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

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

VERY good premiere of Das Rheingold in Paris

It's late to spill out the details but just a quick post to say that the opening night of Das Rheingold in Paris was very good. EVERY role was wonderfully sung and I do like the Günter Krämer's sense for theater, his great attention to details, his way to guide all the actors to participate in the dramatic action. In this show the singers never park & bark. Still, you'd like to see the director "crossing the line" every now and then... In this show that never happens. Although it has a leftist pretension [the idea with the Giants being the Unions works really very well] the show is pretty bourgeois ;) 
Well, a brilliantly portrayed Loge is an exception (the only place where the director steps an inch over  the line). 1 fun pic of Loge the cynic ;)

Loge - Kim Begley (superb singer and remarkable actor) 

Nite!

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...