Runnicles rocks on a Huge Tristan Night in Berlin

Tristan und Isolde, Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB), February 25 2012

Smashing performance by Petra Maria Schnitzer and Donald Runnicles

Graham Vick ..... director
Donald Runnicles ..... conductor

Peter Seiffert ..... Tristan
Liang Li ..... King Marke
Petra Maria Schnitzer ..... Isolde
Boaz Daniel ..... Kurwenal
Jörg Schörner ..... Melot
Jane Irwin ..... Brangäne
Peter Maus ..... Ein Hirt
Clemens Bieber ..... Seeman
Krzysztof Szumanski ..... Stauermann

Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Don Carlo in Berlin -- one to remember [Runnicles et al]

Don Carlo, Deutsche Oper Berlin, November 2nd 2011

Conductor ..... Donald Runnicles

Director ..... Marco Arturo Marelli

King Philip of Spain ..... Roberto Scandiuzzi

Don Carlo ..... Massimo Giordano

Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa ..... Boaz Daniel

Inquisitor ..... Ante Jerkunica

A monk ..... Ryan McKinny

Elisabeth of Valois ..... Lucrezia Garcia

Princess of Eboli ..... Anna Smirnova

The page Thibaut ..... Hila Fahima

Count of Lerma / Herold ..... Matthew Peña

A voice ..... Kathryn Lewek

Flemish deputies ..... Alexey Bogdanchikov

Flemish deputies ..... Hyung-Wook Lee

Flemish deputies ..... Simon Pauly

Flemish deputies ..... Jörn Schümann

Flemish deputies ..... Marko Mimica

Flemish deputies ..... Tobias Kehrer

Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin (William Spaulding)

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Second Tristan und Isolde in 2011

Tristan und Isolde, March 26 2011,  Deutsche Oper Berlin

Graham Vick ..... director
Donnald Runnicles ..... conductor

Peter Seiffert ..... Tristan
Kristinn Sigmundsson ..... King Marke
Petra Maria Schnitzer ..... Isolde
Eike Wilm Schulte ..... Kurwenal
Jörg Schörner ..... Melot
Jane Irwin ..... Brangäne
Peter Maus ..... Ein Hirt
Gregory Warren ..... Seeman
Jörg Schümann ..... Stauermann

Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Premiere of Die Liebe der Danae in Berlin

Die Liebe der Danae/The Love of Danae, Deutsche Oper Berlin, January 23 2011

Conductor ..... Andrew Litton
Director ..... Kirsten Harms
Chorus master ..... William Spaulding

Jupiter ..... Mark Delavan
Merkur ..... Thomas Blondelle
Pollux ..... Burkhard Ulrich
Danae ..... Manuela Uhl
Xanthe ..... Hulkar Sabirova
Midas ..... Matthias Klink
Four Kings ..... Paul Kaufmann, Clemens Bieber, 

" ..... Nathan De’Shon Myers, Hyung-Wook Lee
Semele ..... Hila Fahima
Europa ..... Martina Welschenbach
Alkmene ..... Julia Benzinger
Leda ..... Katarina Bradic


Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Les Troyens in Berlin (DOB)

Les Troyens, Deutsche Oper Berlin, December 11 2010

Conductor ..... Donald Runnicles
Director ..... David Pountney
Stage design ..... Johan Engels
Costume design ..... Marie-Jeanne Lecca
Chorus master ..... William Spaulding

Énée ..... Ian Storey
Chorèbe ..... Jean-Francois Lapointe
Panthée ..... Seth Carico
Narbal ..... Reinhard Hagen
Iopas ..... Gregory Warren
Ascagne ..... Jana Kurucová
Cassandre ..... Petra Lang
Didon ..... Béatrice Uria-Monzon
Anna ..... Liane Keegan
Priam ..... Lenus Carlson
Greek military leader ..... Sergio Vitale
Hector's shadow ..... Stephen Bronk
Hélénus ..... Yosep Kang
A soldier ..... Ben Wager
Two Trojan soldiers ..... Ben Wager
Two Trojan soldiers ..... Lenus Carlson
Mercure ..... Stephen Bronk
Hécube ..... Fionnuala McCarthy
Andromache ..... Etoile Chaville

Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin
Opernballett der Deutschen Oper Berlin

J’avais entièrement terminé à cette époque l’ouvrage dramatique dont je parlais tout à l’heure et dont j’ai fait mention dans une note d’un des précédents chapitres [allusion aux Troyens; voyez ci-dessus]. Me trouvant à Weimar quatre ans auparavant chez la princesse de Wittgenstein (amie dévouée de Liszt, femme de cœur et d’esprit, qui m’a soutenu bien souvent dans mes plus tristes heures), je fus amené à parler de mon admiration pour Virgile et de l’idée que je me faisais d’un grand opéra traité dans le système shakespearien, dont le deuxième et le quatrième livre de l’Énéide seraient le sujet. J’ajoutai que je savais trop quels chagrins une telle entreprise me causerait nécessairement, pour que j’en vinsse jamais à la tenter. "En effet, répliqua la princesse, de votre passion pour Shakespeare unie à cet amour de l’antique, il doit résulter quelque chose de grandiose et de nouveau. Allons, il faut faire cet opéra, ce poème lyrique; appelez-le et disposez-le comme il vous plaira. Il faut le commencer et le finir." Comme je continuais à m’en défendre: "Ecoutez, me dit la princesse, si vous reculez devant les peines que cette œuvre peut et doit vous causer, si vous avez la faiblesse d’en avoir peur et de ne pas tout braver pour Didon et Cassandre, ne vous représentez jamais chez moi, je ne veux plus vous voir." Il n’en fallait pas tant dire pour me décider. De retour à Paris je commençai à écrire les vers du poème lyrique des Troyens. Puis je me mis à la partition, et au bout de trois ans et demi de corrections, de changements, d’additions, etc., tout fut terminé.

Hector Berlioz, 1864

New Otello premiered in Berlin: Kriegenburg and Harteros rocked -- Cura and Lucic were great too!

Otello, Deutsche Oper Berlin, May 30 2010

Conductor Patrick Summers

Director Andreas Kriegenburg

Otello José Cura

Iago Zeljko Lucic

Cassio Yosep Kang

Roderigo Gregory Warren

Lodovico Hyung-Wook Lee

Montano Jörn Schümann

Desdemona Anja Harteros

Emilia Liane Keegan

Pieczonka is a great Tosca of our time

Tosca, Deutsche Oper Berlin, May 29, 2010

Pieczonka after Vissi d'arte

Director Boleslaw Barlog 

Conductor Matthias Foremny

Tosca Adrianne Pieczonka

Cavaradossi Roberto Aronica

Scarpia Luccio Gallo

Angelotti Ben Wager

Sacristan Roland Schubert

Spoletta Joerg Schoerner

Sciarrone Hyung-Wook Lee

Turnkey Lucas Harbour

Opera Houses in Germany

Brilliant production of Rienzi in Berlin

What a way to begin 2010! First there was The Fairy Queen which instantly blew me away. Then  K und K (for Koch & Kaufmann) slammed us with unbelievably emotional Werther. Plus I liked the witty way Mussbach brought to life Norma, and finally my dream to see a well-done staged version of Rienzi came true...

As I said it before, this was my first Rienzi ever and I loved it.

Conductor  Sebastian Lang-Lessing
Director Philipp Stölzl
Choir Conductor William Spaulding

Rienzi Torsten Kerl
Irene Camilla Nylund
Steffano Colonna  Ante Jerkunica
Adriano  Kate Aldrich
Paolo Orsini Krzysztof Szumanski
Cardinal Orvieto  Lenus Carlson
Baroncelli  Clemens Bieber
Cecco del Vecchio  Stephen Bronk 

Deutsche Oper - The Scent of the Seventies

Before I get back to the MAGNIFICENT production of Rienzi,  I thought I could blog a bit about the Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB).

