One more proof of greatness: Ruslan and Lyudmila directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov

Dmitri Tcherniakov is one of the five best opera directors today, and this new production of Ruslan and Lyudmila --by which the new Bolshoi Theater in Moscow reopened its gates to the opera lovers-- is one of numerous proofs that this man is uncommonly gifted, clever, audacious (in any sets of circumstances) -- in short, a genius.

You should keep in mind that the Moscow opera goers are far more conservative than those filling up the seats at the Paris Opera, and that the Bolshoi is even more conservative than The Met. With that in mind one starts watching this fascinating production and realizes how smoothly Tcherniakov leads his public to make them open up and start thinking about this opera as of something that is not taken out from the shelves and unfolded for their entertainment, but of something that is close to them, talks to them.

From the production photos alone, the show seemed to be one of those tired historic opulent productions, but 10 minutes in the show and you understand it's just the costumes that have been used to appropriately depict a traditional wedding in contemporary Russia... 

Notice that Tcherniakov started using video in a way similar to what Denis Guéguin does in  Krzysztof Warlikowski productions. Also the photos leaked prior to the premiere resembles the trick Stefan Herheim used before unveiling his Lohengrin in Berlin [when the photos mislead us to believe that the show was going to be traditionalist.]

And so, while the new productions at the Paris Opera look like tired copies of already notoriously stale productions broadcast from the Met, The Bolshoi here makes a quick leapfrog by rethinking through this Pushkin inspired opera that Tcherniakov prepared together with Vladimir Jurowski who made the score sound refreshing, and with a superb line up of singers: Mikhail Petrenko, Albina Shagimuratova, Charles Workman, Yuriy Mynenko (!), Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Almas Svilpa, Vladimir Ognovenko, and Elena Zaremba.
Tcherniakov and Jurowski are this new creative and open Russia. 

Now, do read the synopsis before watching Ruslan and Lyudmila in the video attached below. Enjoy :)

Oh là là !

I don't know if there is anything even remotely positive to say about "Celles qui aimaient Richard Wagner", a recently released film by Jean-Louis Guillermou about... well, about Richard Wagner -- I guess.

The story conveyors are certain Judith (young) and Brigitte (aged), diehard Wagner fans, both socially rather inapt, living stuck between their own lives and the life of fantasies built on a biography of Richard Wagner [OK, it's more about Judith, but the episode with Brigitte helped highlighting the Wagnerites' weirdness... or so I understood!]

As for the horny Richard, he had a magic formula: just approach any attractive woman, whisper on her ear that she's your new muse, and she's instantly blinking with 'green lights' (oh yes, there's a background-sound from the prelude to Tristan each time he's about to knock one)... and so on... aren't you yawning already?!

100% of dialogs sound annoyingly artificial [Aaah Richard! Je vous appartiens!], and occasionally unintentionally hilarious [HE: "Vous me semblez toute chavirée ma chère!" SHE: "Ce ne sont que ces chaleurs trop vives qui m’indisposent."]

The director often lets Roberto Alagna (alias Joseph Tichatschek) act on his own, without proper guidance, and since Roberto has next-to-zero naturalness in his acting the result is very far from flattering (see a tiny excerpt here.) Even worse is Stéphane Bern (a well known French TV/radio talk show presenter) who impersonates a spoiled but grotesque King Ludwig II.

And so, with a few decent actors and with these personalities unsuccessfully trying to do the acting job, with evidently not enough money invested in the project to back the director's ambitions (costumes and makeup from a second rate theater), in addition to the impossible dialogs, somewhere half-way through the movie you start doubting if the whole thing isn't just a big fat parody. Then you start taking it all lightly and chuckle more and more often... but soon it all becomes more serious and you realize that it's just that -- a horribly bad movie.

Below is a trailer and there are a few theaters in France and another few elsewhere in Europe where you can still catch this thing.

