Wednesday, March 13, 2013

ROH 2013-2014

I did not mention the 2013-2014 season in GTL Barcelona simply because there was nothing really new or interesting to mention, except that the Dima Tcherniakov production of The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya --premiered last year in Amsterdam-- will be remounted in Barcelona, with our beloved Svetlana Ignatovich singing [plan a trip to La Rambla in April 2014! ]
  


As expected, Kasper Holten continues reanimating the Royal Opera House, and with his team they propose a very promising 2013-2014 season.
You cannot get rid of all the bad productions in just two years and so he kept the old disposable CarmenTraviataTosca...  on the program. Importantly, however, the pitiful Don Giovanni will be replaced by the new production staged by Holten himself. Amen to that!

One of the underrated Verdi operas --that I really like-- Les Vêpres siciliennes will be on the program in 2013,  directed by Stefan Herheim (no less!) The last show in the run will be live broadcast to the cinemas around the world.

New Parsifal directed by Stephen Langridge could be interesting too [curiosity factor = 80/100], and the Claus Guth production of Die Frau ohne Schatten is not to be missed: it comes from Milan where it was recently premiered and enthusiastically acclaimed by pretty much everyone.

Finally, Maria Stuarda will be intelligently staged (just hope Leiser & Caurier do not decide to make it too dark) and definitely worth a trip [Elena Mosuc will be missed in the cast though].

All casts look very good on the paper [happy to see that the phenomenal Alfred Kim will make his house-debut]. The only snag is that John Daszak (one of the very best opera singers today) is only proposed a tiny role (Aegistus in Elektra): that (English)man is a living treasure for any relevant 21st century opera stage -- he sings AND acts like no one out there.

 N.B. that Eurostar often proposes good deals to frequent travelers




September 2013:
  • Turandot dir-Andrei Serban, cnd- Henrik Nánási/ Nicola Luisotti, cast: Lindstrom/Theorin, Berti/Kim, Nakamura/ Pérez 
  • Le nozze di Figaro dir- David McVicar, cnd- John Eliot Gardiner/ Colin Davis, cast: Pisaroni/Esposito,   Crowe/Tilling,  Pokupic/Bonitatibus,  Maltman/Finley, Evans/Matthews
  • Elektra dir- Charles Edwards, cnd- Andris Nelsons, cast: Goerke, Pieczonka, Schuster, Paterson, Daszak



October 2013:
  • Les Vêpres siciliennes NEW dir- Stefan Herheim, cnd- Antonio Pappano, cast: Poplavskaya, Hymel, Schrott, Volle 
  • Greek (new opera) [dir- Michael McCarthy, cnd- Michael Rafferty, cast: Farnsworth, Thomas,  Silver, Winter]
  • Wozzeck [dir- Keith Warner, cnd- Mark Elder, cast: Keenlyside, Mattila, Siegel, Tomlinson, Wottrich]


November 2013:
  • Parsifal NEW dir- Stephen Langridge, cnd- Antonio Pappano, cast: O’Neill, Denoke, Pape, Finley, White


December 2013:
  • Carmen [dir- Francesca Zambello, cnd- Daniel Oren, cast: Garanča/Rice, Alagna/Lee, Priante/Smoriginas, Cangemi/Fox]


January 2014:
  • Manon [dir- Laurent Pelly, cnd- Emmanuel Villaume, cast: Ermonela Jaho/Pérez, Iversen, Polenzani, Miles, Mortagne, Shimell]


February 2014:
  • Don Giovanni NEW [dir- Kasper Holten, cnd- Nicola Luisotti, cast: Kwiecien, Esposito, Byström, Gens, Poli, Watts, Kimberg, Tsymbalyuk


March 2014:
  • Die Frau ohne Schatten NEW [dir- Claus Guth, cnd- Semyon Bychkov, cast: Botha, Magee, Schuster, Reuter, Pankratova] 
  • La fille du régiment [dir- Laurent Pelly, cnd- Yves Abel, cast: Ciofi, Flórez/Antoun, Spagnoli, Podles, Te Kanawa


April 2014
  • La traviata dir- Richard Eyre, cnd- Dan Ettinger, cast: Damrau/Pérez, Demuro/Costello, Hvorostovsky/Keenlyside
  • Faust dir- David McVicar, cnd- Maurizio Benini, cast: Calleja, Netrebko, Terfel, Keenlyside


May 2014:
  • Les Dialogues des Carmelites  dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Simon Rattle, cast: Kožená,  Prohaska, Bell, Koch, Polaski, Beuron, Allen
  • Tosca dir- Jonathan Kent, cnd- Teodor Currentzis/ Plácido Domingo (sic!), cast: Dyka/Radvanovsky, Alagna/Massi, Hampson/Catana


June 2014:
  • Ariadne auf Naxos dir- Christof Loy, cnd- Antonio Pappano, cast: Mattila, Archibald, Donose, Saccà, Werba, Allen 
  • Manon Lescaut NEW dir- Jonathan Kent, cnd- Antonio Pappano, cast: Opolais, Maltman, Kaufmann...


July 2014:
  • Maria Stuarda NEW [dir- Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, cnd- Maurizio Benini, cast: DiDonato, Giannattasio, Castronovo, Carpenter, M.Rose 
  • La bohème  dir- John Copley, cnd- Cornelius Meister, cast: Jaho/Gheorghiu, Filianoti/Grigolo, Werba/Cavalletti, Mihai/Lungu


2 comments:

  1. Your list leaves out perhaps the most interesting production of all, Tippet's "King Priam", but that's being done in the small Linbury, not the main theater.

    It's disappointing that while the ROH is doing "Gloriana" in June, there's no Britten on tap except for his musical "Paul Bunyan", again at the Linbury.

    As for John Daszak, maybe it was just a bad night or he was going through a bad spell when the live recording was made, but he's ghastly, just terrible, as Enrico on the one complete recording of Respighi's wonderful "La Compana Sommersa". Oh well....

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  2. Hi Henry! King Priam will not be mounted on the main stage which is why I omitted it, but you're right that this is the one to watch too!

    I also agree re- Britten. To me Britten is one of the very best 20th century composers and snubbing his work to mark 100 years on since his birth was a pretty bad decision.

    I also noted that none of the baroque operas is programmed for 2013-2014, which could be criticized too.

    HOWEVER, even with these small criticisms, and knowing that he had a hard choice to pick up just a few among a whole lot of anemic ROH productions, the program for 2013-2014 is magnificent!

    Only 5 years ago the Paris Opera was the best in the world, and look how the tables turned now: ROH >>> ONP. Way to go Kasper!

    Re- Daszak, I think every singer matures in his own way and his own pace. He was probably searching to find his niche and what I could see at the Vlaamse and at the Komische, the man is just unbelievable: he's theater! Look on the Internet and you'll see how everyone was in awe after his performance as Grishka in Kitezh last year in Amsterdam.

    He was chiseling his talent by working with various directors, conductors and several important theaters in Germany, and after several years he's now on the top of his game. Of course you would not cast him to sing Enrico, but Griska, Jim Mahoney, Peter Grimes, Golitsyn (or even Khotansky), Zwerg, and even Parsifal (!!) should suit him impeccably well. Oh well ... as you say ;)

    Cheers

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