The Met 2013-2014 Opera Cake No, it is not that the recently presented Met productions are worse than those presented before. It is just that the standards remained the same as they were in the 80s, 90's, 00s. Somewhat surprisingly The Met refused to embrace the change in opera by preferring to label as Eurotrash anything that would be a slight theatrical attempt to elevate opera to the new artistic heights. And so while the others moved on, The Met continued with the same old static, no-brainer, uninteresting shows created only to entertain the most conservative part of the opera aficionados [recent such examples that I could see were Il Trovatore, Don Giovanni, (Faust), Carmen, Capriccio, Boris Godunov, Maria Stuarda, ...]. There were attempts to cross the line and bring a bit of life to the creative process, and even though some of the new shows were really bad [e.g. Sonnambula, Ring, Armida] they revealed something important & positive -- that the house's artistic management wanted to take risks but was just too afraid to really go for it [instead of N snoozefests directed by Bartlett Sher,  they could have given a chance to a bundle of talent -- Thaddeus Strassberger (also American), for example]. In any case, even these failed attempts to create something new are to be preferred to the old mothball events such as La Bohème by Zeff... Happily, however, there are some rare but true gems  -- c.f. the new & currently running Parsifal (tomorrow in the movies!) The Met's 2013-2014 program  indicates a big improvement as it announces the arrival of two great directors: (a) Deborah Warner who will present her take on Eugene Onegin [with Anna Netrebko singing, the event should be a winner], and (b) the über-talented Dima Tcherniakov who will most probably be viciously booed for his staging of Prince Igor, but like all of his productions this will provide a breath of fresh air to the house. Yours Truly is tempted to go to NYC for  the premiere despite the fact that one show in the run will be live broadcast in the cinemas worldwide. You could nitpick about a few names missing in the casts but overall it is the top notch, as you would expect it to be from The Met's artistic management. September 2013: Eugene Onegin [new production]: dir- Deobrah Warner, cnd- Gergiev/Vedernikov, cast: Netrebko, Volkova, Beczala, Kwiecien, Tanovitsky / Poplavskaya, Maximova, Villazón, Mattei, Kocán Cosi fan tutte [revival]: dir-  Lesley Koenig, cnd- Levine, cast: Phillips, Leonard, de Niese, Polenzani, Pogossov, Muraro The Nose [revival]: dir- William Kentridge, cnd- Gergiev/Smelkov, cast: Popov, Lewis, Szot Norma [revival]: dir-  John Copley, cnd- Frizza, cast:  Radvanovsky, Aldrich, Antonenko, Morris / Meade, Barton, Antonenko, Orlov October 2013: A Midnight Summer's Night Dream [new production revival]: dir- Tim Albery, cnd- Conlon, cast: Kim, Wall, DeShong, Davies, Kaiser, Simpson, Rose Two Boys (opera by Nico Muhly) [new production]: dir- Bartlett Sher, cnd- Robertson, cast: Zetlan, Lynch, Coote, Eddy, Forst, Appleby, Bolduc, Miller Tosca [revival]: dir- Luc Bondy, cnd- Frizza/Armiliato, cast: Racette, Alagna, Gagnidze, Del Carlo / Radvanovsky, Tamura, Gagnidze, Del Carlo  / Matos, Giordani, Gagnidze, Del Carlo November 2013: Die Frau ohne Schatten [revival]: dir-  Herbert Wernicke, cnd- Jurowski, cast: Schwanewilms, Goerke, Komlósi, Kerl, Reuter Rigoletto  [revival]: dir-  Michael Mayer, cnd- Heras-Casado, cast: Kurzak, Volkova, Polenzani, Hvorostovsky, Kocán December 2013: Der Rosenkavalier [revival]: dir- Nathaniel Merrill, cnd- Gardner, cast: Serafin, Garanca, Erdmann, Cutler, Ketelsen, Rose Falstaff [revival]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Levine, cast: Oropesa, Meade, Blythe, Johnson Cano, Fanale, Maestri/Alaimo, Vassallo The Magic Flute [revival]: dir- Julie Taymor, cnd- Glover, cast: Stober, Shagimuratova, Shrader, Gunn, Shenyang, Owens  Die Fledermaus [revival]: dir- Jeremy Sams, cnd- Fischer, cast: Phillips, Schäfer, Costanzo, Maltman, Fabiano, Szot January 2014: L'Elisir d'Amore [revival]: dir- Bartlett Sher, cnd- Benini, cast: Netrebko, Vargas, Alaimo, Schrott La Bohème [revival]: dir- Franco Zeffirelli, cnd- Ranzani, cast: Kovalevska, Lungu, Calleja, Markov, Hopkins, Van Horn, Maxwell / Hartig, Rowley, Grigolo, Cavalletti, Carfizzi, Testé, Cokorinos  / Frittoli, Rowley, Grigolo, Cavalletti, Carfizzi, Gradus, Maxwell Madama Butterfly [revival]: dir- Anthony Minghella, cnd- Auguin/Armiliato/Luisi, cast: Echalaz, DeShong, Hymel, Hendricks / Opolais, Zifchak, Valenti, Croft / He, Zifchak, Hughes Jones, Croft Rusalka [revival]: dir-  