Una Notte di Bel Canto: Théâtre des Champs Élysées Re-Opens

I Capuleti e i Montecchi (in concert), Théâtre des Champs Élysées, November 11 2011 [11/11/11]

Olga Peretyatko - Giulietta

Evelino Pidò ..... Conductor

Anna Caterina Antonacci ..... Romeo

Olga Peretyatko ..... Giulietta

Juan Francisco Gatell ..... Tebaldo

Carlo Cigni ..... Lorenzo

Giovanni Battista Parodi ..... Capellio

Orchestra et Chorus of the Opéra de Lyon

Œdipus gouges out his eyes at the Best Opera House in 2011 - Free video for your eyes only

Starting from tonight [November 12, 2011] at 20:00 (cet) you can watch the video of the barely finished run of the new production of Oedipe -- a wonderful opera by George Enescu presented at the Best Opera House in 2011, La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels.

From Oedipe at La Monnaie [photo ©Berndt Uhlig]

The reviews were full of praise for the opera itself, for Peter de-super-Caluwe who lead the project to resuscitating this rarely performed opera, for Leo Hussain and his enthusiastic, passionate albeit accurate conducting, and for the singers/actors who gave this opera new life.
As expected, many negative reviews for Alex Ollé and Valentina Carrasco from La Fura dels Baus, who produced the show, who make the grand scene too grandioso-s  for the opera crowd, but I am sure it was "special" [I absolutely LOVED their Le Grand Macabre at La Monnaie a couple of years ago; the same show will be presented next week at Liceu in Barcelona!]

Ah yes, the link is HERE and note that the video will be available for free viewing three weeks only!

Le Nozze di Figaro - Les Noces Liegoises

After their really bad production of Otello, I stopped mentioning the webcast projects by Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège. However, since Anne-Catherine Gillet --a wonderful Belgian soprano-- sings the role of Susanna in their new production of Le Nozze di Figaro, I cannot but encourage you to give it a try and watch the video of the show that was live webcast less than 2 weeks ago.

ACG is a true Mozartian gem and although she sounds 5 times better in auditorium than on any video or CD, it is a treat anyway. If you get a chance to listen to her singing live, do not miss it!

From Le Nozze di Figaro at ORW in Liège: Cinzia Forte, Anne Catherine Gillet, and Jennifer Rivera

Another good reason to see this show is that Jennifer Rivera --a superb American mezzo-- is quite obviously enjoying herself in the role of Cherubino. Other cast members are good too: Mario Cassi, Cinzia Forte, Wiard Withold...   

Le Nozze are always fun to see, especially when the cast is this cool.

Directed by Philippe Sireuil and conducted by Christian Zacharias, the video of the full performance can be found on this link (embedded below is only a trailer)
Enjoy!

Lulu in Paris: Talented Mr. Decker (2)

Lulu, Opéra Bastille in Paris, October 28 2011

Conductor ..... Michael Schønwandt

Director ..... Willy Decker

Lulu ..... Laura Aikin

Gräfin Geschwitz ..... Jennifer Larmore

Eine Theatergarderobiere, Ein Gymnasiast, Ein Groom ..... Andrea Hill

Der Maler, Der Neger ..... Marlin Miller

Dr Schön, Jack ..... Wolfgang Schöne

Alwa ..... Kurt Streit

Der Tierbändiger, Ein Athlet ..... Scott Wilde

Schigolch ..... Franz Grundheber

Der Prinz, Der Kammerdiener, Der Marquis ..... Robert Wörle

Der Theaterdirektor, Der Bankier ..... Victor Von Halem

Eine Fünfzehnjährige ..... Julie Mathevet

Ihre Mutter ..... Marie-Thérèse Keller

Die Kunstgewerblerin ..... Marianne Crebassa

Der Journalist ..... Damien Pass

Ein Diener ..... Ugo Rabec

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

And the Winners of the Concours Régine Crespin are...

I do not believe in singing competitions, or better, I don't believe their results are realistic. There are so many factors entering the selection process and the selection of the winners, that taking the results seriously is just silly. Importantly, the finalists are all good, they are all under 30, and they will hopefully enjoy some media exposure that they most certainly deserve.

