Despues de darle muchas vueltas he comprado dos entradas para "L'elisir d'amore" del 22 de mayo. Al dia siguiente comenzaré en Barcelona el viaje de "novios" y sin saber quienes eran los cantantes he sacado las entradas del domingo y me encuentro con que veré (¿veré? las entradas tienen pinta de ser muy malas) y escucharé a Villazón y Bayo.

Domingo le designa su sucesor.
http://estadis.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/268681.html
El tenor español Plácido Domingo afirmó que el mexicano Rolando Villazón está a la cabeza de todos los hispanos en la ópera y "de ninguna manera podría ser mi sucesor, porque de hecho ya lo es".

Domingo dijo que el tenor mexicano, a quien calificó como su hijo artístico "es una realidad y está a la cabeza de todos nosotros así que para mí es continuación de mi carrera tan ligada a México y en donde siempre he dicho me he sentido mexicano".

El tenor español acudió este día a un evento en el consulado de México en Los Angeles, en donde fue presentado el galardón "Plácido Domingo 2005" que Hispanics for the opera decidió otorgar a Villazón.

Diversos elogios externó Domingo por el tenor mexicano -que más adelante lo llamó a su vez "padre adoptivo"- al considerar que tiene "Una personalidad, condiciones artísticas y vocales únicas que lo van a llevar muy lejos en la ópera".

Pero de inmediato rectificó y señaló que "no sólo va a llegar sino ya va a una distancia muy grande en el mundo de la ópera en donde ha debutado en todos los teatros y el único que le faltaba por hacer lo hará el 4 de marzo en Viena".

Villazón cerrará este domingo la temporada de Romeo y Julieta en el Dorothy Chandler Pavillion de Los Angeles en donde actúa con boletaje agotado al lado de la soprano rusa Anna Netrebko.

Villazón de 32 años, nacido en el Distrito Federal, debutó en Europa con la ópera Manon, de Massenet, pero en su exitosa trayectoria ha representado a "Rigoletto" y participado en La Traviata de Verdi, La Boheme de Puccini, y Fausto de Gounod.

En su corta carrera -que se catapultó al ganar tres premios operalia en 1999- ha grabado los discos compactos Gounod y Massenet Arias, Italian Opera Arias y Berilos Choral Works.

"En muchas ocasiones han comparado a Rolando conmigo y a mi me da mucha satisfacción y creo que él también tiene admiración por mi desde niño", comentó Domingo.

"Para mí, Rolando es el primer Rolando y le ha pasado un poco lo mismo que a mi, con circunstancias similares de llevar el nombre de México como yo lo he hecho porque mis padres me llevaron a este país desde pequeño", añadió.

"Crecí siendo mexicano por mis padres y aunque de adulto tomé la ciudadanía española siempre ha habido esa continuidad porque estoy casado con mexicana, tengo hijos mexicanos, así que soy la dos cosas", aclaró.

"Si estuviéramos en una carrera de 400 metros en estos momentos Rolando tiene la estafeta", comparó Domingo, quien estuvo acompañado del cónsul Rubén Beltrán y del presidente de Hispanics for the opera, Orlando Ortega.

Y en esa cascada de analogías también dijo que su presencia en este evento "Sólo es para darle la alternativa con matrícula de honor, si habláramos en términos taurinos", acotó.

Plácido Domingo reconoció la dificultad que enfrenta este género del arte. "La ópera es un negocio que no es negocio porque las cantidades que entran se necesitan día a día y a veces no alcanza", se quejó.

"Estamos trabajando porque queremos teatros siempre llenos como nos esta ocurriendo con Rolando quien ha sembrado su semilla desde los 12 años y quien cuenta con una preparación y capacidad extraordinarias", reiteró.

A pregunta expresa, Domingo consideró que la ópera en el Palacio de Bellas Artes en México "atraviesa por un momento de vacas flacas, afectado por múltiples problemas de la economía, la paridad peso-dólar y los altos costos del espectáculo".

"En otra época la actuación de La (María) Callas consideraba a México como su temporada previa al Metropolitan, ahora eso ha cambiado porque no hay una organización con fuerza y que impulse a talentos que han surgido en la actualidad".

