tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post3945919836922187548..comments2023-12-27T09:38:56.562+01:00Comments on Opera Cake: Alcina at Semperoper: birth of a great opera director -- Jan Philipp GlogerOpera Cakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-78201789921157633362012-02-09T01:49:26.323+01:002012-02-09T01:49:26.323+01:00This programme (of rather 90 than the indicated 60...This programme (of rather 90 than the indicated 60 minutes) will include an excerpt announced as documentary recording (this because it sounds like a bootleg) from the first night. If so someone else ended up shouting bravo there the same way...<br />http://www.mdr.de/mdr-figaro/ipg/sendung94522.html<br /><br />Probably only one more performance of Alcina will follow on July 7, I just saw that the one originally scheduled for July 4 has apparently been cancelled. Shucks, was considering to attend it.<br /><br />And what became of Lulu: Reviews are positive, even enthusiastic. Only exception is the largest German tabloid, and it needs a lot of calmness to simply take its article as another form of praise. A comment on this matter:<br />http://www.musik-in-dresden.de/2012/02/08/schuler-gucken-blutige-hurenoper<br /><br />I was worried about the attendance figures after last minute tickets have, besides the invitation of pupils, been released for the first night. But the second performance was well attended (in the reduced CC seating plan with only stalls and first tier it appeared to be almost sold out) and only very few seats remained empty after the second interval. It was a bit of a challenge, perhaps, the applause started a little bit reserved but then the approval was clear and unanimous.<br /><br />Most challenging was anyway not the production but something else: The first row of seats had been taken out of the stalls. So one had to enter the fifth row for the seat in row 6 -- need I say more!<br /><br />Kai (still without an own blog to refer to)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-58987963378568403782012-01-12T05:17:38.989+01:002012-01-12T05:17:38.989+01:00I saw this young woman perform as Ottone in Grisel...I saw this young woman perform as Ottone in Griselda last summer at Santa Fe. A great effort on her part, and as well from the southern California musicians in the pit; alas, the production didn't do her any favors. She was one of the high points for me.schmup53https://www.blogger.com/profile/03995304894519528582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-68257789346299064872012-01-09T13:37:51.620+01:002012-01-09T13:37:51.620+01:00I was in Basel between Christmas and New Year'...I was in Basel between Christmas and New Year's Eve, indeed; I even made critics of Carmen and Rusalka on Resmusica (sorry I didn't mention them on my blog...). I saw the Wozzeck too, but it was rather awkward, since because I hated what I heard from the pit (too loud, too confused, not doing justice to Berg's clarity - see Nagano or the rare live recording by Carlos Kleiber!) I was not very open to what I saw on the stage.<br />Are you going to Munich's Don Carlo? I'm there on January 15th...Musicasolahttp://musicasola.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-11539050162579320792012-01-08T03:12:10.966+01:002012-01-08T03:12:10.966+01:00Perhaps one clarification is appropriate: It was n...Perhaps one clarification is appropriate: It was not the first baroque opera shown at Dresden. In last year they had a fine production of Poppea (it happened to become the first "full" opera performance I'm attended, and it appears that it was also the first staging ever of Poppea at Dresden) in which the baroque specialists Cappella Sagittariana Dresden played. This time it was Staatskapelle Dresden which so far hardly anyone connected with baroque music. It was a fundamental decision to mount this production with own resources only, and Rainer Mühlbach called it an international trend that the baroque repertoire is a matter not only of specialists but meanwhile also of the big orchestras of which some are already more experienced in this field than others. What I can say about the result is that the use of two distinctively different continuo groups (an idea that emerged only during the rehearsals) made a good point, and the soloist parts of the lutes and the viol were really impressive, just like the bold approach to simply discard the original happy end (in the words of Rainer Mühlbach: "You will understand it when you see it" -- indeed).<br /><br />What should be also mentioned when talking in general about Ulrike Hessler and, not to forget, her team which came in from two ones of your "fave house" list (Stuttgart and Theater an der Wien): The obvious sense for people who have not been socialized with opera and so called high culture in general. Previously nothing had been done in the field of audience development at Dresden, since the opinion was that in times of tight budgets other priorities must be set to keep the house attractive for the tourists. Other priorities than the -- now of course very well appreciated -- local audiences in general. And one must face it: The tourists in doubt come for the building, not for what happens on stage. It speaks for itself how since 1985, when the building had been reopened, its name drove out the actual name of the opera company (Staatsoper Dresden; after 1990 it had been considered necessary to prolong it to Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden as if nobody knows of which state Dresden is the capital) completely, a situation they now escaped by putting the "Semperoper Dresden" label on the company.<br /><br />And so now looking forward to Lulu in February...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-49005717273768762432012-01-06T14:05:37.958+01:002012-01-06T14:05:37.958+01:00You should be [jealous]! ;) Thanks for the heads-u...You should be [jealous]! ;) Thanks for the heads-up. I'll try and combine a trip to Stuttgart and Heilbronn. <br /><br />Did you go to Basel during the Xmas brak? I'll blog about Wozzeck (grandioso) and Rusalka (less good but with the gloriously singing Svetlana Ignatovich)Opera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-54518905778641456392012-01-05T12:01:36.150+01:002012-01-05T12:01:36.150+01:00I'm jealous, obviously... I just have to hope ...I'm jealous, obviously... I just have to hope they will revive it in a coming season. I saw not only Gloger's Figaro, but also 3 theater plays, one of which was just OK, but the two others were terrific too.<br />As I wrote on my blog, you will have a last chance to see his Figaro at Heilbronn Theater, not too far from Stuttgart, in the spring, with the crew from Augsburg.Rameauhttp://musicasola.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-80526890358856420572012-01-02T09:50:44.838+01:002012-01-02T09:50:44.838+01:00Thanks! Same to you.
This was a truly fascinating...Thanks! Same to you.<br /><br />This was a truly fascinating production, and entirely the opposite to what was done at the Staatsoper in Vienna with Alcina full of stars in a snoozer-production. <br /><br />Soon you will have Lulu on the program -- in a very good production that I saw at its premiere in Copenhagen. <br /><br />CheersOpera Cakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940773671378765685noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2949086046279498177.post-12312407386330998482011-12-31T19:12:14.129+01:002011-12-31T19:12:14.129+01:00It has been a terrific production, which I was luc...It has been a terrific production, which I was lucky to follow the premiere. http://leanthinkers.blogspot.com/2011/11/alcina-zum-verlieben-verfuhrerisch.html (review in German)<br /><br />Happy New Year and all the Best from Dresden for 2012 :)RalfLippoldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15149352083082630755noreply@blogger.com