Of 45 selected singers selected for the First Concours Régine Crespin --organized by the Long-Thibaud Foundation-- and after two rounds of competition the jury, chaired by Alexander Pereira (new director of the Salzburger Festspiele), decided the 6 finalists who would sang at the big public concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

And so the final concert took place yesterday - Saturday, November 5th 2011, with Betrand de Billy conducting the Orchestre National de France  and with Sophie Koch who hosted the evening. Each of the 6 finalists -- Marina Bucciarelli, Marie-Adeline Henry, Julia Lezhneva, Roman Burdenko, Kihwan Sim, Ida Falk Winland -- sang two arias.

Finalists: Marina Bucciarelli, Marie-Adeline Henry, Julia Lezhneva, Roman Burdenko, Kihwan Sim, Ida Falk Winland

Arte-Live-Web (again them!) live broadcast the concert and the video is embedded below.
The Top-3 are:

1. Kihwan Sim [La calunnia è un venticello (Il barbiere di Siviglia) - 0:34:15, Ombre di mia prosapia (La Gioconda) - 1:40:05]
2. Roman Burdenko  [Si puo? Si puo? (Pagliacci) - 0:12:58, Kto mozhet sravnitzya (Iolanta) - 1:21:30]
3. Ida Falk Windland [Je marche sur tous les chemins (Manon) - 0:49:40, Glitter and Be Gay (Candide) - 1:55:15 ]

where the numbers indicate the time-mark starting from which you can see/hear the corresponding aria in the video below.


 Congratulations to all 6 finalists and to the winners in particular!

La Clemenza di Tito in Paris: Talented Mr. Decker

La Clemenza di Tito (La clémence de Titus), Opéra Garnier in Paris, September 12 2011

Willy Decker ..... Director
Adam Fischer ..... Conductor

Klaus Florian Vogt ..... Tito
Hibla Gerzmava ..... Vitellia
Stéphanie d'Oustrac ..... Sesto
Allyson McHardy ..... Annio
Amel Brahim-Djelloul ..... Servilia
Balint Szabo ..... Publio


Chorus and Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris

Semper Rusalka in Dresden (take two)

Rusalka, Semperoper Dresden, November 3 2011

Conductor ..... Tomáš Netopil

Director ..... Stefan Herheim

Set Design ..... Heike Scheele

Prinz ..... Zoltán Nyári

Rusalka ..... Tatiana Monogarova

Die fremde Fürstin ..... Anda-Louise Bogza

Wassermann ..... Georg Zeppenfeld

Ježibaba ..... Tichina Vaughn

Erste Elfe ..... Vanessa Goikoetxea

Zweite Elfe ..... Barbara Senator

Dritte Elfe ..... Sofi Lorentzen

Jäger, Priester ...... Gerald Hupach

Metzger ..... Torsten Schäpan

Polizist ..... Friedrich Darge

Mr. High (Chorsolist) ..... Michael Auenmüller

Mr. Low (Chorsolist) ..... Jun Seok Bang

Der Apotheker (Chorsolist) ..... Jae-Suk Kim

Der Besserwisser (Chorsolist) ..... Alexander Schafft

Sächsischer Staatsopernchor Dresden (Pablo Assante)

Staatskapelle Dresden

Don Carlo in Berlin -- one to remember [Runnicles et al]

Don Carlo, Deutsche Oper Berlin, November 2nd 2011

Conductor ..... Donald Runnicles

Director ..... Marco Arturo Marelli

King Philip of Spain ..... Roberto Scandiuzzi

Don Carlo ..... Massimo Giordano

Rodrigo, Marquis of Posa ..... Boaz Daniel

Inquisitor ..... Ante Jerkunica

A monk ..... Ryan McKinny

Elisabeth of Valois ..... Lucrezia Garcia

Princess of Eboli ..... Anna Smirnova

The page Thibaut ..... Hila Fahima

Count of Lerma / Herold ..... Matthew Peña

A voice ..... Kathryn Lewek

Flemish deputies ..... Alexey Bogdanchikov

Flemish deputies ..... Hyung-Wook Lee

Flemish deputies ..... Simon Pauly

Flemish deputies ..... Jörn Schümann

Flemish deputies ..... Marko Mimica

Flemish deputies ..... Tobias Kehrer

Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin (William Spaulding)

