From LA, via Vienna, Il postino finally rings in Paris

Il postino, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, June 20 2011

Ron Daniels ..... director
Jean-Yves Ossonce ..... conductor


Plácido Domingo ..... Pablo Neruda
Charles Castronovo ..... Mario Ruoppolo
Amanda Squitieri ..... Beatrice Russo
Cristina Gallardo-Domâs ..... Matilde (Mrs Neruda)
Victor Torres ..... Giorgio
Patricia Fernandez ...... Donna Rosa
Laurent Alvaro ..... Di Cosima
David Robinson ..... Le prêtre
Pepe Martinez ..... Le père de Mario


Orchestre Symphonique de Navarre

Delicately produced Idomeneo in Paris: Bravi tutti!

Idomeneo, Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, June 15 2011

Stéphane Braunschweig ..... director
Jérémie Rhorer ..... conductor


Sophie Karthäuser ..... Ilia
Richard Croft ..... Idomeneo
Kate Lindsey ..... Idamante
Alexandra Coku ..... Elettra
Paolo Fanale ..... Arbace
Nigel Robson ..... High priest
Nahuel Di Pierro ..... The voice of Neptune


Le Cercle de l'Harmonie
Choeur Les Eléments direction Joël Suhubiette

Julia Lezhneva - "New" Russian Phenom

After wonderful Svetlana Ignatovich and Olga Peretyatko, here we have a new big name from Russia --that the French press has fallen in love with-- Julia Lezhneva.

Marc Minkowski is totally fascinated by her. I guess it was him who gave her the part of Urbain in the new production of Les Huguenots in Bruxelles. Apparently she seduced everyone there -- yours truly will soon check that out in person...

Naïve realized Julia's great potential and already released her first CD with arias from operas by Rossini (see trailer attached below). Astonishing detail is that this girl is only 22!

Is it me or you too can hear some resemblance with Callas?! 

Third Tristan und Isolde in 2011: Third Time's a Charm

Tristan und Isolde, Opéra National de Lyon (ONL), June 13 2011

Alex Ollé (La Fura dels Baus) ..... director

Kirill Petrenko ..... conductor

Clifton Forbis ..... Tristan

Ann Petersen ..... Isolde

Christof Fischesser ..... King Marke

Jochen Schmeckenbecher ..... Kurwenal

Stella Grigorian ..... Brangäne

Nabil Suliman ..... Melot

Viktor Antipenko ..... A shepherd

Laurent Laberdesque .....Steersman

Orchestra and Chorus of ONL

Stuttgart Staatsoper 2011-2012: Good luck Jossi Wieler!

I guess many of you already "studied" the 2011-2012 Stuttgart Staatsoper program. It is interesting as ever, except that this time it is special because 2011-2012 will be the first season since Jossi Wieler took the intendancy of this remarkably inventive and lively theater. Good luck Jossi!

In the next season they plan to present 6 premieres: La damnation de Faust (??), La sonnambula (Wieler/Morabito), Die glückliche Hand/Osud (Wieler/Morabito), Wozzeck (Andrea Moses), Platée (Bieito), and Don Giovanni (Andrea Moses).

To that add the revival of what's arguably the finest ever production of Alcina (Wieler/Morabito), Elektra (Konwitschny), Norma (Wieler/Morabito, with the classiest duo there can be: Catherine Naglestad and Marina Prudenskaya)

Among many other revivals, particularly recommendable are Bieito's groundbreaking Flying Dutchman, as well as his Trionfo del tempo e del disinganno. This latter show was premiered last month and I am sooooo sorry that I couldn't go to see it (been crazy busy lately) That show was the last big new premiere with Albrecht Puhlmann running the house. Puhlmann's era will probably be remembered by the rise of Calixto Bieito who presented most of his great productions in Stuttgart, Basle and Berlin-Komische -- theaters that gave him carte blanche to create...

In the following video-trailer of Il Trionfo, Calixto talks about his new production (bless him!) and ends it by a 'love letter' to Albrecht Puhlmann... well, sort of

Britten's War Requiem

If you're unable to attend one of the most interesting concerts at this year's Festival de Saint-Denis, and you'd like to see it, Arte Live Web is helping us again. Live webcast of Britten's War Requiem  starts in a little more than an hour [Thursday, June 16th 2011, at 20:30 (cet)] You can see it in a video embedded below, or on this link

Semyon Bychkov ..... conductor

Sabina Cvilak ..... soprano
Toby Spence ..... tenor
Matthias Goerne .....  baritone

Chorus 1: Rundfunkchor Berlin, Simon Hasley
Chorus 2: Maîtrise de Radio France, Sofi Jeannin

Orchestre National de France

Starting from tomorrow afternoon the recording of this concert will be available during 3 months for  free. Bless Arte... Enjoy!

