Devastating Orphée in Brussels "Rien n'égale mon malheur..."

This is undoubtedly the best show I've seen since Parsifal staged by the very same Romeo Castellucci. Only 20min into the show I felt I was on the edge of tears and was holding back until the last 15min and then wept like a willow... almost felt embarrassed when the light came back on.

Warlikowski can sometime go deep and tackle your hidden emotion... but this is a whole another level yet. The concept is very simple, the message extremely poignant, and the impact on me/us was simply devastating... especially the moment of complete darkness when Orphée sings the celebrated aria was heartbreaking [Stéphanie D'Oustrac IS the most wonderful singer today! She's not the loudest, her voice is not the most beautiful, but no other singer can sing like her... It simply happens with her like with no other singer out there...]

You MUST be there to feel the show. This cannot work via webcast or a video recording. It simply drags you in and grabs your every emotion... Will write more when I come back to Paris.

Romeo Castellucci is a theatrical genius!

THANK YOU to Romeo and his team, and to Peter De Caluwe and this incomparable opera-theater! 

J'ai perdu mon Eurydice...

The best run opera house in the world --with the most exciting and steadily good programs-- that at the same time shows the role opera should play in the 21st century --La Monnaie/De Munt-- is presenting these days their new production of Orphée et Eurydice directed by no one else but Romeo Grandioso Castellucci and with our huge fave Stéphanie D'Oustrac singing the role of Orphée [isn't she the most wonderful singer today?!]

Yours Truly obviously could not resist temptation and hopped on Thalys to spend a Sunday in Brussels and see this singular operatic event this year.

In Paris, the new production of La Traviata -- I won't blog about that. It is fair to say that it is only better than the dreadful Richard Eyre production that was contaminating London/ROH for years and --worse-- numerous DVD players worldwide...

Instead of reviving the extraordinary Christoph Marthaler production (that you can see on YouTube), or producing something astounding, along the lines of what Benedikt von Peter did in Hannover,  Peter Konwitschny in Graz & London/ENO, or even Hans Neuenfels in Berlin/Komische... the artistic leadership of the Paris Opera confided a job to a tired French film director who only demonstrated his artistic emptiness and an astonishing lack of opera producing skills... In the end, and despite our dear Diana Damrau singing phenomenally the role of Violetta Valéry, the result was truly pitiful... 

OK, let's get ready for Orphée: an interview with Romeo Castellucci about this opera and his production 

Excellent Trailer:

Der Glyndebournenkavalier

Arte portal Arte Concert [ex Arte Live Web] will live broadcast the Glyndebourne production of Der Rosenkavalier (staged by Richard Jones -- the best British director). Mezzo TV is also broadcasting the show.

Interestingly, Robin Ticciati will be conducting. He's only 31 and starting from this year he is also the Glyndebourne festival music director. Among the cast member keep an ear on a superbissimo Andrey Dunaev (tenor)...