Mahagonny in Antwerp: Whata show!

Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Flanders Opera in Antwerp (Vlaamse Opera), October 9th 2011

Director ..... Calixto Bieito
Conductor ..... Yannis Pouspourikas
Sets ..... Rebecca Ringst


Jim Mahoney ..... John Daszak
Leocadia Begbick ..... Leandra Overmann
Fatty der Prokurist ..... Erin Caves
Dreieinigkeitsmoses ..... Claudio Otelli
Jenny Hill ..... Noëmi Nadelmann
Jack O'Brien/Tobby Higgins .... Gijs Van der Linden
Sparbüchsen Billy ..... William Berger
Alaska Wolf Joe ..... Jaco Huijpen
Acteur ..... Guntbert Warns

Symphonic Orchestra of the Flanders Opera
Flanders Opera Chorus

 

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

Gesamtkunstwerkish Rheingold of Fura dels Baus

As far as I can tell, this double DVD is the best release since the Copenhagen Ring (OK that Khovanshchina is close too).  La Fura dels Baus deftly crafted an outstanding piece of work: it is inventive, it is filled with brilliant ideas, it cleverly uses technology... In short, they managed to make  the Gesamtkunstwerk of our time. Moreover they did what seemed hardly possible, i.e. to shade a new light on this giant masterpiece. For that I am grateful to all the crew involved in making this production happen.

EXTRA-FREAKING-ORDINARY!