In Paris, at
Palais Garnier, we have yet another rerun of
Idomeneo, the same
Luc Bondi's production seen many times over the past 5 years on the stages in Milan, Madrid and in Paris.
More specifically, in Paris we saw it
last year (!), but
Nicolas Joel --
the new unfortunate intendant of the Paris Opera-- insisted to program the very same production this year again. The only rational explanation for such an irrational decision is that he wanted to show how
he can bring a better show to
Garnier than his predecessor (
Gerard Mortier). And so he announced
Rolando Villazon and
Anna Netrebko to sing,
Emmanuelle Haïm to conduct, which made many aficionados rush to subscribe for the 2009-2010 Season at the Paris Opera: safe way to score the tickets for
Idomeneo before the box-office opened... However, several months before the premiere the two super-stars cancelled their appearance and the whole
Nicolas Joel's vanity show turned into a nightmare:
Philippe Hui Conductor
Luc Bondy Stage Director
Charles Workman Idomeneo
Vesselina Kasarova Idamante
Isabel Bayrakdarian Ilia
Tamar Iveri Elettra
Lothar Odinius Arbace
Xavier Mas Gran Sacerdote di Nettuno
