Tuesday, May 30, 2006


10 AM Tuesdays opera - Tchaikovskys Pique Dame - Hvorostovsky, Freni, Leiferkus, Forrester

Good Morning!

Again with the backorder/shipping problems. (hey - holiday weekend) so yet another break from maestro Mozart and a visit from Tchaikovsky, who will be making his first appearance on What's Opera Doc?

The Opera: Pique Dame.

Performers:
Maureen Forrester, Vladimir Atlantov, Mirella Freni, Katherine Ciesinski, Dominique Labelle,
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Ernesto Gavazzi, Janice Taylor, Julian Rodescu, Dennis Petersen,
Richard Clement, Jorge Chaminé, Tanya Roudenko, Sergei Leiferkus

Conductor: Seiji Ozawa
Orchestra/Ensemble: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood Festival Chorus, American Boychoir

Enjoy.
Mozart should be back with us next week, with Die Entferung aus dem Serail.

Monday, May 29, 2006


Liederwolfe

http://www.liederwolfe.com/

They are in Montreal, and perform opera "in a bar, a parking lot, any setting you want..."

damn, its only a 11-hour drive.

Then again, there used to be great little Viennese-style coffeehouse that did the same thing, right in Wrigleyville. (Chicago) Although it was successful, the owner of the building thought it would be "cooler" to lease the space to a sports bar. A sports bar.

Just what Wrigleyville needed, because there just weren't enough there ALREADY.

~listening to: Wagner/Tristan und Isolde: Domingo, Stemme, Pappano~

Thursday, May 25, 2006


New opera blogger

Welcome to http://operafanatic2.blogspot.com/ a former opera singer who has decided to spread his wisdom about this wonderful art to all of us.

Welcome, Keith!!

~wod~

Monday, May 22, 2006


Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito on What's Opera, Doc? WHFR-FM

On Tuesdays program:
Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito / Hogwood, Bartoli, Heilmann

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Performers: Bartoli, Cecilia (Mezzo Soprano), Heilmann, Uwe (Tenor), Jones, Della (Mezzo Soprano), Bonney, Barbara (Soprano), Montague, Diana (Mezzo Soprano), Cachemaille, Gilles (Baritone)
Orchestras/Ensembles: Academy of Ancient Music, Academy of Ancient Music Chorus

WOD would very much like to thank Michigan Opera Theater for the invite to lecture on cartoons in opera over this past weekend - the class was great, the recital was a wonderful surprise, and readers, you may be hearing more from these singers on my show in upcoming weeks.

MOT does a great job in their Young Artists Program, and WOD felt privledged to be part of the weekend activities.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006


American Idol it aint - we'll have an opera competition anyway - Mozart v Salieri - 10AM EST on What's Opera, Doc, WHFR FM

This must be the longest blog post title ever!
It doesn't quite have the drama of an AI competition, but in 1786 the Emperor Franz Joseph (yes, he of the "too many notes" fame) scheduled a competition - a German singspiel against an Italian opera, which was the pop music of the day.

Italian contender - Salieri's Prima la musica e poi le parole
(First the Music, then the Words)
German contendor - Mozart's Der Schauspieldirektor
(the opera house director)

Both operas have roughly the same plot - that of an impresario conducting auditions.

Der Schauspieldirektor version is in Italian, and is a live performance from 1991 featuring Jo, Mei, Bolognesi, Giuranna.
E Poi le Parole is also in Italian and features Harnoncourt, Holl, Hampson, Alexander, Hamari.

An added treat: Mozart's L'oca del Cairo K422/Lo sposo deluso with Dietrich Fischer Diskau, Wiens, Schrier,Johnson and Coburn
Lo sposo features Grant, Palmer, Rolfe Johnson, Robert Tear and Leana Cotrubas.
Both selections have the
Kammerorchester ''Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach'', London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis (cond)
LISTEN LIVE ON WHFR-FM (CLICK ME)

* thanks to Marainne Dubin and Opera-l posse for the additional notes used to prep the show.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006


Today 10AM EST- L'Incoronazione di Poppea on What's Opera, Doc? WHFR-FM

Today 10AM EST- L'Incoronazione di Poppea on What's Opera, Doc? WHFR-FM.

This recording features Sylvia McNair, Anee Sofie von Otter, Michael Chance, Dana Hanchard, Catherine Bott and John Eliot Gardiner conducting. The English Baroque soloists are the ensemble.

Links to listen live.

Thanks and enjoy - WOD