EMI Classics Tease For Angela Gheorghiu Homage Disc

As previously posted, Angela Gheorghiu is releasing a new CD that pays homage to the art of Maria Callas. Check out the teaser that EMI Classics put out on their YouTube channel catching Ms. Gheorghiu at a photo shoot. They promise more "coming soon." Perhaps the EPK will hit the airwaves post haste.

Angela Gheorghiu Pays Homage to Maria Callas on EMI

Now that the vast majority of operatic recordings made by Maria Callas are in the public domain, EMI Classics needs to figure out how to keep profiting from its #1-selling artist. How do you do that when said artist has been deceased since 1977? Perhaps the answer lies in taking one of the current divas that signed onto your roster in 1998 and create a new tribute album of sorts. That is exactly what the public gets from the latest release from Angela Gheorghiu: Homage to Maria Callas. The soprano is joined by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of conductor Marco Armiliato and the part-time colleague tenor James Valenti for his offstage singing on the Traviata track. The curious part of this project is that Ms. Gheorghiu has always professed that fellow Romanian Virginia Zeani is the soprano she most admires
and practically modeled herself after once deciding to become an opera singer (listen to an audio interview here). Before becoming an exclusive artist with EMI, Ms. Gheorghiu had signed with competitor Decca records. It was for this label that Virginia Zeani herself recorded two full studio albums. One recording was an all-Puccini program of arias from Gianni Schicchi, Turandot, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La Rondine and more, with conductor Franco Patanè. The second operatic recital with conductor Gianandrea Gavazzeni featured coloratura arias from prime Callas territory including La Traviata, I Puritani, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Bohème and


La Sonnambula. In some ways it may seem that Zeani was Decca's answer to EMI's Callas. Recording repertoire wasn't the only thing they shared. In 1952, conductor Tullio Serafin replaced Maria Callas with Virginia Zeani as Elvira in I Puritani at the Teatro Communale in Florence. The bass that evening was Nicola Rossi Lemeni, future husband to Ms. Zeani. So it seems odd that Decca never took advantage of their exclusive rights to Ms. Gheorghiu when they had her in order to make a dedication album to her homeland heroine. One thing that Ms. Gheorghiu does share with Madame Callas is that this "homage" will feature music that dips into mezzo-soprano repertoire (Samson et Dalila, Le Cid, Carmen), something that the latter began to record once vocal decline began to set in. 2012 will mark the 60th anniversary of Callas joining the EMI family and that just might prompt an increase in sales of her greatest recordings. [Source]
Label Divas: Maria Callas (l) and Virginia Zeani (r) strike similar poses:"Homage to Maria Callas is a collection of beloved French and Italian operatic masterpieces performed by Angela Gheorghiu, the defining diva of this century. The programme is inspired by the career and recordings of Maria Callas, the greatest diva of the last century. The arias are shared favourites of both Callas and Gheorghiu, and Angela’s new recording demonstrates once again her extraordinary vocal and emotional range. Angela Gheorghiu said recently, 'Callas was original in everything she did; she was a phenomenon. In every performance she gave her all. She was the most wonderful painter and you can always hear exactly the right colour in her voice. Just hearing her sound, you understand all the power or fragility of her emotions. That’s a rare talent and a great gift.' Gheorghiu continued, 'EMI was her record label and it’s mine too. It feels like a family.' Recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios in London and in New York, the repertoire of Gheorghiu’s first studio recital in six years (during which time she recorded several complete operas, including a multi-award-winning Madama Butterfly), shows her versatility in lyric, spinto and mezzo roles, with each of which she feels a strong emotional connection. These include Mimi (La bohème), Marguerite (Faust), Imogene (Il Pirata), Adriana (Adriana Lecouvreur – an opera which Gheorghiu added to her repertoire in 2010 to great critical acclaim), Maddalena (Andrea Chénier), Nedda (Pagliacci), Wally (La Wally), Medea, Chimène (Le Cid) and Delilah (Samson et Delilah). The new album also includes two arias from the opera that launched her career: La traviata by Verdi, New York Magazine praised at the time that 'Her lady of the camellias is a worthy successor to Garbo and Callas.' [Source]
Did Angela Gheorghiu inadvertently pay tribute to Maria Callas
while still on the Decca label with this 1998 release?
Paul Pelkonen reports, "...the most controversial addition to the disc is a digitally built duet between La Gheorghiu and the late Maria Callas. The two sopranos, one living, one very dead, will sing 'L'amour c'est l'oiseaux rebelle,' the Habañera from Act I of Bizet's Carmen. According to a press release (received today from EMI Classics) the new 'duet' was created from the original master tape of Callas' 1961 recording of the aria. The engineers chose this over the '63 recording of the complete opera, because it lacked the usual choral accompaniment. In the engineering booth, the original orchestra (the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française under the baton of George Prêtre) was scrubbed out. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Marco Armiliato re-recorded the music, with the players using a special click track to match the original. Ms. Gheorghiu also chose to learn Callas' particular sense of rhythm and meter, enabling the two divas to warble together, or seperately. Leaving aside obvious reservations (the biggest one being that the Habañera is intended for one singer!) the new disc will hit New York's few remaining record shops in October [sic], shortly before Ms. Gheorghiu's scheduled appearance with the Opera Orchestra of New York. In the OONY performance, she will sing the title role in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvrer." [Source]

