La Scala Reopens with Gala Performance
Milan’s Teatro alla Scala began its 2004-2005 opera season with all the pomp and circumstance befitting the reopening of the world’s most renowned opera house. After having been closed more than two years for renovation, on Dec. 7, 2004 the theater showed off its new red-and-gold interior at a gala performance of Antonio Salieri’s Europa Riconosciuto, the same work that opened the house in 1778.
The reborn house’s acoustics are excellent and the stage machinery is up to the current state of the art, according to reports in the Corriere della Sera.
To satisfy the many thousands of opera lovers who could not afford tickets to the specially priced premiere, or who could not attend for other reasons, the performance was televised at many venues throughout Northern Italy, including the San Vittore prison, the newspaper reported.
www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Spettacoli/2004/12_Dicembre/08/muti.shtml and www.teatroallascala.org
Giuseppe di Stefano Beaten Severely
Giuseppe di Stefano remained in critical condition a month after unknown assailants attacked the famed tenor and his wife on Nov. 30 of last year, the night of their arrival in Diani, Kenya, where they had planned to vacation. The couple was rushed to a hospital in Mombasa, where Mrs. di Stefano received 15 stitches to close head wounds and the 83-year-old retired singer underwent two operations.
Two weeks after the incident, Mrs. di Stefano was almost fully recovered, but the tenor was still in a coma.
The di Stefanos returned to Italy in late December and doctors immediately placed the singer, who arrived by air ambulance, in intensive care.
www.opera-l.org/ Search for di Stefano
Don’t Just Sing, Scream!
In the 18th century, composers not only conducted their own works but staged them as well. During rehearsals for the 1787 premiere of Don Giovanni in Prague, Mozart wanted the Zerlina to scream when the Don tried to seduce her. Unfortunately, the more they worked on the scene the less realistic her cries sounded.
Later that day, the composer slipped into a dark corner of the stage, and at an opportune moment, he jumped out and pinched the soprano’s arm. When she shrieked in terror, Mozart said, “That was admirable. Scream like that tonight.”
Source: Memoirs of a Musician, W. Kuhe, 1913.
Upshaw to Teach at Bard College
Bard College recently announced that Dawn Upshaw has joined its faculty as the Charles Franklin Kellogg and Grace E. Ramsey Kellogg Professor of the Arts and Humanities. She will be responsible for creating vocal studies programs for the College’s Conservatory of Music, beginning with the 2006-2007 academic year.
Although she is a frequent performer, Upshaw enjoys teaching and is currently on the faculty of the Tanglewood Music Institute.
Bard College is located on the Hudson River, 90 miles from New York City.
http://www.bard.edu/conservatory
AGMA Says Health Plan Covers Same Sex Married Couples
The American Guild of Musical Artists has announced that its current health plan now covers “same sex couples who are married under the laws of any jurisdiction or state, without regard to the state in which they reside.”
“We have long recognized the appropriateness of providing health insurance coverage for domestic partners,” said Alan Gordon, AGMA’s national executive director, and principal union trustee for the plan, “and extending that coverage to any of our members who are legally married in any state or country is the logical extension of that policy.”
www.musicalartists.org/ImportantNews/12_08_04HealthPlanChanges.htm
http://www.backstage.com/backstage/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000738640
Palm Beach Opera Names New General Director
Palm Beach Opera recently named Maria C. Nagid to the post of general director. Nagid, who had been serving as interim general director since last July, replaced R. Joseph Barnett, who resigned in December of 2003.
Nagid, a graduate of the Cuban National Conservatory of Music, began working with the company in 1979 as a volunteer. After being hired as a full-time employee, she held positions as education coordinator and artistic administrator before being named to the top job.
www.pbopera.org/html/press_releases.html
Strumming in the Subway
While chatting with Regis Philbin on his morning TV show, actress Jill Hennessy, star of the NBC program Crossing Jordan, revealed that at one time she had earned money by playing guitar and singing folk songs at a New York City subway stop.
Hennessy said that people would request songs, and when she sang them, they dropped tips in her open guitar case. When Regis asked her what her biggest tip was, Hennessy said she once received $50.
Epstein to leave Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2005
Matthew Epstein, artistic director of Chicago Lyric Opera since 1999, will leave the company in April when his current contract expires, says a report in the Chicago Sun Times. General Director William Mason indicated that Epstein is resigning because his vision for the company differs considerably from that of the company’s other top managers. The company has been run by a triumvirate consisting of Music Director Sir Andrew Davis, Mason, and Epstein, but in this time of spartan economics, managers apparently think the third post can be eliminated.
www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-lyric16new.html
Listening to Opera Helps Sheep Grow Finer Fleece
Scotsman.comreports that Australian sheep seem to grow the best possible wool when they are pampered—and listen to classical music on their farm’s speakers.
Shepherds who expect to sell their fleeces to European designers for extremely high prices have tried all sorts of methods to get the finest and softest wool. They found that sheep who listen to Italian opera can produce wool hairs that measure as little as 11.8 microns, whereas the hairs produced by sheep raised in the ordinary manner usually measure around 20 microns. Very fine-haired merino wool can sell for 300 times the price of ordinary wool.
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1397322004