Abundó que están surgiendo muy buenas voces y que entre los nuevos talentos destacan el barítono Jorge Lagunes, "Así que vamos a decir que en éste momento quizá pueda haber un desarrollo pero se necesita de mucho respaldo", concluyó.

Pues espero que le vaya mejor al último sucesor al que designaron...

Yo ya estoy curado (cura la, más bien) de espanto

Il Frate

pues viva Villazon, y que suerte tener uno como Placi que te ayude en la carrera!!!

me parece que en el futuro tendremos por fin un tenor como Dios manda, que nos dureeeeeee.

Más sobre ese "R & J" , ahora en un periódico chino en inglés ("The Standard")



Rolando Villazon has the opera world on a string. The young Mexican tenor has just completed a fairy tale year, with acclaimed debuts at New York's Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden in London and the Staatsoper in Berlin. He released his first CD, a collection of Italian arias; several critics ranked it among the best classical recordings of 2004. And his face graced the covers of a number of opera periodicals.

``Success has come very fast,'' the 32-year-old Mexico City native says during a recent three-day stopover in Los Angeles to visit his in-laws. He and his wife, Lucia, live with their two infant sons in Paris. ``Sometimes I feel I am flying in space, up among the beautiful clouds. My wife says, `It's OK, enjoy the flight. Imagine you are the kite and I have the cord. I'll keep you close to Earth.'''

The strength of that tether will probably be tested further over the next few weeks when Villazon sings seven performances of Gounod's Romeo and Juliet for the Los Angeles Opera. Opposite him in the new production, directed by Ian Judge, will be another rising star, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko.

What has put Villazon at or near the top among up-and-coming tenors, colleagues and critics agree, is a silky voice, remarkably thoughtful portrayals and a magnetic stage presence. He's booked solid in the world's top theaters until 2009. Inevitably, some people go so far as to call him the next Placido Domingo, and the LA Opera general director just happens to be his mentor and good friend. They share certain vocal qualities, a bent for risk-taking and an all-out approach to rehearsing and performing.

``Besides his vocal ability and all its qualities, he has a phenomenal way of giving himself to the public, and the public feels it,'' Domingo says, adding that he regards Villazon as his artistic son. ``Then there is his charisma, which is extra and a blessing. You can't take your eyes off him.''

Daniel Barenboim, the artistic director of Berlin's Staatsoper - who conducted Villazon in Carmen in December - says Villazon was ``extraordinary'' as Don Jose, partly because of his need to perform at ``maximum intensity.''

``You have the impression that Rolando doesn't live as someone who occasionally sings,'' Barenboim says. ``Rather, one has the feeling that his real life is music and he just happens in addition to be a good husband, friend and very amusing fellow.''

Villazon follows Francisco Araiza and Ramon Vargas as Mexican singers who in recent years have made it to the top tiers of world opera. He is also among a handful of tenors striving to replace Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti as the next superstars. Among the others in that group are Marcelo Alvarez, Juan Diego Florez, Marcello Giordani, Salvatore Licitra and Joseph Calleja.

He comes from what Gerardo Kleinburg, the former artistic director at Mexico City's Bellas Artes opera company, describes as a ``great vintage'' of half a dozen young Mexican singers now making their names. Others include baritone Jorge Lagunes, sopranos Olivia Gorra and Eugenia Garza, and tenor Alfredo Portilla.

``Rolando is not No 1 today, but he is the one to keep track of,'' says Kleinburg, who was among the first to recognize Villazon's talent. ``I have no doubts he is Domingo's heir as a major operatic figure. We'll have to wait 10 or 15 years to see, but maybe you will remember my words.''

Netrebko and Villazon have worked together just once before, in a single La Traviata in Munich in 2003. But opera managers see a great artistic and commercial future for the pair. This year they are to sing a Traviata in Salzburg and Massenet's Manon in Berlin.

Judging from Villazon's televised 2001 performance in New York City Opera's La Boheme that helped launch his international career, dramatist Roger Pines of Lyric Opera of Chicago foresees great things from this month's Villazon-Netrebko combination.

``Villazon showed that he was an unusually considerate, sensitive partner [opposite Maria Kanyova as Mimi],'' Pines says. ``That bodes well for his Romeo. Don't forget that Romeo and Juliet sing four duets.''

