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Opera Online! Summer 3

Welcome students and teacher to opera online!

We'll continue our look at BBC's documentary on the Tenor Voice and pay tribute to the British tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson who passed away earlier this week at the age of 69. Then we'll hear a little bit about the contralto voice.


The Documentary

What Makes a Great Tenor? - Part 3

We'll learn a bit more about different voice types - particularly the light, lyric, spinto, and dramatic tenor. This clip includes performances by Roberto Alagna, Fritz Wunderlich, Luciano Pavarotti, and more.









ANTHONY ROLFE JOHNSON (November 5, 1940 - July 21, 2010)
Tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson was famous for his crystal clear diction (especially in English), as a remarkable interpreter of Benjamin Britten's heroes, and his exemplary work in baroque and classical era music.

He infrequently performed operas in the United States, but has a large recorded legacy. Here is an example of his singing. We'll hear the heroic and virtuosic aria "Fuor del mar" from Mozart's Idomeneo. Very few singers perform this aria in this uncut version. It requires an heroic sound and the ability to move the voice very fast in intricate passage work.

In the opera, Idomeneo is King of the Greek island of Crete. During a storm at sea, he vows to Neptune that if his ship is spared, he will sacrifice the first person he meets on shore. He is heartbroken when the first person to greet him on shore is his son, Idamante.

He shuns his Idamante so as to avoid fulfilling his promise to Neptune. Yet even though he is no longer on the sea, Idomeneo still feels as if he is in as much danger as if he was on the sea. He wonders if he is as close to disaster as when he was shipwrecked.





Website of the week

There are three main Categories of Contralto - Coloratura, Lyric, and Dramatic contraltos . Find out more about The Contralto Voice.

You Tube Clip of the Week

Polish contralto Ewa Podleś is a very unique singer. While her dramatic coloratura voice is not conventionally pretty, her artistry and technique are second to none. She's known for her very dark contralto voice; it's so dark she at times like a man! Yet she has been known to sing as high as the coloratura soprano high D. Ms. Podleś almost stole the show when she sang the role of Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlo in the Opera Company of Philadelphia's 2007 production of the opera.

Here she sings the Marquise of Birkenfeld's aria "Pour Une Femme De Mon Nom" in Gaetano Donizetti's 1840 opéra comique La Fille Du Régiment.











Opera on Air

On Saturday, July 24th at 1pm WRTI Radio will broadcast Los Angeles's Opera Company's production of The Barber of Seville by Rossini conducted by Michele Mariotti.

The cast includes:

Figaro: Nathan Gunn
Count Almaviva: Juan Diego Florez
Rosina: Joyce Didonato
Doctor Bartolo: Bruno Pratico
Don Basilio: Andrea Silvestrelli
Berta: Kerri Marcinko
Fiorello: Jose Adan Perez


Don't forget to invite your friends to sign up to receive these alerts by emailing their name, school, and age to us at outreach@operaphila.org.

Until next week…


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