Can you find a better intendant of an opera house in Europe [or anywhere else] than Peter de Caluwe? Of course not! With a much smaller budget, compared to the top European opera houses, year after year, he and his team manage to compose a well balanced and highly interesting program. .
2011-2012
Artistically --together with Theater Basel, Stuttgart Oper, and Komische Berlin-- the best opera opera house in Europe... run by super-talented Peter de Caluwe! This is only one more confirmation of that statement.
September 2012: Passion (by Pascal Dussapin) [dir- Sasha Waltz, cnd- Franck Ollu, cast: Barbara Hannigan, Georg Nigl]
October 2012: Lulu [dir- Krzysztof Warlikowski, cnd- Lothar Koenigs, cast: Barbara Hannigan, Natascha Petrinsky, Dietrich Henschel, Charles Workman...]
December 2012: La Traviata [dir- Andrea Breth, cnd- Adam Fischer, cast: Simona Saturova, Sébastien Guèze, Scott Hendricks...]
January 2013: Manon Lescaut [dir- Mariusz Trelinski, cnd- Carlo Rizzi, cast: Eva-Maria Westbroek/Amanda Echalaz, Brandon Jobvanovich, Lionel Lhote, Giovanni Furlanetto...]
February 2013: Lucrezia Borgia [dir- Guy Joosten, cnd- Julian Reynolds, cast: Elena Mosuc, Paul Gay, Charles Castronovo, Silvia Tro Santafé...]
March 2013: La Dispute (new opera by Benoît Mernier) [dir- Karl-Ernst Herrmann and Joël Lauwers, cnd- Patrick Davin, cast: Stéphane Degout, Stéphanie d'Oustrac...]
April 2013: Pelléas et Mélisande [dir- Pierre Audi, cnd- Ludovic Morlot, cast: Stéphane Degout/Topi Lehtipuu, Sandrine Piau/Monica Bacelli, Dietrich Henschel/Paul Gay, Sylvie Brunet...]
May 2013: Cosi fan tutte [dir- Michel Haneke, cnd- Ludovic Morlot, cast: Juan Francisco Gatell, Kerstin Avemo, Andreas Wolf, Anett Fritsch, William Shimell]
September/October 2012: The Damnation of Faust [dir- Terry Gilliam, cnd- Dmitri Jurowski, cast: Michael Spyres, Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Michele Pertusi, Simon Bailey]
October/November 2012: Agrippina [dir- Mariame Clément, cnd- Paul McCreesh, cast: Ann Hallenberg, Renata Pokupic, Elena Tsallagova, Kristina Hammerström...]
December 2012-January 2013: Die Zauberflöte [dir- David Hermann, cnd- Tomáš Netopil, cast: Benjamin Bernheim/Yijie Shi, Ante Jerkunica, Guy De Mey Amanda Forsythe/Robin Johannsen, Olga Pudova...]
February/March 2013: Nabucco [dir- Daniel Slater, cnd- Dmitri Jurowski, cast: Dalibor Jenis/Dimitris Tiliakos, Iano Tamar / Mary Elizabeth Williams, Mikhail Agafonov...]
February/March 2013: Parsifal [dir- Tatjana Gürbaca, cnd- Eliahu Inbal, cast: Georg Zeppenfeld, Werner Van Mechelen, Zoran Todorovich, Susan Maclean...]
June 2013: Candide [dir- Nigel Lowery, cnd- Yannis Pouspourikas, cast: Michael Spyres, Chris Merritt, Carole Wilson...]
New productions and revival:
[Impossible to tell the new productions from revivals]
Stradella (opera by César Franck) [dir- Jaco Van Dormael, cnd- Paolo Arrivabeni, cast: Marc Laho, Werner Van Mechelen, Philippe Rouillon...]
L'officier de Fortune (opera by Grétry) [cnd- Patrick Davin, cast: local]
Cav/Pag [dir- José Cura, cnd- Paolo Arrivabeni, cast: José Cura, Mara Zampieri, ...]
Nabuccolo [dir- Federico Grazzini, cnd-??, cast: ??]
La Belle Hélène [dir- Corinne et Gilles Benizio, cnd- Cyril Englebert, cast: Florian Lanconi...]
L'Italiana in Algeri [dir- Emilio Sagi, cnd- Bruno Campanella, cast: Mariana Pizzolato...]
La Fanciulla del West [dir- Lorenzo Mariani, cnd- Gianluigi Gelmeti, cast: Deborah Voigt, Carl Tanner...]
L'enfant et les sortilèges [dir- Enrico Bagnoli, cnd- Philippe Gérard, cast: local]
La forza del destino [dir- Francesco Maestrini, cnd- Paolo Arrivabeni, cast: Fabio Armiliato, Daniela Dessì...]
I due foscari [dir- Marcel Seminara, cnd- Paolo Arrivabeni, cast: Leo Nucci, Woitech Smilek...]
Guillaume Tell (opera by Grétry) [dir- Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, cnd- Claudio Scimione, cast: Marc Laho, Anne-Catherince Gillet, Lionel Lhote...]
2011-2012
La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels
New peoductions:
- Oedipe [dir-La Fura dels Baus, cnd- Leo Hussain, cast: Dietrich Haenchel, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Natascha Petrinsky, Henk Neven, Nabil Suliman...]
