Teatro Grattacielo
2 Riverside Drive
2C
New York, NY
10023
212-595-7127
Email:
 Photo of Lina Cavalieri as Fedora from the collection of André Tubeuf |
The
Most Beautiful Wednesday, January 23, 2007 More about the concert
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About the
Concert:
Scenes and arias from operatic
favorites:
Manon Lescaut, Fedora, Siberia and Mefistofele.
Also featuring Montemezzi's unpublished
Symphony in e minor
arranged for Chamber Ensemble
by Raphael Fusco
Starring soprano Inna Dukach
and
Neva
Rae Powers as the Narrator
with
Il Quartetto Grattacielo:
Byung-Kook Kwak, Violin IAbout Lina Cavalieri
Christine Kwak, Violin II
Andy Lin, Viola
David Heiss, Cello
Anna Reinersman, Harp
Mark Cogley, Piano
Costumes by
The TDF costume Collection
From the most humble beginnings in Rome, Lina Cavalieri rose to worldwide
fame from the café-chantants of Piazza Navona at age 14, to Naples, the Folies Bergère, London, Berlin and St. Petersburg where she met, and possibly married, Prince Andrei Bariatinsky and resolved to become
an opera singer.
After two years study with Mariana Masi (the first Gioconda), she debuted first unsuccessfully in Lisbon as Nedda and then to huge acclaim in Naples as Mimi leading to further engagements in London, St. Petersburg, and The Metropolitan Opera where her scandalous kiss with Enrico Caruso at the end of Act II of Fedora won her the coveted leading role in the upcoming Met premiere ofManon Lescaut, beating out Geraldine Farrar. Her subsequent rivalry with Maiy Garden over the role of Thaïs at Hammerstein—Manhattan Opera House and her eight-day marriage to a member of the Astor family only added to her renown.
She then pursued a film career and founded, with her third husband, French
tenor Lucien Muratore, an Institute of Beauty with branches in France and Italy
featuring the Cavalieri brand of cosmetics and perfumes such as Eau de Jouvence.
After a brief marriage to race-car driver Giuseppe Campari she retired to
Rieti, outside of Rome. During World War II, in Fiesole, she was killed by an American bombing raid on February 7, 1944. Noted for her great beauty,
sumptuous costumes and jewels, and dramatic acting and personality, Cavalieri was not only one of the great divas of the early 20” centuly but also a celebrity marketing machine and entrepreneurial dynamo—a woman truly ahead ofher time.
About Inna Dukach
Soprano Inna Dukach made her highly
acclaimed New York City Opera debut in the
2006-7 season as Mimì in La Bohème. This
season she returned to NYCO again to
reprise her Mimì followed by an intense
2007-8 season including a gala concert in
Nice, France, Donna Anna for Orlando
Opera and Opera Carolina, Strauss’s Four
Last Songs with the Theater Pforzheim in
Germany, Gluck arias for the Opera de
Oviedo in Spain, and Violetta with the
Zagreb Opera in Croatia. Her many recent
appearances have included concerts with
Leon Botstein and the American Symphony
Orchestra, a Carnegie Hall debut, and
operatic engagements with San Diego,
Natchez, Caramoor, Opera North, Lake
George, Sarasota, Opera Carolina, and
Opera Memphis. Miss Dukach received her
Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from
Mannes College of Music and her Bachelor’s
Degree from Smith College.