Cité de la Musique 2011-2012

The program for 2011-2012 at Cité de la musique in Paris only reminded me that there is still a place where the love for music comes first: a bunch of rarities from all epochs, new works, some stuff from the repertoire.... simply great!

In front of the entrance to Cité de la musique

They will soon post everything on their website. A good part of it can be found below.

NB, on the right - under "Germany", that I updated the details of the 2012 program at Opera Cologne [8 new productions including War and Peace (no less)!]

"Turkisch. Oper kann das!"

The question of subtitles, surtitles, English-or-no-English... is back on the table every now and then.

In theaters with a huge stage, such as the one at Opera Bastille in Paris, the surtitles are often a laughing matter. They are displayed like 5-6 meters above the stage floor and if you're seated in any of the first 15-20 rows, it is impossible to read the surtitle and see what's going on onstage. If you're far away, instead, then you see well the surtitles and can continuously watch the show but you're so far from the stage that  you miss most of the details/subtleties of the dramatic action [if there's any, that is!]

In Paris, the surtitle display board is set up so high, that the folks seated in the back rows of the first balcony cannot see it at all (hidden by the second balcony) ---> those seats are cheap. To double/triple the price of these seats, the Paris Opera decided to lower the surtitle display by 1 meter or so. The folks in the front seats will still have to either keep pretending they didn't care about translation (ha!), or to keep looking up for some translation and hope not to miss any of the onstage action.

The most reasonable solution to the problem --in this type of theater, at least-- is the one implemented at Opera Weimar. There they opted for subtitles, that you read on the thickness of the stage-floor (that separates the stage from the pit). You see them from everywhere, and it's more pleasant to read because you don't miss any action while reading the translation.

Another solution is to have a display on a seat in front of you, such as the case at Komische Oper in Berlin: you can choose the language (German or English), or to turn it off altogether. The novelty at the Komische (a theater I love so dearly!) is that starting from 2011-2012 two extra language options will be added to the existing ones: French and Turkish. The latter decision made some buzz in the media: immigration is a hot issue everywhere in the Western world, and Turks represent the largest immigration in Germany. With Berlin counting more than 300,000 German-Turks, this evolution is  totally reasonable, and it only enhances my admiration for Andreas Homoki, the current artistic director of the Komische.

Der Video Messias

Der Messias,  Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, March 16 2011

Conductor..... Hartmut Haenchen
Director ..... Oleg Kulik
Video ..... Robert Nortik

Priest ..... Michel Serres

Tenor ..... Tilman Lichdi
Soprano ..... Christina Landshamer
Mezzo ..... Anna Stephany
Bass ..... Darren Jeffery

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Châtelet Chorus

Siegfried in Paris on weed

Siegfried, Opéra Bastille in Paris, March 6 2011

Günter Krämer ..... Director

Philippe Jordan ..... Conductor

Torsten Kerl, Christian Voigt ..... Siegfried

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke ..... Mime

Juha Uusitalo, Egil Silins  ..... Der Wanderer

Peter Sidhom ..... Alberich

Stephen Milling ..... Fafner

Qiu Lin Zhang ..... Erda

Elena Tsallagova ..... Waldvogel

Brigitte Pinter, Katarina Dalayman ..... Brünnhilde

Paris Opera Orchestra

Emotional moment in Nabucco Romano

I thought the best would be to simply ignore this new production, but since this show was very highly profiled, celebrating 150 years since the liberation and unification of Italy, it carried much deeper meaning than just yet another production of Nabucco. All the politicians, the entire government... everybody came to see the show and to sing along the unofficial Italian national anthem Va, pensiero sul'ali dorate. You all know that this opera was very politically charged at the time, that the story about Hebrew slaves was an allegory of the situation in which lived divided Italians... and that the famous "Viva Verdi!" actually meant "Viva Vittorio Emanuele, Re d'Italia!"

First of all, my doubts were totally confirmed as far as the production goes: it is a desperately shabby show with no ground idea, without actually telling anything, with acting reduced to singers occasionally rising and opening their arms, with no scenic dynamics among protagonists whatsoever... To that add Leo Nucci [at 69] barking the hell out of Nabucco, so that even wonderfully sounding Dmitry Beloselskiy and Anna Malavasi couldn't rescue anything.

