thadieu's opera rambling outlet

sara mingardo alert

it’s 2 months late, but i knew about this last October already and was really thinking about possibly making the trip early this past April, after hearing her singing “solo un pianto” and subsequently quite enjoying Antonacci in the titled role (although the story is about as annoying as Norma). And with Christof Loy, we also get a chance to see this:

a white-shirt, suit, and dark framed glasses (and dimple!)
white shirt, suit, and dark framed glasses (and dimple!)

GREAT news: it was broadcast and now available for re-view!  (Although, hmm, after seeing the opening scene, where the hell did they get that pair of pants for her??? seriously in need of a proper tailor!! grrr. Why not just let her bring her own then?) .  Anyhow, click on the photo above for direct link to arte.tv full video and/or check out the trailer here. The synopsis is found here and NPR has a post about it here.
—–
Edit: uhm.. how about some screen shots?
Edit2: I welcome all interpretations regarding how her suit-jacket was nicely removed to reveal the white shirt (time-tag 1hr17min in). My take is now in the comment section. Also, in the trailer she was wearing a black number that was swapped out for this specific shirt. Perhaps Christof Loy wanted to send a message ;-).





, ,

Posted by:

thả diều

writing-challenged opera-addict

19 responses to “sara mingardo alert”

  1. thả diều Avatar
    thả diều

    spamming my own box again for running commentary:
    – ACA apparently faced a lot of criticism along the line of “voice is not fitted”, “not high enough”, “not as good as Callas” etc., but I loved her characterization.. For this Medea, I felt (even from the trailer) her pronunciation is perfect and clear (is it?), yet so much emphasis is put on that that the musical phrasings suffer. On this same note, one could also say the same for the bass with the nice suit (though his tone is very nice).
    – and to be fair on all this, time to read up the libretto methinks.
    – oh, the bass with slick suit is allowed to strip to his under-shirt, will SM get to do the same? (just to her white shirt 😉 ). On an interesting note, I like the bass’ posture, a bit feminine in fact.. with curved back. Not showing off required macho-ness.
    – ah, some niiice phrasing from Medea as she sat next to the bull’s skull and reasoning with the tenor, lovely soft singing.
    – yep, when singing soft, she phrases the music very nicely. and her tone is also quite pleasant, possibly a mezzo?
    – gosh, that suit upsets me. her jacket is also very ill-fitted. The whole thing.. perhaps there was a mal-function of her outfit and they had to emergencirily (??) manufacture a thing back-stage just before curtain goes up! Given how everyone else’s looking so finely fit makes this more upsetting, grrr. (i babbling because she’s sitting in the middle of the stage for a long time in the beginning of Act2 and not yet singing…)
    – the music is quite pleasant for working / listening.
    – Medea! an utter from Neris that melts. wow. heart-breaking, whatever that solo wood-wind instrument is… snif
    – solo un pianto.. snif.. dueting to solo bassoon? . Hearing her singing this aria alone justifies seeing the opera!
    – she DID take the jacket OFF!!! some reallllly nice recit…
    – wow, yep, how to phrase. I stuck here for a while.. (busy _listening_ while capturing screens…)
    …
    – 1 hr later.. i think at this point it is valid to have a discussion why Neris is specifically dressed in a suit (and with a white shirt!). I don’t think it’s a reach to interpret her devotion to Medea is more than that of simply a loyal servant’s. To me the dress code is quite intentional (and lovely, i’d have liked to see it fits a bit better 🙂 )

    – back to recap: wow, that’s some very very serious singing that role Medea! the entire 3rd Act is hers. Very effective. brava.

    Reply
  2. stray Avatar
    stray

    The story would be less annoying if Cherubini hadn’t chickened out on Euripides’ ending.

    Reply
    1. thả diều Avatar
      thả diều

      heeeey, i was hoping i post an opera you didn’t know! 😀 . so now you got me curious… i off to search Euripides.. not another Schiller?

      Edit:
      Medea based on Euripides (and thadieu): “Medea takes vengeance on Jason by killing Jason’s new wife as well as her own children with him, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life with Neris” 😉

      Reply
      1. dehggial Avatar
        dehggial

        That’s a sort of Thelma and Louise/Monster mashup.

        Reply
        1. thả diều Avatar
          thả diều

          i’ve never seen that movie!

          but now re-thinking about it, i don’t get why Medea killed everyone (the defenseless) and left Jason untouched! weak!! Alternative endings should be:

          1. she shoves Jason off a cliff and takes up with his new wife and children
          2. she shoves Jason off a cliff and escapes to Athens with Neris and children in tow
          3. (more extreme): she shoves everyone off cliff except Neris 😉

          caveat: shoving someone off the cliff is not a guarantee for full rid-off, case in point: Ariodante! Perhaps in addition to that wedding dress she can also carry along bow + arrows.