Otto Schenk, cnd- Nézet-Séguin, cast: Fleming, Magee, Zajick, Beczala, Relyea  February 2014: Prince Igor [new production]: dir- Dmitri Tcherniakov, cnd- Noseda, cast: Dyka, Rachvelishvili, Semishkur, Abdrazakov, Petrenko, Kocán Werther [new production]: dir- Richard Eyre, cnd- Altnoglu, cast: Oropesa, Garanca, Kaufmann, Bizic, Summers The Enchanted Island [revival]: dir-  Phelim McDermott, cnd- Summers, cast: de Niese, Chuchman, Graham, Daniels, Costanzo, Domingo, Pisaroni March 2014: Wozzeck [new production revival]: dir- Mark Lamos, cnd- Levine, cast: Voigt, O'Neill, Hoare, Hampson, Bayley La Sonnambula [revival]: dir- Mary Zimmerman, cnd- Armiliato, cast: Damrau, Camarena, Pertusi Andrea Chénier [revival]: dir- Nicolas Joël, cnd- Noseda, cast: Racette, Álvarez, Lucic April 2014: Arabella [revival]: dir- Otto Schenk, cnd- Auguin, cast: Byström, Kühmeier, Saccà, Volle, Del Carlo I Puritani [revival]: dir- Sandro Sequi, cnd- Mariotti, cast: Peretyatko, Brownlee, Kwiecien, Pertusi La Cenerentola [revival]: dir- Cesare Lievi, cnd- Luisi, cast: DiDonato, Flórez, Spagnoli, Corbelli, Pisaroni 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

De Nederlandse opera 2013-2014 Opera Cake While mentioning the best opera houses in the world I forgot to mention the Zurich Opernhaus which now --under Andreas Homoki-- should be making strides of improvement. But this post is about those big opera houses that are steadily great, and superbly run by Pierre Audi -- De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam -- the house that I relatively frequently visit and love dearly. For 2013-2014 they are proposing a top-notch cast for the revival of their Ring des Nibelungen, but more importantly they propose five new productions, including Armide/Glück [one of my fave operas] directed by Barrie Kosky, and The Gambler staged by Andrea Breth, with Marc Albrecht conducting and the phenomenal John Daszak in the cast. Their new Faust might be very interesting too: a superb cast lead by the most exciting singer right now, Sonya Yoncheva; good guy from La Fura (Àlex Ollé) will  direct and always brilliant Marc Minkowski will conduct. The DNO production of Lucia di Lammermoor is one of a few that are worth seeing. Good news is that their show will be back on stage in 2014. Soooo.... September 2013 Siegfried [revival]: dir- Pierre Audi, cnd- Hartmut Haenchen, cast: Stephen Gould, Thomas Johannes Mayer, Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Catherine Naglestad, Marina Prudenskaja, Werner Van Mechelen, Jan-Hendrik Rootering October 2013 Armide [new production]: dir- Barrie Kosky,  cnd- Ivor Bolton, cast: Karina Gauvin, Andrew Foster-Williams, Frédéric Antoun, Sébastien Droy, ... November 2013 Götterdämmerung [revival]: dir- Pierre Audi, cnd- Hartmut Haenchen, cast: Stephen Gould, Alejandro Marco-Buhrmester, Catherine Foster, Michaela Schuster, Kurt Rydl, ... December 2013 The gambler [new production]: dir- Andrea Breth,  cnd- Marc Albrecht, cast: John Daszak, Nadja Michael, Georg Nigl, Pavlo Hunka, ... January/February 2014 Der Ring des Nibelungen -- two cycles March 2014 Lucia di Lammermoor [revival]: dir- Monique Wagemakers, cnd- Carlo Rizzi, cast: Marina Rebeka, Ismael Jordi, Marco Caria... April 2014 Arabella [revival]: dir- Christof Loy,  cnd- Marc Albrecht, cast: Annette Dasch, Agneta Eichenholz, James Rutherford, Will Hartmann, Marcel Reijans, ... May 2014 Faust [new production]: dir- La Fura dels Baus,  cnd- Marc Minkowski, cast: Sonya Yoncheva, Mikhail Petrenko, Michael Fabiano, ... June 2014 Laika [new production, opera by Martijn Padding]: dir- Aernout Mik,  cnd- Etienne Siebens, cast: local Falstaff  [revival]: dir- Robert Carsen,  cnd- Daniele Gatti, cast: Ambrogio Maestri, Paolo Fanale, Daniela Barcellona, Fiorenza Cedolins, Carlo Bosi, Maria Grazia Schiavo ... 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Teatro Real in Madrid 2013-2014 Opera Cake Together with La Monnaie/De Munt and a few German opera houses, and thanks to a remarkable work by Gerard Mortier, Teatro Real in Madrid is nowadays among the best --if not the very best-- opera house in Europe. For its interior it was the most beautiful opera house since quite some time, but now it is also artistically the most amazing opera theater we have around. Even though their 2013-2014 will begin with a mediocre production of Il Barbiere, everything that comes after that is brilliant. See below September 2013 Il barbiere di Siviglia [revival]: dir- Emilio Sagi, cnd- Tomas Hanus. cast: Dmitry Korchak/Edgardo Rocha, Serena Malfi/Ana Durlovski, Bruno De Simone, José Fardilha, Mario