BUT, one of those big emotional moments actually happened right after the chorus ended singing Va, pensiero. A first burst of Bravi! soon converted into calls for encore (Biiiiis!), and then someone from the crowd shouted "Viva l'Italia!", Muti turned to the crowd and said

I agree with that "Viva l'Italia!" See, I'm not young anymore, but as an Italian who travels around the world I feel great pain for what's happening in Italy*. So if I respect your requests tonight and we repeat Va, pensiero, I won't do it only for patriotic reasons. Tonight --while the chorus sang Oh mia patria si bella e perduta! [Oh, my country so beautiful and lost!]-- I was thinking, if we kill the culture on which the history of Italy is founded, then our country will really be beautiful and lost.

The chorus then stood up to join a general applause. Then Muti invited everyone from the crowd to sing along and so the entire theater sang with the chorus Va, pensiero.

In the end of the aria the chorus members are the folks in the crowd were wiping their tears off...
Watch here (video of the whole show is available on Arte+7 website):



Ah bella Italia!


*) Muti is unclear on purpose: his pain can be interpreted as a reaction to the separatist movements that have recently gained in popularity both in the North and South of Italy, or it can be his reaction to the outrageous cuts by the Government on the public subsidies to opera (abrupt slash was 37%!)

2011-2012 at Théâtre des Champs Elysées

Next season will start a little bit later than usual because they want to enlarge the pit [to be able to host a full philharmonic orchestra for the staged performance of The Rite of Spring] and to properly celebrate 100 years of existence [Théâtre des Champs Elysées was inaugurated in 1913.]

So the season will start in November 10, but the program they prepared for 2011-2012 is SUPERB!

Below I will fast-type the content of the program (i.e. a broad selection of what I find interesting), but you should consult their website (or see here) where the more complete program will be available "soon" (that's what they said today when I asked).

Cinderella for Adults

Cendrillon, Opéra Comique in Paris, March 11 2011

Director ..... Benjamin Lazar

Conductor ..... Marc Minkowski

Cendrillon ..... Blandine Staskiewicz 

Le Prince charmant ..... Michèle Losier
La Fée ..... Église Gutiérrez
Mme de La Haltière ..... Ewa Podleś
Pandolfe ..... Laurent Alvaro
Noémie ..... Aurélia Legay
Dorothée ..... Salomé Haller
Le Roi ..... Laurent Herbaut
Le Doyen de la Faculté ..... Vincent de Rooster
Le Surintendant des plaisirs ..... Julien Neyer


Orchestra and chorus of Musiciens du Louvre - Grenoble

Sans un mot...

Croix Rouge Française,  British Red Cross,  American Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross,  Deutsches Rotes Kreutz, Croce Rossa Italiana,  Cruz Roja Española,  any other...

TV alert: New productions on Arte & Mezzo

You may wish to set your DVR's or see them live: three new productions will be live broadcast on  TV in the next few weeks on two coolest TV channels.

• Nabucco will be broadcast on Arte TV, next Thursday (March 17), with a delay of less than two hours -- starting at 22:15 (cet)-- from Teatro dell'opera di Roma 
  [dir- Jean-Paul Scarpitta , cnd- Riccardo Muti (?), cast: Leo Nucci (Nabucco), Antonio Poli, Dmitry Beloselskiy, Elisabete Mato, Ezgi Kutlu]
• Orlando Furioso will be on Mezzo TV, next Friday (March 18) at 19:30 (cet), live from Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris
  [dir- Pierre Audi, cnd- Jean-Christophe Spinosi, cast: Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Jennifer Larmore, Verónica Cangemi, Philippe Jaroussky, Kristina Hammarström, Romina Basso, Senn Astolfo]
• Anna Bolena will go live on Arte TV, on Tuesday April 5th at 20:15 (cet), from Staatsoper, Vienna
  [dir- Eric Génovèse, cnd- Evelino Pido, cast: Anna Netrebko, Elina Garanca, Francesco Meli, Ildebrando D`Arcangelo, Elisabeth Kulman]

We will barock you (6): Orlando Borioso

Orlando Furioso, Théâtre des Champs Elysées (TCE), March 12 2011

Pierre Audi ..... Director

Jean-Christophe Spinosi ..... Conductor

Marie-Nicole Lemieux ..... Orlando

Jennifer Larmore ..... Alcina

Verónica Cangemi ..... Angelica

Philippe Jaroussky ..... Ruggiero

Christian Senn ..... Astolfo

Kristina Hammarström ..... Bradamante

Romina Basso ..... Medoro

Ensamble Matheus

Chorus of TCE

Budapest Festival Orchestra and Petra Lang

BFO & Petra Lang, Salle Pleyel in Paris, March 5 2011

Iván Fischer and Petra Lang

Iván Fischer, conductor

Petra Lang, soloist

Budapest Festival Orchestra

Whata show in Dijon! Cisco Aznar - new gem from Catalunya

I expected everything but this. I just saw the best show this year and one of the best I've ever seen in France: Turandot by Busoni in Dijon.

