Ring Ring

I was planning to see two Rings this year, one of which would be one of four reruns of the London Ring next September-October. Since I always prefer a creation (or at least the productions I didn't see before) my main target was actually the Munich Ring.

Reasons (besides the obvious one -- new production)?
I liked the previous work of the director [Andreas Kriegenburg], the cast is great --similar to the one we saw recently performing in Paris, except that the whole thing most probably sounds better at the Bayerische Staatsoper because of its exceptionally good acoustics-- and  finally, because Kent Nagano handles Wagner operas in a peculiar & passionate way; his conducting is accurate and 'modern'...

From Die Walküre recently premiered at the BSO in Munich (Andreas Kriegenburg production)

And so, a year ago, when the program for the Festspiele 2012 was announced, I promptly sent out my application for the tickets hoping to benefit from their usual "first came, first served" rule... Alas, today I received a "sorry mail" and so no Munich this year!

My first spontaneous reaction obviously involved a few expletives, but on the second thought there is no need to be spoiled. This may even be a blessing in disguise. Other places in Germany propose full Ring cycles too.  Time to discover places, creative works of others... So what are the options? Frankfurt, Essen, Hannover, Freiburg and even Mannheim! See below the list with links to all operas.

Andris Nelsons and his Tristan in Paris

Tristan und Isolde in concert, Théâtre des Champs Élysées (TCE), March 11 2012

Addition to your fave list: Andris Nelsons

Andris Nelsons ..... Conductor

Lioba Braun ..... Isolde

Stephen Gould ..... Tristan

Matthew Best ..... King Marke

Brett Polegato ..... Kurwenal

Christianne Stotijn ..... Brangäne

Ben Johnson ..... Melot

Benedict Nelson ..... seaman

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO)

Accentus

Stefan Herheim and La Bohème

I still believe it's a shame that Stefan Herheim wasted his huge talent on this pile of obsolete cheese [no good if opera is ever to evolve away from cheese and triviality (but that's another story...)], but if there is anything that could make me endure Mimi(mimimi...) and Rodolfo for all four Acts, it's the Herheim's regie.

From the Herheim's production of La Bohème at Den Norske Opera, January-March 2012

Since the run of that new production at Den Norske Opera in Oslo is over, and the DVD is in preparation (to be released later this year), the Norwegian TV NRK2 will broadcast the show tonight [Sunday, March 11 2012] at 21:10. [Try this link or google to find another source of live stream]

Pics and more about this production can be found on wagneropera, and the trailer is given below.

A touch of Bayreuth in Paris: Gatti conducts Parsifal (2)

The concert performance of Parsifal that I blogged about a few days ago has been recorded and is now available on Arte Live Web for free (see below).

 Modulo Gurnemanz the cast is very good and somewhat peculiar [Detlef Roth, in particular, is on the lighter side of your usual Amfortas but he manages to absorb the role in his own way resulting in a refreshing interpretation], and Daniele Gatti again delivers a superb version of what I believe is the greatest opera of all times.

N.B. he conducts the entire Parsifal without the score.


Video embedded below. Enjoy!

Parsifal in Lyon (first photos)

Last night the best opera house in France --run by Serge Dorny-- premiered the long awaited production of Parsifal directed by François Girard. I did not see the show yet but will try and see it during this first run. It is a new production that was carefully prepared, rehearsed, and required lots of technical stage problems to be solved so that the premiere that was scheduled for March 6th had to be canceled (there is lots of blood and it was hard to contain it correctly and assure the safe replacement of the decor).
Now all is fine, first news say that the premiere was glitchless, Kazushi Ono [a meticulous man with a huge heart] his orchestra and the singers apparently great...
The cast indeed looks superb on the paper,

Nikolai Schukoff (Parsifal), Elena Zhidkova (Kundry), Gerd Grochowski (Amfortas),  Georg Zeppenfeld (Gurnemanz), Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester (Klingsor), Kurt Gysen (Titurel)...

