Charles Isherwood of the New York Times has a lot of time on his hands.
Or maybe he’s a terrible insomniac.
Regardless, today’s article, “You Tube’s Greatest Hits” exalts the selection of quality clips for opera, Broadway, and dance on the site better known for, “OMG! Watch My Trailer Park Family Blow Something Up” or “Behold! My Pretentious Film School Short That Got a C Minus For a Reason.”
In the spirit of “research” I decided to do a bit of looking around You Tube for selections from the upcoming opera season - here are a few of my favorites (for different reasons):
Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet
This is an excellent clip of baritone Jason Kaminski singing the “Queen Mab” aria. It reminds me why I always loved Mercutio best of all. In case you need a Freshman English refresher - Queen Mab is the sexy speech that about the fairy Queen Mab, who rides through the night on her tiny wagon bringing dreams to sleepers. Watch it sung in French. Chew on it. It’s good for you. Mmmmm- dreamy…
Deborah Voigt
Actually if you do a search on Deborah Voigt you get a lot of options, but this is my pick.
Deborah Voigt and Luciano Pavarotti sing the Amelia/Riccardo duet "Teco io sto" from the opera “Un ballo in maschera” by Verdi in this performance from 1994. Why did I pick this? Because, frankly, Madame Voigt smokes Pavarotti -don’t believe me? Just read some of the snarky comments from opera aficionados with lots of time on their hands…
(Side note: I just “friended” Deborah Voigt on myspace.com - now that she’s my “friend” I can’t wait to hang out with her and go shopping and …)
Mozart’s Don Giovanni
Dude, just type in Don Giovanni - you get all sorts of choices. You can watch James Levine direct the famous opening overture (super groovy!), but for sheer beauty, brilliance, and production quality I’m going to go with Renee Flemming singing Donna Anna’s aria.
My snark pick goes to this production of Don Giovanni - I’ve always said that the best entrance you can make in opera is through the gymnasium double doors…
Verdi’s Il Trovatore
Here it is kids. The Anvil Chorus. Don’t mind the Japanese subtitles - once you see this fully staged clip - you’ll be humming the famous little ditty all day. There are so many selections when you type in “Il Trovatore” I don’t know where to begin. I can’t wait to see this in April…
Happy Viewing! Hey, post your favorite clip links in the comments - I want to know what you’re watching!
-Kari G.
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