Hello Gentlemen,
It's Asian Nicole. Bellini’s famous bel-canto masterpiece, Norma, the Canadian Opera Company’s first production of this season, opening Oct. 6, 2016. I was so grateful to be my darling opera professor's guest to see this spectacular opera this Tuesday. And I was really pleasantly surprised by how amazing all the singers performed, especially the soprano--Sondra Radvanovsky. Wow, what a magnificent voice!
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ou L'infanticide (Norma, or The Infanticide) by Alexandre Soumet. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831. Norma was given 34 performances in its first season at La Scala, and reports from elsewhere, especially those from Bergamo, when it was staged in late 1832, suggested that it was becoming more and more popular.
As for Romani, it became "the most beautiful rose in the garland" of all his work with Bellini, it was not achieved without some struggles. Bellini, now at the height of his powers, was very demanding of his librettist and required many re-writes before he was satisfied enough to set it to music.
The title role—"one of the most taxing and wide-ranging parts in the entire repertory"—is one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire. It calls for great vocal control of range, flexibility, and dynamics as well as containing a wide range of emotions: conflict of personal and public life, romantic life, maternal love, friendship, jealousy, murderous intent, and resignation.
Sondra Radvanovsky plays the title character in Norma, is a star soprano at the pinnacle of her talent. So, amid the general high spirits of the performance, famed soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, our Norma, she ascends a wagon-like structure from which she’ll address the stage. The remarkable dark beauty of her voice, the astonishing control that allows her to move from fortissimo to pianissimo and back on a single note, the phrasing and intelligence that are her hallmarks all unfold before us.
So who is this woman... What kind of a woman can have such a magnificent voice to perform such musical miracles? Then I checked her bio: Sondra Radvanovsky, 47, born outside of Chicago, a full Canadian citizen as of last year, now living in Caledon, Ont., with her Canadian husband--Duncan Lear, the Canadian swain who captured her heart and brought her back to their “castle” in Caledon. “My husband and I always call my career ‘the tortoise and the hare.’ And I am definitely the tortoise – the slow and steady one.
Throughout her 20-year career, I believe that Sondra Radvanovsky has slowly and surely become one of the great opera stars in the world.
Once again...Thanks so much for the wonderful evening, my darling culture professor! This opera was outstanding!! I enjoyed it a lot!
It's Asian Nicole. Bellini’s famous bel-canto masterpiece, Norma, the Canadian Opera Company’s first production of this season, opening Oct. 6, 2016. I was so grateful to be my darling opera professor's guest to see this spectacular opera this Tuesday. And I was really pleasantly surprised by how amazing all the singers performed, especially the soprano--Sondra Radvanovsky. Wow, what a magnificent voice!
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ou L'infanticide (Norma, or The Infanticide) by Alexandre Soumet. It was first produced at La Scala in Milan on 26 December 1831. Norma was given 34 performances in its first season at La Scala, and reports from elsewhere, especially those from Bergamo, when it was staged in late 1832, suggested that it was becoming more and more popular.
As for Romani, it became "the most beautiful rose in the garland" of all his work with Bellini, it was not achieved without some struggles. Bellini, now at the height of his powers, was very demanding of his librettist and required many re-writes before he was satisfied enough to set it to music.
The title role—"one of the most taxing and wide-ranging parts in the entire repertory"—is one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire. It calls for great vocal control of range, flexibility, and dynamics as well as containing a wide range of emotions: conflict of personal and public life, romantic life, maternal love, friendship, jealousy, murderous intent, and resignation.
Sondra Radvanovsky plays the title character in Norma, is a star soprano at the pinnacle of her talent. So, amid the general high spirits of the performance, famed soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, our Norma, she ascends a wagon-like structure from which she’ll address the stage. The remarkable dark beauty of her voice, the astonishing control that allows her to move from fortissimo to pianissimo and back on a single note, the phrasing and intelligence that are her hallmarks all unfold before us.
So who is this woman... What kind of a woman can have such a magnificent voice to perform such musical miracles? Then I checked her bio: Sondra Radvanovsky, 47, born outside of Chicago, a full Canadian citizen as of last year, now living in Caledon, Ont., with her Canadian husband--Duncan Lear, the Canadian swain who captured her heart and brought her back to their “castle” in Caledon. “My husband and I always call my career ‘the tortoise and the hare.’ And I am definitely the tortoise – the slow and steady one.
Throughout her 20-year career, I believe that Sondra Radvanovsky has slowly and surely become one of the great opera stars in the world.
Once again...Thanks so much for the wonderful evening, my darling culture professor! This opera was outstanding!! I enjoyed it a lot!
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