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

The Rake's Progress in Lille

The Rake's Progress, Opéra de Lille, October 16, 2011

Tom and Anne -- Alek Shrader and Christiane Karg

  David Lescot ..... Director

  Arie Van Beek ..... Conductor

Alek Shrader ..... Tom Rakewell

Christiane Karg ..... Anne Trulove

Alan Ewing ..... Trulove

Christopher Purves ..... Nick Shadow

Frances McCafferty ..... Mother Goose

Anne Mason ..... Baba-Turk

Alasdair Elliott ..... Sellem

Orchestre de Picardie

Choeur de l’Opéra de Lille (Yves Parmentier)

Homoki le Grand: The Bartered Bride at the Komische

The Bartered Bride, Komische Oper Berlin, November 1st 2011

Vasek, Janik, Maestro Vedernikov, Marenka, Kecal, and Ludmila

Director ..... Andreas Homoki

Conductor ..... Alexander Vedernikov

Krušina ..... Tom Erik Lie

Ludmila ..... Gertrud Ottenthal

Mařenka ..... Christiane Kohl

Mícha ..... Carsten Sabrowski

Háta ..... Caren van Oijen

Vašek ..... Thomas Ebenstein

Jeník ..... Timothy Richards

Kecal ..... Jens Larsen

Zirkusdirektor ..... Peter Renz

Esmeralda ..... Anastasia Melnik

November 2011 in Europe: New Productions

Apart from the new Ruslan and Lyudmila at the Bolshoi (produced by the most unpredictable and supremely talented Dimitri Tcherniakov), there are several very interesting new productions to be premiered in Europe this November. Sebastian Baumgarten will present his Carmen at the Komische in Berlin, and potentially good should also be new Ariadne auf Naxos in Cologne. I wonder what peculiarity will have new Queen of Spades that Peter Konwitschny is preparing in Graz (c.f. rehearsal pics here. Gotta love that man!)

Creativity and the deepest human touch should be the epithets for the new Eugene Onegin at ENO, directed by  Deborah (Dido and Aeneas) Warner, and for the new Marthaler show in Basel -- Lo stimolatore cardiaco.

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

The Singing City (updated)

You remember the superb production of Parsifal directed by Calixto Bieito?

No, I have no news about the potential DVD release, but the documentary filmed during the production creating process has been actually released on DVD.
I purchased a copy today at the Dussmann store in Berlin (German equivalent to the FNAC, Virgin, Feltrinelli...) It's also available on amazon. It's in German with English subtitles.

Les contes d'Hoffmann anglo-bavarois (trailer added)

Yes, all the eyes and ears of the opera world will be in Munich for the tonight's opening of the Richard Jones production of Les contes d'Hoffmann.
Yours Truly will not be there, but I should remind you that Arte-TV will broadcast the show only 3 weeks after the premiere: Monday, November 21 at 20:40 (cet) Thursday, December 29 at 22:00 (cet)

Note also that the tonight's premiere will be live broadcast on the BR-Klassik website starting from 19:00 (cet).

Always wonderful Diana Olympia Damrau [debut in 3 roles -- she already sang Olympia in Mannheim]

Like Krzysztof Warlikowski, Richard Jones too seems to have been inspired by Amy Winehouse -- one of the most fascinating pop personalities of our time. 

More on Bolshoi... and Руслан и Людмила

If you did not see the re-opening gala concert at The Bolshoi Theater, you can still do it on Arte Live Web (c.f. also video here). I usually dread those concerts but when I saw that Dmitri Tcherniakov directed the show, I obviously rushed to see it and, yes Dima The Great did a very good job by actually making sense of the evening. He gave credit to everyone involved in the process of creating the theatrical magic, to the workers who for the past 6 years were working hard to construct that great building, to all the folks working backstage, and to all the artists. At the same time he recounted the history of The Bolshoi Theater --one of the greatest temples of Russian culture that resisted all the radical changes in Russia since 1824 to this day.

There was too much ballet for my taste, but as we all know the Russians love ballet... so not much surprise there!

