Spargi d'amaro

All right...so I haven't seen this live yet...hopefully soon once I'm back in the swing of it. BUT from what I've heard Ms. Dessay's performance as Lucia was unbelievable. Of course I haven't heard her sing the entire role-BUT as an admirer of Ms. Dessay I must say she is a phenomenal artist! I have heard her live before and at the MET. You see this tiny little French lady come onstage and the sound is unbelievable that comes out of her! I was equally impressed after hearing her interview with Charlie Rose the other evening. Some things that I thought were interesting and made me love her even more from her interview were the following:
1) She was an actress and her desire was to be an actress before being a singer. I think this is evident in all that she does. She makes very strong choices within any kind of colorature that she does--it MEANS something...and not only that but it sounds damn good.
2) As a French singer she admitted that the French school of singing has a bad reputation and that it was rightly so. Pretty good point...even though I love the French.
3) She referred to a lot the stuff happening in the major companies right now as "broadwayish" and she pretty much said how she detested it. Totally enjoyed this...it raises an interesting point from someone who is a rather progressive type of singer. From my gathering she believes we have tried to put it out there way too much and tried to sink to a lower level by essentially making it more about the choreography, scenery, costumes, etc. Of course there are many wonderful and amazing things that go into opera and that make opera opera....lets face it it's just big. But I think what she was after was a more minimalistic approach...after all isn't that why a lot of people don't really "dig" opera because everything isn't immediately retrievable? We're in such a culture of "gimme gimme gimme" without having to work for anything. Of course it sounds like she thinks we shouldn't give a damn and should do what was intended-kind of have to say that I agree.
4) She was asked who she believed to be the greatest opera actor/singer lived...she gave no hesitation in saying Maria Callas. This could be a debate to go on for years...and she admitted that Callas' voice was not the best...but it was damn good and that she appreciated her for that-Callas was like no one else. Take what you will...we all have different tastes I suppose.
5) When asked about her two vocal surgeries she had no shame in saying that she had them and that other singers shouldn't be embarrassed...she admitted to being way too tired...but she was happy she was able to work so hard and that she does work hard. Pretty optomistic view on something kind of scary.

Anyways...the mad scene can be found all over the place on youtube from the recent MET performance. A lot of people are trashing her performance...take a look (above) and see what you think. Also I have posted (below)a clip from the Charlie Rose interview. PLEASE COMMENT! :)