It's Herheim-like style, but with a load of contemporary choreography, and with the best taste of Spain in the background.

Cisco Aznar, with two phenomenal singers today: Sabine Hogrefe (Turandot) and Thomas Piffka (Kalaf)

Cisco freaking Aznar, where have you been hiding?!

I thought I'd never say this but here you have it: there are too MANY ideas for a ~2 hours show (completely opposite from Orlando Furioso, that I saw last night in Paris... more on that later tonight)!

Busoni's Turandot has very little to do with the Puccini's shouting-fest. It's more human,  deeper, with no trace of verismo in dramatic approach, and musically is completely different. 

Auditorium in Dijon is amazing. HUGE,  wonderfully maintained, the stage is as broad and deep as the one at Bastille.  I am in awe... but gotta run to catch the train back to Paris. Cheers

Salle Pleyel 2011-2012 2012-2013

La Salle Pleyel 2012-2013

Opera Program in Paris 2011-2012 2012-2013

The program looks as if it was tailored  for a yawny 1991-1992 season, and not 20 years later, but for those who see opera as a way to dwell in the past rather than embracing the present and /or future, the Paris Opera is a home for you.

Ceiling at Opéra Garnier in Paris -- a detail in which Marc Chagall painted the outside look of  Palais Garnier

Below you can also find the program of Opéra Comique (a.k.a. La Salle Favart)
See also links to the 2012-2013 program at La Salle Pleyel,  Cité de la musique (a.k.a. Cité μ),
Théâtre des Champs Elysées



See also links to the 2011-2012 program at La Salle Pleyel, Cité de la Musique and Théâtre des Champs Elysées

Grand Officier Barenboim and Omer Meir Wellber in Paris

Orchestre de Paris, Salle Pleyel, March 1st 2011

Symphony No.4 - F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

Piano Concerto No.2 - F. Liszt

Siegfried Idyll - R. Wagner

Piano Concerto No.1 - F. Liszt 

Orchestre de Paris

Omer Meir Wellber, conductor

Daniel Barenboim, piano

Gewand Dvorak: Chailly at La Salle Pleyel

Dvorak Night, Salle Pleyel in Paris, February 28 2011

Maestro Chailly and Leonidas Kavakos

The Carnival Overture

Violin Concerto in A-minor

Symphony no.7

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig

Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Leonidas Kavakos, violin

Congrats to Isabel Leonard!

It feels good when some of these distinctions land in right hands.  Isabel Leonard receives the Beverly Sills award 2011. Congratulations!

Here is a video with Isabel singing the role of Sesto in a new production of Giulio Cesare, presented last month at Opéra Garnier in Paris -- aria L'angue ofeso mai riposa:



and Smanie impalcabili from Cosi Fan Tutte at the Salzburg Festival 2009, when everyone in the crowd was holding his/her breath, fearing she might fall while singing...

What new to expect in Europe this March!?

Many new productions in Europe to be premiered in March.

The Paris Ring continues with the premiere of Siegfried, and in Berlin all eyes will be focused on new Graham Vick's production of  Tristan und Isolde. Deborah Warner will present her new gem  Death in Venice.  Besides,  I vespri siciliani in Turin should be a good show, while our curiosity will peak when new Turandot by Busoni opens in Dijon. Die Fledermaus by Ch.Loy in Frankfurt is bound to be a special event too...

Many good & interesting new productions in March across Europe: a complete (?) list can be found below, chronologically ordered according to their premieres.

Exciting program in Paris - March 2011

My selection of events (classical music and opera) to see in Paris in March 2011.