 I'm especially pleased to see that our fave Georg Zeppenfeld sings one of the toughest bass roles in Lyon. I am quite confident his will be one of the history best interpretations of Gurnemanz.

This is the production that will travel to The Met next year and will be broadcast to the cinemas around the world. It will also be presented at the Canadian Opera Company.

More production photos below [©Philippe Merle] Production photos below look inviting:

Winds of change in Europe: Barrie Kosky, Dietmar Schwarz

Many things are about to change in good European opera houses. Hopefully Kasper Holten will manage to shake a little bit the temple of conservatism in London which would also leave the Paris Opera as the sole Bastion of stale conservatism among big opera houses in Europe (I know, I know... that's already the case!)

Real changes are about to happen in... in Berlin, of course! Starting from 2012-2013 Barrie Kosky will become the general director of the Komische Oper in Berlin, and Dietmar Schwarz will take the top spot of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB).

Barrie is a brilliant director who spent years in theaters and in opera producing business. Dietmar Schwarz, on the other hand, is a Mortier-kind of genius who is probably the most responsible for the fact that the Theater Basel was elected the best opera house in Europe two years in a row. His openness to the world of theater thrusted Bieto,  Hermann, Bosse, Goerden, von Peter... and many other extraordinarily talented directors to the world of opera. In doing so he never sacrificed the musical excellence of the opera house [one of the currently best singers in the world, Svetlana Ignatovich, forged her skills in Basel].
 
Kosky replaces Homoki who in turn becomes the general director of the Opernhaus in Zurich [Zurich will likely become one of the top operatic hot spots in Europe (see their new season here)]. Schwarz will replace Kirsten Harms --who rescued the Deutsche Oper after the unfortunate episode with  Thielemann-- and even though I am not fan of her productions, I admire her tenacity and ability to very cleverly adapt to the conditions in Berlin and run judiciously the Deutsche Oper. Ah yes, she's also the one to be thanked for insisting to bring Donald Runnicles to DOB. Runnicles nowadays fascinates everyone, and even the hard core conservatives --who religiously admire everything labeled Thielemann-- finally agree that Runnicles is "as good" - which is telling a lot. So kudos to Kirsten Harms and all the best in whatever she decides to do in the future.

I'd rather talk about the Komische and Barrie Kosky...

Seriously...

Gerard Mortier is a genius. He not only changed the operatic world, but he still keeps the level of creativity, musical and theatrical excellence that even those with multiple times higher budgets (such as the case with the Paris Opera for example) do not come even close to the level of homogeneity in quality, structural diversity of the operatic seasons in Madrid year after year.

Like in previous years, the program for 2012-2013 at Teatro Real in Madrid contains something for everyone. It's the top notch in every aspect, and there are no overrated stars to hide the misery of the productions... It's just great!

We notice that the two production that Mortier mounted while he was running the Paris Opera will find their way to Madrid: Wozzeck staged by Christoph Marthaler and Macbeth by Tcherniakov. In addition to the groundbreaking production of Don Giovanni by Tcherniakov, Teatro Real announces several new productions including Boris Godunov directed by Johan Simons (no less!) and Die Zauberflöte by Robert Carsen (and with Berliner Philharmoniker performing under Sir Simon Rattle), Cosi fan tutte by Michael Haneke... and more (see below)

Operas in concerts are terrific too with the outstanding cast for Parsifal in particular.

