Friday, September 18, 2015

Damrau Out of SFO Lucia?

San Francisco Classical Voice has a story saying that it looks as though Nadine Sierra may be taking over Diana Damrau's run of performances in the title role of Lucia di Lammermoor. Damn, I say, if this is true. Damrau's a great singer and I was looking forward to seeing her.

8 comments:

CruzSF said...

I very much hope this isn't true, but the SFCV article presents good circumstantial evidence. No motive, though. I wonder what happened or is happening with Damrau. I like Sierra, but was looking forward to hearing Damrau live again.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Same here; wonderful singer. I loved her in Daughter of the Regiment and in Arabella in London long ago (Fiakermili - she could sing Zdenka, though).

CruzSF said...

I thought she tried a bit too hard in Daughter of the Regiment, in terms of acting, but her voice was spot on and I've only become more impressed with her as time has passed. The changing of her voice since her pregnancy has resulted in a deeper, richer, darker tone, and her acting (which I've seen only through Met HDs and on Web streams from Europe) has become more interesting and subtle.

Lisa Hirsch said...

The acting in Daughter was, I thought, a combination of the direction and the fact that the first Marie in the production was Natalie Dessay.

Oh, Met HDs: I loved Le Comte Ory from start to finish, well, JDD, JDF, and DD, anyway. Production was okay but disappeared as soon as they opened their mouths.

CruzSF said...

I completely agree with your assessment of the Daughter situation.

I also loved her in Le Comte Ory and that cast was marvelous through and through.

John Marcher said...

This would be a shame it if turns out to be true. Like everyone else, I was really looking forward to Damrau's return. Having said that, I think it's pretty obvious Nadine Sierra is going to be a major star in the opera world, so I welcome the opportunity to see and hear her in something that will really showcase her abilities to a much greater extent than we've seen in SF so far.

John Marcher said...

Wait a second- did Lisa just admit to liking a Rossini opera besides Guillermo Tell? ;)

Lisa Hirsch said...

I would never do such a thing.