra, Requiem

Céline Scheen (soprano I),
Salomé Haller (soprano II),
Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro (counter tenor),
Robert Getchell (tenor),
Matthew Brook (bass)

~

Another theatrical favourite of the Athenians, the

Schaubühne am lehniner platz

an avant-garde group from Berlin, will perform

Tennessee Williams', Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

and

William Shakespeare's Hamlet

~

The 3d of July

Ta Dah!!!!!

And it's time for

A Night with Renée Fleming

I hope i won´t have to sell a kidney to buy a ticket for this one...

~

Fiona Shaw will be back to complete what she left in the middle..

Last year's Samuel Beckett's Happy Days had only one performance due to the 2007 forest fires and the national mourning..

So, Fiona will be back at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus to give us her excellent interpetation of Winnie.

~

The second operatic production that we 're gonna witness is gonna be

Britten's "Midsummer night's dream"

in a production by the Opera de Lyon under the stage direction of Robert Carsen (...)

7, 9 July 2008

Cast will include Lawrence Zazzo as Oberon.

~

Between the 2 performances of the Britten's opera

it's time for some Riccardo!!!

8 July 2008

The Orchestra and Chorus of

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino

under the baton of

Riccardo Muti

will appear for just one night in Athens to perform

Rossini's Stabat Mater.

Full cast not yet announced, the soprano name is missing
but we already know that
Olga Borodina
Mario Zeffiri
and
Ildar Abdrazakov
will join us.

I'm quite sure that there gonna be some people sleeping outside the Athens Festival box-office on the first day of sale...

~

What follows seems to be the Festival's weirdest choice...

Britten's Curlew River

in a controversial production of the
Opera de Lyon
directed by Olivier Py.

10,11 July 2008
Little Epidaurus Theatre.

~

And after the avant-garde it's time for some old fashioned excitement...


Another great maestro,
Christophe Eschenbach
together with the
Orchestre de Paris
will perform
Ravel, Ravel and some Ravel.
11 July 2008.

~

If we have still survived the Muti-Eschenbach frenziness,
i 'll be glad to attend the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra and Chorus concert
under Alexander Vedernikov playing Prokovief.
14 July 2008

~

The Bolshoi Theatre will also offer us the immense pleasure of watching
a most magnificent opera in a most magnificent production:
Modest Mussorgsky
BORIS GODUNOV
in the Alexander Sokurov exquisite production!
a production that had it's premiere at the Bolshoi in April 2007.
At the podium we 'll find again Alexander Vedernikov
Cast has not been yet announced.
15, 16 July 2008
at the new Alexandra Trianti hall of the Athens Megaron

~

Last but not least:

Pina Bausch's
Orphée et Euridice
at the Paris Opera
a few years ago was a triumph that got repeated
once again a few weeks ago.

From the velvety boxes and luxury of the Palais Garnier, this production of Orphée, moves to the most ancient theatre in the world, for 2 performances.
Epidaurus, 19 and 20 July 2008.

~

That's pretty much it.

Of course there are many performances that have their own interest like the recital of Marta Sebestyen, or the Paolo Conte recital.

***UPDATE***

How is it possible??? I didn't write about Misha!

Mikhail Baryshnikov

will also be in the Athens Festival from 3 to 8 of July with Mats Ek and Ana Laguna!

For more information visit the Athens Festival website.