The son of a computer programmer, Villazon developed an early interest in singing and says he bought his first Domingo record - the crossover album Perhaps Love, with John Denver - when he was 12. But he didn't decide to pursue a vocal career until the relatively late age of 20, when he entered Mexico City's National Conservatory of Music. Until then, his goal was to become a priest.

A year later, he summoned his courage and went to audition for Kleinburg at the Bellas Artes company, the nation's largest and its richest in tradition. Not overwhelmed by what he heard, Kleinburg nonetheless hired the tyro to sing small walk-on roles in several productions in the mid-1990s.

``He told me he saw a special energy and that he was going to bet on that,'' Villazon says. Remembers Kleinburg: ``It was his charisma, which is his main characteristic, besides having an easy voice with extraordinary high range and a passionate way of singing, as is common among Latin singers.''

Critics of Mexican President Vicente Fox's cutbacks in art spending say the flowering of talent that produced Villazon could soon wilt. The number of operas scheduled this year by Bella Artes is far fewer than in recent years, and there is a stark absence of international stars. Villazon is not scheduled to sing any operatic roles in the capital this year. Fewer operas means fewer young singers get breaks like the one Villazon got.

``It's a sad story because this has been an important city in operatic terms,'' Kleinburg says. ``Now, it's like we're getting the season you have at a conservatory.''

During the 90s, Villazon was accepted into a number of programs for young artists, including in San Francisco and Pittsburgh. But his career took off after he finished second at Domingo's 1999 Operalia vocal competition in Puerto Rico. At the closing gala, he sang a duet from La Boheme with Domingo - the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. Domingo's versatility and longevity are the standards Villazon has set for himself, especially as he slowly makes the transition from light tenor roles to heavier fare, such as Don Jose and the supremely dramatic Verdi heroes. They require more force and volume than most tenors possess and present risks of irreversible vocal damage if singers try to force their sound.

Barenboim believes Villazon can make the transition if he's careful, just as Domingo did. In the 1960s, he recalls, ``I was there in Tel Aviv when Placido sang his first Don Jose. And I would never have dreamt he would go on to sing Parsifal, Tristan and Otello, because his voice was much lighter then, as is Rolando's now.''

Lyric Opera's Pines, a frequent judge at competitions involving young singers, agrees: ``Villazon seems to be singing the right repertoire, and when he takes a risk, it's the right risk. He scored a great success in Verdi's Don Carlo but to his credit he didn't immediately start singing it everywhere.''

Another vocal risk that paid off handsomely for Villazon was singing the title role in Tales of Hoffman for England's Royal Opera last February, a performance that, according to The Sunday Times critic, was loaded with ``star potential and striking individuality.''

Villazon says he and his wife chose to live in Paris mainly because it is closer to most of his singing engagements and he has to spend far less time traveling than if they lived in North America. But the couple have fallen in love with the city and its cultural offerings. An avid reader, Villazon says he learns as much about operatic characterization from literature as from other singers' CDs.

The vertiginous ride to the opera world's top ranks has made him somewhat dizzy and he volunteers that he has sought help to cope. He talks to his Mexico City therapist by phone four times a week, he says. ``Any kind of success brings the fear of others' envy, the fear of being alone in these heights the higher you fly. So I am confronting this other me, the one that is being born.''

He says that with the aid of the psychologist, whom he's been seeing for nine years, he has also had to work on overcoming a trait he believes is common among Mexicans who attain success - the need to apologize for it, a complex that derives in large part from Mexico's proximity to the United States.

``It's the feeling many people have here that `there is always someone better than me, and I am not going to make it.' We have been raised with this way of talking with our hats off in front of everyone, saying, `Don't worry, I won't be a menace to you.'

``But when you see that a Francisco Araiza and a Ramon Vargas have shown that international success is possible, you don't mind breaking tradition and the historical parameters. If you have the vocal material, the courage and the talent, you deserve to be wherever you are,'' he says, as if still trying to convince himself. ``It's not a lottery.''

