07 - janvier - 2008

New York Times Article

Cecilia was featured in the New York Times on the 6th January. Here is an excerpt from the article and to read the full version click HERE

'CECILIA BARTOLI just may have found the role of a lifetime: the diva Maria Malibran, who was born in 1808 and died in 1836.

'Malibran was the Madonna of her age,' Ms. Bartoli said recently from Paris, a stop on her grand European tour of dozens of concerts showcasing the music and personality of this short-lived star. Part of the caravan is a rolling museum (or truck) filled with Malibran memorabilia 'letters, posters, stage jewelry, pictures, collectibles' that Ms. Bartoli, 41, has been amassing since the start of her career.

Her new CD, 'Maria,' issued by Decca in October in both a limited edition and an 'oversize deluxe hardcover,' paints a vivid portrait in song, photos and hundreds of pages of text in three languages. When supplies run out, the music will be released in simpler, more conventional packaging.

That could be soon. A law unto herself, Ms. Bartoli has created best sellers with CDs devoted to unlikely fare like Vivaldi, Gluck, Salieri and what she has called 'Forbidden Opera,' the repertory of highly dramatic sacred oratorios written in Rome from 1703 to 1710, when opera as such (secular, frivolous) was banned by the pope. 'Maria' has started stronger than any of those. Universal Classics, Decca's parent company, reports that the album racked up the strongest first-week sales of any Bartoli album since 'Mozart Portraits' in 1994 and shot straight to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's classical chart. This showing is especially remarkable because Ms. Bartoli has no American dates on her calendar this season.

The celebrations continue. On March 24 she is to give an elaborate 200th birthday party for Malibran at the Salle Pleyel in Paris: a recital with the violinist Maxim Vengerov and the pianist Lang Lang in the late morning, a concert performance of Rossini's 'Cenerentola' in the afternoon and a gala concert in the evening.

The seeds for this Malibran campaign were planted by Christopher Raeburn, the Decca producer who put Ms. Bartoli on the map when she was barely 20. Her first Rosina, in Rossini's 'Barbiere di Siviglia,' had been a triumph. As it happened, Decca needed a Rosina for a new recording. Mr. Raeburn gave Ms. Bartoli the job and a portrait of Malibran.'

By MATTHEW GUREWITSCH Published: January 6, 2008