Fallen Masks on the Rhine: David McVicar completes his Ring in Strasbourg

Götterdämmerung, Opéra National du Rhin (ONR) in Strasbourg, February 25 2011

The Mask of Erda -- in front of the ONR in Strasbourg

Director ..... David McVicar

Conductor ..... Marko Letonja

Siegfried ..... Lance Ryan

Hagen ..... Daniel Sumegi

Gunther ..... Robert Bork

Alberich ..... Oleg Bryjak

Brünnhilde ..... Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet

Gutrune ..... Nancy Weissbach

Waltraute ..... Hanne Fischer

First Norn ..... Sara Fulgoni

Second Norn ..... Hanne Fischer

Third Norn ..... Nancy Weissbach

Woglinde ..... Anaïs Mahikian

Wellgunde ..... Kimy McLaren

Flosshilde ..... Carolina Bruck-Santos

Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg

Chorus of l'Opéra national du Rhin

Hérodiade - part deux

Hérodiade, Vlaamse Opera in Ghent, February 13 2011

conductor ..... Dmitri Jurowski
director ..... Joachim Schlömer


Salomé ..... Carmen Giannattasio
Jean ..... Zoran Todorovich
Hérode ..... Philippe Rouillon
Hérodiade ..... Julia Gertseva
Phanuel ..... Petri Lindroos
Vitellius ..... Igor Bakan
Jeune Babylonienne ..... Julianne Gearhart
Le grand Prêtre ..... Thierry Vallier
Le grand PrêtreGuido Verbelen
Animaux/Dancers ..... Anna Tenta and Slawek Bendrat

Chorus and Orchestra of the Flanders Opera

Hérodiade and the 19th century French repertoire

I decided to split the discussion about Hérodiade in two parts: (1) As this opera is in a bulk of 19th century French operas, I think it is the right moment to throw in a couple of paragraphs about my observations concerning the perception of this genre in France today; (2) A short review of the wonderfully successful new production of Hérodiade presented at the Flanders Opera (Vlaamse Opera).

I believe one could even make an interesting social study about the cultural diversity in France from this little cultural corner that mixes creative art and national heritage -- 19th century operas. Don't worry! This is not what I intent to do here ;)
If I was to paint a black-and-white picture about the relation between the French public today and the 19th century French operas, the critics would have called it schizophrenic. Below I explain why.

Rusalka, Tannhäuser and Faust

A scene from Rusalka at Komische Oper in Berlin (photo ©KOB)

Barrie Kosky presented his new production of Rusalka at the Komische Oper in Berlin.
[Super-duper talented Patrick Lange conducted!] Here is a trailer for us to drool (OK, not quite -- I went to see a superb production of Hérodiade in Ghent -- that I'll post about tomorrow)

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:

You like Ligeti, Varèse, Lutoslawski, Saariaho, Salonen? Here is something for you!

One thing that amazes everyone visiting Paris or staying a bit longer à Paname is that feeling that the culture is still considered to be of vital importance for the city and its people. Public money is invested in all kinds of interesting projects that aim at popularizing art and support creativity.

It is not  functioning perfectly as a system, but it is fascinating when you see that such a noble intention actually works well. A perfect example is La Cité de la Musique --not surprisingly, a project initiated and promoted by Pierre Boulez-- with its numerous activities, symposiums, seminars, concerts, freely accessible media library, many outreach activities catalyzing contacts with youngsters from all social layers. As a classical music aficionados, you cannot resist it as the whole complex breathes love for music and desire to share it through all the activities proposed there. This are counter-examples to that of La Cité de la Musique where you can see the tax-payers' money generously used to entertain a small group of people, without creating anything artistic or/and new.

Since I prefer to keep it positive here, I thought I should mention another significant positive example: just finished "Festival Présences", that was in fact a series of Top-class concerts thematically revolving around Esa-Pekka Salonen.

He and several other invited conductors, together with  Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (OPRF), performed music composed by Salonen and by composers who highly influenced and inspired Salonen's creativity. All concerts were organized at Théâtre du Châtelet (always beautiful a place to visit), and they all were free (!) Isn't this just a dreamlike way to popularize contemporary music?!

Since I was insanely busy during the past few weeks and so had to skip the Festival altogether, I was happy to discover that Arte Live Web (don't you love them too!) joined the project and provided live broadcast from Théâtre du Châtelet of four Festival concerts, all conducted by Esa-Pekk. They are now available for free viewing and they will remain free for the next 5-6 months. Below are the links to videos with the programs. Enjoy!

