Welcome Students and Teachers to Opera Online! This week we are starting our summer webisode series The ABC's of Opera. Ever wonder what the difference is between a coloratura soprano and a lyric soprano? What is a countertenor? What are the most popular opera in America? This summer we will answer your questions and introduce you to the great singers of opera!
This week we will focus on the coloratura.
Video Clips of the Week!
The term coloratura actually has two different meanings. Coloratura can describe a type of music or a voice type. Opera singers and opera experts sometimes describe music as having "coloratura passages". In this case coloratura means a fast passage or piece with many vocal runs. In our first video tenor Juan Diego Florez and bass-baritone Mark S. Doss demonstrates vocal coloratura in the duet "Se inclinassi a prender moglie" from Gioachino Rossini's The Italian Girl in Algiers. In this comic duet King Mustafa (Doss) is trying to convice his prisoner Lindoro (Florez) to marry the king's former wife, Elvira. He asks Lindoro to make a list of of the perfect qualities of a wife and assures him that Elvira has all of them.
Coloratura also refers to the highest female voice type: the coloratura soprano. The coloratura soprano is best known for singing fast passages with ease and singing stratospheric high notes. The second video is a clip of one of the most famous soprano coloratura arias "Der Hölle Rache" from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. In this clips Diana Damrau plays the Queen of the Night, who is ordering her daughter to kill Sarastro, the High Priest of the Sun.
Want more Coloratura Soprano? Check out this montage of the greatest coloratura sopranos showing off their high notes. (Warning: the awesome stratospheric high notes may scare pets in the room)
"Se inclinassi a prender moglie", The Italian Girl in Algiers
"Der Hölle Rache", The Magic Flute
Website of the Week!
Want to learn more about the reigning coloratura sopranos of today? Check out the websites of Diana Damrau, Natalie Dessay, and Sumi Jo.
This week we will focus on the coloratura.
Video Clips of the Week!
The term coloratura actually has two different meanings. Coloratura can describe a type of music or a voice type. Opera singers and opera experts sometimes describe music as having "coloratura passages". In this case coloratura means a fast passage or piece with many vocal runs. In our first video tenor Juan Diego Florez and bass-baritone Mark S. Doss demonstrates vocal coloratura in the duet "Se inclinassi a prender moglie" from Gioachino Rossini's The Italian Girl in Algiers. In this comic duet King Mustafa (Doss) is trying to convice his prisoner Lindoro (Florez) to marry the king's former wife, Elvira. He asks Lindoro to make a list of of the perfect qualities of a wife and assures him that Elvira has all of them.
Coloratura also refers to the highest female voice type: the coloratura soprano. The coloratura soprano is best known for singing fast passages with ease and singing stratospheric high notes. The second video is a clip of one of the most famous soprano coloratura arias "Der Hölle Rache" from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. In this clips Diana Damrau plays the Queen of the Night, who is ordering her daughter to kill Sarastro, the High Priest of the Sun.
Want more Coloratura Soprano? Check out this montage of the greatest coloratura sopranos showing off their high notes. (Warning: the awesome stratospheric high notes may scare pets in the room)
"Se inclinassi a prender moglie", The Italian Girl in Algiers
"Der Hölle Rache", The Magic Flute
Website of the Week!
Want to learn more about the reigning coloratura sopranos of today? Check out the websites of Diana Damrau, Natalie Dessay, and Sumi Jo.
Opera on the Air!
On Saturday, June 11th at 1 PM radio station WRTI will be broadcasting the Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Giuseppe Verdi's A Masked Ball. A love triangle turns deadly in one of Italian opera's greatest hits! Conspirators want the monarch dead--and suspected adultery plays right into their murderous plans. Conductor Asher Fisch is joined by tenor Frank Lopardo as King Gustavo, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky as Amelia, baritone Mark Delavan as Renato, and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as Ulrica.
Until Next Week!!
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