Twilight of The Paris Ring

(Die) Götterdämmerung [Le crépuscule des dieux], Opéra Bastille in Paris, June 3 2011

Director ..... Günter Krämer 

Conductor ..... Philippe Jordan

Torsten Kerl ..... Siegfried
Iain Paterson ..... Gunther
Peter Sidhom ..... Alberich
Hans-Peter König ..... Hagen
Katarina Dalayman ..... Brünnhilde
Christiane Libor ..... Gutrune, 3rd Norn
Sophie Koch ..... Waltraute
Nicole Piccolomini ..... 1st Norn, Flosshilde
Caroline Stein ..... Woglinde
Daniela Sindram ..... Wellgunde

Orchestre et Choeur de l’Opéra national de Paris

Second Tristan und Isolde in 2011

Tristan und Isolde, March 26 2011,  Deutsche Oper Berlin

Graham Vick ..... director
Donnald Runnicles ..... conductor

Peter Seiffert ..... Tristan
Kristinn Sigmundsson ..... King Marke
Petra Maria Schnitzer ..... Isolde
Eike Wilm Schulte ..... Kurwenal
Jörg Schörner ..... Melot
Jane Irwin ..... Brangäne
Peter Maus ..... Ein Hirt
Gregory Warren ..... Seeman
Jörg Schümann ..... Stauermann

Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

ONF - Mahler 8

Symphony no.8 by Mahler, Théâtre du Châtelet, June 10 2011

Daniele Gatti

Daniele Gatti ..... conductor

Erin Wall ..... soprano
Melanie Diener ..... soprano
Kerstin Avemo ..... soprano
Christine Knorren ..... mezzo
Marie-Nicole Lemieux ..... alto
Nikolai Schukoff ..... tenor
Detlef Roth ..... baritone
James Morris ..... bass

Orchestre National de France (ONF)
Chorus of the Sächische Staatsoper Dresden (Pablo Assante)
Chorus of the Radio France (Matthias Brauer)
Maîtrise de Radio France (Sofi Jenin)

SFS - Mahler 2

Symphony no.2 by Mahler, Salle Pleyel in Paris, May 31 2011

Michael Tilson Thomas .... conductor

Laura Claycomb ..... soprano

Katarina Karnéus ..... mezzo

San Francisco Symphony

Chorus of Radio France (Matthias Brauer)

5 great opera-concerts at TCE: (5) Verdi by Noseda

I vespri siciliani (excerpts), Théâtre des Champs Elysées, May 25 2011

Michele Pertusi, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Gregory Kunde

Gianandrea Noseda ..... Conductor

Sondra Radvanovsky ..... La duchessa Elena
Gregory Kunde ..... Arrigo
Michele Pertusi ..... Guido di Monforte

Chorus and Orchestra of Teatro Regio di Torino

Useful info...

• Tomorrow, Thursday June 9 at 20:00 (cet) you can watch the live webcast of Salomé from Opéra Royal de Wallonie.  The cast is more than interesting. Curiously the opera will be performed in its original language -- i.e. in French-- with June Anderson in the title role. This show simply must be better than Otello that we were given to see a month ago on the same portal. Here is the link where you can see it (live!)
  
  
• New David McVicar production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, that was premiered in May in Glyndebourne, will be live broadcast on http://glyndebourne.com, on Sunday - June 26 at 16:00 (cet). Marco Jentzsch is a superb Walther, and Johannes Martin Kräntzle should be a brilliant Beckmesser. I am not sure if singing as big a role as Hans Sachs was a wise choice by Gerald Finley, but I would be more than glad to be proven wrong. Here is your link.
  
  
• New Stefan Herheim production of Eugene Onegin will be live broadcast from De Nederlandse opera in Amsterdam on Thursday June 23 at 20:00  (cet) on Mezzo-TV (Yours Truly will see the show in Amsterdam...) Excellent cast from which our beloved Tatiana Monogarova will be missed, but Lenski by Andrey Dunaev should be a treat to any and every opera fan. The world's best orchestra in the pit will be conducted by the genius among conductors: Mariss Jansons.
  
  
• One more interesting live broadcast is scheduled for Friday, June 17 at 20:00 (cet), also on Mezzo-TV, with Roberto Alagna singing the  role of Rodrigo in Massenet's Le Cid at Opéra Marseille. Good luck with that production, but at least Alagna will be interesting to listen to...

