opens the curtain of the room Pleyel. Fine-tunes the first violin. A brief round of applause welcomes the irish Eímear Noose. The orchestra attacked the overture of The gazza ladra by Rossini. Applause followed by a dead silence. The diva appears from the left of the stage. White. Sounds of the waltz of Juliet from the Romeo and Juliet of Gounod: “Ah! Je’veux vivre dans ce rêve…” (I Want to live in this dream). And it is a dream, a fantasy. Because the one who interprets is Maria Callas. The hologram of Maria Callas.
The legendary soprano has returned to Paris, the city where he died on 16 September 1977 at age 53. The hologram is the ultimate. If we’re going to live concerts and listen to recorded music, why not we were going to go to a recital with live music and our favorite star in hologram?
that question answered in the affirmative american company Based Hologram, the creators of this show. Your brochure emphasizes that it has not been created by reusing audio and video recordings. The voice is the voice of maria Callas separated from the orchestra and the voices of other singers of original recordings and re-mastered. The body is that of a double. The face, that of maria Callas. A laborious process of research and choreography is behind the illusion.
The result is prodigious. At least from the amphitheatre. The problem is that we in the room do know that we are looking at a ghost. When Callas entered the stage the applause is polite. But the creator has planned for the star is received with a long standing ovation to which the diva matches two bows… so that the band causes a second round of applause. Maybe the public of Paris is colder.
maria Callas is in full world tour. The european season has stopped in London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Lyon, Basel and Hamburg. Before he was in a dozen cities of north America and now Latin America. The diva resurrected do not have to timetable issues, or exhaustion.
The public attends fascinated. Even if some purist has found the interpretation of Carmen “too metal”. I must say that the audience is composed of true fans. A few ties, but quite a few jackets. Even a lady of long and a bow tie. Few young people. Maybe because it’s been over 40 years since the disappearance of maria Callas. Maybe because the entry cheaper costs 42 euros. Any dropout in the interval, while the majority enjoys until the end. The only flaw is, perhaps, a halo of light bordering your head.
as its debut in paris, and that in his last performance in the 65, this night ends with Bellini’s Norma. The soprano crosses arms, looks at the ground very still and attacks Casta diva… spargi in Terra quella pace che regnar tu fai nel celi” (spreads itself over the Earth that peace you make reign in the sky). Ovation. A bravo. There are No encores. The technique can bring the beyond the image of the diva and give her a body. The voice, wonderful, still there. But the magic is not so easy to recover.
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