Melanie Diener kills Fidelio

Fidelio (in concert), Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, February 21 2011

Kurt Masur

Kurt Masur ..... conductor

Melanie Diener ..... Leonore

Burkhard Fritz ..... Florestan

Matthias Goerne ..... Pizzaro

Kurt Rydl ..... Rocco

Sophie Karthäuser ..... Marzelline

Werner Güra ..... Jaquino

Bálint Szabó ..... Fernando

Orchestre National de France and Choeur de Radio France

The Fairy Queen at Cité-μ

The Fairy Queen, Cité de la Musique in Paris, February 15 2011

Philip Pickett ..... conducting

Mauricio Garcia Lozano ..... director

Joanne Lunn ..... soprano

Dana Marbach ..... soprano

Faye Newton ..... soprano

Christopher Robson ..... countertenor

Tim Travers-Brown .... countertenor

Ed Lyon ..... tenor

Joseph Cornwell ..... tenor

Michael George ..... bass-baritone

Simon Grant ..... bass-baritone

New London Consort

Betrothal at Opéra Comique

Betrothal in a Monastery/Les Fiançailles au couvent/Обручение в монастыре, Opéra Comique in Paris, February 3 2011

Larissa Diadkova, Tugan Sokhiev, and Mikhail Kolelishvili

Director ..... Martin Duncan

Conductor ..... Tugan Sokhiev

Don Jérôme ..... Brian Galliford

Ferdinand ..... Garry Magee

Louisa ..... Anastasia Kalagina

The Duenna ..... Larissa Diadkova

Antonio ..... Daniil Shtoda

Clara d’Almanza ..... Anna Kiknadze

Mendoza ..... Mikhail Kolelishvili

Don Carlos ..... Yuri Vorobiov

Father Augustin .....Eduard Tsanga

Brother Elustaf ..... Vasily Efimov

Brother Chartreuse ..... Marek Kalbus

Brother Benedictine ..... Mischa Schelomianski

Lauretta ..... Eleonora Vindau

Orchestre et Chœur du Capitole de Toulouse

Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at Pleyel

Salle Pleyel - Paris, February 14 2011

 You know you are insanely busy when you miss the first half of the year's best concert with the world's best orchestra conducted by the best conductor, accompanying the best pianist -- and the concert occurs in  the city you live...

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Maestro Mariss Jansons

So I missed Leif Ove Andsnes, and I'm really sorry for that, but I am still thrilled to be able to listen to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra taking the best of the Beethoven's 7th under his greatness, Mariss Jansons. Blogging from la Salle Pleyel...
--
What they do is just a whole level above any other orchestra today. Only the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra gets close, even if not quite up there.

The only thing that comes to mind after such a great concert is one big Thank you!

Bronfman, Staatskapelle, and Mr. Barenboim at Pleyel

Staatskapelle Berlin - Daniel Barenboim - Yefim Bronfman, Salle Pleyel in Paris, February 6 2011

Castellucci's Parsifal in Brussels

Parsifal, La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, January 30 2011

Opening scene -- seen during the overture of Castellucci's Parsifal in Brussels

Music direction ..... Hartmut Haenchen
Director ..... Romeo Castellucci
Choreography ..... Cindy Van Acker
Bondage artist ..... Dasniya Sommer

Amfortas ..... Thomas Johannes Mayer
Titurel ..... Victor von Halem
Gurnemanz ..... Jan-Hendrik Rootering
Parsifal ..... Andrew Richards
Klingsor ..... Tómas Tómasson
Kundry ..... Anna Larsson
Vier Knappen ..... Ilse Eerens
Angélique Noldus
Gijs Van der Linden
Guillaume Antoine
Klingsors Zaubermädchen ..... Hendrickje Van Kerckhove
Anneke Luyten
Angélique Noldus
Ilse Eerens
Tineke Van Ingelgem
Margriet van Reisen
Stimme aus der Höhe ..... Anna Larsson


La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Youth Chorus

"Tout art doit être dérangeant."

Romeo Castellucci

To see

[Sorry guys -- too busy these days.]

