Missing Nicole

Nicole Piccolomini is back in Berlin after spending the summer here in NYC at the Caramoor Festival and performing the lead in MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES with Gotham Chamber Opera. She was so busy that we hardly got to see one another while she was here but we were in constant contact and it was nice just knowing she was nearby. Her mom sent me this picture of Nic with soprano Angela Fout when the long-time friends met up at St. Gallen this past Spring. Angel's now preparing for her second season at the Swiss theatre.

Nicole jumped right into rehearsals as soon as she got back to Berlin; her first production is ELEKTRA which opens on November 3 and marks the start of her very busy second season at the Deutsche Oper. Among her roles are Fenena in NABUCCO, Maddalena in RIGOLETTO, and the 1st Norn in GOTTERDAMMERUNG.

Interestingly, ELEKTRA is being performed as part of a double bill with Vittorio Gnecchi's CASSANDRA.

I'm hoping Nicole will leave us a comment here about preparations for the ELEKTRA production.

Comments

[Nicole]

Philip, thanks for always being so interested in what's going on with me and my career. As you know, I had a bit of a rough start with visa problems. Everything is now taken care of & I was back in rehearsal for Elektra this morning at 10am. We still have 4 weeks left so there's not too much to report yet. I'm singing The First Maid. The music is pretty difficult and the words are so important that they have to be so precise and clear which is something I'm continuing to work on in the German language.
As soon as I have a costume fitting & we get on stage I'll write more!

[Philip]

The maids scene in ELEKTRA always gives me the creeps...those women are so mean to Elektra and then they beat up on the 5th Maid when she dares to take a sympathetic position. You are right about the words and the tricky musical entrances...and it is a very important scene because it sets the tone of the whole opera.

Send me a costume photo later if you have time!