Ya está en los comercios del ramo, concretamente lo he adquirido en "El Corte Inglés", el nuevo cd de Rolando Villazón. Lo poco que me ha dado tiempo a escuchar desde la tienda al hotel me va guuustaaando

gggrgrgrgrggrgrggrrrrrr

a buscarlo ya mismooooo

Os aseguro que habeis despertado mí curiosidad. A ver, escucharé a Rolando Villazón a ver si me recuerda a Domingo... Los que lo habeis oído, recomendarme con qué empezar, por favor !!!




Por supuesto

brunilda

Pues tienes su primer cd de arias italianas, este segundo decicado a Massenet/Gounod, una participación en un "Holandés errante" y el "Romeo y Julieta" grabado por RTVE Música en Oviedo, con la Arteta. Dependerá de tus gustos.

He encontrado otra reseña en "post-gazette.com" http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05030/448984.stm
By Andrew Druckenbrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



Little in classical music is as spectacular as the steep rise of an opera singer. No matter how long they have worked or been appreciated, when singers finally emerge, they catapult to stardom with astounding swiftness. It's not unlike an amusement park ride:

Keep your arms and hands inside the car at all times, and get ready to scream -- or at least sing a great deal.

"It was a roller coaster -- but only going up -- with the emotion in your stomach of going down," says Mexican tenor Rolando Villazon of his break-out year of 2004. He debuted at the Metropolitan Opera (in "La Traviata" as Alfredo, opposite Renee Fleming) and at Covent Garden (in "The Tales of Hoffmann") and released a CD of Italian opera arias to much acclaim.

Those successes placed him in swift waters. With Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti in their autumn years as artists and no longer dominating the market as they did as members of the Three Tenors, there may finally be a void in the field to be filled. While the world may never again see a phenomenon of the magnitude of those three (including Jose Carreras), Villazon -- along with other young tenors Marcelo Alvarez, Joseph Calleja and Juan Diego Florez -- now vie not just for gigs but also for superstar status.

"The powers that be in the opera world are desperate to discover the next hot male phenomenon," wrote New York Times critic Anne Midgette after Villazon's recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the fall. "Rolando Villazon, a recent contender for the tenor crown ... he's the real thing"

Villazon's momentum continues with the release last week of his second disc, a deftly planned album of works by Gounod and Massenet. But none of this rush of praise and attention has spoiled this former Pittsburgh Opera Center artist who is proud but not prideful.

"I am enjoying it very much," he says from Los Angeles. "I embrace the pressure. As much as I love applause and being on the cover of a magazine, that is a consequence of a career, not a goal of it. As long as I focus on the amazing part of being on stage and develop a character, I am fine."

If Pavarotti is egotistic, as his former manager paints him in a recent book, then Villazon is self-effacing. Humble and friendly, he is willing to talk to -- not down to -- anyone about opera or even his favorite team, the Steelers. He is anything but a diva.

Before the rise

The 32-year old (33 next month) was born in Mexico City to a family that supported his talent in the arts, enrolling him in a school for performing arts.

"I have been a performer my whole life," he says. "I always created characters. I remember being in love with 'Don Quixote,' making armor and [riding] a bike I had almost destroyed [so it would] be like the old horse."

Later, he shaved his hair after reading Gandhi's biography, and another time found him considering the priesthood. "What a better performing character than a priest, a dramatic role?" he says, laughing.

Finally, singing took over as a passion.

"As an adolescent, singing for me was very important; it was my refuge. That's when I got to know Domingo's voice." Villazon fell in love with the sound of Domingo on record, leading him to sing at a school talent show. There he received enough praise to keep at it. He began, in his words, to "breathe opera." He eventually won two national contests, leading to his enrolling in San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera program.

As much as Domingo is an idol and voice teachers have molded him, Villazon credits former Pittsburgh Opera head Tito Capobianco and his time at Pittsburgh Opera center in 1998-99 with taking his career to the next level.

"It was one of the best things that happened to me," Villazon says. "The five months in Pittsburgh prepared me for the big stage. With four productions ['Lucia di Lammermoor,' 'Werther,' 'Vanessa' and 'Eugen Onegin'], it was a taste of what the real life is in opera. We had rehearsals, worked with maestro, had public performances. But it was a safe environment; there was a big team protecting you."

And a big group of fans amassing.

