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

Amadis de Gaule by J.C.Bach at Opéra Comique in Paris

Amadis de Gaule, Opéra Comique in Paris, January 2 2012

Conductor ..... Jérémie Rhorer
Director ..... Marcel Bozonnet


Amadis ..... Philippe Do
Oriane ..... Hélène Guilmette
Arcabonne ..... Allyson McHardy
Arcalaüs ..... Franco Pomponi
Urgande, 1st Coryphaeus ..... Julie Fuchs
La Discorde, 2nd Coryphaeus ..... Alix Le Saux
La Haine, L’Ombre d’Ardan Canil ..... Peter Martinčič*
Soprano solo ..... Ana Dežman*
Tenor solo ..... Martin Sušnik*
*soloistes of the Chorus of SNG Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Compagnie de danse Les Cavatines (Natalie van Parys)
Le Cercle de l’Harmonie

Alagna 2.0

A few years back, following the infamous 'Radames incident' at La Scala, Roberto Alagna seemed to be vocally tired. Many critics were busy making sarcastic comments about his flirt with crossover, insisting that his best singing years were long behind us...

Alagna as Rodrigue in Le Cid produced at Opéra Marseille [photo R. Terzian]

Whatever the routine change Roberto's made in his vocal training, the result is that he definitely regained the full beauty of his voice [In your face critics!]

The other day we could see on Mezzo TV the premiere of a new production of Le Cid --a rarely staged opera by Massenet-- live broadcast from Marseille, with Roberto in the role of Rodrigue.

Apart from being a rarity, the show itself was totally uninteresting: the stage design was good but most of the stage action was reduced to a bunch of people standing and pointlessly staring at Rodrigue, Chimène and the King (excellent Franco Pomponi btw), just like in the pic above. In short: Naive met uninspiring!

However, Alagna actually made the evening interesting as he sang one of his best roles so far (and the role is very tough). There are in fact two famous arias in that opera, one of which is "O Souverain, Ô Juge, Ô Père" that Roberto killed that night. See video below.