Cassi/Franco Vassalo, Dmitry Ulyanov/Carlo Lepore... October 2013 Die Eroberung von Mexico [new production, opera by Wolfgang Rihm]: dir- Pierre Audi, cnd- Alejo Pérez, cast: Nadja Michael/Ausrine Stundyte, Georg Nigl/Holger Falk, Carole Stein, Katarina Bradic, Stephan Rehn, Peter Pruchniewitz November 2013 The Indian Queen [revival]: dir- Peter Sellars, cnd- Teodor Currentzis, cast: Julia Bullock, Nadine Koutcher, Christophe Dumaux... December 2013 L'elisir d'amore [new production]: dir- Damiano Michieletto, cnd- Marc Piollet, cast: Camila Tilling/Nino Machaidze, Celso Albello/Ismael Jordi, Erwin Schrott/Paolo Bordogna... January 2014 Tristan und Isolde [new production]: dir- Peter Sellars & Bill Viola, cnd- Teodor Currentzis, cast: Violeta Urmana, RObert Dean Smith, Franz-Josef Selig, Ekaterina Gubnova, Jukka Rasilainen. Brokeback Mountain [new production, opera by Charles Wuorinen]: dir- Ivo van Hove, cnd- Titus Engel, cast: Tom Randle, Daniel Okulitch, Hannah Esther Minutillo, Heather Buck, Jane Henschel, Hilary Summers... February 2014 Alceste [new production]: dir- Krzysztof Warlikowski, cnd- Ivor Bolton, cast: Paul Groves, Tom Randle, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Willard White, Magnus Staveland... April 2014: Lohengrin [new production]: dir- Lucas Hemleb, cnd- Hartmut Haenchen, cast: Christopher Ventris/Micheal König, Catherine Naglestad/Anne Schwanewilms, Thomas Johannes Mayer/Tomas Tomason, Deborah Polaski/Dolora Zajick... May 2014: Les contes d'Hoffmann [new production]: dir- Christoph Marthaler, cnd- Sylvain Cambreling, cast: Eric Cutler, Anne Sofie von Otter, Vito Priante, Ana Durlovski, Maesha Bruggergosman... July 2014: Orphée et Eurydice (opera/ballet presented in Paris a few years ago, corr- Pina Bausch): cnd- Thomas Hengelbrock, cast: Maria Riccarda Wesseling, Yun Jung Choi, Zoe Nicolaidou 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Paris Opera 2013-2014 Opera Cake After a couple of really bad years at the Paris Opera, a glimpse over the 2013-2014 makes you think: OK, it's less bad than before. Revivals are more often than not well done in Paris, so I won't say much except encourage everyone to go and see a wonderful production of La Clemenza di Tito with a wonderful Stéphanie d'Oustrac, and the superb Warlikowski production -- The Makropulos Affair. I like Robert Carsen, but seriously... Out of 8 new production at the OdP, two of them [Elektra & Zauberflöte] are staged by Carsen, whose Capuleti and Alcina will be revived too! Olivier Py too is supposed to come up with two new production [Alceste & Aida]. No younger directors, no contemporary opera, revivals of the embarrassingly bad Cosi and Italiana... New Traviata by Benoît Jacquot will most probably be a tepid sellout  show [smt like the awful  ROH production by Eyre]... If we cannot be entirely enthused by the list of conductors, overall  --and modulo a few exceptions-- the lineup is good. I like the casts for the most part [YAY for Sonya Yoncheva and Jochen Schmeckenbecher!].  To stay positive, on the paper, it looks as if the operatic program at the ONP is improving. see below... September 2013: Alceste [new production]: dir- Olivier Py, cnd- Marc Minkowski, cast: Roberto Alagna/Yann beuron, Sophie Koch, Jean-François Lapointe, Stanislas De Barbeyrac, Franck Ferrari, Marie-Adeline Henry, Florian Sempey, François Lis Lucia di Lammermoor [revival]: dir- Andrei Serban, cnd- Maurizio Benini, cast: Patrizia Ciofi/Sonia Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo/Michael Fabiano...  Vec Makropulos [revival]: dir- Krzysztof Warlikowski, cnd- Susanna Mälkki, cast: Ricarda Merbeth, Atilla Kiss, Vincent Le Texier, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Andreas Conrad, Andrea Hill, Ladislav Elgr, Ryland Davies October 2013: Aida [new production]: dir- Olivier Py, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Luciana d'Intino/Elena Bocharova, Oksana Dyka/Lucrezia Garcia, Marcelo Alvarez/Robert Dean Smith, Giacomo Prestia, Sergey Murzaev, Carlo Cigni, Elodie Hache. November 2013: Cosi fan tutte [revival]: dir- Enco Toffolutti, cnd- Michael Schønwandt, cast: Stéphanie d'Oustrac, Dmitry Korchak, Myrto Papatanasiu, David Bizic, Lorenzo Regazzo, Bernarda Bobro. Elektra [new production]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Irene Theorin, Waltraud Maier, Ricarda Merbeth, Kim Begley, Evgeny Nikitin... December 2013: I Puritani [new production]: dir- Laurent Pelly, cnd- Michele Moriotti, cast: Dmitry Korchak /René Barbera, Mariusz Kwiecien, Maria Agresta, Michele Pertusi,  Wojtek Smilek... La clemenza di Tito [revival]: dir- Willy Decker, cnd- Thomas Netopil, cast: Saimir Pirgu, Stépahnie d'Oustrac, Tamar Iveri, Hannah Esther Minutillo, Maria Virginia Savastano January 2014: Werther [revival]: dir- Benoît Jacquot, cnd- Michel Plasson, cast: Roberto Alagna, Karine Deshayes, Jean-François Lapointe, Hèléne Guilmette, Jean-François Lapointe... Alcina [revival]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Christophe Rousset, cast: Myrto Papatanasiu, Sandrine Piau, Anna Goryachova, Patricia Bardon, Cyrille Dubois, Michal Partyka February 2014: La fanciulla del West [new production]: dir- Nikolaus Lehnhoff, cnd- Carlo Rizzi, cast: Nina Stemme, Marco Berti, Roman Sadnik, Claudio Sgura... March 2013: Madame Butterfly [revival]: dir- Robert Wilson, cnd- Daniele Callegari, cast: Svetla Vassileva, Cornelia Oncioiu, Teodor Ilincai, Carlo Bossi, Scott Wilde... La Bohème [revival]: dir- Jonathan Miller, cnd- Daniel Oren, cast: Maria Ogresta/Angela Gheorghiu/Anita Hartig, Stefano Secco/Piotr Beczala/Massimo Giordano, Brigitta Kele/Elena Tsallagova, Ludovic Tézier, Ante Jerkunica/Nahuel Di Pierro, Igor Gnidii/Lionel Lhote... Die Zauberflöte [new production]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Pavol Breslik, Julia Kleiter, Franz-Josef Selig, Daniel Schmutzhard, Sabine Devieilhe, François Piolino,... April 2014: L'italiana in Algeri [revival]: dir- Andrei Serban, cnd- Riccardo Frizza, cast: Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Kenneth Tarver, Jaël Azzaretti, Tassis Christoyannis... Tristan und Isolde [revival]: dir- Peter Sellard/Bill Viola, cnd- Philippe Jordan, cast: Violeta Urmana, Robert Dean Smith, Franz Josef Selig, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Janina Baechle, Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Raimund Nolte May 2014: I Capuleti e i Montecchi [revival]: dir- Robert Carsen, cnd- Bruno Campanella, cast: Ekaterina Siurina, Karine Deshayes, Charles Castronovo, Payl Gay, Nahuel di Pierro June 2014: La Traviata [new production]:  dir- Benoît Jacquot, cnd- Daniel Oren, cast: Diana Damrau, Francesco Demuro, Ludovic Tézier, Nicolas Testé, Cornelia Oncioiu... L'incoronazione di Poppea [new production]:  dir- Robert Wilson, cnd- Rinaldo Alessandrini, cast: Monica Bacelli, Gaëlle Arquez, Jael Azzaretti, Andrea Concetti, Varduhi Abrahamyan, Karine Deshayes... _____________ Highlighted are the shows I believe could be interesting to see 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Thank You Denmark Opera Cake For Borgen, for The Hunt, for A Royal Affair, for Adam's Apples, for Kapringen, for the insuperable actor Mads Mikkelsen, or the phenomenal Pilou Asbaek and Sidse Babett Knudsen, for the immeasurably talented Thomas Vinterberg, for Lars von Trier (who sees the deepest corners of the human soul)... Tak Danmark for saving film from the aggressive commercial mediocrity and socially/culturally damaging propaganda.  You're the island of hope! On the same note --but independently from Denmark-- thank you Michael Haneke for Amour. I'm halfway through Borgen S02 and it is enriching in more than one way. Excellent filming, acting, amazing intellectual content, decent depth of arguments, openness to the 21st century, and despite the main theme the fact that they resisted at every stage to dive into nationalism or cheap self-celebration is praise-worthy...  -- great great stuff: one of the best TV shows of this genre ever.   2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Les Contes d'Hoffmann on La Rambla Opera Cake The (re)new production of Les contes d'Hoffmann, directed by Laurent Pelly, is finishing its run tonight [Saturday, Febr 23rd 2013] at the Grand Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the brilliant Mezzo TV will be live broadcasting this last show to us. Pelly proved to be particularly doué for staging the works by Offenbach so this may well be a treat for all opera aficionados. Merci Mezzo! In addition to always excellent conductor, Stéphane Denève, the top-notch cast includes Michael Spyres, Laurent Naouri, Michèle Losier, Natalie Dessay, Kathleen Kim, Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Susana Cordón, Salomé Haller... Trailer: The show is about to start. In bocca al lupo to all the artists! Nathalie sings Antonia!? Allez, c'est parti! Before overture -- Crudele! (Donna Anna/Stella) -- I love It :)  Listen to Michèle Losier and her perfect French pronunciation! Many French singers could learn  from her.  