Opera's rising superstar, Angela Meade, has just been named Artist of the Year by the Washington National Opera (WNO). The May 13 announcement comes on the heels of the soprano’s triumphant company debut, in which she “thrilled WNO devotees with her nearly mind-blowing mastery of Bellini’s most challenging music” (Washington Times) in the title role of Norma.
Previous recipients of the Artist of the Year award, which carries a $5,000 cash prize, include mezzo-sopranos Frederica von Stade and Denyce Graves, tenor Jerry Hadley, and conductor John Mauceri.
“I’m so honored to be chosen as Washington National Opera’s Artist of the Year and I appreciate their generosity with this award,” Meade responded when she heard the news. “I had such a wonderful time in Washington, DC this winter, and performing the role of Norma for the first time in a staged production was thrilling for me.”
“It was a privilege for the entire company to work with Angela as she performed her first staged performances of Norma,” said WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello. “Our audiences were riveted and thrilled by her fearless delivery, and many people told me they came back for multiple performances. As Angela garners worldwide acclaim for this role in the coming seasons, we will remain proud that she debuted it here in Washington.”
This coming October, the soprano – who is also the winner of the 2012 Beverly Sills Artist Award and 2011 Richard Tucker Award – will reprise Bellini’s heroine at the Metropolitan Opera. In the meantime, she looks forward to appearances as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Cincinnati Opera (June 13 & 15) and to her return to the Caramoor International Music Festival to celebrate the Verdi bicentennial. Besides performing the Italian composer’s Ave Maria, volgarizzata da Dante with string quartet (June 27), Meade will headline a semi-staged performance of Les vêpres siciliennes in the original French, with Will Crutchfield and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (July 6).
Cecilia Bartoli sings Norma with Sumi Jo as Adalgisa.
Bellini's Norma is one of my top 5 favorite operas.
I'd like to think the reason for that is Bellini's music... but, I have a sneaking suspicion that my love for Norma also stems from the fact that when, as a young apprentice, I covered the role of Oroveso ... Richard Bonynge was conducting in the pit.
Having the ability to observe him in rehearsal - as well as sing in the chorus with him in the pit - was one of those awe-inspiring, breath-taking times in ones life. One of those times when you can do nothing else but soak every second up like a sponge.
Two things I will never forget: The first was his advice "Don't sing so much. Never give 100%." Which, when put into context, meant: "Don't sing so big - don't sing so loud." The second thing I will never forget was his hard-bound orchestral score: it was dark red leather - almost blood red. And, it had his name embossed in gold at the bottom corner. I made a comment about it to a friend: "Oh god... the legendary performances that have come from that score..."
Maestro was within earshot, apparently. He turned and said, "Isn't it lovely? It was just re-bound in this leather. It was a gift from Joan."
That made me want to reach out and touch it... just to say I had.
I say this because Norma is my jam. And, there are so many superb pairings of Norma and Adalgisa: Callas and Stignani. Callas and Ludwig. Sutherland and Horne. Sutherland and Troyanos. Sutherland and Caballe. Caballe and Verrett. Sills and Verrett. Scotto and Troyanos. Scotto and Freni ... the list could go on and on.
Then, of course, there are the Normas coming to the MET next season: Radvanovsky and Aldrich. Meade and Barton.
Well, it was only a matter of time before mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli decided to put her stamp on Norma - yes, in the title-role. As part of the city’s annual Whitsun Festival, Norma will receive its first staging in Salzburg this May. Cecilia Bartoli, in her second year as artistic director of the Whitsun Festival, will perform the title-role in company with John Osborn, Michele Pertusi, Orchestra La Scintilla and Giovanni Antonini.
But, that's not all...
In Decca’s new recording, Norma is presented in a form that is complete with the exquisite mix of vocal and instrumental colors that Bellini allegedly intended for his ‘tragic opera’. Cecilia Bartoli’s Norma evokes the style and artistry of the legendary soprano Giuditta Pasta, the opera’s original heroine. The Italian superstar continues her mission to reveal lost details of expression and emotional variety in music covered by the dark varnish of later performance traditions. Norma, often portrayed as a superhuman priestess, emerges in Bartoli’s performance as a woman of flesh and blood, torn between duty and love. Bartoli's Adalgisa is Lyric Coloratura Sumi Jo - clearly cast as Bellini intended, which was to have Adalgisa portrayed by a soprano.
Rounding out the leads are John Osborn as Pollione and Michele Pertusi as Oroveso.
Decca’s studio recording of Norma employs the latest critical edition of Bellini’s score, painstakingly restored from manuscript and early printed sources. The sounds of period instruments from the composer’s time, brought to life by Orchestra La Scintilla and conductor Giovanni Antonini, underpin and blend with the timbres of a cast carefully chosen.
Despite an impassioned push by President Barack Obama and an emotional lobbying effort by the families of mass shooting victims, proponents of a compromise measure to expand gun background checks on Wednesday fell six votes short of passage in the Senate.
Even though 90% of the American people support universal background checks that make it harder for a dangerous person to buy a gun, the vote was 54 to 46. Sixty votes were needed for the amendment to be adopted.
I'd like to point out that 54-member majority supported the Manchin/Toomey amendment, while 46 opposed it. But, because of Republican obstructionist tactics, proponents needed a 60-vote supermajority and came up far short. Technically, it would have been 55-45, but according to NBC News, Majority Leader Harry Reid had to switch his vote for procedural reasons.
This amendment would have criminalized certain private transfers of firearms between honest citizens, requiring lifelong friends, neighbors and some family members to get federal government permission to exercise a fundamental right or face prosecution. As we have noted previously, expanding background checks, at gun shows or elsewhere, will not reduce violent crime or keep our kids safe in their schools.
One of the biggest pushes for changes in our gun laws has come from a group of parents who lost their children at the massacre in Newtown, CT. Some of those families were in the gallery when the Senate voted.
Feeling good about your votes, Senators?
Former congresswoman Gabby Giffords - who nearly died after being shot in the head by a gunman who went on a rampage outside a grocery store in Tuscon, AZ - and her husband Mark Kelly, slammed senators for "ignoring the will of the American people":
We will use every means possible to make sure the constituents of these senators know that their elected representatives ignored them, and put Washington, D.C., special interest politics over the effort to keep their own communities safer from the tragedy of gun violence.
Giffords and Kelly's PAC Americans for Responsible Solutions vows on their website to "encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership by communicating directly with the constituents that elect them."
When the vote was finished, a woman in the Senate gallery shouted "shame on you" at the members below. But, she was ignored. As were a majority of the American people, the families from Newtown and one Congress' own - Gabby Giffords.
Yes... SHAME ON YOU, Senators.
It seems to me that the only people who fear a background check when buying a firearm are the people who know they can't pass one.
.bmp)
