From Russia with love

Some say that the russian nithingale Anna Netrebko (born 1971, Krasnodar) changed the opera into something new. Something passionate, daring, highly emotional and sexy.
Her manners are widely known; mixing acting and singing to its highest peak.
"Bringing sex back into Opera" to quote a german journalist about the salzburger production of La Traviata in 2006 with fellow opera superstar and coworker Rolando Villazón.
I adore Anna Netrebko. She's like nutella on brie with a cup coffee.
She's simply gorgeuos with her round face, high sculptered cheekbones, the dark forget-me-not eyes, the ivory body of an ancient greek goddess. Not to mench her waist and killer derrière.
Okay, enough of her striking appereance. Let's get down to buisness. Let's talk about her voice. It's a dark full lyric soprano voice with soft timbre and great forza, very russian so to speak, that mixes well with her reportoire in russian, italian and french. Sadly enough she doesn't sing that often in german. She would be a great Richard Strauss-soprano and a perfect role for her would be the titlerole in Salomè, but she continues to sing romantic works of other various composers and I don't blame her. She masters the bel canto, as well opera verismo, french femme fatales and roles on her own mothertongue.



















Awarded the sexiest babe in classical music by Playboy magazine



Discography

• Opera Arias
• Opera
• Duets (with Villazon)
• Sempre Libera
• The Russian Album
• Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)
• La Bohème (Puccini)
  
• La Traviata (Verdi)
• I Capuleti e I Montecchi (Bellini)
• Le Nozze di Figaro DVD
• La Bohème DVD
• La Traviata DVD
• I Puritani (Bellini) DVD
• L'Elisir d'Amore (Donizetti) DVD
• Betrothal in a Monastery (Prokofiev) DVD
• Ruslan and Lyudmila (Glinka) DVD
• Manon (Massenet) DVD
• Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) DVD
• Souvenirs

Bel Canto at its finest

CD review
Bel Canto Spectacular - Juan Diego Flórez




First of all I'd like to give you a clear image on Bel Canto (ital. Beautiful singing). It's sort of a singing techinique from Italy, that one can find in almost every italian opera. Specially in operas from late 18th Century to Verdi. Nowadays singers and singteachers all over the world agress that Bel canto subjects:

• an impeccable legato production throughout the singer's (seamless) range,
• the use of a light tone in the higher registers,
• an agile, flexible technique capable of despatching ornate embellishments,
• the ability to execute fast, accurate divisions,
• the avoidance of aspirates and a loose vibrato,
• a pleasing, well-focused timbre,
• a clean attack,
• limpid diction, and
• graceful phrasing rooted in a complete mastery of breath control. - According to Wikipedia

On the front cover stands the main event; the peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez, one the greatest bel canto singers of all time and he's ready to enter the stage. This man can handle unhuman coloraturas and he's the prime interpreter of the works of Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti.
The tracks on this album are either arias or duets from these composers. In the first track (Ah, mes amis from Donizetti's La fille du regiment) Mr. Flórez reaches the high C nine times.
He's got backup by the beautiful russian soprano Anna Netrebko in a slightly more beautiful duet from I Puritani. The ever so magnificient Una furtiva lagrima develops into a whole different aria.
Plácido Domingo sings a duet from Rossini's Otello. It's a tremendous blend of music.
I recommend this album with all my heart, as well does Mr. Flórez. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXm5hBPLCdo

Welcome to my blog

Welcome all you readers out there to my opera blog. This blog is about my own passion; opera. I love Opera. To me, opera is the best among all art forms. I could easily say that I listen to classical music, particulary opera for more than 2h/day.

The first time I was exposed to the wonderful world of opera was at Christmas 2002. I was only 12 years and I've recieved a record player as a gift.
Finally I had the chance to listen that I've chosen myself. I started search in my father's album collection (just for fun) and by chance I found an album collection with the covertext "Parsifal" ( the last opera of Richard Wagner). I put the first cd in the record player and the magic of Wagner's music came out from the speakers.
It was the ouverture to the first act. The marvelous and dwelling ouverture in A flat major. I still recall to this memory today. Because it was such an emense experience. Never before have I listened to better music and great singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Rene Kollo and Christa Ludwig.
Since my first encounter with the operatic world my own interest expanded to the state I'm in today. You could say that I'm an operajunkie.