          ==================
          I’ve just re-read the play, it’s revolutionary for the points below, so the children have to go:
          “All scenes involve only two actors, Medea and someone else. These encounters serve to highlight Medea’s skill and determination in manipulating powerful male figures to achieve her own ends. The play is also the only Greek tragedy in which a kin-killer makes it unpunished to the end of the play, and the only one about child-killing in which the deed is performed in cold blood as opposed to in a state of temporary madness.”

          Reply
          1. dehggial Avatar
            dehggial

            She should first get the Loch Ness monster waiting with an open mouth at the bottom of the cliff 😉 In fact having the whole thing happen in Scotland would make it even better.

            She left Jason untouched to torture him emotionally, of course.

            Which one of the films did you not see?

          2. thả diều Avatar
            thả diều

            oh, didn’t realize you were talking about 2 movies, have seen neither!

            Once anyone manage to catch Neris (time-stamp 1hr17min) , i’d like a discussion why the jacket is off, while re-watching last night i have quite a clear idea, as it was done so intentional and in presence of the wedding dress 🙂

          3. dehggial Avatar
            dehggial

            ok, I’m going to give it a watch. I’m curious too.

          4. dehggial Avatar
            dehggial

            ok, I think a case could be made that Neris is in love with Medea (she sees the good in her) and Medea is touched by her affection. But I think this is the extent of their interaction. You know, the kind of thing a straight friend would feel that could confuse a gay best friend if she wanted to see too much into it 😉

          5. thả diều Avatar
            thả diều

            that was my read the first 15 rounds :-).

            But i was so puzzled by the look Medea gave to Neris just as she reached over and decisively pulled that jacket off, then slowly lying down. In fact it was so intentional one could say even Neris was surprised..

            So, here’s my take after re-watching 3 more times 😉
            Medea was heading off to her mission just as bassoon started. But she wanted to sit with her close friend Neris one last time, hence sitting down and pulling out the wedding dress thinking first only of her misery. Neris proceeded with a “confession” of her affection (and devotion). Medea might have suspected this before and soon realized quickly during the first “si”, and especially after the 2nd “si….”, as she reached over to softly caressed Neris’s cheek. Then in a decisive moment “proposed” via her swift actions, with the wedding dress serving as a symbolic tie. Once this shared affection is delivered, she headed off to her suicide mission.

          6. dehggial Avatar
            dehggial

            well, yes (in your Medea and Neris ride into the sunset scenario). It did feel a bit like Medea was saying “oh, you mean you’re in love with me?” but Neris was overwhelmed by her positive reaction. So whilst Medea is lying there all “take me now” Neris is acting flustered, going on about Medea’s horrible fate.

          7. thả diều Avatar
            thả diều

            yo’r catching on 😉

          8. stray Avatar
            stray

            Jason’s kind of a publicity hound, so it’s a systematic elimination of everything that represents his future, and in the most newsworthy way, so he’ll always be associated with horrific events everywhere he goes and nobody will want to go near him. Notice how he disappears after that. Grim but effective.

  3. stray Avatar
    stray

    Hey WHRB is running its BEMF preview right now.

    Reply
    1. thả diều Avatar
      thả diều

      oh, thanks, let me go check, was busy with Neris 😉
      Edit: do you have a link?

      Reply
      1. stray Avatar
        stray

        Oops, sorry, didn’t see your post. Hope you found it.

        Reply
        1. thả diều Avatar
          thả diều

          how was it?
          i ended up scrambling working anyhow but it’s good to find out all these goodies.. for example i also found out the detroit symphony orchestra video-streams live all the classical music concerts!! so there’ll be links when N.Stutzmann conducts Messiah late this year 🙂

          Reply
          1. stray Avatar
            stray

            Oh cool! I didn’t know detroit was live streaming. Now I’m wondering how many orchs have been doing that. Maybe a survey is in order.

            It was good, I didn’t catch all of it, but they had the major players on to talk up Monteverdi. And they made a point of playing some of the fringe artists’ CDs, so that was fun and useful.

  4. thả diều Avatar
    thả diều

    Jennifer Larmore sang this role just the week before! would have really loved to hear her take as well..

    Reply

Leave a comment

About Me

scientist by day, opera fan by nights and weekends.

Recent Posts

Newsletter