Heppnered Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin

Friday, January 29 2010
Going to Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB), I felt I was lucky to have a ticket for this ausverkauft and very starry night of Lohengrin :

Lohengrin - Ben Heppner

Elsa- Ricarda Merbeth

Ortrud - Waltraud Meier

Telramund - Eike Wilm Schulte

Heinrich - Kristinn Sigmundsson

King's Herals - Anton Keremidtchiev 

Director - Goetz Friedrich

Conductor - Michael Schonwandt

 

In spite of the very snowy weather, freezing cold and ice on the pavements surrounding DOB, the theater was packed for the opening of the new run of Lohengrin.

Personally I was mostly interested in the DOB chorus, and maestro Michael Schønwandt (whose Copenhagen Ring I tenderly loved), but I think most of the opera-goers were answering to the buzz the PR staff generated about Ben Heppner (many interviews in the daily newspapers; plus huge posters "big voices return to Berlin") and about Waltraud Meier -who doesn't sing that often at DOB- who the Germans simply love.

Rienzi in Berlin: hot impressions

Just a "quick" post about the second show of Rienzi , finished an hour ago at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. This was my first Rienzi ever and I loved it.
  

Torsten Kerl proves once again that he is truly excellent a singers/actor - and trust me, Rienzi is a very devillish role to sing (I bet Ben Heppner --who screwed up Lohengrin last night-- would not be able to sing a third of it). BRAVO!

Camilla Nylund was on one of her good nights although the volume is not her forte  (which we already noticed in Paris when she was miscast as Salome). Since tonight`s was a high profile show she was only mildly booed, but the bravos were much-much louder. ;)

Kate Aldrich literally stole the show. That girl had to really dig deep to deliver such a level of intensity in an otherwise unsingable role of Adriano. Impressive effort from this "small" lady and well deserved standing O for her at the end of the show.

Someone should say to Sebastian Lang-Lessing that this production is not about him, nor about the orchestra only; and that he could show some more respect for singers (instead of covering them!). Other than that - a magnificent orchestra lead by an energetic young maestro.

Philipp Stölzl, as expected, soaked a load of boos which I of course disagreed with. I thought the show was brilliant and the director`s interpretation was...err..., say, gutsy. I could understand the boos though: Philipp didn`t leave any space to ambiguities --> his Rienzi is a nasty SOB, a dictator who deserved to end the way he did...Personally, I take my hat off to him for that ;)

As for the best choir in Germany, tonight they were the best choir in the world - and I am not exaggerating ;)

What's on in Europa-Europa?

Apart from the sensational and jaw-dropping production of The Fairy Queen, as well as that excellent Norma, both premiered in Paris this month, the major European operatic event in January 2010 is undoubtedly the new production of Rienzi which was premiered last night at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. The German newspapers are already loaded with comments and critiques, reactions and simple articles about this apparently opulent and highly polarizing show. It's cut in half to last only 150 mins, in which Philipp Stolzl squeezed the elaborated parallel between Rienzi and Hitler --with all what this may entail-- pushing the boundaries far enough to spur some strong emotions, both positive and negative ones. Apparently during the show, as the new scenes unveiled, a good fraction of the audience openly booed, only to end the show with an unanimous outburst of applauses. That's what you get in Opera houses in Germany. :)

Pic lifted from the DOB web-site

New Productions in Europe - January 2010

Undoubtedly the most expected is the new production of "Rienzi" by Philipp Stoelzl which will open on Sunday, January 24 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB), conducted by young & talented  Sebastian Lang-Lessing (replacing V. Jurowski tho!).
The cast looks good on paper too:  Torsten Kerl, Kate Aldrich, Camilla Nylund... and we should not forget the DOB Choir which Opernwelt Magazine voted as "Choir of the Year 2009" [Yours Truly will never forget their absolutely astounding performance in Tannhauser!].

One week later, in Freiburg will premiere the Calixto Bieito's production of "Le Grand Macabre" which I am more than sorry not to be able to see...