Laurent Naouri -- brilliant as ever! Pelly's theater is to me a bit obsolete (too much musical theater for my taste) but the huge quality of his stagings of the works by Offenbach is a great musicality: every gesture, every movements of the actors, extras, sets, props... seems like choreographed. Good job! Spyres singing Il était une fois à la cour d'Eisenach with great stamina (et sans 'r' roulé). American tenors rule!  So far so (very) good! Tricky --Olympia-- parts coming! Rien de plus beau que la physique! :) Here comes Olympia! Les oiseaux dans la charmille  Brava Kathleen Kim! She sang the whole aria while pulled up and down by what we see only in the end is a crane!  Pretty Asian girl with a divine voice -- poor Hoffmann cannot not to fall in love with this... err... doll.  Michael is adding extra high notes -- Wowza! Superb Act 1! Excellent Denève,  brilliantly sung and very well directed! Intermission -- 30 mins. Let's hope Pelly will keep the level this high.  Marthaler will direct the new production of this opera in Madrid next year (2014). That's the one not to be missed. Talking about the other production, of what I could see so far the only truly amazing production of this opera is the one by Robert Carsen -- that you can find on DVD or here:  Ah so.... this production is in fact a re-creation of the original production that Laurent Pelly presented 10 years ago at Opéra de Lyon. Apparently they really reworked it thoroughly: spent 5 weeks rehearsing on the sets! Nice interview with Michael Spyres: to me he is a perfect voice for this super-tricky role. He's not shouting but has stamina to go big when needed. He's capable to bring the subtle emotional lines with unusual softness -- something no other Hoffmans today can do. Go Michael!  Act - 2: Elle a fui, la tourterelle Nathalie Dessay -- Antonia Nathalie sounds OK. From what I could read recently I expected her to be much in much less good vocal shape. Her last great singing was that Cleopatra at the premiere of Giulio Cesare in Paris.  Anyway, here she sounds good! Michael is a wonderful, wonderful singer!  Very nicely sung  duet! > 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Calixto Bieito is a genius! Opera Cake I'm watching the Munich production of Boris Godunov directed by Calixto Bieito --that I DVRed while I was at the theater attending the Martin Kusej show-- and it looks to me as a 'scary sequel' of his [Calixto's] take on Der Fliegende Holländer. I'll probably throw in a few paragraphs about this gem when I finish watching it but as of now I just wanted to unleash one more time "Calixto Bieito is a freaking genius!" He is a good man, humanist to the core, a man with a huge heart, with a big pair... , and with a subtle ear for every human state or emotion. I am also glad the Bayerische Staatsoper (BSO) finally scores a big show. The advantage of the BSO over the other big opera houses is that they're constantly trying to explore various theatrical styles, which means taking risks all the time. Unfortunately, several of their recent new productions fell flat, but this one grandly compensates for all those unhappy outcomes.  [I love the cast too!] I believe this is the first great BSO show since Mitridate [if I don't count The Ring]. So, congrats to BSO from their old fan! 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Good Shows Alert Opera Cake Mezzo TV will live broadcast the new production of Boris Godunov from Munich, tonight (Wed, Feb 20, 2013) starting from 19:00. The show is produced by Calixto Bieito (with Rebecca Ringst!) which should be a guarantee that the show will be a bright spot in the sea of mediocrity of what is currently produced in operahouses worldwide. The cast is good as ever (always high Bayerische Staatsoper standards), and his greatness Kent Nagano will be conducting.   The Perfect American, opera by Ph. Glass, was recently created at Teatro Real in Madrid [one of the top 3-4 Opera Houses in Europe today]. Christopher Purves --who we can never admire enough-- sings the role of Walt Disney and the rest of the cast is very good. Directed by Phelim Mc Dermott (to discover!), this opera to see was conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. Here are the links to Arte-LiveWeb and Medici-tv. La Monnaie/De Munt --a.k.a. the best opera house in Europe  [although Berlin, Madrid, Dresden, Lyon, Zurich... boast terrific opera houses too]-- completed the run of their new production of Manon Lescaut which is now available for free viewing on this link [until March 3rd].  Opportunity to see a show produced by Mariusz Trelinski (one more Polish talent!) OK, Puccini is cheesy with too much pathos to take, but that mixture is diluted by a high quality of direction and the superb singing by Eva Maria Westbroek and Brandon Jovanovich. So do give it a go!  