Laurent Pelly's famous production of La fille du Régiment (seen in London, Vienna and New York till now - Barcelona being next) opened at the War Memorial Opera House of San Francisco on October the 13th with Juan Diego Florez in top-form nailing his High C's (ain't he always in top-form?) and Diana Damrau in her debut as Marie.
The reviews are raving:
Virtuoso Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez and German soprano Diana Damrau wowed audience at S.F. Opera
Big-top 'Daughter of the Regiment'
A daughter you want to adopt
The reviews are as already said excellent and some even want Diana Damrau to have stolen the show and to have been the star of the evening.
"But as fine as Flórez was — several of those C's were launched like hot stakes — he wasn't as impressive as German soprano Diana Damrau, who pretty much stole the show in the role of Marie, Tonio's intended and the opera's heroine. "
or
"Kudos are in order for many involved, but Diana Damrau's San Francisco debut in the title role is the one to treasure most. A blend of Beverly Sills and Carol Burnett (with a Pippi Longstocking 'do), the tiny coloratura raced about several marathons' worth, and was "on" pretty much every minute of the two-and-a-half-hour evening, singing brilliantly. She’s now among the chosen artists warmly adopted by the War Memorial audience."
La Damrau spoke to Marina Romani about Marie in a recent interview:
'For me, you know, it was a bit difficult because I have not been cooking much lately and can't peel potatoes! I don't have a lot of experience in that – or in the ironing! My clothes are ready for travelling, I just wash them and hang them, and that's it! This was actually a big challenge!' She laughs, and then she develops her ideas on the character she will portray: 'It's very difficult, but I like roles which involve the body and a lot of energy. Now is the right time – I can still move! And I still have the high notes – you can go a little bit crazy in the cadenzas in the "Lesson scene" for instance. This role is just a big joy!'
And on JDF
'Sure! It's our third production together – we did Barbiere at the Met, and Rigoletto in Dresden, and now here we are. And he can sing this role backwards at three o'clock in the morning!', she laughs. 'He's helping me with the role. It's fun: and he's a great partner on stage!'
And on her new album COLORaturas (due for release on November the 2nd):
'I already have on CD the classical repertoire – Mozart, Salieri… But this time we're doing beautiful coloratura roles of the romantic repertoire. "COLORaturaS", the album, is about colours; and I gave the CD that name because some people still don't know what a coloratura soprano is, what this word means... that what we do is precisely to colour: we colour the phrases, we put feelings into the phrases. And then I thought that this might seem a very wild mix, because the arias I wanted to record are in German, Italian, English and French... some critics will say "Oh, here's another insalata mista – who needs that!". Now... I think this is colours! And also, we stay in the romantic repertoire – this was also the idea behind the album: to record works like Glitter and be gay, and Zerbinetta... people know these roles of mine from stage but not so many recordings exist, so I did that! And I also put in Anne Trulove from from The Rake's Progress, because I love that aria – sometimes I sing it in concerts. All these arias are a part of me!'
A promotional video of the SFO gives an idea of how the premiere might have been:
And Parsi gives an idea of how it actually was!
Listen to JDF singing "Pour mon âme" on opening night
Listen to Diana Damrau singing "Il faut partir" on opening night
Listen to JDF singing "Pour me rapprocher de Marie"
Listen to the finale of La fille du régiment on opening night.
The reviews are raving:
Virtuoso Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez and German soprano Diana Damrau wowed audience at S.F. Opera
Big-top 'Daughter of the Regiment'
A daughter you want to adopt
The reviews are as already said excellent and some even want Diana Damrau to have stolen the show and to have been the star of the evening.
"But as fine as Flórez was — several of those C's were launched like hot stakes — he wasn't as impressive as German soprano Diana Damrau, who pretty much stole the show in the role of Marie, Tonio's intended and the opera's heroine. "
or
"Kudos are in order for many involved, but Diana Damrau's San Francisco debut in the title role is the one to treasure most. A blend of Beverly Sills and Carol Burnett (with a Pippi Longstocking 'do), the tiny coloratura raced about several marathons' worth, and was "on" pretty much every minute of the two-and-a-half-hour evening, singing brilliantly. She’s now among the chosen artists warmly adopted by the War Memorial audience."
La Damrau spoke to Marina Romani about Marie in a recent interview:
'For me, you know, it was a bit difficult because I have not been cooking much lately and can't peel potatoes! I don't have a lot of experience in that – or in the ironing! My clothes are ready for travelling, I just wash them and hang them, and that's it! This was actually a big challenge!' She laughs, and then she develops her ideas on the character she will portray: 'It's very difficult, but I like roles which involve the body and a lot of energy. Now is the right time – I can still move! And I still have the high notes – you can go a little bit crazy in the cadenzas in the "Lesson scene" for instance. This role is just a big joy!'
And on JDF
'Sure! It's our third production together – we did Barbiere at the Met, and Rigoletto in Dresden, and now here we are. And he can sing this role backwards at three o'clock in the morning!', she laughs. 'He's helping me with the role. It's fun: and he's a great partner on stage!'
And on her new album COLORaturas (due for release on November the 2nd):
'I already have on CD the classical repertoire – Mozart, Salieri… But this time we're doing beautiful coloratura roles of the romantic repertoire. "COLORaturaS", the album, is about colours; and I gave the CD that name because some people still don't know what a coloratura soprano is, what this word means... that what we do is precisely to colour: we colour the phrases, we put feelings into the phrases. And then I thought that this might seem a very wild mix, because the arias I wanted to record are in German, Italian, English and French... some critics will say "Oh, here's another insalata mista – who needs that!". Now... I think this is colours! And also, we stay in the romantic repertoire – this was also the idea behind the album: to record works like Glitter and be gay, and Zerbinetta... people know these roles of mine from stage but not so many recordings exist, so I did that! And I also put in Anne Trulove from from The Rake's Progress, because I love that aria – sometimes I sing it in concerts. All these arias are a part of me!'
A promotional video of the SFO gives an idea of how the premiere might have been:
And Parsi gives an idea of how it actually was!
Listen to JDF singing "Pour mon âme" on opening night
Listen to Diana Damrau singing "Il faut partir" on opening night
Listen to JDF singing "Pour me rapprocher de Marie"
Listen to the finale of La fille du régiment on opening night.
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