Maria Callas resurrected in holographic splendor: a centennial celebration of opera’s divi
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
The legendary soprano Maria Callas will be exalted in a holographic manifestation alongside the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Hamer Hall this Thursday, December 7, in Maria Callas – A Concert in Hologram, marking what would have been her 100th birthday on December 2.
The former Chicago Symphony Orchestra conductor, Daniel Schlosberg, will lead the MSO, making corporeal the world’s most revered soprano for a liminal time. Callas will perform works from Bellini, Bizet, Verdi, and Gounod in what promised to be an unmissable one-night-only concert experience.
The hologram fusion with live orchestra combines cutting-edge 3D hologram technology with digitally remastered recordings of Callas’ most enduring arias.
Callas had all the requirements of a tragic demi-god from our ancient Hellenic pantheon. She died in 1973 at the age of 52, as it is often stated, from a ‘broken heart’. Her life often mirrored the lives of the tragic figures played on stage.
“I am not an angel, and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged.”
“I am not an angel, and do not pretend to be. That is not one of my roles. But I am not the devil either. I am a woman and a serious artist, and I would like so to be judged.” Maria Callas
A voice that washed over like a tsunami of light and equally rose from the depths of Hades’ underworld.
Lyndsy Spence, the author of Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas, said on NPR yesterday that Callas was the “shock of the new” when she emerged out of the apocalypse of World War II.
“She can give you the beauty; she can give you the darkness, the richness of her voice. And she was a freak, more or less, when she was doing that.”
Her voice was not perfect, or perhaps, not always beautiful in a traditional way, Spence said.
The soprano breached the barrier between opera and mainstream audiences.
Born in Manhattan to Greek immigrant parents, Maria Anna Cecilia Sofia Kalogeropoulos began her musical journey in Greece at 13, forging her career in Italy. Her repertoire spanned classical opera seria to the bel canto operas of Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini and extended to the works of Verdi and Puccini.
Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune described the experience as encountering “this ferociously dramatic soprano – even in diaphanous form.
“More than four decades after her passing, Maria Callas remains one of the most iconic and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Her contributions extended beyond music to stage design and fashion, establishing her as a global icon, hailed La Divina, the Divine one.”
Maria Callas: A Concert in Hologram is supported by the European Union in Celebration of EU-Australia Cultural Relations, and the hologram technology is developed through a special arrangement with BASE Xperiential and the Maria Callas Estate.
EU Ambassador Gabriele Visentin said the event recognised the “deep and enduring connections between the European Union and Australia.”
This concert, he said, is an opportunity to highlight the EU-Australia amity through “music and innovative technology, bridging the gap between the old and the new as part of the Creative Europe Program.”
“To hear Maria Callas perform was a once-in-a-lifetime experience due to the beauty of her voice and her ability to take the audience on a journey. Thanks to the power of hologram technology and the remarkable Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the European Union is proud to bring Maria Callas’s incredible gift to Australia.”
When: Thursday, December 7 at 6.30pm
Where: Hamer Hall, Arts Centre Melbourne
Tickets available via mso.com.au
The original article: belongs to NEOS KOSMOS .