VERSIONS AVAILABLE:
- Deluxe Edition comprises a CD encased in a hardcover book containing an essay from Angela in three languages, a gallery of glamorous new photos and exclusive access to a video and mini-feature on the making of the CD.
- Standard Edition consists of a CD in a digipack with a booklet excerpting Gheorghiu’s essay. Both Deluxe and Standard editions feature song texts in English, French, German and the original language, if different, as well as booklet text in all three languages.
- Standard Digital Version offers the entire standard CD contents.

RELEASE DATES: USA (9/28),  UK (11/7) and Germany (11/18)
Sample tracks by clicking here.
TRACK LISTING:
1. "Donde Lieta Uscì" (Mimì's Farewell): La Bohème, Act Iii
2. "O Dieu! Que De Bijoux" (Jewel Song ): Faust, Act Iii, Scene 6
3. "Col Sorriso D'innocenza": Il Pirata, Act Ii, Scene 3
4. "Qual Fiamma Avea Nel Guardo!...Stridono Lassu": I Pagliacci
5. "Mon Coeur S'ouvre à Ta Voix": Samson Et Dalila
6. "Ebben?...Ne Andrò Lontana": La Wally
7. "L'amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle" (Habanera): Carmen
8. "La Mamma Morta": Andrea Chénier, Act Iii
9. "Dei Tuoi Figli La Madre": Medea, Act I, Scene 1
10. "De Cet Affreux Combat...Pleurez Mes Yeux": Le Cid
11. "Poveri Fiori": Adriana Lecouvreur
12. "È strano! È strano!...Ah, Fors` è Lui": La Traviata
13. "Follie! Follie!...Sempre Libera": La Traviata - with James Valenti

Side-by-Side: Angela Gheorghiu Sings "Poveri fiori"

Who Is the Real Angela Gheorghiu? Aren't All Artists Difficult?

What piece of music would work as the soundtrack to your life?
I think I need a composer for that. Somebody to really get to know me, to discover the real Angela, and not just read the newspapers.

How would you like to be remembered?
I think I need to work on that. People still think I'm difficult. But who is not difficult? Balzac was difficult; Tolstoy was difficult; my mother can be difficult. Anybody who wants a good result must be difficult sometimes.

Read more of the artist profile on the Guardian's website.

Angela Gheorghiu For Royal Opera House Olympic Programme

Angela Gheorghiu Would Prefer Cash for MET HD

In a recent interview with the Toronto Star, soprano Angela Gheorghiu tells it likes she sees it. [Source]

Q: Have the Metropolitan Opera live broadcasts made a difference to you, in terms of being able to reach out to more people?
A: “The Metropolitan broadcasts? Are you kidding? No, because I am not engaged only at the Metropolitan Opera house. I’m a singer who is singing all over the world. (Gheorghiu reminds me that her international career started at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1992, and how she starred in a new production of La Traviata that in 1994.) The BBC changed their schedule to put my Traviata on television for the first time in history. So there’s nothing original going on at the Met, at this point. It’s just an opera house between the others. The most unfair thing about these broadcasts is that, all over the world, people are buying tickets to see a performance, my performance, or a colleague’s performance, and we are not paid for that. But we do it anyway. If we think we like it, we do it, that is all. I am not selling more CDs because I am singing La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera House. No. The times have changed, you know?The most important for an opera singer is to be so good that it doesn’t matter which stage you are on.”