You're welcome!

5 great opera-concerts at TCE: (4) Ariodantissimo

Ariodante (in concert), Théâtre des Champs Elysées, May 23 2011

Alan Curtis ..... Conductor

Joyce DiDonato ..... Ariodante
Marie-Nicole Lemieux ..... Polinesso
Karina Gauvin ..... Ginevra
Sabina Puertolas ..... Dalinda
Nicholas Phan ..... Lurcanio
Matthew Brook ..... Le Roi
Paolo Borgonovo ..... Odoardo

Il Complesso Barocco

5 great opera-concerts at TCE: (3) Pelléas et Mélisande

Pelléas et Mélisande (in concert), Théâtre des Champs Elysées, April 17 2011

Simon Keenlyside, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Natalie Dessay, Louis Langrée, and Laurent Naouri

Louis Langrée ..... Conductor 

Natalie Dessay ...... Mélisande
Simon Keenlyside .....  Pelléas
Marie-Nicole Lemieux ..... Geneviève
Laurent Naouri ..... Golaud
Alain Vernhes ..... Arkel
Khatouna Gadelia ..... Yniold
Nahuel di Pierro .....  Le Médecin

Chœur de l'Orchestre de Paris
Orchestre de Paris

5 great opera-concerts at TCE: (2) Parsifal

Parsifal in concert, Théâtre des Champs Elysées,April 14 2011

Michael Volle, Kent Nagano and Kwangchul Youn

Kent Nagano ..... Conductor

Nikolai Schukoff ..... Parsifal
Angela Denoke ..... Kundry
Kwangchul Youn ..... Gurnemanz
John Wegner ..... Klingsor
Michael Volle ..... Amfortas
Steven Humes ..... Titurel

Orchestra and Chorus of the Staatsoper Munich
Tölzer Knabenchor

June 2011 in Europe: Новые постановки

And so we arrive to June, when many opera houses try to show off their best productions and attract more subscribers for the next season.

The most interesting will be to see the conclusion of the Paris Ring - Die Götterdämmerung.  Another important new Wagner production to open this month will be Tristan und Isolde in Lyon, conducted by Kirill Petrenko and produced by Alex Ollé from La Fura dels Baus, while the Claus Guth's production of Parsifal will be premiered in Zurich.

Of non-Wagner operas, the most awaited must be the new production of Eugene Onegin in Amsterdam, directed by Stefan Herheim, as well as the new Bieito-show at the Komische in Berlin, Les dialogues des Carmélites, together with the huge production of Les Huguenots in Brussels, directed by Olivier Py.

Idomeneo in Paris, by Stéphane Braunschweig, looks promising on the paper, and a hyper-talented Tobias Kratzer will present his new gem at Theater Basel -- Telemaco, a lesser known opera by Gluck.  London-wise, the operatic event of the year should be Simon Boccanegra directed by Dimitri Tcherniakov [ah, definitely: I saw the video of Anna Nicole and --with all due respect to Jones and Westbroek-- the show was just plain bad, while Adriana Lecouvreur  remains a hopeless cheesy opera that David McVicar quite obviously produced in parallel with Orlando in Paris/Lille, and I guess it was mounted only because Angie Gheorghiu said she would sing the title role - So, Boccanegra is legitimately expected to be the best show in 2010-2011 ;)]


Ordered according to their premiere, an extensive selection of new productions to be presented in theaters across Europe this June includes:

5 great opera-concerts at TCE: (1) Karita Mattila

Bartók, Saariaho, Sibelius, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, April 13 2011

Kaija Saariaho and Karita Mattila

Conductor ..... Jukka-Pekka Saraste

Soloist ..... Karita Mattila

Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest

Cesare in the heart of Champagne: Yoncheva and Dumaux like a glass of the finest Taittinger

Giulio Cesare, Opéra de Reims, May 8 2011

Christian Schiaretti ..... director
Jean Claude Malgoire ..... conductor

Sonya Yoncheva ..... Cleopatra
Christophe Dumaux ..... Giulio Cesare
Lina Markeby ..... Sesto
Alessandra Visentin ..... Cornelia
Dominique Visse ..... Tolomeo
Ugo Guagliardo ..... Achilla
Valérie Yang Seng ..... Nireno
David Witczak ..... Curio

Paris in June

Pretty exciting program to conclude the 2010-2011 season in Paris.

