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
If you don’t mind navigating the rather nasty-looking Lincoln Center construction site, you can now get into the Juilliard School’s newly renovated interior. It reopened within the last few weeks, looking very spiffy indeed, even if the outside street scene features the music of street drills and is overlooked by a giant crane. Of course, for a documented cheapie like myself, an added appeal is the school’s many low-cost and free events. read more
Today, while much of the world has its attention turned eastward toward China, I made a brief cultural excursion in the other direction, to Europe.
I’m talking about Salzburg, Austria, home of Mozart and of the tradition-filled Salzburg Festival that takes place every summer. No, I didn’t actually physically go Austria—like most of you reading this I’m in New York and likely won’t be heading to Europe until the dollar-to-euro exchange improves from its abysmal $1.49. I am experiencing Salzburg via recording, gorging on the delicacies offered on a new Mozart gala DVD of that city’s 250th-birthday celebrations from 2006, which were broadcast on PBS in September 2006 . Unlike New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival this year, many of whose thrills—like Kaija Saariaho’s La Passion de Simone—are not provided by Wolfgang Amadeus, Salzburg’s tribute two summers ago was Mozart, from start to finish. So I was looking forward to the ur-Mozart aspect of the event, and the fact that many great Mozart singers love to perform there. And I was not disappointed. But …
As the orchestra began the overture to Don Giovanni, something looked odd. I could not spot a single woman in the orchestra. read more
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