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Friday, January 25, 2013

This Was Predictable

Last April, in a communication from SF Opera:

Looking Ahead to the 2012–13 Season

 The astonishing Natalie Dessay displays her remarkable versatility in The Tales of Hoffmann by portraying all four women who capture the poet Hoffmann's heart. 

 Today, in a press release:

Antonia                                                 Natalie Dessay   
Olympia                                                Hye Jung Lee    
Giulietta                                                Irene Roberts*                 
Stella                                                    Jennifer Cherest*†   

I wonder who's on deck for Antonia.
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11 comments:

  1. CruzSFJanuary 25, 2013 at 3:36:00 PM PST

    I'm surprised they've waited this long to announce casting changes. Frankly, I'm astonished that Dessay is still on the books at all. Much luck to her.

    I couldn't guess as to who might sing Antonia in her place, but I'm now looking around the Web for singers with the role in their repertoire and a gap in their schedule.

    I'm a sucker for this opera, though, and am planning to attend 2 performances (1 in my subscription and 1 won as a prize).

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  2. Lisa HirschJanuary 25, 2013 at 3:43:00 PM PST

    I haven't looked it up, but I am reasonably sure that SF Opera's last Antonia was local fav Patricia Racette. :)

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  3. John MarcherJanuary 25, 2013 at 4:43:00 PM PST

    Oh no you don't!

    Absolutely NO MORE Racette can be tolerated on the SFO schedule- it's simply too much. I'll scream if that happens.

    You know who I would like to see in the role? Nadine Sierra. Now wouldn't that be nice?

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  4. Lisa HirschJanuary 25, 2013 at 4:50:00 PM PST

    Hahahah.

    She's not free. She's in performances of Il Prigioniero at the NYPO, then to Ravinia, then to Barcelona for some Butterfly performances in July.

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  5. John MarcherJanuary 25, 2013 at 4:53:00 PM PST

    Thank god!

    Heaven forbid Gockley should give some work to another soprano for once. ;)

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  6. CruzSFJanuary 25, 2013 at 6:18:00 PM PST

    I'm a big fan of Racette, but please, let's give her the summer off.

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  7. Dr.BJanuary 26, 2013 at 8:53:00 AM PST

    Say more. I can understand why Natalie would not want to sing all four roles, but is she experiencing some sort of crisis that I don't know about? Other than crashing and burning in La Traviata.

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  8. Lisa HirschJanuary 26, 2013 at 9:18:00 AM PST

    She signed on for all four roles at a time when no one I talked to thought she could or would sing them all. Hasn't she been having intermittent vocal problems for several years?

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2013 at 3:07:00 PM PST

    She is indeed versatile if she can sing under her own name plus three pseudonyms in the same opera.

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  10. Civic CenterJanuary 27, 2013 at 2:07:00 PM PST

    Well, at least we get to hear Madame Mao sing Olympia which I am totally looking forward to, and Jennifer Cherest was extraordinary in the Merola production last summer of La Finta Giardiniera. So this may all be for the best.

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  11. Lisa HirschJanuary 27, 2013 at 3:06:00 PM PST

    Definitely for the best. I was not looking forward to hearing Dessay in all four roles.

    ReplyDelete

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