Tcherniakov talking to the press about his new production -- Ruslan and Lyudmila

Operatic bits were OK. Placido Domingo did not show up, and I guess Angela Gheorghiu would have done much better if she followed the example and skipped the event too. She did not prepare ONE aria she was supposed to sing there. And it was not some tricky unknown piece that needed a heck of a work to prepare, but it was the Lisa aria from The Queen of Spades. Angie literally appeared with the score in hands and she would look at it like every 5 seconds. She clearly didn't bother to work on the pronunciation either... and so, to me, her appearance was borderline disrespectful (considering the importance of the event, the worldwide coverage...)
Check out here -- her aria starts at 1:37:10. [Note in particular the annoyed looking Galina Vishnevskaya after Miss Gheorghiu finished singing. She didn't clap.]

The same aria would have been gloriously sung by Krassimira Stoyanova, Anja Harteros, Svetlana Ignatovich, or Olga Guryakova, Renée Fleming...

Obviously there was no Anna Netrebko, Olga Borodina, Ekaterina Gubanova, or Tatiana Monogarova, Olga Peretyatko... which might partly be due to the Moscow/Petersburg petty quarrels (I speculate!)

Jones' Macbeth in Lille

Macbeth, Opéra de Lille, May 15 2011

Director ..... Richard Jones [Geoffrey Dolton]
Conductor ..... Roberto Rizzi Brignoli

Dimitris Tiliakos ..... Macbeth
Susan Maclean ..... Lady Macbeth
David Lomeli ..... Macduff
Dimitry Ivashchenko ..... Banco
Bruno Ribeiro ..... Malcolm
Miriam Murphy, Julie Pasturaud ..... Lady Macbeth’s servants
Patrick Schramm ..... A doctor, A servant, A herald
Vincent Vantyghem ..... A murderer

Lille National Orchestra & Lille Opera Chorus

The Bolshoi Theatre re-opens: Gala for the people!

After 6 years of painful works and lots of scandals along the way, The Bolshoi Theater is finally set to open its gates to the public.

Tonight's opening will be accompanied by a big gala concert, and the first premiere is scheduled for next Wednesday: Ruslan and Lyudmila by Glinka, with Russia's best Dmitri Tcherniakov directing, and with Vladimir Jurowski conducting the show.

As for the Gala Concert, Arte Live Web will live broadcast it tonight [Friday, October 28] starting from 20:40 (cet) -- video is embedded below. What would be a gala concert without Angela Gheorgiu and/or Placido Domingo?! So yes, they will both be there, in addition to Dmitri Hvorostovski, Natalie Dessay, Violeta Urmana... Enjoy!

O Schönheit at Théâtre du Châtelet

Cycle Mahler, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, October 27 2011

Daniele Gatti, Stephen Gould, and Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Conductor ..... Daniele Gatti

Contralto ..... Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Tenor ..... Stephen Gould

Violin ..... Frank Peter Zimmermann

Orchestre National de France

Malena Ernman, Peter Mattei, and Krassimira Stoyanova

I said I was not much interested in the CD business, but I do follow the new releases when I can. Before summer 2011 I recommended you a few superb recording, and I still believe all three of them are magnificent -- each in its own way. 

Some CD's are great for the way the program presented on them is interpreted and those are that I like the most. Christine Schäfer, René Pape and Anna Larsson (among others) are the true geniuses of interpretation. They manage to turn their 'imperfections' to their advantage that add to their already extraordinarily humanized way of singing the known songs or arias.

But then you have those who have an uncommon sense of musicality, who dare to sing the known stuff in their own, recognizable, way -- that actually gives a whole new flavor to the songs and arias they sing. Malena Ernman and especially Peter Mattei are good examples of that kind of singing. They both recently released new CD, and both contain several very interestingly performed tunes.
Krassimira Stoyanova, instead, is a quite different case: a singer who managed to avoid the stardom, and almost stealthily impose herself as one of the best living singers.

