Saturday, June 16, 2007
New York never ceases to amaze me: Last night I went out to Café Taci, where you can not only enjoy a fine Italian dinner, but also listen to live opera. Singing from armatures ? I expected someone squeaking out and killing the great arias. Nope. These people easily sung in deafening volume (without mics, of course) the great arias.
One dramatic soprano sung Mozart arias from “Cosi fan Tutte” and “the Marriage of Figaro” with ease. And another sang famed arias from Grounod’s “Faust”. Tenors sang Puccini nailing every note in full voice; there was even a moment where three tenors belted out the famed Italian aria “O Sole Mio” to a huge ovation
It made me realize the fine line between someone trained in the art and the famed singers at the Metropolitan Opera. Volume, of course, must be there – they must sing above a full orchestra to fill a 4,000 seat auditorium. The Met has crushed many a great sopranos with its sheer size.
But it was at towards the end of the night when someone sang the first aria on “The Magic Flute” that I realized one big difference. To those that don’t know the opera, the Queen of the Night has two fiendishly difficult arias (and her only arias). She must climb up to several high Fs. Singing with beautiful runs and rolandes we were all biting our teeth when approacking that F. She cracked it.
That is the difference between the Met and the students. At the Met that note is hit in every performance.
But who knows. With a 10 more years of training, she may be the next Callas, Sills, or something along those lines. This music, dead for some time now, lives and breaths with vibrancy today.
One dramatic soprano sung Mozart arias from “Cosi fan Tutte” and “the Marriage of Figaro” with ease. And another sang famed arias from Grounod’s “Faust”. Tenors sang Puccini nailing every note in full voice; there was even a moment where three tenors belted out the famed Italian aria “O Sole Mio” to a huge ovation
It made me realize the fine line between someone trained in the art and the famed singers at the Metropolitan Opera. Volume, of course, must be there – they must sing above a full orchestra to fill a 4,000 seat auditorium. The Met has crushed many a great sopranos with its sheer size.
But it was at towards the end of the night when someone sang the first aria on “The Magic Flute” that I realized one big difference. To those that don’t know the opera, the Queen of the Night has two fiendishly difficult arias (and her only arias). She must climb up to several high Fs. Singing with beautiful runs and rolandes we were all biting our teeth when approacking that F. She cracked it.
That is the difference between the Met and the students. At the Met that note is hit in every performance.
But who knows. With a 10 more years of training, she may be the next Callas, Sills, or something along those lines. This music, dead for some time now, lives and breaths with vibrancy today.
# posted by otas : 7:25 PM
