Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Farnace for the people

Tonight May 30 at 8 p.m. (cet) you may watch the live-webcast from Opéra National du Rhin - Strasbourg, of their new production of Farnace, a Vivaldi opera that I don't particularly like but I'm sure that always phenomenal Max Emanuel Cencic will find a way to make it extra-exciting. The rest of the castt looks good on paper too.

Ruxandra Donose and Max Emanuel Cencic [photo ©Alain Kaiser]

I'm still to see Giulio Cesare that was live webcast three days ago from Salzburg, mainly because our fave Christophe Dumaux ;)


Farnace, May 30 2012, at 20:00 Paris time
dir- Lucinda Childs, cnd- George Petrou (Concerto Köln), cast: Max Emanuel Cencic, Vivica Genaux, Ruxandra Donose, Mary Ellen Nesi, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Carol Garcia, Juan Sancho]

Video embedded below.


Monday, May 28, 2012

Così or not Così

Così fan tutte, Théâtre des Champs Élysées, May 22 2012



Jérémie Rhorer..... Director
Eric Génovèse [Valérie Nègre] ..... Director 

Camilla Tilling ..... Fiordiligi 
Michèle Losier ..... Dorabella 
Claire Debono ..... Despina 
Bernard Richter ..... Ferrando 
Markus Werba ..... Guglielmo 
Pietro Spagnoli ..... Don Alfonso 


Le Cercle de l'Harmonie 
Choeur du Théâtre des Champs-Elysées


Saturday, May 19, 2012

Ascolta! Se Romeo t'uccise un figlio... Trebs time!

Live stream from the Bavarian State Opera of  I Capuleti e i Montecchi --the famous Bellini's take on Romeo and Juliet-- is about to start. The libretto of this opera is maybe not as bad as that of Norma, but it is awful anyway. However, there are some terrific tunes that will hopefully be well sung by Anna Netrebko and Vesselina Kasarova. Dimitri Pittas, Ante Jerkunica and Paul Gay complete the cast.

The production must be 'harmless' --Vincent Boussard is a specialist for what you can call "safe nice shows"-- so the traditionalists and conservatives won't be outraged.  Here is your link 
[libretto here]


Netrebko was terrific in this role a few years ago in a Robert Carsen production in Paris -- she and Joyce DiDonato rocked Bastille.

Trailer of this [Munich] production is attached below...
Enjoy! 
Udachi Anna!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Amsterdam DC

Hello from --always great fun to visit-- Amsterdam where the Nederlandse Opera revived their good production of Don Carlo produced by the Talented Mr. Decker, and Yours Truly wouldn't want to skip as the cast looks terrific on paper (I love-love Katya Gubanova, Chris Maltman and Misha Petrenko). Massimo Giordano is in the title role, instead of the previously scheduled Andrew Richards who had to pull out due to throat infection. Massimo was excellent in Berlin so it should be goood!  I am  also curious to hear what Yannick Nézet-Séguin made of this perilous score.



Very good show. The production is not matching the greatness of the legendary Konwitschny show but it is clever and stylish at the same time -- which is what Decker always manages to do in his peculiar way. It is also much much better than the tired Met/ROH production that flooded the world n DVD and the HD broadcast to the movie theaters. 

The cast is really brilliant with Chris Maltman killing Posa [this must be unbeatable singing/acting of this role -- this man is über-talented]. Camilla Nylund was amazing too -- the role of Elisabetta seems like written for her. Bravi tutti! Yannick Nézet-Séguin came with his orchestra and it shows -- extraordinary precision and they obviously practiced a lot to give DC a fresh look. YNS has a very lyric approach to the score and it often sounds different from what we're used to. Will hopefully blog tomorrow more. Cheers

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Alcina in Bordeaux: Envoûtant!

Alcina, Opéra national de Bordeaux, May 2 2012



Director ..... David Alden
Conductor ..... Harry Bicket


Alcina ..... Elza van den Heever
Morgana ..... Anna Christy
Ruggiero ..... Isabel Leonard
Bradamante ..... Sonia Prina
Oronte ..... Alek Shrader
Melisso ..... Wojtek Gierlach
Oberto ..... Mélody Louledjian

Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Choeur de l’Opéra National de Bordeaux