"In his first appearance with the Pittsburgh Opera Center, all in attendance realized that we were hearing a future star," says Frank Fischer, a Pittsburgh Opera board member and the former president of National Record Mart. "All of the attributes to his present singing were evident on that first hearing."

Old school tenor

It wasn't long before Villazon was plucked from the program and put on a professional stage. "I came to Tito and said, 'I received this offer,' and he broke my contract," he says, still appreciative of Capobianco's action. And it wasn't long before Pittsburgh Opera invited him back, this time to star in "Lucia di Lammermoor."

The Post-Gazette review of his performance read: "The burnished voices of James Westman (Enrico) and Rolando Villazon (Edgardo) had the audience believing we were in an Italian opera house of old. ... The sky's the limit for Villazon, a young tenor with tremendous potential who combined polish with dramatic depth."

Indeed, it's the "old school" qualities of Villazon's voice and his rise to stardom that catch most people's attention.

"He is the hope of many to bring back to opera the commitment and emotional delivery that existed in the Golden Age," says Fischer. "In the Golden Age, you did not have to be told who was singing, you recognized it immediately, whether it be Bjoerling, Corelli, Del Monaco or, in our day, Domingo or Pavarotti. He has the individual characteristics that should put him in the same league."

"This young man commands a lyric instrument capable of extraordinary light and shade, sweetness and strength, introspection and passion," said Martin Bernheimer of The Financial Times. "He applies his resources to a variety of challenges with the ease as well as the conviction of an old master."

"What I like is [that] his top is ringing, that Italian ping, but he also has an immensely Italianate approach to his phrasing," says Christopher Hahn, artistic adviser of the Pittsburgh Opera. "There's also a sense of abandonment that is very exciting, a definitely old-record style to it."

Fischer adds, "He makes you believe that you are sharing the feelings of the character and not of the singer."

Even Villazon's career has progressed similarly to those of old. In an age when desperate CD companies are wont to promote artists before they are ready, he has bided his time with roles he excels at and has coordinated his discs with his stage performances.

"For me it was important to have success on the stage and then the CD," says Villazon. "That is a healthy progress, because there is pressure, once people are saying great things about you, to have to live up to the expectations. You want to do what you want to do, but there is pressure since everyone knows you and heard your CD."

So, in expanding into other roles, he made sure a recording coincided with stage work. His new album includes arias from "Romeo e Juilette" and "Faust," two operas he will have leads in this spring (as Romeo at Los Angeles Opera, Munich Opera and Vienna Staatsoper, and as Faust at Munich Opera). A March recital at Champs-Elysees Theatre in Paris will be a testing ground for this move to French repertoire.

Drawn to the role

Villazon sketches all the time, a la Caruso. Some of his goofy cartoons of productions he's been in are posted on his Web site, www.rolandovillazon.com.

It's all these connections to greats of the past -- he is even called "Piccolo Domingo" by fans for his similarities to and love for the great tenor -- that could be pitfalls for the young tenor. Unlike the prodigies abounding in instrumental music, opera singers don't usually reach full voice until their 30s.

Hahn hired Villazon for "Lucia di Lammermoor" here with some trepidation that the part was too much for him. "I worried if he could do that final aria at that time of his career," he says. "He is the kind of sound and musical approach that I love, that doesn't become academic, stately or pretty." It worked out well, but Hahn hopes Villazon guards against roles that are too big, too soon.

"Villazon generates enormous excitement in the hall because he is so exciting and the sound he creates is so exciting," Hahn says. "That is a quality that someone like Domingo has, too, but it takes time and a number of performances and roles to be a Domingo. The same with Pavarotti. I think this is a crucial time for a young tenor like Rolando to be true to his voice and instinct, and I think he is doing that."

Villazon does take caution. He sang Don Carlo last June in Amsterdam, a large role. "This production of Don Carlo, they are saying, is it too soon?" he says. "I knew it was going to be good, but I was careful not to sing Don Carlo after that." His next Don Carlo will not be for several years, at Covent Garden.

The tenor also feels he is grounded enough to withstand the coming crush of popularity.

"Domingo is a superstar tenor, and he manages to have a private life. I think opera is safe in that regard. People aren't interested in reading in gossip magazines about who he is drinking wine with."

