Bel Canto (restaurant)

Last updated

Bel Canto
Restaurant information
CityParis
CountryFrance

Bel Canto is a chain of restaurants, based in Paris, France, where singers perform live opera arias for the diners. [1]

Contents

Concept

Bel Canto employs opera singers as waiters and waitresses. The singers usually work in groups of four, and every 15 minutes a different opera aria is performed. [2] As of 2008, Bel Canto employed 50 singers and 10 pianists. [2] The restaurants are decorated in red and gold velvet, with musical instruments and opera costumes lining the walls. [3]

History

The first Bel Canto restaurant opened in Paris in 1999, and since then another restaurant opened in Paris, and a third in Neuilly-sur-Seine. [3] After an unsuccessful attempt in La City, London, in 2008, Bel Canto London opened in Corus Grand Hotel Hyde Park in 2009.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opera</span> Art form combining sung text and musical score in a theatrical setting

Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Ramey</span> American operatic bass

Samuel Ramey is an American operatic bass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renée Fleming</span> American soprano

Renée Lynn Fleming is an American soprano, known for performances in opera, concerts, recordings, theater, film, and at major public occasions. A recipient of the National Medal of Arts, Fleming has been nominated for 18 Grammy Awards and has won five times. Other notable awards have included the Crystal Award from the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur from the French government, Germany's Cross of the Order of Merit, Sweden's Polar Music Prize and honorary membership in England's Royal Academy of Music. Unusual among artists whose careers began in opera, Fleming has achieved name recognition beyond the classical music world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inva Mula</span> Albanian opera singer

Inva Mula is an Albanian opera lyric soprano. She began her soprano career at a very early age. Her father and mother were also opera singers. She is also known for providing the voice of the diva Plavalaguna in the film The Fifth Element.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecilia Bartoli</span> Italian opera singer

Cecilia BartoliOMRI is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best known for her interpretations of the music of Bellini, Handel, Mozart, Rossini and Vivaldi, as well as for her performances of lesser-known music from the Baroque and Classical period. She is known for singing both soprano and mezzo roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Bonynge</span> Australian conductor and pianist

Richard Alan Bonynge is an Australian conductor and pianist. He is the widower of Australian dramatic coloratura soprano Dame Joan Sutherland. Bonynge conducted virtually all of Sutherland's operatic performances from 1962 until her retirement in 1990.

<i>Otello</i> (Rossini) Opera by Gioachino Rossini

Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Berio di Salsa after William Shakespeare's play Othello, or The Moor of Venice; it was premiered in Naples, Teatro del Fondo, 4 December 1816.

June Anderson is a Grammy Award-winning American coloratura soprano. She is known for bel canto performances of Rossini, Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini.

Bel canto —with several similar constructions —is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mathilde Marchesi</span> German mezzo-soprano

Mathilde Marchesi was a German mezzo-soprano, a singing teacher, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Diego Flórez</span> Peruvian liric tenor (tenore di grazia)

Juan Diego Flórez is a Peruvian operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in bel canto operas. On June 4, 2007, he received his country's highest decoration, the Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Sun of Peru.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Battista Rubini</span> Italian opera singer

Giovanni Battista Rubini was an Italian tenor, as famous in his time as Enrico Caruso in a later day. His ringing and expressive coloratura dexterity in the highest register of his voice, the tenorino, inspired the writing of operatic roles which today are almost impossible to cast. As a singer Rubini was the major early exponent of the Romantic style of the bel canto era of Vincenzo Bellini and Gaetano Donizetti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Dessay</span> French singer (born 1965)

Natalie Dessay is a French singer, known for her former career as an operatic soprano. She gained wide recognition after her portrayal of Olympia in The Tales of Hoffmann in 1992, and then performing at leading stages, such as the Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcelo Álvarez</span> Argentine lyric tenor

Marcelo Raúl Álvarez is an Argentine lyric tenor who achieved international success starting in the mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danielle de Niese</span> Australian-American lyric soprano (born 1979)

Danielle de Niese is an Australian-American lyric soprano. After success as a young child in singing competitions in Australia, she moved to the United States where she developed an operatic career. From 2005 she came to widespread public attention with her performances as Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne, England.

<i>Ciro in Babilonia</i> Opera by Gioachino Rossini

Ciro in Babilonia, ossia La caduta di Baldassare is an azione sacra in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Francesco Aventi. It was first performed at the Teatro Comunale in Ferrara during Lent, 1812. The exact date of the premiere is unknown but is believed to be 14 March. During Lent it was the custom for Italian opera houses either to close or to stage works on themes from the Bible. Ciro in Babilonia is one of two Lenten operas by Rossini and is based on the Biblical story of the overthrow of the Babylonian king Belshazzar by the Persian ruler Cyrus the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laure Cinti-Damoreau</span> French soprano

Laure Cinti-Damoreau was a French soprano particularly associated with Rossini roles.

Soprano sfogato is a contralto or mezzo-soprano who is capable — by sheer industry or natural talent — of extending her upper range and encompassing the coloratura soprano tessitura. An upwardly extended "natural" soprano is sometimes called soprano assoluto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisette Oropesa</span> American operatic soprano (born 1983)

Lisette Oropesa is an American operatic soprano of Cuban ancestry. Her repertoire includes works from Gluck, Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Wagner, Verdi, Bizet, Massenet and Puccini. With her lyric coloratura soprano voice, she has performed roles in her native Spanish and English, as well as German, French and Italian. She is particularly noted in the roles of Susanna, Gilda, Konstanze, Lucia and Manon.

References

  1. MacLeod, Donald (16 December 2008). "Opera restaurant: 'It's a good way of learning new repertoire'". Guardian. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 Miller, Wendy (16 December 2008). "They're singing for your supper at the Bel Canto Restaurant". Telegraph. Retrieved 9 August 2012.
  3. 1 2 Paola, Genone (20 September 2004). "Une diva à ma table" [A diva at my table]. L'Express (in French). Retrieved 9 August 2012.