Word: sopranos
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...dream, however, is no fantasy. Observes Soprano Renata Scotto, who frequently works with Levine at the Met: "The rapport he establishes is so wonderful, it is really a joy to make music with him." When Bernstein heard Levine lead his first Parsifal at the Met, in 1979, he broke into tears. "It was the best Parsifal I ever heard," he recalls...
...singers, overusing some voices while ignoring others. "Levine's love affairs with certain voices are total," complains a Met singer. "When he finds a voice he likes, he uses it over and over." Like any other conductor, Levine has a roster of singers he finds congenial, among them Soprano Teresa Stratas, Tenor Placido Domingo and Baritone Milnes. Sometimes, as with veteran Diva Scotto, their voices are long faded but still histrionically effective. Sometimes they are not up to major-house standards, as with Tenor Philip Creech, whom Levine has pushed beyond the limit of his modest gifts...
Interviewer: Maestro, the Metropolitan Opera has unveiled Sir Peter Hall's new production of your opera Macbeth, starring Baritone Sherrill Milnes and Soprano Renata Scotto. When the revised version of Macbeth flopped in Paris in 1865, you were criticized for your treatment of Shakespeare. What attracted you to the play...
Trouble began when he attempted the opera's biggest aria, "Cielo e mar." His voice was ragged, and the audience booed. Poor Bini was so stunned that Mezzo-Soprano Mignon Dunn had to hold his hands. Said she: "I was afraid if I let him go, he would leave stage." By this time the audience was divided: some continued booing; others tried to stop them. In the balcony, rival factions smacked each other with programs. From the orchestra pit Conductor Giuseppe Patané, who was ill himself, pleaded with the audience to be quiet; eventually he too collapsed under...
...gold curtain rises on Verdi's La Forza del Destino at the Metropolitan Opera this season, it does more than unveil the first act set: it also reveals a bright new star in rapid ascent. As Leonora, Soprano Leona Mitchell, 34, sings with smoldering intensity. Each performance mingles sweet lyricism with raw-edged emotion that brings audiences to their feet, shouting bravas and tossing bouquets. From a dutiful but passionate daughter to the pathetic, penitent recluse at the end of the opera, Mitchell recalls Leontyne Price in the quality and dramatic power of her performance...