Today...

is the European Opera Day. In theaters across Europe there are soooo many interesting free events to see (c.f. this map and get more info about the events in theaters near you). Besides you may enjoy the program on Arte-TV  [quite obviously the world's coolest TV]:  Werther with Kaufmann and Koch opened the day. Next is Rigoletto with Damrau and Florez, and after two more operas(!) --tonight at 20:15 cet-- you may watch the TV premiere of Adrianna Lecouvreur (recent ROH production directed by David McVicar, with Gheorghiu and Kaufmann)

In Brussels, instead of Isabelle Adjani (photo), Marlis Petersen will incarnate Marguerite de Valois 

Another important thing to keep in mind is that the Internet ticket sales for the new production of Les Huguenots [Py/Minkowski] at La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels start today at noon.  It is one of the most talked about operatic events this season, and so...  Here is your link

Ed: Don't forget to check out the 2011-2012 program at Theater Basel: you may then easily understand why they were voted the best opera theater in 2009 and in 2010. E.g. Wozzeck: Edith Haller was that fantastic Sieglinde in Bayreuth last year, Thomas J Mayer is that amazing Wotan in Paris, and Elmar Goerden is one of the best European theater directors  -- this will be his only second opera so far: the first one was Le Nozze also produced in... well, in Basel.

Nouvelles productions en Europe

May is usually a bit low key in terms of new productions. All theaters seem to be busy preparing to unleash their best shows in June to conclude their operatic season on a high note.

However, some highly promising new productions are scheduled to open this month, with  4+"1" among them standing out:

1. Il trionfo del tempo e del disanganno new Calixto Bieito production in Stuttgart should be the director's first encounter with baroque. Calixto-shows are nowadays considered as being extraordinary cultural events.  DVD release is anticipated this time (contrary to the missed opportunity with Parsifal last year), and I predict Marina Prudenskaya will show everyone once again how brilliant she is. 
2. Die Frau ohne Schatten will open in Copenhagen -- the house's artistic director Kasper Holten will direct this show that will be his goodbye to the house that he's given his finest creations: the best Ring we could see so far, amazing Maskerade... Respect! 
3. La Damnation de Faust at the London Coliseum: Terry Gilliam is Monty Python, and anything created by Monty Python is more than worth our attention. Way to go ENO!
4. Idomeneo at the Komische in Berlin will be directed by Benedikt von Peter whose extraordinary Parsifal is still running at Theater Basel: definitely one of your must-see productions this year. 
5. Keith Warner presents his new show in Frankfurt --  Pizzetti's Murder in the Cathedral [Warum englische Fassung?], while Luc Bondy is preparing to show off his look on Rigoletto in Vienna. Peter Konwitschny instead  will shake the ramblas with his new Freischütz (GTL) and hopefully delete from our memory  a  pitiful production of this opera recently presented in Paris (Comique).

Tour di maggio a Parigi

Komische Berlin - Karlsruhe discovery

I like reading the reports from the yesterday's press conference at the Komische Oper in Berlin during which the content of their next season has been unveiled. Check out my updates in the right column and you will see in particular that Stefan Herheim and Heike Scheele will be in charge of new Xerxes,  Calixto Bieito will produce new Freischütz, Sebastien Baumgarten will direct new Carmen (btw, Baumgarten is a delightfully talented director whose Tannhäuser will open this year's Bayreuther Festspiele)...

After Entführung aus dem Serail @ Komische Oper (May 2010)

The press conference was special because the next season will be the last with Andreas Homoki holding the position of the house's artistic director [he will move to Zurich, and Barrie Kosky will take his current position] 

Homoki is one of the best opera directors in the world -- a visionary director with guts and persistence who was one among the first directors who proposed intelligent Regie productions, and who --by  his huge talent and unmatchable sense for theater-- substantially contributed  to solidify the Regie position in today's opera-producing world. 
As artistic director he's cool in running the house, constantly refreshing it with new ideas, opened to new young directors, new musicians [NB that one of the finest opera orchestra and chorus you can find in Germany and/or in Europe today.]

His KOB team seems to be so homogeneous and well coordinated that even with their tight budget they boldly announced 7 new productions for 2011-2012. I liked to read that Homoki yesterday said: "We at the Komische Oper place great importance to producing our operas by ourselves instead of buying them from other houses."

Note that the Homoki's farewell season at the Komische will contain a number of revivals including memorable productions directed by himself: Bartered Bride, La Bohème, Love of 3 Oranges, Mahagonny, Rosenkavalier. To that add the new production of The Cunning little Vixen.


While going through the programs for 2011-2012 I was thrilled to discover a new gem: Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. To me their season 2011-2012 is a slam dunk: Les Troyens directed by David Hermann, Lohengrin by Benedikt v Peter (with Lance Ryan singing!), plus one new opera directed by Tobias Kratzer! Even their new Rigoletto --with Jim Lucassen in charge-- should be interesting.

