Frogtoon Music

Maria (Album) by Cecilia Bartoli

Artist Biography For Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli Italian Pronunciation Tʃeˈtʃiːlja ˈbartoli Born June 4 1966 In Rome Is An Italian Mezzo-Soprano Opera Singer And Recitalist. She Is Best-Known For Her Interpretation Of The Music Of Mozart And Rossini As Well As For Her Performances Of Lesser-Known Baroque And Classical Music. She Is Known For Having The Versatility To Play Both Soprano And Mezzo Roles And Is Sometimes Considered A Soprano With A Low Tessitura. Bartoli's Coloratura Skill Has Earned Her The Title The Queen Of Agility. Bartoli Is Considered A Coloratura Mezzo-Soprano With An Unusual Timbre. She Is One Of The Most Popular And One Of The Top-Selling Opera Singers Of Recent Years. Bartoli Is Much Liked By The Concert-Going Public For Her Lively Vivacious On-Stage Persona While Her Lyric Voice And Investigations Of Baroque Music Have Given Her Considerable Recognition Even Among The Non-Opera-Going Public. Early Career Cecilia Bartoli's Parents Silvana Bazzoni And Pietro Angelo Bartoli Were Both Professional Singers And Gave Her Her First Music Lessons. Her First Public Performance Was At Age Eight As The Shepherd Boy In Tosca. Bartoli Later Studied At The Conservatorio Di Santa Cecilia In Rome. In Contrast To Most Opera Singers Bartoli Came To Prominence In Her Early Twenties Unusual In A Profession Where Vocal Maturity Is Typically Not Achieved Until The Thirties. She Made Her Professional Opera Début In 1987 At The Arena Di Verona. The Following Year She Undertook The Role Of Rosina In Rossini's The Barber Of Seville At The Cologne Opera The Schwetzingen Festival And The Zurich Opera Earning Rave Reviews. She Was Soon Invited By Herbert Von Karajan To Sing At The Salzburg Festival And She Worked With Von Karajan On Bach's Mass In B Minor. At This Time She Also Came To Daniel Barenboim's Attention When He Saw Her Performing On A French Television Tribute To Maria Callas. Working With The Conductors Daniel Barenboim And Nikolaus Harnoncourt Bartoli Focused On Mozart Roles Such As Zerlina In Don Giovanni And Dorabella In Così Fan Tutte And From Then On Her Career Has Developed Internationally. In 1990 She Made Her Début At The Opéra Bastille As Cherubino In Mozart's Le Nozze Di Figaro And Her Debut At The Hamburg State Opera As Idamantes In Mozart's Idomeneo. This Was Followed By Her La Scala Début As Isolier In Le Comte Ory In 1991 A Performance Which Solidified Her Reputation As One Of The World's Leading Rossini Singers. Broad Success In 1996 She Made Her Debut At The Metropolitan Opera As Despina In Così Fan Tutte And Returned The Following Year To Sing The Title Role Of La Cenerentola. On This Occasion There Was Much Speculation That She Had Been Secretly Miked To Boost Her Volume As The Met Is One Of The Largest Opera Houses In The World But Such Rumours Were Steadfastly Denied By The Met Management. As A Result Of Her Acclaimed Performance The Role Of Angelina Has Become Somewhat Associated With Her Name. In 2000 She Triumphed In Another Mozart Soprano Role Donna Elvira In Don Giovanni At The Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2001 She Made A Long-Awaited Royal Opera House Début Taking The Roles Of Euridice And The Genio In The London Stage Première Of Haydn's L'anima Del Filosofo. Work In Baroque Music In Addition To Mozart And Rossini Bartoli Has Spent Much Of Her Time Performing And Recording Baroque And Early Classical Era Music Of Such Composers As Gluck Vivaldi Haydn And Salieri. In Early 2005 She Sang Cleopatra