Very-very good show with phenomenal Gidon Saks as Nick Shadow and Nicolas Zielinski as Baba the Turk, and all the other singers/actors excellent too.Warli and Ingo Metzmacher rock!
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| Yess: I took a photo with Warli looking pleased and happy! That was one more extraordinary element in this Rake's Progress :) |
More tomorrow (hopefully)! Cheers
I haven't decided if I hate hotels without internet or hotels with internet that charge you your firstborn to use it. Leaning toward the latter.
ReplyDeleteRemember Gidon from Bregenz Tosca fondly. My kids called him "Nipple Man" because of the zealotry with which he did Himmelmann's regie, rubbing his nips during the Te Deum. A fearless performer and great colleague. I imagine his Nick is fantastic.
And Anna Prohaska...
ReplyDeleteAnd Warli was so so happy!
I saw The Rake's yesterday.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing show.The best Rake's of today(I saw it in London, Paris,Copenhagen,Malmö).
I was impressed by Gidon Saks, Anna Prohaska and Florian Hoffman,
Arabella
Hi and SORRY for not replying immediately. The operators charge you per kilobyte, which means when I log in from my iPhone it's about 3€ before I even type a word...
ReplyDeleteI also tried a trick with T-Mobile ticket (30€ !) but the signal is so weak from my hotel that the connection is not sustained for more than 5 seconds. VERY annoying!
Arabella, I'm glad you loved it too! I'll post something on that Rake tonight. This hotel HAS a good Internet connection! Oh yes, I just arrived to Dresden where I should see Herheim's Rusalka tonight and then tomorrow rush back to Paris [unless this heavy snow doesn't screw my plans again ;)]
Cheers
Before I came to Berlin I saw another amazing show in Copenhagen, Herheim's Lulu.
ReplyDeleteIn February I will see it again in Oslo
Cross my fingers for your flight back to Paris.
Arabella
That's good to know. I have this idea that everybody in Europe has an ability to go anywhere at anytime without much trouble, and that everybody has a superfast internet connection compared to us folks in the states.
ReplyDeleteif the flight doesn't go due to the snow, you could always see Boheme with Harteros and Secco in Munich - great great stuff! The evening just seemed over so quickly.
ReplyDelete@laddie
Superfast internet connection I am not an expert on. However re going places: Once you turn opera junkie, it's amazing where you will consider going for favourite singers, conductors, directors ... If I had more money I would be off to places all the time :). It's one of the advantages of Europe - all this opera. To many places actually a train is the best option, so that does give some flexibility (our trains are fairly nice).
However we here don't have anything like your Southwest nature-wise and also there are some other things that I prefer in the U.S. -
Nevertheless from a travel to opera point I would prefer Europe :).
Arrived to Paris! Yay
ReplyDeleteThe snow-srormS in Dresden were unbelievable... but Rusalka was FANTASTIC
but didn't the snow look nice at least? Xmas-markets and all? :)
ReplyDeleteLaddie: Internet connections are generally good in in France and especially in Scandinavia. Paradoxically, in very well organized Germany Internet can be very bad.
ReplyDeleteAs for traveling there are many low cost air companies, so if you plan your trip in advance you may get some wonderful deals.
Plus the trains (again you should book it at least a month in advance to score a cheap tic). Fast trains are extremely comfy 0 I even get some work done during the trip.
@Ano: I was busy in Berlin but saw a bunch of Xmas markets around with snow and all that. In Dresden instead it was INSANE. I finally managed to take train to get to Berlin and then caught a flight from Berlin to Paris.
I don't like Puccini and La Boheme in particular, but if I were in town when Anja Harteros sang Mimi I'd sure be there to listen to her. Plus I like Secco very much too. A year ago the whole BSO team with Anja Harteros and Vittorio Grigolo were in Paris performing La Boheme in concert and I very much enjoyed the experience.
I'll hopefully come to Munich for one Fidelio ;)
Yes and despite living here I don't have a ticket (for Fidelio)... they were snatched up so fast. I shall try the rehearsal tomorrow, but I was told, the last time there was violence ;). (The last rehearsal with JK, that is.). Funny picture, isn't it, 70 years old fighting over tickets ... maybe with their umbrellas or so ...
ReplyDeleteAnja is so good in anything! They did the Boheme totally un-kitschy. I had not heard Secco before and had no expectations whatsoever.
I was surprised just how good he was. I have heard JK a few years back as Rodolfo, but I prefer Secco's Rodolfo.
This is probabably one of the oldest productions they have here (an Otto Schenk one). It is in fact so old, that it is one of 3 (?) productions that are allowed to live in the Staatsoper proper, because they are afraid it might break otherwise:). All other production stuff lives in Poing a way away. We did the backstage tour the day of the performance and they were just setting it up, which was fortunate. - With these performers it works just lovely, lovely, lovely. I have now bought tickets for most of the remaining performances ;).
P.S.
ReplyDeleteThe German expression was "Handgreiflichkeiten" ;) to be exact.
True, Germany can be bad re internet -- but what would your opera life be without Germany ? :).
Thanks for the note! Secco was Don Carlo in Paris 2 years ago and he totally blew Hvorostovsky away (who was Posa in that production).
ReplyDeleteThis year he was Don Carlo in Paris again -- as fantastic as ever -- but this time he was singing with Tézier (who was the best Posa I've ever listened to) which was a special kind of treat. He's a true, fully engaging, Verdi tenor.
Andrew Richards sounds fantastic in Verdi too (but in a way different from Secco or Kaufmann).
As for the tics for Fidelio, if you're ready to pay for a top-priced seat you may wish to check out
THIS LINK. That's where I found a ticket for Die Schweigsame Frau 10 days before the show -- when everyone was telling me I was crazy to even think about a ticket for those extremely demanded scarce shows at Prinzregententheater.
Cheers
Thanks, but I am a poor girl ;). I mostly do standing for 12 Euros ... I hardly ever do the one above that.
ReplyDeleteYour post sneaked in before I posted mine.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree on Germany being head and shoulders above the rest of Europe when it comes to opera.
It truly is!