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

Otello in Dresden

Otello, April 21 2011, Semperoper Dresden 

Musical Director ..... Jacques Delacôte
Staging ..... Vera Nemirova

Otello ..... Carl Tanner
Desdemona ..... Serena Farnocchia
Iago ..... Gerard Quinn
Cassio ..... Wookyung Kim
Rodrigo ..... Orlando Niz
Lodovico ..... Tilmann Rönnebeck
Montano ..... Tomislav Lucic
Emilia ..... Sofi Lorentzen

Saxon State Opera Choir, Children's Choir of the Saxon State Opera Choir
Staatskapelle Dresden

Otello from Liège live on the Internet

In about two hours -- Thu, April 28 at 20:00 cet-- you can watch the live webcast of Otello by Verdi from Opéra Royal de Walonie (ORW) in Liège, with Fabio Armiliato, Giovanni Meoni and  Daniela Dessi as Otello, Iago and Desdemona, respectively. For more details on the show produced by Stefano Mazzonis di Pralafera, and conducted by Paolo Arrivebani please see the ORW website.

Live webcast is provided via Dailymotion on this link.

Kitsch me, Kate! (rant)

I believe the global tsunami of kitsch and the media cheese-bombs that we're exposed to these days do disservice to William and Kate. This mug is actually the only thing I'm glad to pay for:

Assorted info...

• Are you checking out my regular updates on the 2011-2012 programs in Europe: in Zurich, Frankfurt,  Munich, London, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Oslo, Vienna... ?! See the right panel on this blog.

New production in Europe - April 2011

Apart from Parsifal in Basel and  Anna Bolena in Vienna, the most interesting things are bound to happen in Berlin where the new production of Salomé will be presented at the Komische while the new production at Staatsoper will be Wozzeck (dir- Andrea Breth) and the Guy Cassiers' Walküre will make this year's Festtage more vibrant.

Stefan Herheim will present his astro-Salomé next Saturday in Salzburg, while an interesting production of Dialogues des Carmélites is premiered in Stuttgart.
Platée in Amsterdam is another important operatic event in Europe this month, together with many others listed below...

April in Paris - 2011

Beyond Lang Lang's Bang-Bang Klang

Lang Lang at La Salle Pleyel in Paris, March 21 2011

Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonata no.3 and no.23 "Appassionata"

Isaac Albéniz: Iberia Book 1

Sergey Prokofiev: Sonata no. 7

Kát'a Marthalerova

Katia Kabanova, Opéra Garnier in Paris, March 8 2011

In front of Opéra Garnier - minutes before the beginning of Kat'a Kabanova, a.k.a. Marthalerova

Christoph Marthaler ..... director

Tomas Netopil ..... conductor

Angela Denoke ..... Kát'a

Vincent Le Texier ..... Saviol Dikoy

Jane Henschel ..... Kabanicha

Donald Kaasch ..... Tichon Kabanov

Jorma Silvasti ..... Boris Grigorievitch

Ales Briscein ..... Kudriach

Andrea Hill ..... Varvara

Orchestre et Choeur de l’Opéra national de Paris

"Do you not feel and see it?"

An obvious resemblance with Lucia Poop from this famous video makes Violeta Urmana  more dear to my heart.

Cologne (June 10, 2010): Violeta Urmana, Franz-Josef Selig, Petra Lang, Clifton Forbis, Semyon Bychkov, Samuel Youn

That detail aside, her luscious voice brings a particular beauty to her Isolde. Please listen to her singing in a concert performance of Act-2 of Tristan und Isolde, which took place in Cologne less than a year ago [Clifton Forbis was Tristan and Semyon Bychkov conducted the WDR Sinfonienorchester]:

Where do I beginnn... Ring?!

Yeah the title sounds like Shirley Bassey, but it's nothing like that.

Hermann, v.Peter, Kratzer, Bosse, Herheim, Kusej, Bieito, Breth

Smashing production of Parsifal at Theater Basel

Benedikt von Peter is huge. Over the past several years we had a series of extraordinary productions of Parsifal, which started with the memorable production at the Paris opera by Krzysztof Warlikowski. Then a knockout show by Stefan Herheim in Bayreuth [definitely pilgrimage worthy!] Last year Calixto Bieito stunned us by a straightforward, clean and poignant Parsifal in Stuttgart [currently rerun in Stuttgart], and this year's big Parsifal was at La Monnaie in Brussels -- totally different, philosophically challenging show produced by grandissimo Romeo Castellucci.