A l'an que ven que se sian pas mai que siguem pas mens .. -..

Tomorrow is opera day in Marseilles for Rossini 'L'Italienne à Alger' and I know it is going to be most enjoyable. It will be also the big discovery of the new sea front after months of huge road works. Then Barcelona is welcoming us, this time I will not be on my own, for Il Pirata and Iolanta. Being well informed by friends on facebook I know last night at the Liceù was an absolute success for a fantastic cast the lead being the top belcantist Mariella Devia. Bellini has a divine way of phrasing music for singers and orchestral work to really support the singers. This opera is hardly performed as it is a proper killer for the main characters Gualtiero the Pirate and above all for Imogenel who will find out she is still very much in love with him. She ends the opera on a fantastic mad scene where she has a tremendous part to sing. Last night concert version was broadcast on Radio clasica Catatalunya: http://www.catmusica.cat/index_cm.htm. May be it will be also on air on Monday night 20H. Then, I will attend Iolanta, and I am also so thrilled by this opera sung by Anna Netrebko in the title role (concert version with the Mariinsky this time). I hope to revisit Pablo Picasso Museum and also Miro one and then I really must spend a day in Montserrat. I went there on Easter day some forty years ago and it was so crowded we could hardly move and did not manage to see the famous Black Virgin.This time I would like to listen to the Boys Choir in the basilica. So I will set off early morning for a change! Here to finish the first post of the year is a smashing video from last night, Gregory Kunde and Mariella Devia at the Liceù . I cannot put in words what I feel when I follow such expressive and stunning art of singing. Many thanks to Rocky1357924680Rocky1357924680! Last part of the first aria which ends Scene 4. The opera opens on a dreadful storm which will bring to the shores of Caldora (Sicily) the wrecked ships and their wounded crew.Imogene who is the Duchess of Caldora after marrying the Duke Ernesto, has a duty to welcome and help the crew in distress. By doing so in sc 4 she will meet Gualtiero for the first time without really recognising him. But he will and directly exclaims: 'Cielo! è dessa! Heavens ! It is she! When she meets Itulbo, Gualtiero's companion, she has Gualtiero on her mind and questions him to find out what happened to the chief of the pirates her husband Ernesto fiercely fights at sea,. She tells her dream to her lady in waiting Adele: her hero dies on a deserted shore, with blood all around. She cried loudly with sorrow but had no answer from heavens or nature. Then in the second part of her dream her husband appears, he shouts at her, reveals he killed the pirate and drags her with him with violence.... and the aria becomes so beautiful when she says she then could hear 'un sospir di lui che mor' A sigh from him who dies and ends saying to Adele she believes her dream fortells the truth. The two meet, she suspects it is he, Gualtiero: 'Oh Dio! che intendo?... Quail mai gemito suono, O god What do I hear? Whatever was that groan? Si soccorra...Oh! cara Adele! Quail tumulto in me desto! Sventurata anch'io deliro, Tutti assota in vano affetto Io ti veggo in ogni oggetto, O tormnento del mio cor Ah! sarai, finch'io respiro, La cagion eternamnte Tu sarai del mio dolor. translation from Opera rara Let me go to his aid... Oh, my dear Adele! What a tumult he has aroused within me! In my misfortune, I too rave wildly Totally plunged in pointless emotion: O you who are the torment of my heart, I see you everywhere I look. Ah! for as long as I live, even when you are dead you will be here with me: For all time you will be the cause pf my grief Liceù I pirata Liceù Iolanta