Snowy cherry-trees from Tongji Green Campus ( my better half is in Shanghai for a while and sends me these wonderful reminders of what Spring is like over there).
A very happy birthday to Eyes which will be a historical one this year!Eyes(ometric)
(No music on line, unless you want to hum 'Printemps qui commence ....' with Vesselina Kasarova ... or Rita Gorr...)
I was in Avignon yesterday for another Cnipal Concert.
As I was in Cologne last Thursday and Friday, I missed the concert in Marseille. In Avignon, it is called Apér'Opera, guess why! (But I had to catch my two buses to go back home so, no tasting of our good wines for me...)
Here's the billboard of the March concert:(the pianist is different in Avignon)
Je NIn KIM Soprano
Masahiro Iwase Baryton
Grégory Leonti, piano
Cnipal, Foyer du public Opera d'Avignon.
This concert was special, dedicated to Asian singers and to Asian melodies in the second part.
The first part was special Carte Blanche to Je Ni KIM.
She is finishing her two years under the Cnipal and has a successful contract with Theâtre du Châtelet in June for 'The King and I".
She will be Tup Tim !
When I first heard Je's voice (Masterclass in Marseille, in October) I simply thought she was a true Angel from what must be paradise... I was amazed. Her selection for this first important role is not that a surprise to me!
She is a wonderful coloratura in the great tradition, vocalising is done with intelligence, beauty of the sound always, and smiles.. she is so graceful!
Well! we had plenty of wonderful moments with three well chosen arias : Alcina( Tomani à vagheggiar), La Sonnambula (Ah! non creda mirarti... ah non giunge) and then the very hard and contrastive Zerbinette 's aria :Grossmâchtige Prinzessin... which was real fireworks, with the famous D, I think,
She came back for the melodies in a white dress adorned with pearls which was very well suited for the song called 'costume d'apparat' for a vision of beauty one evening.. so poetic in the French translation and the refinement of her singing in Korean ((Isang Yun, 1917-1995 who had a rather sad life due to historical facts but very successful on the music side according to the programme, which is always very well informed on the musical background with even the translation of the arias, and it is also very rich on the young singers cursus, so many years of studying, vocal competitions, and prizes, I am admirative. It shows how high they consider the tradition of singing, and they want to get the best as well in the various places where they learn).
Jiwon Song (smiling, on the left) gave a stunning Aleko, and then sang a cappella (his bass- baritone voice is so full and rich...) their famous Korean anthem Arirang which means so much! ( I had heard it in Seoul, and was moved to tears to see them singing their heart out) it was the encore and the three of them made us sing too!
The first melody sung by Masahiro Iwase was a jewel: the young singer appeared in his traditional costume so dignified and moved, that it was something special before he sang.
He is a real poet, I heard "Sakura" the poem about cherry blossoms, and I liked the melody, his gestures, his pauses and inflections, his melancholy about his lost love, and yet another Spring is here and he is wondering ... if they could meet again, ask 'how are you'.. 'it's been a long time'... even so the cherry street is full of blooming flowers... but love is lost...(Sadao Bekku 1922-1989, but do not look for this melody on youtube, it is not at all what I listened to...!).
I hope one day Masahiro Iwase will record these melodies for us!
L'instant, comme ces fleurs de printemps ephémères... These young artists are so precious!
I wish them a great successful musical life, personal life too.
The pianist joined them, he played beautifully, Rachmaninov... a wonder in Aleko... Applause!!!!!
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