In Handel's Giulio Cesare A Role Written For A Soprano But Which Is In Mezzo-Soprano Range. As Her Voice Has Matured It Has Gained The Fullness And "largeness" It Was Earlier Criticized For Lacking. She Often Performs With The Baroque Ensemble Il Giardino Armonico. Work In Bel Canto In 2007/08 Bartoli Devoted Her Time To Studying And Recording The Early 19th Century Repertoire – The Era Of Italian Romanticism And Bel Canto – And Especially The Legendary Singer Maria Malibran The 200th Anniversary Of Whose Birth Was Celebrated In March 2008. The Album Maria Was Released In September 2007 And Was Number One In The Classical Billboard Charts In The U.S As Well As Achieving Gold Status In Belgium And The Netherlands. In May 2008 Bartoli Played The Title Role Written For Malibran In A Revival Of Fromental Halévy's 1828 Opera Clari At The Zurich Opera. In June 2010 She Sang The Title Role Of Bellini's Norma For The First Time With Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock In A Concert In The Konzerthaus Dortmund. In March 2011 Bartoli Toured Five Australian Cities With Two Programs Drawn From Sacrificium And Maria. Awards And Position Today Generally Considered One Of The Best Mezzo-Sopranos Of The Present Day Cecilia Bartoli Was Honored As A Chevalier Of The Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres In 1995 And Received The Léonie Sonning Music Prize In 2010. She Becomes Artistic Director Of The Salzburg Whitsun Festival Succeeding Riccardo Muti In 2012. Cecilia Bartoli Is Married To The Swiss Bass-Baritone Oliver Widmer. In 2011 She Won The Grammy Award For Best Classical Vocal Performance For Sacrificium. Discography - Opera Rossini La Scala Di Seta 1988 Rossini Il Barbiere Di Siviglia 1989 Mozart Lucio Silla 1991 Rossini La Cenerentola 1993 Puccini Manon Lescaut 1993 Mozart Le Nozze Di Figaro 1994 Mozart La Clemenza Di Tito 1995 Haydn Orfeo Ed Euridice 1997 Rossini Il Turco In Italia 1998 Mozart Mitridate 1999 Haydn Armida 2000 Handel Rinaldo 2000 Mozart Don Giovanni 2001 Bellini La Sonnambula 2008 Halevy Clari 2008 Recitals With Orchestra Rossini Arias 1989 Mozart Arias 1991 Rossini Heroines 1992 Mozart Portraits 1994 The Vivaldi Album 1999 Cecilia And Bryn 1999 Gluck Italian Arias 2001 The Salieri Album 2003 Opera Proibita 2005 Maria A Tribute To Maria Malibran 2007 Sacrificium Arias Written For Castrati 2009 Recitals With Piano Rossini Recital 1990 If You Love Me – "Se Tu M'ami" Eighteenth-Century Italian Songs 1992 Arie Antiche 1992 Italian Songs 1993 Chant D'Amour 1996 An Italian Songbook 1997 Live In Italy 1998 Sacred Mozart Requiem 1992 Scarlatti Salve Regina
Pergolesi Stabat Mater Salve Regina 2000 Cantatas Rossini Cantatas Volume 2 Collections Cecilia Bartoli Rossini Heroines 1992 A Portrait 1995 The Art Of Cecilia Bartoli 2002 Sospiri 2010

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Frogtoon Music Album Info: Maria

Although Her Performances Of Baroque And Classical Period Music Are Acclaimed By Many Cecilia Bartoli's Strength Has Always Been In The Bel Canto Music Of Her Homeland. Both Her Covent Garden Performances As Fiorilla In Rossini's Il Turco In Italia And The Recording Of The Opera On Decca Remain My Favourite Examples Of The Singer's Work She Understands The Style Of This Music. The High Degree Of Expression With Which She Approaches Everything She Sings Is More Suited To The Overt Emotions Of Rossini And His Contemporaries Than Mozart And Handel To My Mind. So I Find It A Joy To See Her Returning To Mostly Italian Opera Of The Early Nineteenth Century For Her New Album