Thursday, October 4, 2012

News You Can Use

I skipped the whole summer of opera streaming, so I'm now trying to catch up when I can.
I am halfway watching the absolutely dreadful production of Ariadne auf Naxos presented at the Salzburg Festival 2012 and I hope I'll have enough courage to finish it. I should see Die Zauberflöte where my absolute fave singer (Georg Zeppenfeld) was apparently great. Die Soldaten could be interesting too.  Le Nozze di Figaro from Aix en Provence 2012, produced by Richard Brunel, should be a treat to see too, but I most regret the new Jan Philipp Gloger production of The Flying Dutchman in Bayreuth. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to see it next year... OK, this last was not streamed or broadcast.


What good to expect to see in one of these live broadcasts in 2012-2013?




There will be surprises, but of what we know now, the most interesting will definitely be ALL  productions from La Monnaie/De Munt [still officially the best opera house], and several productions from the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. BSO published their program of live streams for 2012-2013  of which I believe two are must-see: The Flying Dutchman directed by Peter Konwitschny [N.B. a knockout cast], and the Martin Kusej production of Macbeth (that FYI was not so enthusiastically received by the press... which often means nothing).  Their new production of Rigoletto looks very intriguing on the paper, so... Note that all these shows will be free -- you don't pay!

Live stream of The Met productions, instead, are expensive -- the cinema tickets are actually very expensive, especially considering that the productions presented last year were all really bad. However, there are two productions that I believe deserve paying 30 €/seat in your local cinema: the new David Alden production of Un ballo in maschera scheduled to be live broadcast on December 8, 2012, should be good [provided David refuses to produce a show that should please everyone], and  Parsifal (directed by François Girard) that I saw in Lyon and loved it -- to be broadcast on March 2 2013. I doubt the superb cast will match the brilliance of what we experienced in Lyon last March [probably because it was so unexpected and so huge!] but I wouldn't mind to be proven wrong ;)

Novelty is that Opéra National de Paris also joined this broadcast business and you should pay ≈30 €/seat  to see one of their tepid productions. Two exceptions should be the two new productions: Carmen [in the movies on December 13 at 19:30 (CET)] and  Hänsel und Gretel (directed by  Mariame Clément) live broadcast on April 22 2013.


Another date not to be missed will be the opening night of the new Claus Guth production of Lohengrin (with a terrific cast!) that will be, as usual,  broadcast live from  La Scala  (Milan) on Sant'Ambrogio, December 7 2012, by the world best TV -- Arte.  


The most interesting thing this month, however, will be the live broadcast of Siegfried from La Scala. I saw the first two operas of the Guy Cassiers Ring at the Staatsoper UdL in Berlin, and to me  this is one of the classiest Ring productions in business (I didn't blog about it, but I'll try and throw in a few lines soon). Anyways, the premiere of Siegfried can be seen live on Mezzo TV,  in less than 3 weeks from now -- October 23,  at 19:00 (CET).

Mezzo TV will also broadcast a firework of countertenors: Artaserse [opera by Leonardo Vinci (what a name!), that we will discover] with Philippe Jaroussky, Max Emanuel Cencic, Yuriy Mynenko, Franco Fagioli, Valer Barna Sabadus + Daniel Behle -- live from ONL in Nancy, on November 20, 2012 at 20:00 (CET).
The same cast will perform the same opera at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in December but only in concert.

 Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the Armel Opera Competition in Szeged from 6 to 15 October. All 5 operas in competition will be live broadcast on Arte Live Web: Andrea Chénier, In the Penal Colony (excellent opera by Philip Glass), A Death in the Family (opera by William Mayer - to discover), Mileva (opera by Aleksandra Vrebalov - to discover), and Maria Theresa (world premiere -- opera by Roland Baumgartner

4 comments:

  1. The next years Bayreuth broadcast will be The Flying Dutchman which is scheduled for the opening night (25.7.) - expactable cinemas and arte like this year...

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  2. I love the information on live, or even delayed telecasts you share with us, but I am terrible at keeping track of what is happening when, so I'm hoping you will be kind enough to remind us closer to the time when these internet broadcasts will actually happen. I saw quite a few last year, thanks to your reminders.....

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  3. hi , thanks for sharing this useful information.

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