Nixon in China opens at Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris

Nixon in China, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, April 10 2012

Director ..... Chen Shi-Zheng
Conductor ..... Alexander Briger

Richard Nixon ..... Franco Pomponi
Pat Nixon ..... June Anderson
Henry Kissinger ..... Peter Sidhom
Mao Tse-tung ..... Alfred Kim
Chiang Ch'ing (Mme Mao) ..... Sumi Jo
Chou En-Lai .... Kyung Chun Kim
Mao's 1st Secretary ..... Sophie Leleu
Mao's 2nd Secretary ..... Alexandra Sherman
Mao's 3rd Secretary ..... Rebecca de Pont Davies

Orchestre de Chambre de Paris
Choeur du Châtelet

Orlando Paladino-San: Too busy but fun

Orlando Paladino, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, March 19 2012

Jean-Christophe Spinosi ..... conductor

Kamel Ouali ..... director
Nicolas Buffe .... sets & costimes 

Kresimir Spicer ..... Orlando

Bruno Taddia ..... Pasquale

Anna Goryachova ..... Alcina

Ekaterina Bakanova ..... Angelica

Joan Martín-Royo ..... Rodomonte

Pascal Charbonneau .... Medoro

Raquel Camarinha ..... Eurilla

David Curry ..... Licone

Adam Palka ..... Caronte

O Schönheit at Théâtre du Châtelet

Cycle Mahler, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, October 27 2011

Daniele Gatti, Stephen Gould, and Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Conductor ..... Daniele Gatti

Contralto ..... Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Tenor ..... Stephen Gould

Violin ..... Frank Peter Zimmermann

Orchestre National de France

From LA, via Vienna, Il postino finally rings in Paris

Il postino, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, June 20 2011

Ron Daniels ..... director
Jean-Yves Ossonce ..... conductor


Plácido Domingo ..... Pablo Neruda
Charles Castronovo ..... Mario Ruoppolo
Amanda Squitieri ..... Beatrice Russo
Cristina Gallardo-Domâs ..... Matilde (Mrs Neruda)
Victor Torres ..... Giorgio
Patricia Fernandez ...... Donna Rosa
Laurent Alvaro ..... Di Cosima
David Robinson ..... Le prêtre
Pepe Martinez ..... Le père de Mario


Orchestre Symphonique de Navarre

ONF - Mahler 8

Symphony no.8 by Mahler, Théâtre du Châtelet, June 10 2011

Daniele Gatti

Daniele Gatti ..... conductor

Erin Wall ..... soprano
Melanie Diener ..... soprano
Kerstin Avemo ..... soprano
Christine Knorren ..... mezzo
Marie-Nicole Lemieux ..... alto
Nikolai Schukoff ..... tenor
Detlef Roth ..... baritone
James Morris ..... bass

Orchestre National de France (ONF)
Chorus of the Sächische Staatsoper Dresden (Pablo Assante)
Chorus of the Radio France (Matthias Brauer)
Maîtrise de Radio France (Sofi Jenin)

Der Video Messias

Der Messias,  Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, March 16 2011

Conductor..... Hartmut Haenchen
Director ..... Oleg Kulik
Video ..... Robert Nortik

Priest ..... Michel Serres

Tenor ..... Tilman Lichdi
Soprano ..... Christina Landshamer
Mezzo ..... Anna Stephany
Bass ..... Darren Jeffery

Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
Châtelet Chorus

Il barbiere di Parigi

Il barbiere di Siviglia, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, January 26 2011

Three protagonists of the show in Paris

Director ..... Emilio Sagi
Conductor ..... Jean-Christophe Spinosi

Il conte d'Almaviva ..... Bogdan Mihai
Figaro ..... Bruno Taddia
Rosina ..... Anna Stéphany
Don Bartolo ..... Tiziano Bracci
Don Basilio ..... Nicolas Courjal
Fiorello ..... Christian Helmer
Berta ..... Giovanna Donadini

Ensemble Matheus, Choeur du Châtelet

Talking about Verdi...

Requiem, Théâtre du Châtelet - Paris, October 22, 2010

Brauer, Zeppenfeld, Gatti, Meli, Gubanova, Stoyanova

Daniele Gatti ..... conductor

Matthias Brauer ... chorus dir

Krassimira Stoyanova ..... Soprano

Ekaterina Gubanova ..... Mezzo-soprano

Stuart Neill Francesco Meli ... Tenor

Georg Zeppenfeld ..... Bass

Orchestre National de France

Chorus of Radio France

Gatti conducts - Christine Schafer shines

Mahler's Symphony #4, Théâtre du Châtelet - Paris, June 17 2010

Christine Schafer

Symphony No.3 by Mahler: Daniele Gatti at the Théâtre du Châtelet

Last night at  the Théâtre du Châtelet I attended the 4th in the series of concerts spread over the period of 2 years with the Orchestre National de France lead by its musical director Daniele Gatti performing the full opus of Mahler's Symphonies.

