Danielle de Niese is back in her hometown of New York this month for her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall on February 27. This comes directly on the heels of a run of performances at the Met as Euridice in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice opposite Stephanie Blythe’s Orfeo, for which Blythe and de Niese received excellent reviews, including from Anthony Tommasini in The New York Times and Martin Bernheimer in The Financial Times. At twenty-nine, the American soprano—of Sri Lankan and Dutch heritage, born in Australia—has reached the opera world’s A-list at a much earlier age than most contemporary opera singers.
She recently spoke about Handel and Mozart—two of her her favorite composers—what it has been like growing up in the public eye, her U.S. recital tour this month, performing for a camera versus for a live audience, and why she thinks she’ll have to be dragged off the stage when she’s 80 years old.
Jennifer Melick: Congratulations on your performances in the Met’s Orfeo ed Euridice this winter. I caught it twice—live at the Met’s January 14 performance—that turned out to be the night Stephanie Blythe was ill and did not sing. So I came back for the Saturday HD movie-theater broadcast on January 24.
Danielle De Niese: I haven’t had a chance to hear the broadcast yet, but I’ve heard from people about it.
Melick: What sort of feedback have you gotten?
De Niese: Amazing feedback. I’ve gotten loads of messages on my website, and my friends who went to the movie theaters all over the world, in Japan, they totally loved it. read more
In the ongoing babe-ification of the Western world, welcome to this week’s episode: Classical Babes 2.0. I’m referring, of course, to “Too Hot to Handel,” a current feature on the online arts and entertainment segment of Playboy.
Sexing up classical music certainly isn’t anything new. I can remember a Beethoven LP cover from the 1970s that featured a nude model holding two strategically placed Beethoven busts. To this day, I can’t remember if that was the album with a whole bunch of Beethoven piano variations, or the one with works like the Choral Fantasy and Creatures of Prometheus. But that cover, I’ll never forget.
As for this current contest from Playboy, I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry or groan (the thing is filled with hideously awful puns). Yes, it’s a vote-for-your-fave-classical-babe contest. read more
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