A touch of Bayreuth in Paris: Gatti conducts Parsifal

Parsifal (in concert), Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, March 6 2012

Daniele Gatti .....  Conductor

Christopher Ventris ..... Parsifal

Mihoko Fujimura ..... Kundry

Kurt Rydl ..... Gurnemanz

Lucio Gallo ..... Klingsor

Detlef Roth ..... Amfortas

Andreas Hörl ..... Titurel

Michael Laurenz, Robert Jezierski ..... chevaliers

Manuel Günther, Andreas Früch ..... écuyers

Julia Borchert, Katharina Peetz ..... écuyères et filles-fleurs de Klingsor

Martina Rüping, Carola Guber, Christiane Kohl,

Jutta Maria Böhnert ..... filles-fleurs de Klingsor

Orchestre National de France

Chœur de Radio France (Matthias Brauer)

Maîtrise de Radio France (Sofi Janin)

Dido and Aeneas for history

Dido and Aeneas, Opéra Comique in Paris, March 5 2012

Deborah Warner ..... Director

William Christie ..... Conductor

Malena Ernman ..... Dido

Nikolay Borchev ..... Aeneas

Judith Van Wanroij ..... Belinda

Hilary Summers ..... Sorceress

Lina Markeby ..... Second Woman

Céline Ricci ..... First Witch

Ana Quintans ..... Second Witch

Marc Mauillon ..... Spirit

Ben Davies ..... Sailor

Fiona Shaw ..... Prologue
Orchestre et chœur Les Arts Florissants

Le Nozze à l'ancienne

Le nozze di Figaro, Staatsoper UdL im Schiller Theater, February 26 2012

Thomas Langhoff ..... director

Daniel Barenboim ..... conductor

Artur Rucinski ..... Il conte di Almaviva

Dorothea Röschmann ..... La contessa di Almaviva

Anna Prohaska ..... Susanna

Vito Priante ..... Figaro

Christine Schäfer ..... Cherubino

Katharina Kammerloher ..... Marcellina

Abdellah Lasri ..... Basilio

Maurizio Muraro ..... Bartolo

Narine Yeghiyan ..... Barbarina

Olaf Bär ..... Antonio

Paul O’Neill ..... Don Curzio

Staatsopernchor

Staatskapelle Berlin

"The merry widow" - Grahamless and joyless

Die lustige Witwe/La veuve joyeuse, Opéra Garnier in Paris, March 2 2012

Asher Fisch    ..... Conductor
Jorge Lavelli ..... Director

Harald Serafin  .....  Baron Mirko Zeta
Ana Maria Labin  ..... Valencienne
Bo Skovhus  ..... Graf Danilo

Susan Graham Noëmi Nadelmann ..... Hanna Glawari
Daniel Behle  ..... Camille de Rosillon
Edwin Crossley-Mercer  .....  Vicomte Cascada
François Piolino  ..... Raoul de Saint-Brioche
Francis Bouyer  ..... Bogdanowitsch
Claudia Galli  ..... Sylviane
Francis Dudziak  ..... Kromow
Andrea Hill  ..... Olga
Fabrice Dalis  ..... Pritschitsch
Michèle Lagrange  ..... Praskowia
Franz Mazura .....  Njegus

Paris Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Lucio

Lucio Dalla 1943-2012

One more true artist has just left us.

Leap Day: Buon Compleanno!

Leap day makes this year leap... or bissextile.

Being born on February 29th must be frustrating when you're a kid. It becomes cool when you are older though. Gioachino Rossini, for instance, despite his 76 years long life, legitimately celebrated only 19 birthdays. 

Google dedicated their opening page today to Gioachino's 220th birthday. Cool!

You must've already noticed that I am not into old divas, old recordings, I am against the idea that "all good in opera happened in the past", and I defend the idea that overall our singers today are better than those who sang in the past.
However, despite very many fantastic Rossini singers that we admire and enjoy listening today in live performances --Juan Diego Florez, Joyce DiDonato, Gregory Kunde, Daniela Barcellona, Lawrence Brownlee,  Jennifer Larmore, Antonino Siragusa, Cecilia Bartoli, John Osborn,  Vivica Genaux, Olga Peretyatko, Malena Ernman, Colin Lee ... -- I still get particularly thrilled when listening to Marilyn Horne's renditions of the Rossini's arias. An example of her glorious vocal palette is exhibited in the aria below [from La donna del lago]