Maria Which Is Complemented By A Concert Tour Including Two Dates At The Barbican In December 2007. The Album Is Well Thought Out Presented And Executed. Bartoli Sounds Wonderfully Fresh And Exciting Throughout And The Accompaniment Of Adam Fischer And The Orchestra La Scintilla Is Exemplary. But What Excites Is The Selection Of Material Well Matched By An Imaginatively Designed And Presented CD Case. Earlier In The Year Opera Rara Produced A CD Of Songs And Arias Connected To Or Written By The Singer Pauline Viardot Bartoli's New Disc Explores The Career Of Viardot's Older Sister Maria Malibran Who Was One Of The Greatest Singers Of The Nineteenth Century. The Most Famous Member Of The García Family Malibran Joined Her Father Manuel A Tenor And Composer Her Mother Joaquina Sitches A Soprano Her Older Brother Manuel A Baritone Who Wrote A Seminal Treatise On Singing And Her Sister Pauline On A Trip To America Where The Family Starred In The Continent's First Production Of Don Giovanni Helped By Da Ponte No Less Who Was Living In New York . Amongst A Family Of Outstanding Musicians She Shone. But At The Age Of Seventeen She Married Eugène Malibran A Frenchman Of Spanish Descent Who Was Twenty-Eight Years Older. The Marriage Was Unhappy And She Returned To Europe Alone Forging A Brilliant Career For Herself In Paris With The Help Of Rossini Who She Had Known From An Early Age Because Her Father Had Been In The Rome Premiere Of Il Barbiere Di Siviglia . While There She Met The Belgian Violinist Charles De Bériot And Started An Affair With Him Scandalising Parisian Society So Much That She Felt Forced To Leave. Audiences In England And Particularly Italy However Adored Her And She Became An Iconic Figure In The Risorgimento. Her Marriage To Malibran Was Finally Annulled In 1836 And She Married De Bériot. But The Happiness Of Her Second Marriage Was Cut Short In The Autumn Of That Year. She Died In Manchester Pregnant From Injuries Sustained During A Riding Accident. While The Vocal Ranges Of Cecilia Bartoli And Maria Malibran Are Probably Not Exactly Matched - One Can't Really Imagine Bartoli Singing The Whole Of A Heavy Opera Like Norma For Instance - All The Selections On This Disc Are Eminently Suited To Bartoli's Voice. There's No Hint Of Strain And She Sounds Equally Relaxed With The Demands Of Tessitura From A Low E Below Middle C Up To A High C And Those Of Fioritura Decoration . It Really Is Worth Investing In The Deluxe Edition Of The CD I Don't Think I've Ever Seen Such A Well-Presented Disc From Decca. They Give Us A Concise Biographical Note About Malibran Essays That Explain Her Vocal Type And The Background To The Arias Full Texts And Translations And Illustrations Of Bartoli's Collection Of Malibran Memorabilia Which She's Taking With Her On Her Tour By Way Of An Exhibition To Accompany The Concerts. Even Before You Play The CD Exploring The Hard-Bound Case With Integrated Booklet Is A Pleasurable Experience. But The Main Event Of Course Is The Singing Which Confirms Bartoli's Stature As One Of The Great Singers Of Today. She Seems So Well Suited To These Arias By Nine Composers That One Wonders Why She Doesn't Focus More On This Repertoire. The Arias By Bellini Are Particularly Lovely And Whet The Appetite For A Complete Recording She's Made Of La Sonnambula With Juan Diego Flórez. No Doubt Flórez Will Make A More Compelling Elvino Than Celso Albelo The Tenor Used On Bartoli's Disc For Her Performance Of Amina's Final Aria From The Opera 'Ah! Non Giunge' But Even Albelo's Inadequate Singing Cannot Diminish The Mezzo's