- Salome [dir- Guy Joosten, cnd- Carlo Rizzi, cast: Amanda Echalaz, Scott Hendricks, Doris Soffel, Chris Merritt...]
- Thanks to my eyes [dir- Joël Pommerat, cnd- Franck Ollu, cast: Hagen Matzeit...]
- Orlando [dir- Pierre Audi, cnd- René Jacobs, cast: Bejun Mehta, Sophie Karthäuser, Kristina Hammarström, Sunhae Im, Konstantin Wolff]
- Il Trovatore [dir- Dmitri Tcherniakov, cnd- Marc Minkowski, cast: Scott Hendricks, Marina Poplavskaya, Sylvie Brunet, Misha Didyk, Giovanni Furlanetto]
To that add a revival of their 2 recent knockout productions: Herheim's Rusalka, and Warlikowski's Medea. What to say? Wawza!
Vlaamse Opera in Anwerp & Ghent
New productions:
- October: Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny [dir- Calixto Bieito, cnd-Yannis Pouspourikas, cast: Noëmi Nadelmann , John Daszak, Leandra Overmann, Erin Caves, William Berger ...]
- November: The Enchantress (rarely performed opera by Tchaikovsky) [dir- Tatjana Gürbaca, cnd- Dmitri Jurowski, cast: Ildiko Komlosi Valery Alexeev, Igor Bakan etc]
- February: La Forza del Destino [dir- Michael Thalheimer, cnd- Alexander Joel, cast: Catherine Naglestad, Vladimir Stiyanov, Mikhail Agafonov...]
- March: Rumor, a new opera by Christian Jost [dir- Guy Joosten, cnd- Martyn Brabbins, cast: Agneta Eichenholz, Bogdan Mihai, Gregg Baker, Erin Caves, Julia Juon...]
- May: Le Duc d'Albe (opera by Donizetti performed for the first time in French) [dir- Carlos Wagner, cnd- Paolo Carignani, cast: Elena Mosuc, Ismael Jordi/Alexey Kudrya, George Petean...]
Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège
New productions:
- Der Fliegende Holländer [dir- Petrika Ionesco, cnd- Paolo Arivabeni, cast: Manuela Uhl, Alastair Miles, Jason Collins, Mark Rucker]
- La fille de Madame Angot (an opera by Charles Lecocq) [dir- Gianni Santucci, cnd- Emmanuel Joël-Hornak]
- La Vera Costanza (opera by Haydn) [dir- Elio De Capitani, cnd- Jesus López-Cobos]
- L'Equivoco Stravagante [dir- Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, cnd- Jan Schultsz]
- Manon [dir- Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, cnd- Patrick Davin, cast: June Anderson, Ismael Jordi]
2010-2011
Opéra Liège 2010-2011
Potentially interesting productions:
- Salomé (in French!) with June ANDERSON
- Otello with Fabio Armiliato and Daniela Dessi and maestro Paolo Arrivabeni
- Un Ballo in Maschera with Stuart NEILL and George PETEAN
- Carmen [dir Emilio SAGI] with José CURA and Marie KALININE
Vlaamse Opera in Anwerp 2010-2011
Potentially interesting productions:
- L’Amour de loin, a wonderfully weird opera by Kaija Saariaho
- Heriodade [dir Joachim Schlömer] with Zoran Todorovich and Alexander Marco-Buhrmester
- Die Frau Ohne Schatten [dir Marco Arturo Marelli] with Jon Villars, Natascha Petrinsky
- Aida [dir Peter Konwitschny] with Misha Didyk, Mikhail Agafonov
- Semiramide with Ann Hallenberg, Myrtò Papatanasiù
Les Huguenots! How many years is it since that has been done in Paris? Minkowski should be first rate and a promising cast.
ReplyDeleteI hope so :)
ReplyDeleteDid you see that there is no single French opera on the 2010-2011 program in Paris (ONP)? Reconcile that with the folkloric French chauvinism!
Fresh Boesmans, yay!
ReplyDeleteNow will Cypres please get a move on and reissue Reigen already?
That new Boesmans is very-very good!
ReplyDeleteLast year (while Mortier was still the head of Paris Opera) at the same time when Yvonne was premiered we could also see a SUPERB production of Reigen, dir by Harry Kupfer, with excellent young cast from the Opera Studio Nederland.
Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbm-A72-BcI
Does anyone know what it's like to see an opera at the Vlaamse Opera Ghent? Specifically the top two balconies. I'm hoping to see an opera there later this year, and am trying to by tickets. I can't tell how the view is though.
ReplyDeleteIt is a VERY nice theater where I saw Hérodiade this year. It is a relatively small auditorium with excellent acoustics, and if you have the front seat --even on the top balconies-- you should be fine. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThe Vlaamse Oper season 2012-3 is now on-line. Parsifal with Zeppenfeld as Gurnemanz and I love the headline for Agrippina "The head bitch in Ancient Rome".
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch John! If there is a singer today that I can say I'm his true fan, then that must be Zeppenfeld. So, obviously I'll be there for that Parsifal.
ReplyDeleteLove the Agrippina headline :)
Mariame Clément is brilliant, plus the cast is fantastic on paper.
Cheers