Grand production of Les Troyens in Karlsruhe

Les Troyens, Badische Staatstheater Karlsruhe, October 15 2011

Director ..... David Hermann
Conductor ..... Justin Brown

Énée ..... John Treleaven
Chorèbe ..... Armin Kolarczyk
Panthée ..... Lucas Harbour
Narbal ..... Konstantin Gorny
Iopas ..... Eleazar Rodriguez
Ascagne .....Stefanie Schaefer
Cassandre ..... Christina Niessen
Didon ..... Heidi Melton

Anna ..... Karine Ohanyan
Helenus/Hylas ..... Sebastian Kohlhepp
Priam/Spectre de Priam ..... Luiz Molz
L'ombre d'Hector/Le dieu Mercure ..... Avtandil Kaspeli
Un prêtre de Pluton ..... Andrey Grabovsky
Polyxène ..... Veronika Pfaffenzeller
Soldat troyen ..... Marcelo Angulo
Soldat troyen ..... Alexander Huck
Un soldat/Un chef grec ..... Florian Kontschak

Badischer Staatsopernchor

Badische Staatskapelle

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Nuremberg

Last Saturday (October 15th), the Staatstheater Nürnberg premiered their new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. The show was broadcast to the central city square for public viewing and apparently it was a success. 

Last Scene from The Mastersingers of Nuremberg at Staatstheater Nürnberg: Hans Sachs (Albert Pesendorfer)

Now, what is so special about this particular production? 

We will baroque you: La Didone by Cavalli on Medici.tv

You can watch La Didone by Francesco Cavalli live from the Théâtre de Caen on medici.tv . William Christie conducts Les Arts Florissants, and a brilliant cast lead by the most wonderful Anna Bonitatibus. The same show is live broadcast on the Arts Flo Media website as well.

It starts now (here you can find the libretto with its English translation.) Enjoy!

Peace in Cologne - War and Peace at the Köln Opera

War and Peace (Война и мир), Oper Köln, October 8th, 2011

Director ..... Nicolas Brieger
Conductor ..... Michael Sanderling

Andrei Bolkonsky ..... Johannes Martin Kränzle
Natasha Rostova ..... Olesya Golovneva
Sonya ..... Adriana Bastidas Gamboa
Fiodor / Ivanov ..... Alexander Fedin
Akhrosimova ..... Dalia Schaechter
Peronskaya ..... Kathleen Parker
Ilya Rostov/Marshal Davout ..... Wilfried Staber
Pierre Bezukhov ..... Matthias Klink
Hélène Bezukhova ..... Katrin Wundsam
Anatole Kuragin ..... Mirko Roschkowski
Dolokhov / Capitain Jacqueau ..... Daniel Golossov
Old lackay ..... Werner Sindemann
Marya Bolkonskaya ..... Regina Richter
Nikolay Andreyevich Bolkonsky / General Belliard ..... Magnús Baldvinsson
Matryosha ..... Sandra Janke
Gavrila ..... Anthony Sandle
Doctor Métivier / Marshal Berthier ..... Johann-Werner Prein
Denisov ..... Matias Tosi
Ordonnance of Prince Andrei ..... Philipp Hoferichter
Napoleon ..... Miljenko Turk
Adjutant of General Compans ..... Jeongki Cho
Adjutant of General Murat .....Gustavo Quaresma Ramos
Adjutant of Prince Eugène / Gérard ..... Ralf Rachbauer
Mr. de Beausset ..... Martin Koch
Capitain Ramballe ..... Dennis Wilgenhof
Leutenant Bonnet ..... John Heuzenroeder
A French Officer Sévag ..... Serge Tachdjian
Platon Karataev ..... Manfred Fink

Chorus of the Köln Opera
Gürzenich-Orchester

Les Troyens gone blue in Karlsruhe: David Hermann offers the best production of this opera ever, and Heidi Melton rocks

I am enchanted. The musical treat of rare quality, and a magnificent production by David who I knew/felt was capable of delivering this big a show (he and Christof Hetzer.)

Who the hell is Heidi Melton? A jaw-dropping Didon in all departments: Didon of the century, no less.

Orchestra, chorus, maestro... Amazing!

Heidi Melton singing Adieu, fière cité...

Will blog when I return to Paris.

