Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Paris Opera 2013-2014

After a couple of really bad years at the Paris Opera, a glimpse over the 2013-2014 makes you think: OK, it's less bad than before. Revivals are more often than not well done in Paris, so I won't say much except encourage everyone to go and see a wonderful production of La Clemenza di Tito with a wonderful Stéphanie d'Oustrac, and the superb Warlikowski production -- The Makropulos Affair.

I like Robert Carsen, but seriously... Out of 8 new production at the OdP, two of them [Elektra & Zauberflöte] are staged by Carsen, whose Capuleti and Alcina will be revived too!
Olivier Py too is supposed to come up with two new production [Alceste & Aida].

No younger directors, no contemporary opera, revivals of the embarrassingly bad Cosi and Italiana...

New Traviata by Benoît Jacquot will most probably be a tepid sellout  show [smt like the awful  ROH production by Eyre]... If we cannot be entirely enthused by the list of conductors, overall  --and modulo a few exceptions-- the lineup is good. I like the casts for the most part [YAY for Sonya Yoncheva and Jochen Schmeckenbecher!]. 

To stay positive, on the paper, it looks as if the operatic program at the ONP is improving.



see below...



September 2013:
  • Alceste [new production]: dir- Olivier Py, cnd- Marc Minkowski, cast: Roberto Alagna/Yann beuron, Sophie Koch, Jean-François Lapointe, Stanislas De Barbeyrac, Franck Ferrari, Marie-Adeline Henry, Florian Sempey, François Lis 
  • Lucia di Lammermoor [revival]: dir- Andrei Serban, cnd- Maurizio Benini, cast: Patrizia Ciofi/Sonia Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo/Michael Fabiano... 
  • Vec Makropulos [revival]: dir- Krzysztof Warlikowski, cnd- Susanna Mälkki, cast: Ricarda Merbeth, Atilla Kiss, Vincent Le Texier, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Andreas Conrad, Andrea Hill, Ladislav Elgr, Ryland Davies


October 2013:
  • Aida [new production]: dir- Olivier Py, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Luciana d'Intino/Elena Bocharova, Oksana Dyka/Lucrezia Garcia, Marcelo Alvarez/Robert Dean Smith, Giacomo Prestia, Sergey Murzaev, Carlo Cigni, Elodie Hache.


November 2013:
  • Cosi fan tutte [revival]: dir- Enco Toffolutti, cnd- Michael Schønwandt, cast: Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Dmitry Korchak, Myrto Papatanasiu, David Bizic, Lorenzo Regazzo, Bernarda Bobro.
  • Elektra [new production]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Irene Theorin, Waltraud Maier, Ricarda Merbeth, Kim Begley, Evgeny Nikitin...


December 2013:
  • I Puritani [new production]: dir- Laurent Pelly, cnd- Michele Moriotti, cast: Dmitry Korchak /René Barbera, Mariusz Kwiecien, Maria Agresta, Michele Pertusi,  Wojtek Smilek...
  • La clemenza di Tito [revival]: dir- Willy Decker, cnd- Thomas Netopil, cast: Saimir Pirgu, Stépahnie d'Oustrac, Tamar Iveri, Hannah Esther Minutillo, Maria Virginia Savastano

January 2014:
  • Werther [revival]: dir- Benoît Jacquot, cnd- Michel Plasson, cast: Roberto Alagna, Karine Deshayes, Jean-François Lapointe, Hèléne Guilmette, Jean-François Lapointe... 
  • Alcina [revival]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Christophe Rousset, cast: Myrto Papatanasiu, Sandrine Piau, Anna Goryachova, Patricia Bardon, Cyrille Dubois, Michal Partyka

February 2014:
  • La fanciulla del West [new production]: dir- Nikolaus Lehnhoff, cnd- Carlo Rizzi, cast: Nina Stemme, Marco Berti, Roman Sadnik, Claudio Sgura...


March 2013:  
  • Madame Butterfly [revival]: dir- Robert Wilson, cnd- Daniele Callegari, cast: Svetla Vassileva, Cornelia Oncioiu, Teodor Ilincai, Carlo Bossi, Scott Wilde... 
  • La Bohème [revival]: dir- Jonathan Miller, cnd- Daniel Oren, cast: Maria Ogresta/Angela Gheorghiu/Anita Hartig, Stefano Secco/Piotr Beczala/Massimo Giordano, Brigitta Kele/Elena Tsallagova, Ludovic Tézier, Ante Jerkunica/Nahuel Di Pierro, Igor Gnidii/Lionel Lhote... 
  • Die Zauberflöte [new production]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Pavol Breslik, Julia Kleiter, Franz-Josef Selig, Daniel Schmutzhard, Sabine Devieilhe, François Piolino,...


April 2014:
  • L'italiana in Algeri [revival]: dir- Andrei Serban, cnd- Riccardo Frizza, cast: Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Kenneth Tarver, Jaël Azzaretti, Tassis Christoyannis... 
  • Tristan und Isolde [revival]: dir- Peter Sellard/Bill Viola, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Violeta Urmana, Robert Dean Smith, Franz Josef Selig, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Janina Baechle, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Raimund Nolte


May 2014:
  • I Capuleti e i Montecchi [revival]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Bruno Campanella, cast: Ekaterina Siurina, Karine Deshayes, Charles Castronovo, Payl Gay, Nahuel di Pierro


June 2014:
  • La Traviata [new production]:  dir- Benoît Jacquot, cnd- Daniel Oren, cast: Diana Damrau, Francesco Demuro, Ludovic Tézier, Nicolas Testé, Cornelia Oncioiu... 
  • L'incoronazione di Poppea [new production]:  dir- Robert Wilson, cnd- Rinaldo Alessandrini, cast: Monica Bacelli, Gaëlle Arquez, Jael Azzaretti, Andrea Concetti, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Karine Deshayes...



_____________

Highlighted are the shows I believe could be interesting to see

7 comments:

  1. Oh, Lord, I hadn't seen the Traviata was by Jacquot...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ;)

      It's unfortunate but what can you do?!
      I saw Olivier Py will direct the new production of the Carmélites at the TCE ===> 3 new productions by Olivier Py in ONE year! That's wrong on so many levels. This is why too much from Carsen made many people cringe and now every new show by Carsen is booed by a fraction of the folks in the crowd.

      Delete
  2. Great to see La Gheorghiu is back in Paris! It's been a while!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It won't be at Garnier. She's supposed to sing at Bastille -- which makes it easy to predict that will probably sing only one show and will cancel the rest. I wish I will be proven wrong but from my experience...

      Delete
  3. The best thing about the new season is the ceiling of the opera house. Gheorghiu in Boheme? Pretty boring stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL :)

      Nah! There are a few interesting shows to see [those that I highlighted]. After comparing with what was going on at the Paris Opera for the last 2-3 years this is a huge improvement -- despite the deficit in contemporary or the 20th century operas.

      Delete