Magnificent Performance Here. The Touching Restraint Of Elvira's Mad Scene From I Puritani Finds The Singer At Her Best While The Surprise Of The Disc Is Perhaps 'Casta Diva' From Norma. Bartoli Instils This Most Hackneyed Of Arias With A Silvery Reverence That Suits The Lyrics And For Me Casts Aside The Dominance Of Callas' Iconic Recordings Of The Piece. The Other Items On The Disc Are Mainly Obscure But Most Of Them Prove To Be Revelatory. The Final Scene From Pacini's Irene Is An Extraordinary Climactic Prayer And Bartoli Makes It Suitably Urgent And Heartfelt - As With The Bellini The Clean Lines Of The Melody Suit Her Down To The Ground. Pacini Is Also Represented By An Insertion Aria For Rossini's Tancredi. 'Dopo Tante E Tante Pene' Was An Alternative Rondò Written For Malibran's Performance Of The Opera On 21 November 1834 In Naples When Her First Appearance There Two Nights Earlier Had Been Unsuccessful. Inevitably Bartoli Revels In The Astonishing Coloratura Writing Of The Piece And She Nails The High C At The End Quite Breathtakingly. Ines' Romanza From Giuseppe Persiani's Ines De Castro Is Conventional But Beautiful Benefiting From A Flute Cello And Harp Accompaniment That Resemble Donizetti In Lucia Di Lammermoor And Bartoli's Gentle Approach Serves The Piece Well. Some Of The Most Interesting Items On The CD Derive From The Pens Of Malibran And Her Father. The Lively Castanet And Flamenco Clapping Of The Excerpt From Manuel García's El Poeta Calculista Were An Unexpected Delight To Me No Less Appealing Is The More Serious Aria With Chorus For Semiramide From García's Opera Written For America La Figlia Dell'aria Again An Ideal Vehicle For Bartoli's Vivid And Confident Attack. Malibran Herself Is Represented In Two Items A Spirited 'Rataplan' And An Insertion Aria For Donizetti's L'elisir D'amore. These Pieces Seem To Indicate A Serious Talent For Composition Though Bartoli's Sparkling Singing Certainly Helps. However The Two Most Fascinating Tracks Are By Composers I Didn't Expect To Appear Alongside Bellini And Pacini. Hummel's 'Air À La Tirolienne Avec Variations' Is An Entertaining Little Number Written For And First Performed By Malibran That Calls On Her To Yodel And Then Sing Variations On It In Hungarian And Rossinian Style. Bartoli Relishes The Challenge And Injects The Piece With Incredible Character Not Least Thanks To Some Exquisite Half-Tones. But My Favourite Is The Concert Aria By Mendelssohn 'Infelice'. It Contains A Prominent Violin Solo And Was Intended For Performance By Both Malibran And Her Lover De Bériot Though In The End They Never Had The Opportunity To Perform It. Bartoli's Solo Violinist On The Disc Is Maxim Vengerov Making A Very Beautiful Cameo Appearance. The Two Work Together Sympathetically In The Lovely Adagio Section But What Impresses Is The Singer's Ability Across The Whole Twelve-Minute Piece. The Recitative Is Dramatic The Adagio Is Crafted With A Subtle Caressing Timbre The Allegro Is Vital. For Me It Is The Crowning Glory Of One Of The Most Exciting New Recordings Of The Year. - By Dominic McHugh - Lineup /b Celso Albelo Ten Elvino Riccardo Luca Pisaroni Bass-Bar Giorgio Maria Goldschmidt Flute Robert Pickup Clarinet Una Prelle Harp Maxim Vengerov Violin Ada Pesch Violin Daniel Pezzotti Cello Claudio Mermoud Guitar International Chamber Soloists / Jurg Hammerli
Orchestra La Scintilla / Conductor Adam Fischer
Recorded Kirchgemeinde Zurich-Oberstrasse August-October 2006 Notes In English French And German
DECCA 475 9078

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