Usually I would not encourage anyone with IQ>80 to go to cinema,  pay for one of very pricey seats just to see a broadcast --live from The Met-- of one of The Met's catastrophic recent productions (better go to a restaurant or donate to charity). A few exceptions happen, however, and those are usually the shows co-produced with Opéra de Lyon: The Nose, From the House of the Dead, and now Parsifal.  Although the cast is unlikely to match the brilliance of the show presented in Lyon, it should be brilliant too in its own way [btw, why do they push Kaufmann to sing Wagner?] and the François Girard production is truly great -- perhaps not the Castellucci kind of great, or the Herheim kind great, but great for totally different reasons. Daniele Gatti conducts! So, do try and go to your local theater and see this gem: live broadcast is scheduled for Sat, March 2nd at 18:00 (cet). From the Calixto Bieito production of Boris Godunov presented at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich Pour les parisiens: En ce moment --et pendant seulement quatre jours-- vous pouvez voir  Der Weibsteufel [Le diable fait femme] à l'Odéon Théâtre de l'Europe. C'est un spectacle mis en scène par Martin Kusej et la production vient du Residenztheater à Munich... A ne surtout pas louper! 2 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

Rigoletto aus Bayern Opera Cake In a little more than an hour time (at 18:00 cet), the Bavarian State Opera will live stream their new production of Rigoletto, produced by Árpád Schilling (excellent theater director who makes his operatic debut with this production), always reliable Marco Armiliato and a superb cast including Franco Vassallo, Dmitry Ivashchenko, Joseph Calleja, Patricia Petibon and Nadia Krasteva. Here is your link and the trailer plus a short film about the production is attached below. Árpád Schilling is an exceptionally good director whose name is very well known among aficionados of the contemporary theater. We were lucky to see his recent work at the Théâtre de Chaillot in Paris. He has that warlikowskian kind of talent (although th estyles are very different), with that special ability to combine various forms of scenic expressions in order to communicate with public, to invite the spectators to participate and shape up the emotional dimension of the story -- of the show ("happening")  And so when I saw that he was given to stage Rigoletto as his first opera production, I thought that was a very nasty gift to him from the BSO artistic management.  Rigoletto is one of those notoriously bad Verdi operas to bring to life. The storyline is messy, often incongruent and ultimately cheesy. This is why you need a good and well experienced director to pull it from the idiocy in which it always falls.  Of many productions of this opera that I was able to see only the one by Barrie Kosky at the Komische Opera in Berlin was excellent. Barrie has that talent to insert an element or two that connect the dots and make the libretto intelligible, plus he gave the story a frame that was working impeccably with the score. Calixto Bieito could be good for this opera. Schilling?! I am not so sure, but I hope he will manage to shake off the cheese and give life to this really bad opera (stagewise!).  Having said that, Rigoletto is a festival of tunes and almost all the newbies love the music of this opera. When sung well, it is a treat and this cast is more than promising! I was looking if there is any good production of this opera available on DVD and unfortunately there is none. The one that was broadcast earlier this year from the Royal Opera House was truly awful. David McVicar did what he does very well, i.e. he told the story as written in the libretto, and fell in all its traps. If you're interested to see it anyway (Grigolo and Syurina were particularly good!), it is available on YouTube (and with difft cast on DVD). I attach them here too:  Calleja should be smashing as usual -- this is his role. Patricia Petibon makes her debut as Gilda and I am sure she will be good. Most interesting will be Franco Vassallo who is one of the best living singers as far as the Verdi repertoire is concerned. Do pay attention to Sparafucile however: Dimitry Ivashchenko is one of the best singers I've ever listened to in a live performance. His voice is compelling both in smaller auditoriums and in larger venues.  OK, it's about to start... enough time to fill your wine glasses ;)  Hope the streaming will be glitchless. Allez, c'est parti! Good luck to all the artists! The timbre of Joseph Calleja's voice is particularly beautiful and he sings wonderfully. Bravissimo!  