Don Giovanni in Paris: Peter Mattei, Bernard Richter, Philippe Jordan... and übertalented Michael Haneke

Don Giovanni, Opéra Bastille in Paris, March 15 2012

Bernard Richer, Véronique Gens, Peter Mattei, Philippe Jordan, Patricia Petibon, David Bizic

Michael Haneke ..... director
Philippe Jordan ..... conductor


Peter Mattei ..... Don Giovanni
Paata Burchuladze ..... Il Commendatore
Patricia Petibon ..... Donna Anna
Bernard Richter ..... Don Ottavio
Véronique Gens ..... Donna Elvira
David Bizic ..... Leporello
Nahuel Di Pierro ..... Masetto
Gaëlle Arquez ..... Zerlina

Orchestre et choeur de l'Opéra national de Paris

One more Christmas gift to traditionalists: La Forza del Destino from Paris

I said I would not blog about the sad-sad production of La Forza del Destino, recently premiered at the Paris Opera, but since the video-links of the show appeared and the run of this appalling production is over, I'll just put in my two sentences and let you enjoy or "enjoy" this thing.

Curtain calls after the show on November 17 2011 at Opéra Bastille: Vladimir Stoyanov, Philippe Jordan, Patrick Marie Aubert, Violeta Urmana, Zoran Todorovich, Kwangchul Youn, Nadia Krasteva [the best soloist, Nicola Alaimo, not in the photo]

In all honesty, I went to see this show hoping it would change my too strong opinion about this opera --one of the dumbest operas of all times-- and that I'd find a way to convince myself that, musically, this opera was indeed one of the greatest works done by Giuseppe, as the numerous Verdi aficionados often suggest.

While I knew nothing would change the incongruities of the libretto, and that this kind of staging would only emphasize them, I thought the performers would make this giant snoozer miraculously enjoyable.  Hélas, hélas!

Kwangchul Youn was obviously fantastic and Nicola Alaimo excellent, but all in all I spent 5 very long hours [2 intermissions] fighting the snooze-balloons, survived them all, only to hear "Pace, pace mio Dio!" and say -- Never Again!

Twilight of The Paris Ring

(Die) Götterdämmerung [Le crépuscule des dieux], Opéra Bastille in Paris, June 3 2011

Director ..... Günter Krämer 

Conductor ..... Philippe Jordan

Torsten Kerl ..... Siegfried
Iain Paterson ..... Gunther
Peter Sidhom ..... Alberich
Hans-Peter König ..... Hagen
Katarina Dalayman ..... Brünnhilde
Christiane Libor ..... Gutrune, 3rd Norn
Sophie Koch ..... Waltraute
Nicole Piccolomini ..... 1st Norn, Flosshilde
Caroline Stein ..... Woglinde
Daniela Sindram ..... Wellgunde

Orchestre et Choeur de l’Opéra national de Paris

Siegfried in Paris on weed

Siegfried, Opéra Bastille in Paris, March 6 2011

Günter Krämer ..... Director

Philippe Jordan ..... Conductor

Torsten Kerl, Christian Voigt ..... Siegfried

Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke ..... Mime

Juha Uusitalo, Egil Silins  ..... Der Wanderer

Peter Sidhom ..... Alberich

Stephen Milling ..... Fafner

Qiu Lin Zhang ..... Erda

Elena Tsallagova ..... Waldvogel

Brigitte Pinter, Katarina Dalayman ..... Brünnhilde

Paris Opera Orchestra

Ariadne auf Naxos in Paris

Ariadne auf Naxos, Opéra National de Paris (Bastille), December 22 2010

Philippe Jordan ..... Conductor

Laurent Pelly ..... Staging and costumes

Franz Mazura ..... Der Haushofmeister

Martin Gantner ..... Ein Musiklehrer

Sophie Koch ..... Der Komponist

Stefan Vinke ..... Der Tenor (Bacchus)

Xavier Mas ..... Ein Tanzmeister

Vladimir Kapshuk ..... Ein Perückenmacher

Jane Archibald ..... Zerbinetta

Ricarda Merbeth ..... Primadonna (Ariadne)

Elena Tsallagova ..... Najade

Diana Axentii ..... Dryade

Yun Jung Choi ..... Echo

Edwin Crossley-Mercer ..... Harlekin

François Piolino ..... Scaramuccio

François Lis ..... Truffaldino

Michael Laurenz ..... Müller Brighella

Paris Opera Orchestra

A kékszakállú herceg vára: from Petra Lang with love

Bluebeard's Castle (in concert), Pleyel, Paris, June 4 2010

Petra the Great

Philippe Jordan conducted Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, while our fave Petra Lang sang the role of Judith, and Peter Fried was Bluebeard. Did we like it?

Die Walküre ride in Paris: supreme singing in a wonderful production by Günter Krämer

Die Walküre, Opéra National de Paris - Opéra Bastille, May 31

Philippe Jordan Conductor

Günter Krämer Director

Robert Dean Smith Siegmund

Günther Groissböck Hunding

Falk Struckmann Thomas Johannes Mayer Wotan

Ricarda Merbeth Sieglinde

Katarina Dalayman Brünnhilde

Yvonne Naef Fricka

Marjorie Owens Gerhilde

Gertrud Wittinger Ortlinde

Silvia Hablowetz Waltraute

Wiebke Lehmkuhl Schwertleite

Barbara Morihien Helmwige

Helene Ranada Siegrune

Nicole Piccolomini Grimgerde

Atala Schöck Rossweisse 

Gertrud Wittinger Ortlinde

The Paris Ring: Das Rheingold

 Opéra Bastille, March 4, 2010

PHILIPPE JORDAN Conductor

GÜNTER KRÄMER Director

FALK STRUCKMANN  Wotan

SAMUEL YOUN Donner

MARCEL REIJANS Froh

KIM BEGLEY Loge

PETER SIDHOM Alberich

WOLFGANG ABLINGER-SPERRHACKE Mime

IAIN PATERSON Fasolt

GÜNTHER GROISSBÖCK Fafner

SOPHIE KOCH Fricka

ANN PETERSEN Freia

QIU LIN ZHANG Erda

CAROLINE STEIN Woglinde

DANIELA SINDRAM Wellgunde

NICOLE PICCOLOMINI Flosshilde

The Paris Ring: Rhein-ball [dress rehearsal]

I attended the final dress rehearsal last night. In this post I share some points about the production without talking about the vocal qualities of the singers nor about the orchestra -- as this show still carried a tag "rehearsal".

Das Rheingold (L'Or du Rhin) will be premiered coming Thursday, March 4, and Yours Truly has the ticket :)

So what's the Krämer's Ring about?

The Paris Ring - Countdown

The Paris Ring will officially start with the premiere of Das Rheingold on March 4, 2010. There will be 8 shows of the prologue-opera in March, followed by 9 shows of Die Walküre, which will open on May 30. The two remaining operas will be presented in 2011.

This better be a success because this season at the Paris Opera was quite bad so far -- with an exception of the wonderfully sung Werther. There were several excellent shows in Paris but they were all presented either at the Opéra Comique, or Châtelet or even at Théâtre des Champs Elysées, but not at the main Opera Houses (Bastille and Garnier). 

It is of course hard to predict anything about this Ring, but on the paper it looks very good to me: the cast is strong enough, the conductor is extremely good, Philippe Jordan, and hopefully the director Günter Krämer will come up with an interesting concept.

In a relatively long interview --published in the Paris Opera magazine "En Scène!"-- he [G. Krämer] gives a few hints...