Isola Jones
Bill "Wild Willy" Kredentser
On 29 Nov 1997, donpaolo wrote:
> Anyone know whatever happened to her?
>
> I was in chorus of a Carmen in which she starred mid or late 1980's & at
> the time I thought that she was ready for a career of bigger roles (as
> opposed to he Preziosillas & Maddalenas). However, she seems to have
> dropped out of the scene...unfirtunate for us, because she had a fine voice
> & was a gorgeous, sexy lady with a friendly & genuine manner about her.
Isola Jones...... Carmen........ I have a fond memory of that. I don't
remember the exact year. Late '80s/early '90s sounds right. The July 4th
week, I was unable to use my customary Thursday night ticket so I traded
it for the Saturday show. (This will no longer be a problem since our
company has finally figured out it's a bad idea to have an opera on that
week.) That week's production was Carmen. I heard third-hand that
whoever was singing Carmen showed up Thursday without a voice. Ms. Jones
was in town for her scheduled Ulrica in Ballo in Maschera the following
week. They asked her to step in for the Saturday Carmen, essentially
unrehearsed. She put on one of those legendary I-don't-give-a-rat's-ass
performances that you'd like to see every time. The audience went crazy,
pretty rare for this city. And then she did a fabulous Ulrica the
following Thursday. I vaguely recall she came back in something (I forget
what) the following year but she hasn't been back since.
I'd like to know where & what about her myself........
WW
Team OS/2 Cincinnati & PROUD OF IT!
(and Cincinnati Opera subscriber & PROUD OF IT!)
Mike Richter
donpaolo wrote:
>
> Anyone know whatever happened to her?
Sorry, can't help there.
She is, of course, the Preziosilla on the Met commercial video of Forza.
It is typical (IMHO), that she looks good and sounds good enough - but
not more. She is the sort of artist who must choose between (or mix)
great roles at less-than-great houses and smaller parts and covers at
the great ones. Her voice had no particular character or color and was
just large enough. Not an Amneris to balance a great Aida, but that may
have been fine with her.
Unfortunately, it meant few broadcasts and fewer commercial recordings.
Mike
mric...@mindspring.com
http://mrichter.simplenet.com
CD-R http://resource.simplenet.com
Braden Mechley
On Fri, 28 Nov 1997, Bill "Wild Willy" Kredentser wrote:
> Isola Jones...... Carmen........ I have a fond memory of that. I don't
> remember the exact year. Late '80s/early '90s sounds right. The July 4th
> week, I was unable to use my customary Thursday night ticket so I traded
> it for the Saturday show. (This will no longer be a problem since our
> company has finally figured out it's a bad idea to have an opera on that
> week.) That week's production was Carmen. I heard third-hand that
> whoever was singing Carmen showed up Thursday without a voice.
This was the soprano Graciela von Gyldenfeldt (sp?). I still kick myself
over having missed this. All accounts indicate that she was even more
nightmarish than Maria Ewing on her worst night.
> Ms. Jones was in town for her scheduled Ulrica in Ballo in Maschera the
> following week. They asked her to step in for the Saturday Carmen,
> essentially unrehearsed. She put on one of those legendary I-don't-
> give-a-rat's-ass performances that you'd like to see every time. The
> audience went crazy, pretty rare for this city.
I thought she was pretty bad, unfortunately. I'll bet she was better the
time before that she did it in Cincinnati, summer 1988. And wasn't the
CARMEN under discussion the one with a Don Jose who'd just been playing
Jean Valjean in Canada? I also recall a watery Faith Esham as Micaela and
a very strong Escamillo from Dean Peterson.
> And then she did a fabulous Ulrica the following Thursday.
This _was_ fabulous, if far from vocally sound. The way she slammed into
chest voice on her very first note and refused to worry about the
cavernous breaks between her registers was just amazing. That whole show
was rather good -- a pre-meltdown Robert McFarland as Renato, a sparky
Oscar from Cecily Nall, Frances Ginsberg's vulnerable Amelia and the
first-ever Riccardo of Richard Leech.
> I vaguely recall she came back in something (I forget what) the
> following year but she hasn't been back since.
Don't remember her the following year, and I'm sure she hasn't returned
since.