And so it was the night of the Symphony No.3. This orchestra is definitely improving and in spite of a few tiny glitches they sounded great last night. Gatti is really a major asset to this orchestra and it was a very clever idea to offer him the job.

Sunday morning at the Théâtre du Châtelet: Ebène Quartet

 April 11 2010, Théâtre du Châtelet

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Divertimento nº 3 en fa majeur, K. 138
Quatuor en ré mineur, K. 421

Felix Mendelssohn
Quatuor en fa mineur, op. 80

Grace for Treemonisha

Théâtre du Châtelet, March 31, 2010

I couldn't resist the temptation and went to see the premiere of Treemonisha, even though I had a train for Stuttgart to catch very early next morning...

Since my previous post on Treemonisha something unpleasant must have happened at the Châtelet to explain the fact that the name of the director Mark Dornford-May was dropped out from the program. Blanca Li, who was originally supposed to be in charge of choreography, ends up directing the whole show, with a help of a french artist [Roland Roure] who basically drew a few sketches that were video-projected on the stage thus providing the background images for the show. 

 Stephen Salters, Willard White, Grace Bumbry, Adina Aaron, Stanley Jackson, Jacques-Greg Belobo

Conductor Kazem Abdullah
Director Blanca Li [ + Roland Roure ]

Treemonisha Adina Aaron
Monisha Grace Bumbry
Lucy Janinah Burnett
Remus Stanley Jackson
Ned Willard White

Simon Jacques-Greg Belobo 
Parson Alltalk Krister St. Hill 
Luddud Jean-Pierre Cadignan 
A Foreman Joël Ocangha
 

Waiting for Treemonisha

Did you know that the king of ragtime, Scott Joplin, actually wrote an opera? Well, I didn't!

The Artistic Management of the Théâtre du Châtelet had a good idea to program an opera by an African-American composer -- 1 year after the US elected the first African-American president: it will be Treemonisha by Scott Joplin. The 6-shows series of this new production will be premiered on March 31.

What to expect? To get an idea about the musical content, a DG recording is always helpful.

Maestro Gatti does what Mahler did 100 years ago

Last night was a positively crazy musical night in Paris. Look at this:

• the last show of this memorable Werther, with Kaufmann and Koch rocking la Bastille again
• Théatre des Champs-Elysées hosted the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightment lead by Vladimir Jurowski to perform the Beethoven's Symphonies 4 & 7
• Pleyel was singing with Philippe Jaroussky and Orchestre de Paris (I bet this is the material for his next CD)
• Garnier Opera hosted the Luc Bondy production of Idomeneo with Kasarova, Workman, Iveri...
• Salle Gaveau organized the baroque concert with Ensemble Orfeo 55 and Nathalie Stutzmann
• in Théâtre du Châtelet maestro Daniele Gatti (our fav) was conducting the Orchestre national de France -- the Symphony #2 by Mahler, a.k.a. the Resurrection [which is where I decided to go ;)]

Conductor Daniele Gatti
Soprano Camilla Tilling
Contralto  Marie-Nicole Lemieux

Orchestre National de France
Radio France Chorus

I thought the theater would not be that packed -- because of so many events  happening in Paris [and it was a Thursday-night], but I obviously underestimated the intensity of the Mahler-mania among Parisians ;) Even the staircases were crowded with people (many of them very-very young!).

Mira Norma, Paulina Pfeiffer steals the show

We're being really spoiled this January in Paris. Tonight (errr... last night - January 18), we had one more premiere: this time it was a brand new production of Norma in Théâtre du Châtelet.

The director, Peter Mussbach, threw in a clever concept to make this mediocre libretto acceptable to the 21st century audience. He, of course, got booed at the end by the crowd of belcanto aficionados. Like I always say,  good theater shakes up habits and it must be booed by some :)

Apart from the clever staging, a big winner of the evening was Paulina Pfeiffer, yet another superbly singing Swede who we discovered tonight in a wonderful Adalgisa. Next big dramatic mezzosoprano to follow! Lina Tetriani also stands out with her well sung and convincing Norma.

The Sound of Cheese

Le dernier spectacle de l'année à Paris est "La mélodie du bonheur". J'aime toujours autant le Théâtre du Châtelet [c'est beau, ça "sent" le vécu], mais un des plus moelleux-gimauveux spectacles jamais crées dans l'histoire de l'humanité - c'est trop.
Autre que d'accompagner Ellie, pour moi le seul intérêt était Sylvia Schwartz, superbe jeune soprano que Barenboim adore et qu'on a récemment écouté en Zerlina (splendide!) dans "Don Giovani" à Verbier. Bien sonorisée elle a fait son travail et a récolté des bravos du public 30% enfants,  20% parisiens-Américains-âgés qui murmuraient les nombreux tubes tout au long du spectacle.

Comme si la France n'avait pas sa "Véronique" - il a fallu importer "The Sound of Music"...