Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 6 June 2019
For Apollonia Kotero, Prince was a king

By MESFIN FEKADU that we had. All of the
Associated Press things that we didn't discuss
NEW YORK (AP) — For- before," she continued. "I
mer Prince protege and just looked, like, 'Man, we're
longtime friend Apollonia growing up. We're old folks
Kotero said the Purple One now.' He gave me the look
had major plans for her be- like, 'Ain't no old folks here.'"
fore his untimely death in She said when he asked her
2016, including new music, to be in the "Purple Rain"
a possible film and even a sequel, "Graffiti Bridge," she
book to follow-up his up- turned him down.
coming memoir. "He sent me the script. I re-
He had even given Kotero member I read it. I said, 'Oh
and her Apollonia 6 band- my god, this is horrible,'" she
mates the trademark to the recalled. "I said it, 'This is a
group's name to keep the piece of (expletive).'"
legacy alive. She said she worked on a
"My first thought was like, real sequel and pitched
'Damn, I gotta hit the gym him the story when she vis-
now,'" Kotero said. "We ited Paisley Park in 2014.
gotta rehearse. We gotta "He liked it. It was a little bit
go back in vocal classes. dark because he dies in it. I
Get this (expletive) party gave him two reasons why
started, man. I was excited. Apollonia Kotero poses for a portrait in front of a photo of Prince at Warner Music Group in Los he would die and he just
He was happy. He had so Angeles on Friday, May 31, 2019. gave me this blank look. It
many plans." Associated Press was just kind of, I mean, the
But things changed once irony of it," she said.
Prince died, sending Kotero to be saying it for the first ity 6. Kotero said she's still in always stood up to him. I Kotero said Prince wanted
into a "rabbit hole of severe time publicly. I've never dis- touch with her bandmates believe that's what he re- her to write a book after he
depression" — as she put cussed this, other than with and she's finally speaking spected, that I wasn't a finished his (Random House
it in her first interview since my loved ones. I didn't think publicly since it has been pushover. I said no to him will release Prince's "The
Prince died on April 21, I was going to make it. I'd three years since Prince's for a lot of reasons profes- Beautiful Ones" on Oct. 29).
2016. never felt that way before. I death. sionally." "He said, 'I want you to
"I just physically couldn't cry never suffered such severe "Prince and I never dated Kotero recalled some of stop telling the priceless
and I was feeling ill, really ill. depression." — we're family, we were her last conversations with stories because you're go-
I just didn't know if I was go- Kotero co-starred in 1984's friends," she said. "There's Prince, saying they talked ing to write a book, your
ing to make it," she recently "Purple Rain" and was in the a different type of respect about "family, his parents, biography,'" she recalled.
told The Associated Press trio Apollonia 6 with Brenda that he had for me. He had politics, love, death, de- "He said, 'Yes, you're going
by phone in Los Angeles. Bennett and Susan Moon- that for me for 33 years. We mentia, our marriages." to release yours within the
"It sounds strange for me sie, former singers in Van- had our difficulties, and I "We discussed the issues year after mine.'"q
Soprano Lise Davidsen shines on solo debut

By MIKE SILVERMAN surely await her, yet on this companiment.
Associated Press album she has wisely cho- Richard Strauss' opera "Ari-
Lise Davidsen (conducted sen only works she's already adne auf Naxos" has served
by Esa-Pekka Salonen with performed onstage. as Davidsen's calling card
the Philharmonia Orches- There are just two Wag- in the last few years, and
tra), "Lise Davidsen" (Dec- ner excerpts: Elisabeth's she delivers thrills in the
ca) arias from "Tannhäuser," wide-ranging vocal line of
For a young singer as pro- the opera that will serve the title character's aria, "Es
digiously gifted as Lise Da- for her debut this summer gibt ein Reich."
vidsen, there's always a at the composer's shrine Strauss is also the composer
danger she'll be pressured in Bayreuth, Germany. of the remaining offerings
into taking on too much Dramatically, the pieces on the album, primarily two
too soon. Judging from the couldn't be more different. sets of songs representing
Norwegian soprano's first In "Dich teure Halle," the his early maturity and the
solo album, she's steering heroine's exuberant greet- end of his career.
clear of that pitfall. ing to the Hall of Song, The four pieces of Opus
Only 32, Davidsen is be- Davidsen caps the conclu- 27 from 1894 were wed-
ing hailed as the next sion with a ringing high B ding gifts for his wife, so-
great Wagnerian soprano natural. The second aria, prano Pauline de Ahna.
because of her clarion, "Allmächt'ge Jungfrau," Davidsen shows her ver-
multi-colored voice with is a somber prayer at the satility here, meeting the
its seemingly unlimited ca- point of death, and Da- operatic demands of "Cä-
pacity to soar over heavy vidsen sings it with restraint, cilie" with ease and then This cover image released by Decca shows "Lise Davidsen,"
orchestration. The twin though her gleaming tone scaling down her voice to arias and songs performed by Davidsen with the Philharmonia
peaks of that repertory — once or twice threatens to suit the delicate texture of Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Isolde and Brünnhilde — overpower the muted ac- "Morgen!"q Associated Press