Here is a fantastic masterclass for all you coloratura sopranos out there. Serra is a master, and she has a wealth to say...in Italian.

Here is a fantastic masterclass for all you coloratura sopranos out there. Serra is a master, and she has a wealth to say...in Italian.

Domingo was the special guest on yesterday's Colbert Report. Who knew Colbert knew so much about opera?

Canadians can view the clips at the following links:

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-colbert-report/full-episodes/the-colbert-report---february-23-2012/#clip621685

http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/the-colbert-report/full-episodes/the-colbert-report---february-23-2012/#clip621688

National Ballet of Canada, principal dancer Guillaume Côté
Directed by Ben Shirinian
Choreography by Guillaume Côté
Music by James LaValle
Produced by Leslie Aimee Gottleib and David Miller for Krystal Levy Pictures

National Ballet of Canada, principal dancer Guillaume Côté
Directed by Ben Shirinian
Choreography by Guillaume Côté
Music by James LaValle
Produced by Leslie Aimee Gottleib and David Miller for Krystal Levy Pictures

Ready to hear what Against the Grain's Super Villains have to offer? Read the Super Villains post, sit back with a cold Steam Whistle, and listen to this clip. It was filmed live at SMASH Furniture, Toronto.

Film by Art Life and Stilettos

Ready to hear what Against the Grain's Super Villains have to offer? Read the Super Villains post, sit back with a cold Steam Whistle, and listen to this clip. It was filmed live at SMASH Furniture, Toronto.

Film by Art Life and Stilettos

So this is what happens at New York Fashion Week...

Mark S. Doss and Diana Di Mauro - Photo by Charles Leonio

After months of work, I'm finally ready to reveal the latest addition to Art Life and Stilettos. I will be featuring video interviews and features on artists and events alongside my coverage and musings on all things artistic, fashionable and opera related. My first interview features bass baritone Mark S. Doss, the wonderful singer who is performing this month as Thoas in Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride at the Canadian Opera Company. It is a three part interview discussing Mark's work, his role preparation and life as an opera singer. Mark is a really interesting individual with many stories to tell and decades of experience in the industry. His sense of style (love the pocket square), matches his his rich and powerful voice perfectly, and it was a real treat having the opportunity to sit down and chat with him. Go hear him in Iphigenie this month while you can.

What I had intended to be a short interview, grew into a three-part introspective feature on Mark and his work. In this first part Mark talked to me about his current role as Thoas in Gluck's Iphigenie en Tauride at the Canadian Opera Company before talking about other Kings and larger than life characters from other operas. From the devil to John the Baptist, Mark has played a huge variety of larger than life characters. He also told me a bit about his life before he became an opera singer, which had little to do with music.

Please enjoy part one of my three part interview with Mark S. Doss, filmed at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, Toronto.

Happy 2011 everyone!

Art Life and Stilettos will be travelling somewhere very warm to give a talk on Maria Malibran.  I would love to take you with me, but airline weight restrictions prevent me from hiding people in my luggage. Sorry. As compensation, I would like to treat you to a bit of my presentation after the jump.

Enjoy the above clip of Cecilia Bartoli performing the piece "Rataplan," composed by Maria Malibran.

Click here to read about Maria Malibran

Photographed by Johannes Ifkovits at Schloss Fuschl near Salzburg
Makeup and hair by Evelyn Rill ©/dress by Marchesa/earrings by Chopard 
© Johannes Ifkovits 2010 Photo from www.operanews.com

The Metropolitan Opera deserves a trophy for Otto Schenk's new production of Donizetti's operatic farce "Don Pasquale."  Tenor Matthew Polenzani has been praised for his vocal talents, but the show was undoubtably stolen by Anna Netrebko.

The Met has given Mr. Schenk a marvelous cast, especially the charismatic soprano Anna Netrebko in a portrayal of Norina that dazzled Friday night's audience...There was so much intensity in her singing you would have thought she was performing Lucia's "Mad Scene." The house, understandably, went wild. (New York Times Review)

For those of us unfortunate souls not living in NYC, the opera will be broadcast Live in HD at Cineplex Movie Theatres on November 13.

Features in the November 2010 issue of Opera News, the annual Diva Issue, is the article "Anna's Voyage" by Oussama Zahr. Opera News declares it is one of the best articles ever written about Anna Netrebko. The article focuses on roles that Netrebko has sung in the past, as well as what she has planned for the future now that she has become on of the most famous, and marketable sopranos in the world.  The article offers up some of Netrebko's candid opinions on singing and opera. Not only is she a pleasure to watch perform, but she really understands what makes opera so exciting for the audience, and what makes a singer's voice both electric and beautiful.

When I mention that I hear Mirella Freni in her voice, Netrebko's eyes light up. "Mirella. Thank you. I always heard this, since I started studying. And you know what, listening to her helps me a lot, because I think her technique is amazing for what she's doing.

"She always sang," says Netrebko of the Italian soprano. And, here, Netrebko reveals her partiality for singers with flowing, generous voices, unlike a different breed of singer she sees today, marked by lots of covered tone without forward placement in order to manipulate dynamics easily. "This dynamic control, usually, it's not going from the breath. Beautiful for the audience, dangerous for the singer," she explains. "I will not tell you the name of the singer – very good soprano, beautiful voice, one of the most beautiful – and I attend a couple of her performances in different roles. And I was like, why the fuck are you singing half mezzavoce? Who needs that? Open your mouth, give me your voice – on the breath, supported, pointed, and that's it. But lots of people think this is the musicality. I think it's bullshit. You can show a couple of the notes, okay, you have piano, thank you. After that, give me singing, give me the voice."

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE

February 22, is the birthday of the the poet of the piano.  Some say it's March 1, but his baptismal certificate says Feb. 22.  I don't think it really matters, everyday is a day to take a few minutes and enjoy some piano virtuosity.

Martha Argerich - Prelude, Op. 28, No. 16, "Hades" - Frédéric Chopin. (above)

Vladimir Horowitz - Ballade No. 1, G Minor, Op. 23 - Frédéric Chopin. (below)

I love sitting down to watch Spectacle... with Elvis Costello on Sunday nights.  The second season has just hit the air Friday night on CTV, but I missed it.  U2 was the special guest.  Of course it was only a matter of time before Bono got involved.  The first season is still being aired on Bravo, and it's well worth watching. This week's guest was Herbie Hancock.  He discussed the process of writing and arranging tunes, and how he comes up with his most memorable licks.  There was a really special moment where Hancock played Joni Mitchell's "Edith and the Kingpin," Costello offered his, ahem, unique vocal stylings to the tune.  Here's a great version of Watermelon Man.

Click here to watch Edith and the Kingpin

Here's a little dose of sunshine to make you happy on a cold December night. This clip features Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt from the film 500 Days of Summer, dancing to She & Him's "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"