Plus, Villazon says, "I like to think that success is not an accident. You work really hard to achieve what you can achieve. You have to take everything in, you have to go deep inside yourself, and you have good people around you."

To that last point he counts his wife, Lucia, a psychologist by training who has been guiding him since they met. They have two children, Mateo and Dario.

"She is the love of my live, my first love. I was 16 and she was 15 [when they met]," he says. "Without her I wouldn't be here. I am the crazy one, the one jumping all the time, fast paces and talking always. She is the one that observes and is deep in understanding."

Lucia's influence and Villazon's own moxie will have to go a long way in shepherding his career against the wolves who would all like a piece of the next Caruso or Domingo. Villazon is prepared for whatever's next.

"I want to be what I am able to be," he says. "If that is superstar tenor, that's fine. If it is a great tenor, fine. I am ready."

Acompañándome un buen puñado de kilometros he escuchado su recital tres veces hoy. Aunque tanto francés acaba cansando os lo recomiendo.
Aparte de arias más o menos conocidas de óperas como Werther, Romeo y Julieta o Faust; afronta piezas "desconocidas" de Mireille, Le Cid, Roma o Polyeucte. En todas ellas su voz enamora nuestros oídos, su dicción y fraseo convencen y sus medios superan los escollos sin problemas ( al menos de las arias más conocidas, que son sobre las que más pueda opinar ). Tanto en los pasajes más íntimos como en los que requieren una fuerza que nos lleve al clímax del aria se luce el mexicano. Además le da a estas arias francesas, que a mi me parecen "muy gabachas" a veces, una calidez muy latina. En suma, que os rasquéis un poco el bolsillo y os lo compréis.
Citar también que N.Dessay le acompaña brevemente en un corte de Manon.

ahora voy a ver si esta en Ricordi...

Pues como me gusta mucho Romeo a ver si la encuentro o alguien me la graba...

brunilda

Más noticias de sus últimas actuaciones:

En Mundo Clásico (Artículo entero muy interesante previo pago) sobre su participación en "Carmen" dicen, por ejemplo:

Es realmente una creación tremenda la del tenor mejicano.Pero debo agregar que su voz es especialmente adecuada a teatros pequeños como lo es la Staatsoper que cuenta con escasas 1400 localidades. Este es el tamaño para teatros donde se puede realmente cantar sin forzar y se pueden apreciar las cualidades vocales de los cantantes.


Y sobre su recital de París la Agencia AFP:
Con media hora de ovaciones de pie y pedidos de “bis”, el público de París brindó un excepcional triunfo al tenor mexicano Rolando Villazón, que dio este miércoles su primer recital en la capital francesa.

En el Théatre des Champs Elysées, con lleno total, Villazón cantó arias de los repertorios francés e italiano, acompañado por la Orquesta de la Opera Real de Walonia, dirigida por el maestro italiano Marco Zambelli.

Gounod, Massenet, Donizetti, Verdi, Puccini y Cilea formaban parte del programa. Los aplausos fueron intensos desde las primeras arias, pero fue sobre todo con el repertorio italiano, en el que Villazón deslumbra, cuando los bravos y aplausos se hicieron estruendosos.

E lucevan le stelle de Tosca de Puccini y E' la solita storia de La Arlesienne de Cilea, arias con las que terminaba el recital, hicieron que el público llegara al frenesí.

Ante los entusiastas pedidos de repetición, el tenor mexicano volvió a cantar cinco temas fuera de programa, entre ellos No puede ser, de la zarzuela La tabernera del puerto, que presentó diciendo: “Después de cantar dos horas en francés e italiano, permítanme una canción en español”.

Villazón conquista tanto por su voz llena de matices, la calidez de su timbre y la fuerza de sus agudos, como por su simpatía y la naturalidad con que su actuación incorpora una comunicación con el público.

Lo compré hace al menos 2 semanas, en El Corte (dónde, si no, pues desde que "me cerraron" mi tienda favorita para ópera, Vellido, que alguien de aquí seguro recordará, es la casi la única opción!!! )

En general, me gustó. Pero demasiado francés junto... ay! se me hace
difícil. Es un disco para tomárselo con calma. O eso me pareció.