Gripping Wozzeck by Andrea Breth in Berlin

Wozzeck, April 24 2011, Staatsoper Berlin (Sch.Th)

Conductor ..... Daniel Barenboim
Director ..... Andrea Breth
Chorus Master ..... Eberhard Friedrich

Wozzeck ..... Roman Trekel
Tambourmajor ..... John Daszak
Andres ..... Florian Hoffmann
Hauptmann ..... Graham Clark
Doktor ..... Pavlo Hunka
Marie ..... Nadja Michael
Margret ..... Katharina Kammerloher
Erster Handwerksbursche ..... Jürgen Linn
Zweiter Handwerksbursche ..... James Homann
Narr ..... Heinz Zednik

Staatskapelle Berlin
Staatsopernchor
Kinderchor der Staatsoper Unter den Linden

Otello in Dresden

Otello, April 21 2011, Semperoper Dresden 

Musical Director ..... Jacques Delacôte
Staging ..... Vera Nemirova

Otello ..... Carl Tanner
Desdemona ..... Serena Farnocchia
Iago ..... Gerard Quinn
Cassio ..... Wookyung Kim
Rodrigo ..... Orlando Niz
Lodovico ..... Tilmann Rönnebeck
Montano ..... Tomislav Lucic
Emilia ..... Sofi Lorentzen

Saxon State Opera Choir, Children's Choir of the Saxon State Opera Choir
Staatskapelle Dresden

Otello from Liège live on the Internet

In about two hours -- Thu, April 28 at 20:00 cet-- you can watch the live webcast of Otello by Verdi from Opéra Royal de Walonie (ORW) in Liège, with Fabio Armiliato, Giovanni Meoni and  Daniela Dessi as Otello, Iago and Desdemona, respectively. For more details on the show produced by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, and conducted by Paolo Arrivebani please see the ORW website.

Live webcast is provided via Dailymotion on this link.

Kitsch me, Kate! (rant)

I believe the global tsunami of kitsch and the media cheese-bombs that we're exposed to these days do disservice to William and Kate. This mug is actually the only thing I'm glad to pay for:

Assorted info...

• Are you checking out my regular updates on the 2011-2012 programs in Europe: in Zurich, Frankfurt,  Munich, London, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Vienna... ?! See the right panel on this blog.

New production in Europe - April 2011

Apart from Parsifal in Basel and  Anna Bolena in Vienna, the most interesting things are bound to happen in Berlin where the new production of Salomé will be presented at the Komische while the new production at Staatsoper will be Wozzeck (dir- Andrea Breth) and the Guy Cassiers' Walküre will make this year's Festtage more vibrant.

Stefan Herheim will present his astro-Salomé next Saturday in Salzburg, while an interesting production of Dialogues des Carmélites is premiered in Stuttgart.
Platée in Amsterdam is another important operatic event in Europe this month, together with many others listed below...

April in Paris - 2011

Beyond Lang Lang's Bang-Bang Klang

Lang Lang at La Salle Pleyel in Paris, March 21 2011

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata no.3 and no.23 "Appassionata"

Isaac Albéniz: Iberia Book 1

Sergey Prokofiev: Sonata no. 7

Kát'a Marthalerova

Katia Kabanova, Opéra Garnier in Paris, March 8 2011

In front of Opéra Garnier - minutes before the beginning of Kat'a Kabanova, a.k.a. Marthalerova

Christoph Marthaler ..... director

Tomas Netopil ..... conductor

Angela Denoke ..... Kát'a

Vincent Le Texier ..... Saviol Dikoy

Jane Henschel ..... Kabanicha

Donald Kaasch ..... Tichon Kabanov

Jorma Silvasti ..... Boris Grigorievitch

Ales Briscein ..... Kudriach

Andrea Hill ..... Varvara

Orchestre et Choeur de l’Opéra national de Paris

"Do you not feel and see it?"

An obvious resemblance with Lucia Poop from this famous video makes Violeta Urmana  more dear to my heart.

Cologne (June 10, 2010): Violeta Urmana, Franz-Josef Selig, Petra Lang, Clifton Forbis, Semyon Bychkov, Samuel Youn

That detail aside, her luscious voice brings a particular beauty to her Isolde. Please listen to her singing in a concert performance of Act-2 of Tristan und Isolde, which took place in Cologne less than a year ago [Clifton Forbis was Tristan and Semyon Bychkov conducted the WDR Sinfonienorchester]:

Where do I beginnn... Ring?!

Yeah the title sounds like Shirley Bassey, but it's nothing like that.

Hermann, v.Peter, Kratzer, Bosse, Herheim, Kusej, Bieito, Breth

Smashing production of Parsifal at Theater Basel

Benedikt von Peter is huge. Over the past several years we had a series of extraordinary productions of Parsifal, which started with the memorable production at the Paris opera by Krzysztof Warlikowski. Then a knockout show by Stefan Herheim in Bayreuth [definitely pilgrimage worthy!] Last year Calixto Bieito stunned us by a straightforward, clean and poignant Parsifal in Stuttgart [currently rerun in Stuttgart], and this year's big Parsifal was at La Monnaie in Brussels -- totally different, philosophically challenging show produced by grandissimo Romeo Castellucci.