Carsen's Tannhäuser paints Elisabeth in Paris

Tannhäuser, Opéra Bastille in Paris, October 6th 2011

Robert Carsen, Sophie Koch, Mark Elder, Christopher Ventris, Nina Stemme

Sir Mark Elder ..... Conductor
Robert Carsen ..... Director

Nina Stemme ..... Elisabeth
Sophie Koch ..... Venus
Christopher Ventris ..... Tannhäuser
Stéphane Degout ..... Wolfram von Eschenbach
Christof Fischesser ..... Hermann Landgrave 

Stanislas De Barbeyrac ..... Walther von der Vogelweide
Tomasz Konieczny ..... Biterolf
Eric Huchet ..... Heinrich der Schreiber
Wojtek Smilek ..... Reinmar von Zweter

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

To share

Despite its unbearable snootiness the Bayerische Staatsoper [BSO] in Munich remains one of those rare places in Europe where you can see the opera stars regularly singing in very good productions.  Fidelio, Mitridate and Rusalka, all premiered last season, are good illustrations of how good and artistically healthy that opera house is [Fidelio was visually ruined by a memorably bad filming --if you only saw the webcast-- but its content is becoming more resonant with what the current economical situation entails...]

Months ago I've ordered the tickets for the new BSO production of Les Contes de Hoffmann [directed by Richard Jones, with our dear-dear Diana Damrau making her debut in four roles, with Rolando Villazon hopefully back to his memorable Hoffmann-mode, and with the rock-solid John Rellyea.] Unfortunately in late August I received a mail from BSO informing me that all seats were sold out to subscribers (sic!) Tough luck and I decided to go to Basel instead and see Wozzeck (FANTASTIC! - will blog soon about that one too) and Rusalka.

Happily, the world's best TV  -- Arte, natürlich!-- is there to help. They will live broadcast  Les Contes de Hoffmann from Munich on Monday, November 21, starting from 20:30 cet. Good!

Another good news to share is that the Birmingham Ring, created in the 90's by Graham Vick, was presented last week at La Cité de la Musique in Paris and Arte Live Web provided the live webcast, that will be available for about 6 months for free viewing (all four videos also embedded below)

This is orchestrally a thinned version, that Jonathan Dove adroitly and cleverly scaled down to about 20-30 instruments. The story is slightly alternated, cut at several places as to make the whole cycle manageable by the small sized theaters without ruining anything to the flow of dramatic action in all four operas. The cycle is called the Ring Saga. It is different, and you might actually like it!
Peter Rundel is a briliant conductor and the ensemble of singers is definitely interesting.


Yes, there is also Cherubini's Médée from Brussels also available for free viewing (La Monnaie rocks!), but I think I should write a few helpful lines to help you better "read" through this MAGNIFICENT production by Warlikowski.

Mahagonny in Antwerp: Whata show!

Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Flanders Opera in Antwerp (Vlaamse Opera), October 9th 2011

Director ..... Calixto Bieito
Conductor ..... Yannis Pouspourikas
Sets ..... Rebecca Ringst


Jim Mahoney ..... John Daszak
Leocadia Begbick ..... Leandra Overmann
Fatty der Prokurist ..... Erin Caves
Dreieinigkeitsmoses ..... Claudio Otelli
Jenny Hill ..... Noëmi Nadelmann
Jack O'Brien/Tobby Higgins .... Gijs Van der Linden
Sparbüchsen Billy ..... William Berger
Alaska Wolf Joe ..... Jaco Huijpen
Acteur ..... Guntbert Warns

Symphonic Orchestra of the Flanders Opera
Flanders Opera Chorus

 

Hello from Antwerp

I said I might, and in the end I did come to Antwerp to see the new Calixto Bieito production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. 

Flanders Opera in Antwerp

After the fantastic premiere of the Robert Carsen production of Tannhäuser  in Paris last Thursday, last night I saw a true gem production --and a rarity these days--  War and Peace at Köln Oper.

After atrocious Salomé and Faust in Paris, this week feels like cortisone to my love for opera. So, it's all good.

Will blog about all three shows later tonight when I come back to Paris.

Now I should go to see what the Flanders Opera looks like from the inside.
Greetings from the rainy city of diamonds.

