Works & Process Presents: The Metropolitan Opera: "Medea" by Luigi Cherubini

[@grgr3074]

Very interesting especially for a french person to learn this.....

[@kbhprinsesse]

Mazzoleni was "sort of like the Callas of her time"?? Oh dear...

[@williesullivan3985]

Sondra just sounds so uncomfortable in this part. The lower middle and chesty parts just sound so unfocused and unsupported. She is great at getting out loud high notes but this role requires strength in the parts of her voice that are the weakest.

[@BellaFirenze]

Peter Gelb is full of shit. His Italian is atrocious. Sondra Radvanovsky is not in the prime of her career. She is 53 years old. “Medea” is still defined by Maria Callas, who revived it to wild acclaim in the 1950s and whose slew of coruscating recordings of the piece have kept her unavoidable. Radvanovsky is no Callas. She sounds uncomfortable in the aria. Janai Brugger sang a lovely Liù in 2012. She is very good as Glauce. Matthew Polenzani is excellent as Giasone. Ester Mazzoleni (1883-1982) was no Callas. She shared some of the same repertory and had a great technique. However, as evidenced in most of her recordings, her voice is marred by a vibrato. She sang a lot with Giovanni Zenatello, and this is one connection with Callas. In 1947, Zenatello arranged for a promising young soprano named Maria Callas to appear at the arena’s Summer Festival in Amilcare Ponchielli’s operatic masterpiece, La Gioconda. This appearance would give Callas’ career an invaluable kick-along in Italy and help set her on the path to future stardom. Carlo Rizzi knows what he is doing with Cherubini's music. David McVicar... is David McVicar.

[@hendrikvanschaik2298]

Callas was much ado about nothing. There are so many famous divas commenting here? What were your achievements on the international opera stage?

[@karilamminpaa8987]

@@hendrikvanschaik2298 IMHO Callas WAS "much" and much more but : Radvanovsky is no Callas. Of course not. She is Sondra Radvanovsky and I believe she has brought immense joy to myriads of people. Unlike you and me (hendrikboccakari etc). Probably. Smiley here