Runnicles rocks on a Huge Tristan Night in Berlin

Tristan und Isolde, Deutsche Oper Berlin (DOB), February 25 2012

Smashing performance by Petra Maria Schnitzer and Donald Runnicles

Graham Vick ..... director
Donald Runnicles ..... conductor

Peter Seiffert ..... Tristan
Liang Li ..... King Marke
Petra Maria Schnitzer ..... Isolde
Boaz Daniel ..... Kurwenal
Jörg Schörner ..... Melot
Jane Irwin ..... Brangäne
Peter Maus ..... Ein Hirt
Clemens Bieber ..... Seeman
Krzysztof Szumanski ..... Stauermann

Chorus and Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin

Bel Canto 3: Is it possible to have an intelligent production of La Sonnambula?! Apparently...

I didn't go to Stuttgart to see their new production of La Sonnambula, but I realize almost everyone in the operatic circles in Germany is talking about the amazing qualities of that show.

Actually, rare are the opera that I think are as dumb as Sonnambula. Two arias have their fanbase, and there is nothing beyond that.
This is where you need an uncommonly clever, bright, talented director --essentially a magician-- who would find an opening and make the story out of non-story (libretto of La Sonnambula) and reach to the hearts of the public today.
It seems that Jossi Wieler and Sergio Morabito managed to do just that. All the shows are sold out, the reviewers are de facto competing in showing their appreciation of the show [not that I believe the reviews are a reliable gauge of goodness of the show, but that may be an indicator!]; traditionalists were apparently cringing at first but eventually surrendered to the poetry of the staging, while the rest of the public was totally enchanted, calling the directors geniuses, and everyone's performance terrific. 

Rodolfo: Liang Li*, Teresa: Helene Schneiderman, Amina: Ana Durlovski, Elvino: Luciano Botelho, Lisa: Catriona Smith, Alessio: Motti Kastón

 
What fascinates me more is that Jossi and Sergio are by now very famous theater and opera directors and at this stage --when Jossi is the general director of the Oper Stuttgart-- they could have picked any opera to direct, and they took on the most difficult one and turned it into a big success. How big is that!?

In the production photos below, many of you will recognize the style of the legendary Anna Viebrock, who was in charge of the sets and costume design.

Der Freischütz

Der Freischütz, Komische Oper in Berlin, February 23 2012

In the Wolf's Glen

Conductor ..... Patrick Lange

Director ..... Calixto Bieito

Set design ..... Rebecca Ringst

Max ... Dmitry Golovnin

Agathe ... Bettina Jensen

Kaspar ... Jens Larsen

Ännchen ... Ariana Strahl

Eremit ... Marko Spehar

Ottokar ... Ipca Ramanovic

Kilian ... Thomas Ebenstein

Kuno ... Hans-Peter Scheidegger

Le Freischütz

Le Freischutz, Opéra Comique in Paris, April 7 2011 

Sir John Eliot Gardiner ..... Conductor
Dan Jemmett ..... Director

Sophie Karthäuser ..... Agathe

Andrew Kennedy ..... Max
Virginie Pochon ..... Annette
Gidon Saks ..... Gaspard
Matthew Brook ..... Kouno

Luc Bertin-Hugault ..... L’Ermite

Samuel Evans ..... Kilian

Robert Davies ..... Ottokar
 Christian Pelissier ..... Samiel 


The Monteverdi Choir 
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique

Bel Canto 2: Italiana in Nancy; David Hermann brings breath of fresh air to France

L'italiana in Algeri /L'Italienne à Alger at Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy, February 19 2012

Director ..... David Hermann

Conductor ..... Paolo Olmi

Isabella ..... Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Lindoro ..... Yijie Shi

Mustafà ..... Donato di Stefano

Taddeo ..... Nigel Smith

Elvira ..... Yuree Jang

Zulma ..... Olga Privalova

Haly ..... Igor Gnidii

Orchestre symphonique et lyrique de Nancy

La Scala Ring 2013 - Ticket Sale Opened

It's all in the title. Here is your link.

