Posts

Bellini - Beatrice di Tenda, at the Paris Opera

Image
ONP Bastille, Thursday March 7 2024 Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth. Production: Peter Sellars. Sets: George Tsypin. Costumes: Camille Assaf. Lighting: James F. Ingalls. Beatrice di Tenda: Tamara Wilson. Filippo Visconti: Quinn Kelsey. Agnese del Maino: Theresa Kronthaler. Orombello: Pene Pati. Anichino: Amitai Pati. Rizzardo del Maino: Taesung Lee. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: Franck Ferville/ONP In a recent issue of France's Opéra Magazine , Peter Sellars, interviewed during rehearsals, explained that he'd wanted to stage Beatrice di Tenda for 25 years, in particular for its contemporary relevance: ' Beatrice di Tenda asks these fundamental questions: what is a dictatorship? How does it work, and how does it manage to impose itself? Is it possible to oppose it with beauty and culture? Bellinian melody rises up as the most sublimely human expression, to counter brutal force (...) It is very important to stage Beatrice di Tenda at a time when

Adès - The Exterminating Angel, at the Paris Opera

Image
ONP Bastille, Wednesday March 6 2024 Conductor: Thomas Adès. Production: Calixto Bieito. Sets: Anna-Sofia Kirsch. Costumes: Ingo Krügler. Lighting: Reinhard Traub. Lucía de Nobile: Jacquelyn Stucker. Leticia Maynar: Gloria Tronel. Leonora Palma: Hilary Summers. Silvia de Ávila: Claudia Boyle. Blanca Delgado: Christine Rice. Beatriz: Ilanah Lobel-Torres (replacing Amina Edris). Edmundo de Nobile: Nicky Spence. Count Raúl Yebenes: Frédéric Antoun. Colonel Álvaro Gómez: Jarrett Ott. Francisco de Ávila: Anthony Roth Costanzo. Eduardo: Filipe Manu. Señor Russell: Philippe Sly. Alberto Roc: Paul Gay. Doctor Carlos Conde: Clive Bayley. Julio – Butler: Thomas Faulkner. Lucas – Footman: Julien Henric. Enrique – Waiter: Nicholas Jones. Pablo – Cook: Andres Cascante. Meni – Maid: Ilanah Lobel-Torres. Camila – Maid: Bethany Horak-Hallett. Padre Sansón: Régis Mengus. Yoli: member of the Hauts de Seine children's choir. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: Agathe Poupeney

Opéra Magazine's 'pick of the month' for March 2024

Image
  March 2024's 'pick of the month' (i.e. their ' Coup de coeur ') in France's  Opéra Magazine , with their top ' Diamant ' award, is: 'A model disc' (which makes a change from a 'reference'). 'On the eve of his first Lohengrin in Strasbourg, starting on March 10th, Michael Spyres devotes a recital to Wagner,' (called IN THE SHADOWS ) but from an unusual angle, showing just how much the composer owes to some of his German, French and Italian predecessors. A fascinating programme, with outstanding vocal and orchestral performances: an album to treasure.' It's with Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset, and includes arias from the likes of Joseph, Fidelio, Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra, Il crociato in Egitto, usw, on Erato.

Schönberg, Mahler, Korngold and John Williams by La Monnaie at BOZAR in Brussels

Image
BOZAR, Brussels, Sunday February 18 2024 Conductor: Alain Altinoglu. Baritone: Stéphane Degout. Violin: Saténik  Khourdoïan. La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra. Schönberg: Fünf Orchesterstücke , op.16 Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Korngold: Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra , op. 35 Williams: Harry Potter and the sorcerer's stone , suite for orchestra. I: Hedwig's Theme . II: The Sorcerer's Stone . III: Nimbus 2000 . IV Harry's Wondrous World . Alain Altinoglu rehearsing Parsifal in 2022 at the BOZAR. Photo: Simon Van Rompay The blurb for this concert on La Monnaie's website puts the emphasis on magic in music, saying it would be 'An ideal evening for both Wizards and Muggles.' (I had to look 'Muggle' up.) This is no doubt a clever way to draw people who might not normally go to symphonic concerts into one that opens with a work by Schönberg. But I think the programme could more plausibly be described as simply a small selection of wo

Händel - Giulio Cesare (Jules César, Julius Caesar) at Garnier

Image
ONP Paris Garnier, Monday February 12 2024 Conductor: Harry Bicket. Production and Costumes: Laurent Pelly. Sets: Chantal Thomas. Lighting: Joël Adam. Giulio Cesare: Gaëlle Arquez. Cleopatra: Lisette Oropesa. Sesto: Emily D'Angelo. Cornelia: Wiebke Lehmkuhl. Tolomeo: Iestyn Davies. Achilla: Luca Pisaroni. Nireno: Rémy Brès. Curio: Adrien Mathonat. Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris. Unikanti Chorus. Photos: Vincent Pontet/ONP This Cesare is a reprise of Laurent Pelly's 2011 production, which I wrote about at the time. For a description of his staging, click through here and scroll down to 'The production is a new one, by Laurent Pelly.' Having seen it again this week, I feel less positive about it than I did at the time. But (a little bit) more of that later. So now, all I have to do is write about the musical aspects. I have, however, an impediment. In the first act, every time Emily d'Angelo sang, her voice came with what in French would be called a '

Wagner - Die Walküre at La Monnaie

Image
La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday January 28 2024 Conductor: Alain Altinoglu. Production, sets, costumes and lighting: Romeo Castellucci, with Paola Villani (sets), Clara Strasser (costumes), Raphael Noel (lighting). Choreography: Cindy Van Acker. Siegmund: Peter Wedd. Hunding: Ante Jerkunica. Wotan: Gábor Bretz. Sieglinde: Nadja Stefanoff. Brünnhilde: Ingela Brimberg. Fricka: Marie-Nicole Lemieux. Gerhilde: Karen Vermeiren. Ortlinde: Tineke Van Ingelgem. Waltraute: Polly Leech. Schwertleite: Lotte Verstaen. Helmwige: Katie Lowe. Siegrune: Marie-Andrée Bouchard-Lesieur. Grimgerde: Iris Van Wijnen. Rossweisse: Christel Loetzsch. La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra. Photos: Monika Rittershaus / La Monnaie At the moment, I'm about halfway through Roberto Calasso's The Ruin of Kasch* (in a French translation, as usual when I can't easily read the original). Like Romeo Castellucci towards his audiences, Calasso is uncompromising in his assumption that readers will be adequately versed in

Opéra Magazine's 'Pick of the Month' for February 2024

Image
The pick of the month (their ' coup de coeur ') in the February '24 issue of Opéra Magazine , with the 'Diamond' award you might expect, is, I quote: 'Blessed Atys . The third complete recording on CD - and the third reference - of Lully's " tragédie lyrique ". After William Christie and Hugo Reyne, Christophe Rousset accomplishes a miracle, with the best Atys in the catalogue: Reinoud Van Mechelen.'  The recording also stars Marie Lys  ('delightful' and a 'tragic heroine with moving singing') and Ambroisine Bré ('nobility and charm incarnate'), alongside a 'team of thirty-somethings, perfectly balanced,' and 'Christophe Rousset is, here, at the pinnacle of his art.'