Here comes Dima (Monterone). The cast is really unbeatable. Franco Vassallo is killing it!  Show is good so far.  The first scene is the easy part of the libretto. It's with Gilda where the things become more tricky but it's the third act where it all falls apart. Anyways... Dima and Franco are superb! I officially am a Franco Vassallo fan! I like the subtle phrasing by Patricia Petibon and her delicate singing of the role so far.    No sex! Only a quick baccio on Gilda's cheek and  Gualtier Maldé runs away. Interesting...  more plausible, and more fitting to Calleja ;) Superb direction during Caro nome, and Bravissima Patricia! Nice decomposition of what's private vs. public and the fact that the boundaries get blurred with abduction of Gilda. Good work Arpad!    Rigoletto is like a tabloid journalist who --under the mask of "his job" feels-- entitled to destroy the intimate sphere of a public figure only to humiliat her (the crowd/readership always love this when it happens), but strips the mask when his practice hits his own daughter...   When talking about the extremely rare good productions of this opera I forgot to mention the much praised production of this opera by Jim Lucassen (not on DVD), an excerpt of which you can find here. Note also that the Deutsche Oper in Berlin will premiere their new Rigoletto in April 2013, with a brilliant Jan Bosse directing the show and Pablo Heras-Casado conducting. Our fave Lucy Crowe will sing alongside Teodor Ilincai and Andrzej Dobber. Part Two (Act 2 & 3) is about to start. Hoping for the best. I very much enjoy the singing so far. I just hope the Gilda's return/death will be staged in a plausible manner, to prevent the opera falling to its usual stupidity.  Beautiful legato. Bravissimo Jo Calleja!!!  Magnifico Franco! But what the heck is going on on the stage? Nothing I like the robe on Gilda. The same one in which the Duke has left the stage before Rigoletto arrived ;)  Singing remains at high level, but scenically the show is rapidly sinking, I'm afraid... Armiliato is rushing...  I understand the intention to make each character to appear lonely in this world in which the private is impossible to exist for public personalities, but the show becomes disjoint and almost dissociated from the score.  I also understand a huge danger that the director could fill the banality of the libretto with pathos (c.f. McVicar production), but that's where the good director should be able to navigate to avoid the traps and makes this opera a compelling theatrical experience (c.f. Barrie Kosky production). Arpad Schilling simply interrupted the theatrical action. While I appreciate that he prevented the usual idiocy on the stage, I am more than disappointed that he did not offer anything instead.  I want to believe that Rigoletto was a poisonous chalice for Arpad and he will exhibit the true colors of his talent in some better opera.   In any case, despite the fiery Armiliato, the singers made the evening enjoyable. Bravissima Patricia Petibon and her beautiful rendition of Gilda, terrific Joseph Calleja & Franco Vassallo! Congrats to the always great Dimitry Ivashchenko too.  And so, in the end, I'll say something that I usually loath (calls to recreate the past): Bring back the intriguing Doris Dörrie production -- a fancy mixture of the Star Wars and The Planet of the Ape!  4 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story

La Traviata Bruxelloise Opera Cake The World's best TV --Arte of course!-- will be live broadcasting the new production of La Traviata from the World's best opera house -- La Monnaie/DeMunt -- in a little more than an hour time [20:00 CET]. Andrea Breth, one of the most talented and most accomplished theater directors today, produced the show [I saw her recent Wozzeck and Lulu at the Staatsoper in Berlin (UdL) and loved them both immensely; I also saw (with some delay) her Kat'a Kabanova also staged in Brussels, that matched in quality the famous Christoph Marthaler production -- which should be by now in textbooks], Adam Fischer conducts the LaMonnaie orchestra, which will be a curiosity on its own [Fischer is huge in Mozart operas, and I can only guess the level of subtleties in conducting La Traviata],  and the cast looks exactly what you would expect from the incomparable Peter de Caluwe: the role of Violetta will be sung by a lesser known Simona Saturova, Alfredo by always passionate Sébastien Guèze, Giorgio by our top-fave Scott Hendricks, and the cast for