This is a very good & stylish production of the Ring and I'd like to encourage you to spend one week in Milan and enjoy the event live, in a beautiful auditorium of La Scala.
It's also very convenient for non-Milanese that they planed to stage the full Ring in one week only (there will be two runs -- both in June 2013)

I saw the first two operas of this Ring in Berlin -- I'm still to blog about them (too little time, too many operas...)

Alternatively you may wish to subscribe to the Paris Ring, which had some interesting moments although I believe it would fair to say that it didn't live up to expectations.

Jonas Kaufmann at TCE: Kaufmannmania continues after one more Jonasabend

 Liederabend at Théâtre des Champs Elysées, February 20 2012

Jonas Kaufmann is a perfect example of an opera star circa 2010. He doesn't take himself too seriously, looks and acts like "one of us", but constantly impresses us by the sheer amount of talent he radiates like no one else. It's his peculiar timbre and recognizable voice, his unmatched musicality, his amazing scenic presence, uncommon interpretative skills, his piani that regularly make his fans go crackers... I don't believe any opera singer in the past had it all like Jonas does today.

Helmut Deutsch and Jonas Kauffmann: TCE, February 20 2011

Bel Canto 2: Hello from Lorraine!

Freezing cold in Nancy... brrrr.... where I arrived a couple of hours ago to see  L'italiana in Algeri. The City Hall Square where you also find the Opéra National de Lorraine is beautiful.

This is the first opera David Hermann is producing in France, and it is not surprising that it happens outside of Paris (where only talentless or half-witted directors are invited to produce opera these days)
 

Opéra National de Lorraine in Nancy

I LOVED The Queen of Spades David Hermann produced in Basel a year ago (with outstanding Lisa by Svetlana Ignatovich), worshiped his recent take on Les Troyens in Karlsruhe (with unbeatable Didon by Heidi Melton), which then explains my trip to this lovely (if a bit sleepy) city of Nancy. 

Will blog tonite after the show.

Stéphane Lissner and La Scala: Projects 2012-2015

It appears that the brilliant general director of La Scala, Stéphane Lissner, will stay in Milan until the end of 2015, and a list of their projects is more than impressive.

We can only hope his term in Italy will indeed end in 2015, so he could come to Paris to rescue whatever will remain of the Paris Opera by the autumn of 2015.

Below is a mighty list of what Lissner and La Scala prepare for the period before the end of October 2015.

From La Monnaie/De Munt with love: Excellent Guy Joosten production of Salomé

Guy Joosten, together with Ivo van Hove and Guy Cassiers, is one of those Flemish miracles of the 90's-00's who possess talent and audacity, style and intelligence to elevate opera shows to the level of significant theatrical events. His Elektra at La Monnaie/De Munt was highly appreciated, but I particularly liked his Salomé, that I was able to see a few years back, when it was premiered at Liceu in Barcelona.

Dir- Guy Joosten, cnd- Carlo Rizzi; cast Chris Merritt (Herodes), Doris Soffel (Herodias), Amanda Echalaz (Salomé), Scott Hendricks (Jochanaan), Gordon Gietz(Narraboth)...

Bel Canto 1: Don Pasquale in Parigi (o cara)

Don Pasquale, Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris, February 15 2012

Viviani, Rancatore, Mazzola, Corbelli, Demuro

Enrique Mazzola ..... conductor

Denis Podalydès ..... director

Alessandro Corbelli ..... Don Pasquale

Désirée Rancatore ..... Norina

Gabriele Viviani ..... Dr Malatesta

Francesco Demuro ..... Ernesto

Richard Tronc ..... Carlino

Orchestre National de France

Choeur de Radio France 

Don Carlo di Monaco

... not to be mistaken for Gian Carlo del Monaco. Latter is the name of a talentless opera producer who every year presents one of his lamentable productions at the Paris Opera.

