Don Giovanni in Paris: Peter Mattei, Bernard Richter, Philippe Jordan... and übertalented Michael Haneke

Don Giovanni, Opéra Bastille in Paris, March 15 2012

Bernard Richer, Véronique Gens, Peter Mattei, Philippe Jordan, Patricia Petibon, David Bizic

Michael Haneke ..... director
Philippe Jordan ..... conductor


Peter Mattei ..... Don Giovanni
Paata Burchuladze ..... Il Commendatore
Patricia Petibon ..... Donna Anna
Bernard Richter ..... Don Ottavio
Véronique Gens ..... Donna Elvira
David Bizic ..... Leporello
Nahuel Di Pierro ..... Masetto
Gaëlle Arquez ..... Zerlina

Orchestre et choeur de l'Opéra national de Paris

Aix 2010: Alceste

Arte Live Web treated us royally this year and we could see live broadcast of three out of five operas created for the Festival in Aix this year.

The fact that the fourth opera presented at this year's festival --Gluck's Alceste, directed by Christof Loy-- won't be TV broadcast or webcast come like comes like "bad news".

Freiburger Barockorchester is conducted by maestro Ivor Bolton, and always brilliant Véronique Gens and an excellent Canadian tenor Joseph Kaiser are in the cast. The reviews are quite OK.

You could tell the critique became more careful when reviewing Christof Loy's work, as if they wouldn't want to repeat the last year's half-embarrassment when they collectively thrashed his Tristan in London, andonly a couple of months later the very same production picked up the Best New Opera Production Award for 2009 in the UK. ;)

A scene from Christof Loy's Alceste presented in Aix: Véronique Gens and Joseph Kaiser

 One thing is sure, everyone (critique, fans, colleagues...) is full of praise for Véronique Gens. The title role is apparently very hard on a soprano and it appears that the current state of her voice is perfectly suitable for Alceste. So, no TV broadcast, nor webcast planned -- I bet there will be a DVD out before the end of the year...

I found only one short video about Alceste on the site of France3, which is appended below.

We will barock you (2): The premiere of La Calisto at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées

La Calisto,  Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (TCE), May 5, 2010

Christophe Rousset, conductor
Macha Makeïeff, director

Sophie Karthäuser, Calisto
Lawrence Zazzo, Endimione
Giovanni Battista Parodi, Giove
Véronique Gens, Giunone, Il Destino
Marie-Claude Chappuis, L'Eternità, Diana
Milena Storti, Linfea
Cyril Auvity, La Natura, Pane
Mario Cassi, Mercurio
Sabina Puértolas, Satirino
Graeme Broadbent, Sylvano

Les Talens Lyriques

Franz Lehar Lost in Translation

"La Veuve Joyeuse"  (The Merry Widow, Die Lustige Witwe): this production, filmed in Opera de Lyon  2007, was released in France on DVD only a few months ago, and is nowadays being shown on  cable TV [ Mezzo]. Not very wise or businesslike if you ask me, but hey, I ain't gonna buy this DVD, so that's good with me ;)

After having watched it on TV,  I don't understand why the show was released on DVD at all.