smaller roles is quite delicately composed too. So, after two horrid live streamed production from the Munich Opera and tragic productions from The Met [live broadcast in the cinemas all over the world, unfortunately], here is the second super-promising show from Brussels that gives us hope that opera is not dead art [unforgettable production of Lulu in October was also produced at LaMonnaie/DeMunt]. Arte Live Web video is embedded below. Enjoy ;)     Bye the way, the fascinating production of Médée that we saw in Brussels last year arrived to Paris and is currently running at Théâtre des Champs Élysées. It's the Warlikowski production and it should be seen live, at the theater (his shows are always special events -- incomparable with what you can see in video).  Thinking of Andrea Breth, I should recommend you once again her production of Eugene Onegin that she produced in Salzburg 2007 and it is available on DVD. It's maybe not as fascinating and troubling as the Tcherniakov production, but it is the best among the rest. BTW, Stefan Herheim did a good job with that opera in Amsterdam (also available on DVD) La Traviata on DVD: there are many but very few are good. Konwitschny production is the most interesting to me, followed by the one staged by Willy Decker with the most fascinating Netrebko and Villazon singing their hearts out,  and the Sivadier show presented at the Festival in Aix en Provence last year. Unfortunately the amazing Marthaler production presented in Paris 5 years ago, with Christine Schäfer and Jonas Kaufmann, was not recorded but you can enjoy the video excerpts  on YouTube... I just realized that someone uploaded the whole Marthaler show on YouTube (YAY!) -- the sound sucks but hey!!!  This is what the Paris Opera should have recorded [instead of the catastrophic production of Le Nozze or even worse Andrea Chénier... but that's a different problem] In any case try and see this show [La Traviata by Marthaler] more than once, to catch the details. It is unbelievably well produced, directed, conducted, acted and sung. It's refreshing in every possible way... Oh yes, I LOVE Christine Schäfer! Interestingly, Robert Carsen --whose productions are often excellent-- failed with La Traviata (also on DVD). It's tepid, uninspiring and the acting is over the top...  Other productions that are available on DVD are bad or really-really bad (I did not see this one!)  Just saw on YouTube: the whole Trebs/Villazon show can be seen here, and a good example of how this opera should NOT be produced can be seen here. I was told that the Benedikt von Peter production of La Traviata was one of the best opera shows ever. It opened the 2011-2012 season at the Staatsoper in Hannover. It was innovative, troubling, different... and almost hypnotized the crowd. Nicole Chevalier sang the title role and was apparently amazing: Benedikt decided La Traviata is one-woman show and it was all about the psycho-analysis of Violetta. The action depicts what happens in the head of Violetta. Alfredo, Fiorgio, the orchestra and all other singers were placed behind the front-stage where Nicole Chevalier was delivering a performance of her life. For us who could not see the show, here is a little excerpt (to drool): OK, La Traviata from Brussels is about to start [10 mins delay]. In bocca al lupo everyone! Allez, c'est parti!  You can listen to the same opera on  Radio Classique.  Is it me or Simona Saturova looks and sings like Angela Gheorghiu 15 years ago?! Hope she acts better than Angie ;)  Attention to details: 100 francs bill to sniff cocaine!  Carole Wilson -- impeccable as ever! Simona Saturova sings very well. Hopefully we'll get to listen to her singing live.  Second Act is beautiful! At the theater it certainly feels much better (that's one big advantage of La Monnaie wrt the other opera houses).   Sébastien Guèze is scenically wonderful: he acts very well and his boyish looks add hugely to the credibility of Alfredo. So far he sings good too. Scott Hendricks is vocally the strongest so far. Excellent Act 2. I realize I still love this opera :)  Simona is good. Unfortunately I saw half of the above video of the Marthaler production with Christine Schäfer who killed the role of Violeta Valéry so it's hard to fully appreciate anyone after Christine.  Short break and time to recommend you two gems from Denmark: The Hunt (Jagten) by Thomas Vinterberg with outstanding Mads Mikkelsen, and the TV show Borgen that gained in popularity in France thanks to Arte. Superb Simona and Sébastien!  Good show.  Merci La Monnaie! 4 months ago | Comment | Tag | Read Full Story