Don Carlo di Monaco instead is a not-very-good production of Verdi's Don Carlo presented at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, that will be live-streamed today January 22 2012, at 17:00 (CET) on this website.

If the production is not really worth spending over 3 hours in front of your computer, the cast is exquisite and you'll most probably love our dearest Anja Harteros, the majestic René Pape, and always reliable super-Jonas Kaufmann. I bet Anna Smirnova sounds perfect as Eboli in the auditorium of the BSO. 
Mariusz Kwiecien was supposed to sing the role of Marquis de Posa, but had to cancel a few weeks before the show, and is replaced by Boaz Daniel, who I recently listened in the same role [in the new production of Don Carlo at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin (much better production than the one in Munich, which I also saw a few years ago)].

Enjoy!

Etta James, 1938-2012

One of the rare great genuine artists of our time left us today. :(

Rest in peace big lady!

Don Giovanni - Alert

Six years after its premiere, one of the most poignant opera productions -- Don Giovanni directed by Michael Haneke-- will be back at the Paris Opera next March/April.

Peter Mattei and Luca Pisaroni in the Michael Haneke production of Don Giovanni

As I suggested at the beginning of the 2011-2012 season, this is one of the two truly recommendable productions this year in Paris --the other being Carsen's Tannhäuser-- and actually worth a trip.

While the quality of most of the new productions in Paris oscillates between bad and dreadful, the revival of the old stuff is usually very well done, with great care (Lulu and La clemenza di Tito, are this season's notable examples.)

Cnd- Philippe Jordan/Marius Stieghorst; Cast: Peter Mattei, Paata Burchuladze, Patricia Petibon, Bernard Richter/Saimir Pirgu, Véronique Gens, David Bizic, Nahuel Di Pierro, Gaële Arquez.

The online ticket sale opens tomorrow, Monday January 9th, at 9 am (CET)!

Art of Interpretation and Expression

Last December 19, Emmanuele Haïm and her orchestra Le Concert d'Astrée celebrated 10 years of collaboration/activity, and for the occasion a Gala Concert took place at Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris.

Happily, for us who could not attend the concert, Arte concocted 1 hour of excerpts and broadcast it last week.

Christopher Purves (L) and Anne Sofie von Otter & Philippe Jarousky (R)

I will not comment on the concert that I didn't attend but I thought I could share a couple of excerpts that are good illustration of utmost importance of the interpretative skills in making the beautiful voices reaching the spectators' hearts.

Enjoy!

Mathematics, A Beautiful Elsewhere

Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain is a medium-sized exhibition space in Paris that regularly surprises us by proposing delightful small-scaled exhibitions of whatever appears to be a new trend in the world of contemporary art. The events are not huge, but very carefully chosen as to let you in on the artistic wave of the moment, and to leave you enough time to process and contemplate on the  exposed pieces [which is to be contrasted to the large scale exhibitions where one is often rushing to  (pointlessly) see everything -- our brains cannot absorb too much art and saturates after an hour or so.]

I don't blog here on the exhibitions but this time I must make an exception. Fondation Cartier surpassed themselves and proposed something intellectually enriching, very creative, and totally new...

Talking about David Bösch...

I should remind you that tomorrow, Saturday, January 7 2012, at 6:45 pm (CET) the Bavarian State Opera will live broadcast, on their website, a very good production of L'elisir d'amore directed by  David Bösch.

Dan Ettinger will conduct and the cast includes Adriana Kučerová, Pavol Breslik, Levente Molnár, Ambrogio Maestri, and Tara Erraught.

