Gaetano Caffarelli News
Italian opera singer
- mezzo-soprano
- opera
- Italy
- opera singer, stage actor
Last update
2024-03-19
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2018-08-13 13:20:28
Pporpora, Salieri 2018
[…] Onofrio and giving private lessons. In 1719 Scarlatti went back to Rome and that opened the stage for Porpora. One of the operas composed during that period was Angelica, on the libretto by the young Pietro Metastasio. The role of Orlando was sung by Porpora’s star pupil, the 15-year old castrato Farinelli, who would become one of the most celebrated singers in the history of opera. Among Porpora’s pupils was also Gaetano Majorano, known as Caffarelli, also a castrato, second only to Farinelli; he became one of Handel’s favorite singers. In 1723-24 Porpora traveled to Vienna and Munich but received no appointments. He returned to Italy and settled in Venice. An intense rivalry developed between him and Leonardo Vinci, Porpora’s classmate in Naples. In 1730 Porpora and Vinci both produced operas which ran simultaneously in two leading Roman opera houses, one in Teatro della Dame, another – in Teatro […]
2015-11-16 15:37:21
In the ever-expanding realm of countertenors, Franco Fagioli is his own kind of phenomenon. A relative newcomer to the international stage, he gained immediate prominence in late 2012 with his role in Leonardo Vinci’s Artaserse (a castrato part so demanding that it hadn’t been sung by a male since the 1750s). Although Fagioli has since been nicknamed after the legendary Farinelli , his most recent concert at the Wigmore Hall consisted of arias written for Farinelli’s rival Caffarelli , punctuated by instrumental pieces and well-timed extempore banter between Fagioli and conductor Riccardo Minasi . A performance by so outstanding a singer would amount to much less without an equally strong set of instrumentalists. Il Pomo d’Oro , with whom Fagioli performed, are such an ensemble, a young group focusing on the revival of forgotten works and on historically informed practice. As cellist Ludovico Minasi informed me during the interval, all his […]
2015-11-16 13:56:24
Wigmore Hall, London The young Argentinian singer showcased his technique in an assured recital of arias written for the 18th-century castrato CaffarelliIt may not compete with the adoration heaped on the 18th-century castrati, but there’s a cultish following around some of today’s countertenors, and one of those is the young Argentinian Franco Fagioli. It has been argued that the sound of a castrato was more like that of a mezzo than of the classic, pure-toned countertenor, so perhaps Fagioli’s distinctive and almost feminine sound – rich with overtones, busy with vibrato – is an apt vehicle for the music in this recital of arias written for the Naples-based divo Caffarelli.Standing in the centre of violinist Riccardo Minasi’s ensemble – seven string players and harpsichord – Fagioli dispatched his programme with flamboyant assurance, a certain amount of indulgence, and unconventional technique. Faster passages seemed to require a rearrangement of his mouth on […]
2014-12-22 19:54:08
Saxon violence
[…] challenging roles. Countertenors Maarten Engeltjes and Christopher Lowrey shine as Adolfo and Gernando if perhaps without the polish and star power of their better-known colleagues on Virgin. Soprano Anna Devin who sparkled in the small role of Oberto in the recent performance of Alcina at Carnegie Hall continues to show promise here as a radiant Clotilde full of fire. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqeD19rV59g But in the title role created by the famous castrato Caffarelli, the young American mezzo Emily Fons gives a glamorous performance of a high international standard. Reminding me more than once of a young Joyce DiDonato, Fons displays an impressive command of Handel style singing with richness and flair and her coloratura is especially dazzling. The zeal of singers to record all- or mostly- Handel recitals continues. Having made her first Handel CD in 1991, French contralto Nathalie Stutzmann has returned with an unconventional […]
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