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.