Word: aria
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Majestic as a ship of the line, Dramatic Soprano Eileen Parrel I, 47, cruised through an aria from La Gioconda as she neared the end of a concert at Atlanta's Municipal Auditorium. Suddenly the mighty voice quit cold. "You wouldn't believe it, but I've forgotten it," blurted Eileen to the audience. By the time the laughter died, her memory had recharged itself, and she finished the aria to a cataract of applause. Later, she bemusedly recalled the contretemps that had built up to her monumental blank. "The programs were printed incorrectly. The weather...
...City Opera Director Julius Rudel, the singers projected their parts with clarity and polish while threading their way through Ming Cho Lee's surrealistic settings. Mexican Tenor Salvador Novoa eloquently voiced the pain and weakness of the Duke, and statuesque Joanna Simon, as the courtesan, sang her seduction aria in a lustrous mezzo-soprano...
Joseph Dwyer as Florestan had the task of singing what is perhaps the most difficult tenor aria in all opera. "Gott. welch' Dunkel hier" really has too many A's and and Bb's for anyone to cope with and Dwver showed severe signs of strain. Nonetheless he sand with emotion, a quality that had been lacking in the opera up to that point, especially in the men's chorus and the ensembles...
Jean Marshall's Countess was less successful. Her voice never blended with the other, and "Dove sono i beimomento," which must be the loveliest aria in the opera, came out nervous and constricted. She might have been singing in Martian for all the words I could make...
Lucy Shelton's Marcellina was capable and appropriately maternal. Richard Firmin, playing both Basilio and Curzio, melted smoothly into the ensembles (his aria was wisely omitted, as was Marcellina's). David Cornell's Bartolo was strong but a little clumsy and headstrong. Angus Duncan as Antonio was marvellously and bitterly ironic. He also had one of the most brilliant lines of the translation: describing Cherubino's leap from a window, he testifies, "I'm sure that he wasn't on horseback, for no horse from the window came down." But of all the minor roles, Juliet Cunningham's Barbarina...