Word: sopranoes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Music: Fed up, the Metropolitan Opera fires one of its biggest but most temperamental stars, soprano Kathleen Battle...
...combative diva, 45, is the darling of a huge public, a glamorous former schoolteacher from Portsmouth, Ohio, who possesses one of the loveliest voices in opera today. Thanks to her supple, dulcet soprano and winning stage personality -- and with the powerful patronage of Met artistic director James Levine -- she has risen to worldwide fame in secondary roles that ordinarily do not make stars, parts like Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni and Sophie in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. Battle's presence in a cast or with an orchestra practically guarantees a sold-out house; her albums, whether art songs...
...Divas are expected to be difficult; opera lore is rife with tales of their devouring egos and overweening eccentricities -- not to mention the outrageous quirks of arrogant male singers, especially tenors. But Battle is, according to many who have worked with her, impossible. Fussy, erratic and arbitrary, the headstrong soprano has infuriated colleagues and administrators and crossed swords with functionaries and hapless hoteliers across the globe. The cast of The Daughter of the Regiment applauded when it was told during rehearsal that Battle had been fired...
...advice of her handlers, the powerful Columbia Artists Management Inc., the soprano was saying little. Battle is a reserved, private woman who has subordinated her personal life to her career; in a brief statement that was her only public comment, she complained she was never warned that her actions were out of line. "To my knowledge," she said, "we were working out all of the artistic problems in the rehearsals, and I don't know the reason behind this unexpected dismissal. All I can say is, I am saddened by this decision...
Kathleen Battle, the famously temperamental soprano, was summarily fired by New York's Metropolitan Opera. Reason: "unprofessional actions" during rehearsals for Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment. Battle said she was "saddened" by the decision...