** Braden Mechley ** ele...@u.washington.edu ** Department of Classics **
g.f.
In article <Pine.OSF.3.96.97112...@saul10.u.washington.edu>,
Braden Mechley <ele...@u.washington.edu> wrote:
>
>This was the soprano Graciela von Gyldenfeldt (sp?). I still kick myself
>over having missed this. All accounts indicate that she was even more
>nightmarish than Maria Ewing on her worst night.
How funny this performance should pop up. It was around 1989,
I think. I was 16ish and my father took me to the Cincinnatti
opera. I was pretty new to opera but even so was fairly quickly
aware I was hearing some bad singin'
>
>> And then she did a fabulous Ulrica the following Thursday.
>
>This _was_ fabulous, if far from vocally sound. The way she slammed into
>chest voice on her very first note and refused to worry about the
>cavernous breaks between her registers was just amazing. That whole show
>was rather good -- a pre-meltdown Robert McFarland as Renato, a sparky
>Oscar from Cecily Nall, Frances Ginsberg's vulnerable Amelia and the
>first-ever Riccardo of Richard Leech.
>
I guess I went to this, too. I didn't know I had heard Richard
Leech in the house 'til just now! I don't really remember it,
but at the time we loved it. Funny, since these days I can
live happily with or without Ballo.
Now I'm just annoyed to learn that a city with a pretty lousy
record on the arts gets bigger stars than this supposed oasis
of liberality. We did have Helen Donath, I guess.
Greg
@utexas
>
donpaolo
Anyone know whatever happened to her?
I was in chorus of a Carmen in which she starred mid or late 1980's & at
Sara Freeman
In <01bcfc59$d25b02c0$8234accf@default> "donpaolo" <donp...@erols.com>
writes:
going around.
--
If you're listening to a mess it's a sign,
That the conductor may be out of his mind,
It ain't CVD,
HVK or PB,
I betcha it's Lenny Bernstein.
donpaolo
Sara Freeman <fre...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in article
<65nmp4$k...@dfw-ixnews10.ix.netcom.com>...
> In <01bcfc59$d25b02c0$8234accf@default> "donpaolo" <donp...@erols.com>
> writes:
> >
> >Anyone know whatever happened to her?
> >
> I heard that her boobs got stuck in a revolving door and she's still
> going around.
Unhhh - where did you say that door is located??????
Puleeeeeeze!
Peter
He Sara!
You Sing!
So do I and I thought this was purely a forum for enthusiastic amateurs
like James Jorden
daniel kessler
Well, she had an affair with Bernd Weikl which doesn't say much for his
taste!
Otherwise, she will be remembered as a good Strawberry seller in PORGY,
the rest is better forgotten.
My friends from Chicago said to me at the time...'we didn't think much of
her here, so just how did she get into the Met?'
James Jorden
Mike Richter wrote:
> She is, of course, the Preziosilla on the Met commercial video of > Forza.
She also shows up in the important supporting role of Smaragdi (La
Schiava) in the Met's FRANCESCA DA RIMINI, where her exotic glamour and
sinfully rich chest tones really add to the erotic atmosphere of the
piece. In the heavy "Moorish" makeup she looks eerily like Grace Jones
of disco fame.
I was at a performance of RIGOLETTO when Isola Jones's celebrated
bazooms "popped out" -- or else maybe she THOUGHT they popped out,
because she suddenly jumped off Pavatotti's knee, turned away from the
audience, and adjusted her decolletage. The Pav was practically licking
his chops!
==========
james jorden
jjo...@ix.netcom.com
www.anaserve.com/~parterre
"Maenner! Lieber Gott, wenn du wirklich wolltest, dass wir ihnen
widerstehen sollten, warum hast du sie so verschieden geschaffen?"
Sara Freeman
In <01bcfc5d$ef8bb5c0$8234accf@default> "donpaolo" <donp...@erols.com>
writes:
Can't help you there. I never heard her in person, only on TV. And all
I remember is you know what, but I may not have been listening given
that Troyanos and Domingo were singing.
JDavis6627
>I was at a performance of RIGOLETTO when Isola Jones's celebrated
>bazooms "popped out" -- or else maybe she THOUGHT they popped out,
She must have been on hell-ov-a singer if all anybody remembers are her
boobs....