Angela Gheorghiu as Madeleine de Faublas

"Ball im Savoy (Ball at the Savoy) is an operetta in three acts and a prelude by Paul Abraham to a libretto by Alfred Grünwald and Fritz Löhner-Beda. It premiered on December 23, 1932, at the Großes Schauspielhaus, Berlin. The English language premiere was on 8 September 8, 1933, at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, under the title Ball At The Savoy. This was Abraham's last major success. Although Ball im Savoy is a relatively recent operetta, its characters follow the classic scheme: Aristide (tenor) is a rueful rake, excruciated by the possible betrayal. Madeleine (soprano) is a more modern person, ready to give as good as she gets, albeit plagued by scruples: a feminist before the term existed, who receives approval from the other women. Mustafa represents the stock comic. More interesting is Daisy (soubrette): sly, brave, she knows what she wants and how to get it." [Source] Watch the video after the jump to see Ms. Gheorghiu rocking the Alexis Carrington look that was so hot in the 1980s as she sings "Toujours l'Amour."

Angela Gheorghiu Pre-Cancellation Interview In Daily Express

Brigit Grant, of the Daily Express (U.K.), scored a major interview with soprano Angela Gheorghiu days before she canceled her entire run of performances for Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera. Throughout the interview it is clear this is a determined woman who knows what she wants and does not want foolish people in her path. Topics during the conversation include her dealings with Michael Jackson (“I cannot have a conversation with someone who knows nothing about opera"), an ongoing friendship with Sting and his wife Trudi (they "remain very close"), directors who attempt to work on productions of operas in languages they don't speak (“You wouldn’t dream of doing Shakespeare if you can’t speak English"), her tumultuous relationship with Roberto Alagna ("I needed a change and

With Sting in Little Petra, 2008

wanted to perform with other tenors. I always follow my instinct.”), her thoughts about reputation in the opera world (“They say I am difficult but who are they? Who is with me on stage when I perform? The answer is no one.") and adopting her niece after her sister's death (“Like my sister, Ioana has a wonderful voice but I don’t want to force her to sing. It must be her decision..."). [Source]

Royal Wedding Music, Part 2: Who Would Be Available To Sing?

POTENTIAL CANDIDATES FOR ROYAL WEDDING SOLOIST
In a business where professionals are contracted out five years in advance, what singer could possible be free to sing for the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton on April 29, 2011? Checking schedules of the top dozen front-runners for the job discloses that some could be a private jet ride away from the event:

Renée Fleming will have completed her last performance of Strauss's Capriccio at the Metropolitan Opera on April 23 and has a Strauss concert of orchestral songs and scenes from Arabella with the Berlin Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann.

Anna Netrebko sings the Pergolesi Stabat Mater on April 28 in Geneva, Switzerland, and again on May 2 in Toulouse, France.

Kate Royal makes her Metropolitan Opera debut the night of April 29 in Orfeo ed Euridice. The second performance of the run is May 4. There are only five performances of the Gluck opera.

Angela Gheorghiu has concerts on April 27 and May 1 at the National Concert Hall in Seoul, Korea.

Marina Poplavskaya is performing The Tsar's Bride of Rimsky-Korsakov at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden during the month of April and her penultimate performance in the run takes place at 7PM on April 29.

Anja Harteros just canceled her appearances at the San Diego Opera as the Marschallin in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, but is to appear in that very role on May 4 in Wiesbaden. She will be singing performances of Mimí in La Bohème at the Hamburg State Opera on April 23 & 30.

Cecilia Bartoli makes her way to Down Under for concerts in Australia on March 15 & 18. Then there is nothing in her schedule until a May 5 concert performance with Orchestra La Scintilla in Berlin.

Elīna Garanča the mezzo-soprano is singing the role of Giovanna Seymour in Donizett's Anna Bolena with a last performance at the Wien Staatsoper in Austria on April 17 and the first performance of the same work at the Opernhaus Zürich in Switzerland on May 21.




What about the possibility of a male performing during the ceremony?

Rolando Villazón will be in rehearsals at the Royal Opera House for Massenet's Werther which will have its opening night on May 5.

Plácido Domingo sings a concert with Ana María Martínez in Puerto Rico on April 17 and then will head to Washington, D.C., for Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride opening on May 6.

Jonas Kaufmann can be found at the Metropolitan Opera in the middle of performing the role of Siegmund in Wagner's Die Walküre. Performance dates bookend the nuptials date: April 28 and May 2.

Bryn Terfel is also at the Metropolitan Opera taking on the role of Wotan with performances scheduled on April 28 and May 2.