Last week on ARTE Lounge...

... René Pape was a guest and he sang Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge (from Das Rheingold) and Some enchanted evening (from South Pacific?)

Video appended below:

Remarkable Григорий in The Met's Boris Godunov

This is one of my favorite operas and since it was one of the 4 Met's new productions this season, I obviously could not miss the live broadcast from New York last Saturday night.

Since there're many papers on Internet about the show, I have very little to say without risking to upset most of the people who actually liked what they could see. After 4 hrs 20 of Boris from The Met I thought the title I used to describe La donna del Lago --premiered last June in Paris-- was a perfect description of what I felt.

So I won't dissect the show but only broadly notice a strong contrast between the singers who were getting more and more awesome as the show progressed, and the growing evidence that the director was desperately rushing to get this piece over with -- no guiding idea, old-fashioned direction...

With that being said, I loved the bass-fest with Mikhail Petrenko, René Pape, Evgeny Nikitin, but to me the winner of the night was actually a tenor: Grigoriy by Aleksandrs Antonenko. Bless him!

Ed: If you're interested in seeing an inventive production of Boris, check out the Dimitri Tcherniakov's production at DKT in Copenhagen next January/February.

Salzburg 2010: Une Elektra électrisante

Look how the city of Salzburg was getting ready for the premiere! One of many banners all over the city...

Elektra, August 8 2010, Grosses Festspielhaus, Salzburg

Daniele Gatti ..... Conductor
Nikolaus Lehnhoff ..... Stage Director


Waltraud Meier ..... Klytämnestra
Iréne Theorin ..... Elektra
Eva-Maria Westbroek ..... Chrysothemis
Robert Gambill ..... Aegisth
René Pape .....Orest
Oliver Zwarg ..... Orest's Tutor


Vienna Philharmonic
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus

Salzburg 2010: Elektra approaching fast...

The main event of this year's Salzburg Festival is supposed to be the new production of Elektra,  directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff and with our fave Daniele Gatti conducting the Vienna Philharmonic.  I guess I'm not too much enthused as the show will take place at the Grosses Festspielhaus, which will certainly dilute the impact of the music. To that add Lehnhoff, who's not exactly what I like the most in opera, although I appreciated his Lohengrin, Parsifal, Tannhauser, and even Tristan. All of these productions were important as they went a step beyond the conventional reading but the substance was somehow missing... Also important is the fact that Lehnhoff is appreciated by traditionalists so his productions prepared them to stomach more creative works such as those by Herheim, Warlikowski, Bieito, Kusej, and even those by Guth, or Carsen...

Theorin and Westbroek as Elektra and Chrysothemis [photo ©Baus]

The cast is the most appealing element of this Elektra: Waltraud Meier (Klytämnestra), Iréne Theorin (Elektra),  Eva-Maria Westbroek (Chrysothemis), Robert Gambill (Aegisth), René Pape (Orest). 

Good news is that there will be a radio broadcast of the show scheduled for August 21 at 19:30 (cet) on this link.
Ed:  I don't know whether or not Norma with Joyce DiDonato as Adalgisa will be broadcast from Salzburg. If I find out anything in Salzburg I'll post it here.

I realize many people around me often misunderstand the directors' intentions in various productions of Elektra, and it's usually because they are not familiar with the background story of Electra and her fatherS. I hope you won't find this post too patronizing (please don't!), but rather helpful (?) 

Good news: Das Rheingold from La Scala on TV-Mezzo

Guy Cassiers's magnificent-looking production of Das Rheingold --which is to be premiered tomorrow at  La Scala in Milan-- will be live broadcast by Mezzo-TV on Wednesday, May 26 at 8 pm (cet). This is extra-good news as our fave Kwangchul Youn will be singing Fasolt (he shares the role with Tigran Martirossian)

Anna Samuil and René Pape

Check out the package of TV-channels you received together with your Internet connection. Mezzo might be somewhere on the list. The above and the pics you can find below are all taken during the final dress rehearsal and are © Koen Broos.