“The two-lobed star-forming region, dubbed Sharpless 2-106, is located in an isolated part of our Milky Way galaxy nearly 2000 light-years from Earth. The bluish ‘wings’ are lobes of super-hot gas illuminated by a monster star—dozens of times the mass of our sun—forming in the center of the still-expanding nebula. A dark ring of dust and gas circling the star (dark bands, center), material that may one day coalesce into a planetary system, acts like a belt, cinching the nebula into an hourglass shape.” [via ScienceNOW]
Artist: Renee Fleming and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir / Album: The Wonder of Christmas
Though there is no hard historical evidence proving that today is Ludwig van Beethoven’s birthday… ye old fount of knowledge, wikipedia, informs me that it is the 16 that is typically celebrated as his date of birth. It’s been quite a Beethoven couple of months for me, actually: I went to a performance of his 9th Symphony in September with my friend Rachel, and Jennifer and I recently saw Houston Grand Opera’s performance of Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio— a first for me!
SO!!! In much the same vein as my previous Bach birthday post here are a couple of my favorite usages and machinations of Beethoven’s music:
The opening titles to one of my top favorite movies, The Fall (Symphony No. 7, 2nd Mvt.)
In my ongoing series to eventually post all clips from both Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (Symphony No. 5, 1st Mvt.)
And finally, since we haven’t heard from La Voce herself (Mizzzzz Renee Fleming), I figure now is as appropriate a time as any for a video of her singing an arrangement of “My Funny Valentine” set to Beethoven’s “Moonlight” sonata.
Artist: Andrew Lippa / Album: You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown
I recently mentioned going to see a production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte last month, but it wasn’t the only time I saw the opera that week. In fact, I saw about thirteen hours worth of Cosi spread over three different performances (!). Two of them took place at Opera in the Heights and one was put on by Rice University—starring my friend, Kelley (she of the best fall day evar), who was an undergrad at the University of Michigan when I was there but is now getting her masters from Rice.
Post-game pic!! Fioridi-GETIT!!
One of my favorite parts about the opera—and especially how Kelley’s Fioridiligi and the student playing her on-stage sister, Dorabella, play them—is the relationship between the two sisters. They get some of the best music as well, so for those of you interested in a bit of Mozart then enjoy!!
Renee Fleming and Joyce di Donato (of this epic blog post) singing “Ah guarda sorella,” in which two sisters jokingly gloat about their lovers, constantly trying to one-up each her.
In fact, the way that Kelley and her counterpart played it, the duet kind of reminded me of a scene in Luc Besson’s (the director of The Fifth Element and the opera scene from this blog post) most recent movie, The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec. The movie is basically a French, female [have I already alienated some of my readers?] version of Indiana Jones [did I win you back?]. Basically all you need to know is that Adele’s sister is wounded and Adele spends the whole first part of the movie going to Egypt to steal a mummy who she thinks is a pharaoh's doctor and, with the help of a mystic professor, attempt to bring him back to life so that he may heal her. You know, or as we say here in America: Tuesday. At any rate, this scene explains how Agathe became wounded in a tennis match that began as a bit of sibling rivalry and ended in a grunty, sweaty, pointy, tragic hot mess. It’s a really fantastic movie (which I never saw in theaters because it never came out here… I had to watch it on a tiny tiny screen on an AirFrance flight two years ago and was grateful for it!) and I highly recommend it. If you can find it, that is :(
Aaaaaand now that you’ve indulged me in that bit of mental circuitousness… here’s the second, and last, of the Cosi clips for the day. Ana Maria Martinez, Sophie Koch and Sir Thomas Allen singing "Soave sia il vento,” in which the sisters bid their men farewell as they go off to war (though in reality they haven’t left at all and later pretend to be Albanians in order to test their girlfriend’s fidelity… it’s your basic Mozart plot). At any rate, this is just STUNNINGLY beautiful music and singing:
BRAVA, STARZELLEY!!
Artist: Idina Menzel / Album: Live from the Zipper Theater
WELL... today I am leaving to head off to Twin Lakes, Michigan, located in the Manistee National Forest and home of my employer for the summer, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. That's right, readers, Joseph Roberts is now a camp counselor! I'm talkin' sleepin' on a cot in a cabin, need a flashlight to go to the restroom in the middle of the night, eating off of plastic trays in a cafeteria camp. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Why this makes perfect sense. When I think Joseph, I think outdoor ruggedness." In all honesty, I had a great time at the rehearsal weekend a while back and enjoyed an experience I most likely fought tooth and nail against when I was a kid.
