BELLINI: THE SWAN OF CATANIA...
"The Swan Of Catania"... that is how Bellini is also sometimes named.
He was one of the most influential Opera composer of the Italian Bel Canto.
Admired by many composers, such as Verdi, Wagner, Chopin, Liszt....for his extraordinary ability to match music with text and psychology, and for the beauty of his melodies...
The lines of his melodies are extremely long, flowing, broad... How inspiring for a dancer!
CASTA DIVA, from the Opera Norma, is one of his most well known aria, it has been performed by the most famous artists in the world, Maria Callas, Montserrat Caballé, Cecilia Bartoli just to name a few...
When I was preparing the album OPERA, I really wanted to include an arrangement for a ballet class of this aria as I find it so beautiful and inspiring.
The challenge, was to keep the singing line flowing on top, while trying to render the calmness of the strings accompanying the voice underneath and maintaining the mystery and depth of the recurring double bass "heartbeat"...
It is one of my favorite arias and I wanted to share it with you!