Encore! Encore! No really, encore!

Solo encores have fallen out of favor in the opera. Fairly common in the 19th century, the practice fell out favor when opera became more “serious.”

Buzz killer.

The Met has explicitly banned solo encores for much of the 20th century. In fact, the only one that has been documented was in 1994 (but we’ll get to that in a moment).

14 years later, history was made at the Met when Juan Diego Florez performed a solo encore of the challenging tenor aria “Ah! Mes Amis.” Filled with high C’s this “tenor tester” brought the house to its knees and provided a thrilling moment for all opera lovers. The challenging role is said to launch tenor’s careers at the Met and is credited as being the “star-making” role of Luciano Pavarotti (but we’ll get to that in a moment).

Juan Diego Florez currently stars with Natalie Dessay in a new production of Donizetti’s La Fille du Regiment. Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, has said that there would be no encore ban on his watch, to make opera “as entertaining and exciting for the audience as it can be.”

Cool.

So back to that 1994 solo encore – any guesses? It was Luciano Pavarotti, singing the second-act tenor aria in Tosca.

If you can name the aria – I have two tickets for you to the Friday night or Sunday matinee performance of Opera Tampa’s Tosca.

-Kari G.

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The Green Goblin wants Spiderman to go to the opera

Okay, maybe not exactly, but at the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night of the season, this guy was there:

And Mr. Dafoe was not the only celebrity to be cited, other guests included Jane Fonda, David Schwimmer, Anthony Minghella, John McEnroe, Bianca Jagger, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Walter Cronkite and the beautiful and stylish grandmother of Apple and Moses, Blythe Danner.

All of the schmoozing and fun can be found here.

Gaetano Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” continues General Manager Peter Gelb’s vision of opening night showcasing an opulent opera. Once again simulcast to the adoring public, “Lucia di Lammermoor” was seen by over 8,000 opera lovers (or people wandering by the Lincoln Center). For full details on the performance read the NYT review.

Tonight the Met offers Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” with Placido Domingo conducting and the dead-sexy Anna Netrebko as Juliet. Standing room tickets are still available – just in case you were planning a last minute trip to NYC tonight.

-Kari G.

The Magic Flute

I’ve posted about the Metropolitan Opera simulcasting their season before and I just got off the phone with Diane at Citrus Park Stadium 20 and you should know there are 247 tickets sold for The Magic Flute on Sat. Dec. 30^th. Diane tells me there are only 35 seats left – so if you want to go – HURRY! You can get tickets by calling Citrus Park Stadium 20 at 813.920.9471.

This is going to be super cool!

-Kari G.

Just Your Basic Opera Update

I haven’t been posting about the opera lately, because I was busy enjoying the opera. Opera Tampa kicked off the 2006-2007 Homes by Helen Opera Series last Friday with Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet. Now that the show has passed, I don’t feel so bad about shamelessly plugging the great reviews by The Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times.

For me personally, I took a date to the opera. He even wore a bow tie and looked a little bit like Daniel Craig after a glass of wine and some squinting. (Squinting to make him look older of course).

It was beautiful, it was romantic, it had swordfights, it had codpieces – it was a great night and you should have been there.

So there.

Okay on to other news in the opera…

This story could be bordering on tedious if it wasn’t getting downright ridiculous. Berlin Opera’s controversial on again/off again production of Mozart’s Indomeneo has kind of - lost its head. More specifically, the prop of Muhammed’s severed head. You know, the item that caused all the problems in the first place? Yep. They can’t find it. Sigh. Updates as they happen.

Famed director Franco Zeffirelli was cheered and showered with roses on the opening night of his new production of Verdi's Aida at La Scala on Thursday night, making his triumphant return after a 14-year absence from the opera house where he first made his mark. Not known for being humble, Zeffirelli claimed it is the best opera La Scala has ever seen. Wow. I’m sure it’s good, but please place this in the same file as John Lennon proclaiming the Beatles to be “More popular than Jesus now.”

Keep it in perspective Frank …

Best press I’ve seen so far on Aida? This BBC slide show – go to slide 7 and witness Donatella Versace make her mark as the best “old produce” La Scala has ever seen.

Yikes!

-Kari G.

The Met Goes to the Movies!

In an exciting first for the company, the Metropolitan Opera will transmit its December 30 matinee of Mozart's The Magic Flute into movie theaters in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.-live and in high definition. This 100-minute adaptation of Julie Taymor's (of Lion King fame) spectacular production, with a text in English, hits the big screen in HD with cinema surround sound. The first of six operas to be broadcast live into movie theaters this season as part of the Met's efforts to reach a broader audience, Flute will be followed on screen by I Puritani (January 6), The First Emperor (January 13), Eugene Onegin (February 24), Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville, March 24), and Il Trittico (April 28). In Tampa, Regal Citrus Park Stadium 20 will be showing all simulcasts. To purchase tickets and gain more information click here.

-Kari G.