Love La Monnaie

Been extremely busy! Will blog Friday night... Many things to blog about but the most important is that my dear and beloved La Monnaie/De Munt and the amazing Peter de Caluwe won the title of the BEST OPERA HOUSE IN 2010-2011. Together with the Komische Oper Berlin and Theater Basel this is definitely the most exciting and artistically invigorating opera house in the world and I am more than happy that Opernwelt acknowledged it.  Congrats and thank you to all the great and competent stuff of La Monnaie.

This is the kind of prize that falls regularly in right hands. I didn't blog about Les Huguenots (the best production of 2010-2011) but I will soon (next weekend). Die Passagierin also received a prize (very deserved as well -- too bad the London crowd prefered Puccini and Gounod to the fascinating life story and highly non-trivial Shostakovich-kind music by Moisey Weinberg). SUPERB Wozzeck by Andrea Breth in Berlin, and wonderful Rusalka by Kusej in Munich got their honorable mention too...

So all good stuff got honored by this prestigeous selection committee.  And yes, congrats to our beloved tiny Urbain from Les Huguenots -- Julia Lezhneva -- the best young singer of 2010-2011!

Habemus Nanni Moretti

OK questo qua lo provero fare in italiano.

Sono riuscito finalmente liberarmi per andare vedere l'ultimo film di Nanni Moretti -- Habemus Papam. Come al solito Nanni trova un modo per raccontarci una storia semplice ma comunque strana --à la Marthaler-- la storia di un uomo che si trovi in una situazione impossibile: che nonostante i suoi sogni realizzati non riesce a godere il suo momento supremo a causa di una depressione psicologica che sembra essere più forte di lui.

Sunday Rant -- S#!t happens... and more

This morning I was supposed to take the fast train and go to Ghent to see the new Calixto Bieito gem,  Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny at the Flanders Opera.

From the new Calixto Bieito show at the Flanders Opera: Rise and Fall of the city of Mahagonny

Picnicking with your computer: Turn the Screw to Glyndebourne today

Today --Sunday, August 21-- at 19:00 (cet) you can watch the live broadcast of The Turn of the Screw from Glyndebourne. This is a magnificent opera and this particular production (premiered in 2006) might actually be very good.

Jonathan Kent recently offered us a brilliant production of The Fairy Queen and although his Don Giovanni presented at Glyndebourne last year was not so good, we can be optimistic and hope for a thrilling show tonight. Will be interesting how he will cope with the ambiguity of the main character: is she insane or actually possessed by the ghosts?!

The cast is promising with always superb Toby Spence and with Miah Persson opening a non-Mozartian chapter of her career.

You can watch the web-stream either on the Glyndebourne Festival website, or on The Guardian website.  See also an introduction to this opera very well organized by The Guardian staff (and a Trailer below)
Enjoy!

It is maybe a moment to remind you of the extraordinary production of this opera presented at Aix several years ago (DVD available), directed by Luc Bondy, conducted by Daniel Harding, and with equally extraordinary Mireille Delunsch in the role of the Governess.

Lohengrin from Bayreuth now

See here

Klaus Florian Vogt

Melancholia

And so I FINALLY saw a great movie: Melancholia by Lars von Trier.  It opened in Paris this week and a friend was so excessively excited about the existential issues tackled by this movie that I couldn't ignore it.  These days it is extremely rare that art gets close to the big screens, but when it happens it feels really great.

I liked the rawness of von Trier's Antichrist (I loved The Idiots the most!),  but Melancholia is so much broader: it is existential, it is psychological, it is socio-cultural, it touches the malaise of our society without sniffing to psychoanalysis, and it constantly sparkles with philosophy.

I believe Lars wanted it to be operatic in form: the opening is like an operatic overture with a magnificent imagery, while the proper film is split into two parts (two acts) - Justine and Claire.  It unfolds in so many non-trivial directions without ever becoming pretentious: the story-line, the dialogues, the unspoken messages, the collision of all sorts of characters, our inability to deal with at least one aspect of our life... everything is in there. Human depression is in the center of it all but it is in no way trivial.