The long and short of it is that my voice teacher sent me an email earlier in the semester telling me of an audition to sing the title "role" in Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah, based on the life of prophet in 1 and 2 Kings. Now, forgive me for being a little corny, but ever since I started singing fo' realz I have wanted to perform two things before I die: the Count in Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and the aforementioned Elijah. There aren't a whole lot of musical works that I absolutely can't contain myself over, but Elijah is pretty high up there on that list. Sure, it's a tad on the long side, but there are sooooooo many beautiful and dramatic and thrilling and poignant moments that you don't even notice the (very brief) lulls. Needless to say, to have gotten the job and have the opportunity sing both of those things within a year is vvvvvery thrilling for me. Unfortunately now I have to get new goals, which just seems daunting and tedious ;)
-- I kid you not, I'm writing this post while watching The Daily Show and Jon Stewart just mentioned Elijah the prophet. So... that's cool--
AAAAAAAAANYway, the fun thing about this experience is that the campers will make up the choir and orchestra, with myself and three other professionals doing the solos. I had the pleasure of already being aquainted with Emily Goodwin Smith, the mezzo soloist, because she is a student at U of M and was in my voice studio. Sabrina Laney Warren is the soprano soloist and tenor John D. Nevergall rounds out the quartet, with Maestro Christoph von Kuczewski-Poray leading us with his baton.
Having gone through the three day rehearsal weekend in May was definitely eye-opening as far as realizing exactly how exhausted I was going to be every day and still have to maintain the stamina to sing Elijah at 8:00 am or 9:30 pm, and I am thankful at least now I know what I am in for and can plan a little better. That, and I am thrilled at the group of people I am going to be working with. In addition to the soloists, the other counselors are an absolute blast to hang out with and know the ropes of Blue Lake a little better than I do. I guess if you're going to be in a fox hole for a while, you might as well be in it with people you enjoy , right?
Now to the point. Internet access is basically nill at the campsite, and while I am bringing my lap top with me to Europe, I'm hoping that I'll be having such a great time I won't even want to pick it up. That being said, I have lined up a couple of "guest bloggers" for my brief respite to tide you over until I get back. I'm sure they'll explain who they are when they post, so look for them soonish! I have also written a couple of back-logged posts that will upload while I'm gone so hopefully you won't be too bored. (Listen to me, acting as if I have an active audience. I can probably count the people who read this regularly on one hand!)
Finally I leave you with a recording of the Overture to Elijah. I am ub-sessed with this piece and this particular recording. It comes from the one with Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming, so it can't be too shoddy. How can you NOT want to know what happens next?!?!?
Last night I had the honor of getting to sing in a master class for world renowned bass Samuel Ramey. A master class, for those of you who don't know, is an opportunity for a guest artist to come in and coach students in a performance setting. (In a nutshell it is basically a one-on-one lesson but done in front of an audience).
While Professor Katz was giving an introduction to the audience-- "Mr. Ramey is the most recorded bass ever in history" "he is known for his portrayal of the devil in many different operas" "he has sung roles by composers from Mozart to Mussorgsky, from Bellini to Bartok"-- Sam leans over to me and says: "He left out the most important role I've ever done: I've sung on Sesame Street!"
So here you are folks... a collection of all the opera stars that have sung on Sesame Street!!! Oh, and by the way... I've met every single one of them! Now that my Opera/Sesamie Street collection is complete, I can now move on to the cast of Designing Women. One down (Delta Burke), four more to go!
Samuel Ramey:
L is for Low (to the music of the Toreador from Bizet's Carmen) Look at those cape twirling skills! Btw I don't think his hair has moved an inch since this video.
Renee Fleming*:
Counting is so much fun! (to the tune of Caro nome from Verdi's Rigoletto) Oh, Renee... there are so many amazing moments in this clip. I'd like to note that Texas gets a shout out in reference to the pigs from Galveston and, though the way she pronounces "fun" ("fine") doesn't really rhyme with our island city, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt because she pulls off that amazing plaid sheet wrapped around her shoulders. Honestly, I want one seven. [*Technically from The Muppet Show and not Sesame Street, but whatevs!]
Marilyn Horne:
This isn't so much a picture of me with Marilyn Horne as it is a picture of me with a record of Marilyn Horne and one signed by Marilyn Horne and Martin Katz
What I love most about this video, aside from the obvious inclusion of a cookie literally springing forth from Marilyn's head, is that I can just picture Professor Katz coaching her on this. "How much do you love this cookie, Marilyn?" "Pretend your coloratura is a landscape of chocolate chip mountains on a soft, chewy landscape!" "I can't tell what's hotter: these snickerdoodles or those slavepuppets?"
Denyce Graves:
The Michelle Obama of the opera world... you should see her arms!
Because what doesn't a seduction aria have to do with getting your kids to sleep? I also appreciate that the dancing sheep are all representatives of different operas. I think I count Aida, Madama Butterfly, La traviata, Turandot, I Pagliacci, Le nozze di Figaro, Die Walkure and Salome. I'll be honest...chickens one and three have kinda thrown me for a loop. On the plus side, though, I would absolutely love to see a chicken do the dance of the seven veils.
UPDATE: Well unfortunately I am going to have to put my stalking of Dixie Carter on the back-burner, because I have been rightly informed that there is another opera singer who has been on Sesame Street!! Janai, when you work with him next year at L.A. Opera, could you introduce us, please? I have a collection to complete.