 

Three interesting operas to see within next 10 days on Mezzo-TV:

1. Alcina from Vienna, that we got to see in Paris in concert, was filmed in Vienna and it will be broadcast tomorrow, February 8 at 20:30 (cet)
   dir-Adrian Noble, cnd-Marc Minkowski, cast: Anja Harteros, Veronica Cangemi, Vesselina Kasarova, Kristina Hammarström, Benjamin Bruns, Adam Plachetka
   
   
2. Giulio Cesare from Opéra Garnier in Paris will be on Mezzo-TV next Saturday, February 12 at 20:30 (cet)
   
   dir-Laurent Pelly, cnd-Emmanuelle Haïm, cast: Lawrence Zazzo, Natalie Dessay, Isabel Leonard, Christophe Dumaux, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Nathan Berg, Dominique Visse, Aimery Lefèvre
   
   
   
3. Francesca da Rimini  from Opéra Bastille in Paris will be live broadcast on Wednesday, February 16 at 19:30 (cet)
   dir-Giancarlo Del Monaco, cnd-Daniel Oren, cast: Svetla Vassilieva, Roberto Alagna, William Joyner, George Gagnidze, Wojtek Smilek, Louise Callinan...

Bobby is apparently in top form vocally and after 7 years of absence from the Paris Opera he's back, in the role of Paolo [Francesca da Rimini] in the production that apparently received a cascade of boos after the premiere. After the atrocious production of Andrea Chénier last year, I obviously would not pay to see any opera "directed" by Giancarlo del Monaco anymore, but since it goes on TV I may give it a try.
 
Do subscribe to Mezzo-TV if you possibly can. It's not expensive at all, the program they offer is really great (opera, concerts -- as well as jazz, if you like it), and they need subscribers to keep doing such a great job as they did thus far.


And last but not least, there is a video available for free viewing of the entire closing concert of the Folle Journée de Nantes,  in the last part of which you may find a superb Olga Peretyatko singing Vier Letzte Lieder [starting from the 1:03:50 mark in the video appended below]

New productions in February

Not many new productions will be premiered in February, but we can still expect some high quality new shows.

David Mc Vicar [a.k.a. Mr. Hyperproductive] will complete his Ring in Strasbourg and that should be the most significant new event this month, together with an intriguing new opera in London produced by always profound and positively "weird" Richard Jones, as well as the new Guth-project that will be unveiled in Barcelona. More specifically,

• Feb 25 at ONR in Strasbourg: Götterdämmerung [dir-David Mc Vicar, cnd-Marko Letonja] with Lance Ryan, Jeanne-Michèle Charbonnet, Daniel Sumegi, Ann Petersen, Oleg Bryjak...
• Feb 17 at ROH in London: Anna Nicole [dir- Richard Jones, cnd- Antonio Pappano] with Eva-Maria Westbroek, Gerald Finley... (see trailer)
• Feb 20 at GTL in Barcelona: Parsifal [dir- Claus Guth, cnd- Michael Boder] with Klaus Florian Vogt/Christopher Ventris, Anja Kampe/Evelyn Herlitzius, Alan Held/Boaz Daniel, Hans-Peter König/Eric Halfvarson

New Rusalka, directed by Barrie Kosky in Berlin, could be great. Belcanto fans will be waiting for new Norma in Zurich with Elena Mosuc and Vittorio Grigolo as Pollione (?!)

Besides the above 3, a list of new productions also includes [ordered chronologically according to their premieres]:

Paris in February

A selection of events (classical music and opera) to see in Paris - February 2011.

Best of 2010 (3): Singers

This blog is my modest opera/concerts "diary" that somehow got to be read by many and I thank you all for that.

As you may have noticed I mostly try to talk about things I like --instead of dwelling on stuff I dislike -- except, of course, when it's unavoidable (or for defining purposes). Rarely but I do sometimes trash the lazy/'untalented' directors, and my reason is quite simple: money is tight today, waste it on no-concept, no-idea, on nothing creative, or stale theater...  is irresponsible -- it harms opera, it wastes our time, and often insults our intelligence. Happily that happens very seldom as I am more experienced in picking good and interesting shows to see.

All photos in the above collage were taken by Yours Truly

With singers the story is more difficult as we are living in an era of many-many gifted performers who besides their beautiful voices and fantastic vocal techniques, also excel as actors.

I've tried to post my Best of 2010 several times and each time I felt I was unfair to many brilliant singers - especially when I'd made a too extensive list (with more than 15 names.)

Finally, after restraining my discussion to the least possible number of those who I thought delivered extraordinary stuff in 2010 (either on an operatic stage or in a concert hall), I ended up with...