From the David Bösch production of L'elisir d'amore at BSO in Munich

It is close to my favorite production of this opera (by Richard Brunel), and shows that some of the belcanto operas can be produced intelligently, by introducing a little idea, and rely on the theatrical tools to hide the triviality of the libretto. It is not easy but here is proof that it is possible!

See trailer below...

Mitridate, Rè di Bavaria

Mitridate, rè di Ponto, Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, July 25 2011

Extraordinary Lawrence Zazzo as Farnace in the David Bösch production of Mitridate, rè di Ponto

Director ..... David Bösch 

Conductor ..... Ivor Bolton

Mitridate ..... Barry Banks

Aspasia ..... Patricia Petibon

Sifare ..... Anna Bonitatibus

Farnace ..... Lawrence Zazzo

Ismene ..... Lisette Oropesa

Marzio ..... Alexey Kudrya

Arbate ..... Eri Nakamura

The Bavarian State Orchestra

Occupy Bayreuth!

Remember that Siemens was sponsoring the popular Siemens Festspielnacht in Bayreuth, and each year one opera would be live broadcast on a big screen in front of thousands of people from Northern Bavaria who otherwise wouldn't be able to experience one of the Festival operas.

The screenings were cherished by everyone for many different reasons, and it was compatible with the  Wagner's original idea to organize the festival that would make his Gesamtkunstwerk accessible to all the people.

The webcast --also sponsored by Siemens-- helped many Wagnerites around the world, who either weren't lucky to score a ticket for the festival or simply couldn't afford all the expenses, to see one opera every year.

Bad news, last September, was that Siemens would stop sponsoring these popular events, and without their 1 million € no more webcast, nor "Siemens Festival Nights", could be ensured.

Amadis de Gaule by J.C.Bach at Opéra Comique in Paris

Amadis de Gaule, Opéra Comique in Paris, January 2 2012

Conductor ..... Jérémie Rhorer
Director ..... Marcel Bozonnet


Amadis ..... Philippe Do
Oriane ..... Hélène Guilmette
Arcabonne ..... Allyson McHardy
Arcalaüs ..... Franco Pomponi
Urgande, 1st Coryphaeus ..... Julie Fuchs
La Discorde, 2nd Coryphaeus ..... Alix Le Saux
La Haine, L’Ombre d’Ardan Canil ..... Peter Martinčič*
Soprano solo ..... Ana Dežman*
Tenor solo ..... Martin Sušnik*
*soloistes of the Chorus of SNG Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Compagnie de danse Les Cavatines (Natalie van Parys)
Le Cercle de l’Harmonie

New Year's Concert from La Fenice

Young and talented conductors often bring freshness and audacity to the interpretation of known (and less known) music, they are less 'hampered' by the constraints of experience... On the other hand, the more experienced conductors often build on their experience to bring new subtleties of the score, to play with the orchestral texture and make the known music sound different/fresh...

Diego Matheuz

For starters...

Wish you all a very Happy New Year 2012!

2011 was exciting with  many-many wonderful productions. I could see the monumental productions such as Les Troyens in Karlsruhe, Les Huguenots and Parsifal in Brussels, War and Peace in Cologne, Götterdämmerung in Strasbourg, Parsifal in Basel, and many less grand spectacles but equally exciting events: Wozzeck in Berlin and Basel, Lulu in Paris, Mitridate in Munich, Idomeneo in Berlin, La Clemenza in Paris, Turandot in Dijon, Mahagonny in Antwerp, Macbeth in Lille and Leipzig, Atys in Paris, Alcina in Dresden, Hérodiade in Ghent, Carmen in Berlin, Walküre in Berlin, Siegfried in Paris, Tristan in Lyon, Berlin and Weimar, Rusalka in Dresden, Berlin and Basel, Les Carmélites in Berlin, Kat'a Kabanova in Paris, Lear in Berlin, Médée in Brussels, L'elisir d'amore in Lille, Parsifal in Zurich, Onegin in Amsterdam, Tannhäuser in Paris and Dresden...