You may wish to see/listen to the second show live from Lille. Next Friday, May 14, at 20:00 (cet), it will be live broadcast via the France3 website.
Cast: Stéphanie d’Oustrac Carmen, Gordon Gietz Don José, Olga Pasichnyk Micaëla, Jean-Luc Ballestra Escamillo
Here you can find a video add made for the regional TV France3 (contains images from the final dress rehearsal).
Ed: The show is available for free viewing on the same site.
Stéphanie d’Oustrac will sing her first Carmen. We know her from her excellent Armide by Lully in the recent Robert Carsen's production at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées [which will soon appear on DVD].
Olga Pasichnyk is an amazing soprano who I believe is the best Roxana (Krol Roger) around [I blogged about her recently].
Gordon Gietz had more media exposure recently thanks to his role in the Met's new production of The Nose.
Here is one YT video of d'Oustrac from the (very good) Bob Carsen's production of Armide
D’Oustrac singing Carmen sounds promising...
ReplyDeleteCritics seem to be very positive about this Carmen: "rien de trop".
ReplyDeleteCarmen is a very risky opera. Everyone knows it and it's full of tunes, and if you want to make something a tad different, you're entering a dangerous zone of being driven towards too much kitsch. Singers with too much pathos bordering the vulgarity of verismo... While you do find lots of kitsch in Sevilla, it's often exaggerated.
I liked Carmen at La Scala because of "the religious accent" which is often overlooked, while it's what you see and feel in Andalusia. I also liked the way Anita sang and looked on the opening night: she truly looked like a gipsy femme fatale. [I remember to have read you didn't like the part with Escamillo?!]
Let's see tomorrow what Stéphanie d’Oustrac will do.