July 7: Die Sache Makropoulos in Berlin 2004

2004-07-07 Die Sache Makropulos (Janacek), Deutsche Oper Berlin

Emilia Marty = Anja Silja
Albert Gregor = Pär Lindskog
Vitek = Neil Jenkins
Kristina = Jessica Miller
Baron Jaroslav Prus = Steven Page
Janek = Yosep Kang
Dr. Kolenaty = Lenus Carlson
Ein Theatermaschinist = Slavtscho Kurschumov
Eine Aufräumefrau = Kari Hamnoy
Hauk-Sendorf = Ryland Davies
Kammerzofe Emilias = Kari Hamnoy

Marc Albrecht, conductor


LEOS JANACEK :: DIE SACHE MAKROPULOS
Premiere 24. Juni 2004
Musikalische Leitung Marc Albrecht
Inszenierung Nikolaus Lehnhoff
Bühne, Kostüme Tobias Hoheisel



Licht Mark Henderson/Jon Stevens
Chöre Hellwart Matthiesen

I liked this opera and the production, and I even got to see and talk to Anja Silja after the performance at the stage door. Wonderful photos did I take from the applause, and one great photo of Anja Silja at the stage door. But, helas, my newly bought 256MB XD picture card got a reading error, so I only saw my photos once at the computer, they were great, but to pay 2 000-15 000 NOK for a rescue of 6-7 photos... If I were a millionaire, yes, but I am not

July 6: Viva la opera, concert in Berlin 2004

2004-07-06 Viva la opera, Classic Open Air Berlin

José Cura, tenor & conductor
Montserrat Caballé, soprano
Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau
Golo Berg, conductor

PROGRAMME

01. Verdi: La Forza del Destino- ouverture (Anhaltische Filharmonie Dessau, cond. Golo Berg)
02. Verdi: Forza - duetto "Ah, per sempre" (Caballé & Cura)
03. Puccini: Manon Lescaut - intermezzo
(orchestra)
04. Puccini: Gianni Schicchi - "O mio babbino caro" (Caballé)
05. Puccini: Tosca - "E lucevan le stelle" (Cura)
06. Rossini: Il Barbiere in Siviglia - ouverture (orchestra)
07. Giordano: Andrea Chénier - "Come un bel di di Maggio" (Cura)
08. Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur - "Dal sultano amurato - Io son l'umile ancella" (Caballé)
09. Cilea: Adriana Lecouvreur - "L'anima ho stanca" (Cura)
10. Giordano: Fedora - duetto, "Ella fuggi" (Caballé & Cura)

PAUSE

11. Verdi: Otello - "Ave Maria" (Caballé, conductor: Cura)
12. Verdi: Otello - "Gia nella notte densa" (Caballé & Cura)
13. Leoncavallo: Pagliacci - intermezzo (orchestra)
14. Leoncavallo: Pagliacci - "Vesti la giubba" (Cura)
15. Massenet: La Vierge - "L'extase de la Vierge" (Caballé)
16. Bizet: Carmen - "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" (Cura)
17. Verdi: La Traviata - brindisi (Caballé & Cura)

Extras:
Cura sang 2 songs from the Boleros album
(Como novios & Esta tarde vi llover),
Caballé sang a quick zarzuela aria, and "Berliner Luft", and in the end Cura sang "Nessun dorma" from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini with Caballé on stage directed to her.


2004-07-06 Tuesday
Going to Berlin, not with SAS this time but with Norwegian (www.Norwegian.no). Everything went well, I found my hotel easy enough. I remembered from last time I stayed at Hotel an der Oper (that was in 2000, when I saw Agnes Baltsa as Carmen in Deutsche Oper Berlin).

More difficult, however, was it for me to find Gendarmenmarkt. The map given to me by the hotel concierge did not show Gedarmenmarkt, and then my concierge told me the faster way to get to this place, either I misunderstood her or not, I was walking quite a bit and got real tired in my legs, finally I realized that I was probably walking in the wrong direction (which usually when walking and looking at a map). When I in the end bought a map in which luckily Gedarmenmarkt was marked could I finally get a hold on where I was and "soon" I was at Gedarmenmarkt. It was almost totally veiled in a white cloth but at the ending notes of "Nessun dorma" in the veiled voice of Jose Cura, I was at the right point. After one round of walking around the Markt and standing there, I was now hungry and found that I must eat before the concert. Underground here and there. I ate Chinese food, and went back again.

First I saw one JCx members, then 2 at once. Then when I was at my seat there a whole road of members of the Cura Connexion. Splendid! I saw Montserrat Caballe with a white hospital stick, problem with her hip, I gather. In the concert she did not use it. I wonder if it had been easier to her to sing, if she could have leant to that stick. Anyway it was a wonderful concert. She of course was no longer the Queen of the velvety pianissimo anymore. Which was clear to anyone on some of the arias and duets but there was truly moments of exquisite beauty. Jose Cura was on the other hand perfect, only moment of inspection was in the beginning of the concert and it was simply because of the microphone, when that was sorted out it was honey all the way.

The orchestra and the conductor was wonderful in the Forza Ouverture the Barbiere Ouverture and the Manon Lescaut intermezzo. A true joy to listen too. After a momentous Forza del Destino ouverture, the duet from act 1, Alvaro and Leonora. Caballe's voice decline was obvious, jumping from notes, words that eloped, but together they were acting the moment of this difficult duet. Then the orchestra was playing the intermezzo from Manon Lescaut, it was soothing the soul. Then Jose Cura sang E lucevan le stelle, it was really amazing and emotional. Then Barbiere Ouverture, and Cura sang "Come un bel di di maggio", from Andrea Chenier. And another Verismo aria Montserrat Caballe sang "Io son l'umile ancella" (started with the rezitative? "Dal Sultano Amurato") not like Mirella Freni sang it but another kind of perfection. BRAVA!!!. Then a "mosquito" stopped Cura in the beginning of the aria "L'anima ho stanca", luckily with a bit of Coca Cola he could sing again, and it was another splendid Adriana Lecouvreur aria. And then the two stars sang Fedora duets that ends act 2. And then the first part ended in the right sentiment.

Part 2 Cura conducted Caballe in Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello. She did not sing the Salce-aria (Mia madre avea una povera ancella) that the program stated, it was wise. She sang the Ave Maria as a devout Catholic, it was heart-warming to listen to. Then They sang the love duet of Otello together. Then the orchestra started with the
intermezzo from Pagliacci and Cura came in and sang Vesti la giubba. Montserrat sang an aria from la Vierge by Massenet. Wonderful!! And continued in the French vein, Cura sang the Flower aria from Carmen. And the official program ended with the Brindisi from La Traviata.

Extras Cura sang two songs from the Boleros CD (Como novios, Esta tarde vi llover), Montserrat Caballe sang one Zarzuela aria (a real quick one), and the Berliner Luft. And in the end Jose Cura sang Nessun dorma, with Caballe as the receiver of all his vocal passion.

In the end of this wonderful evening, the JCx members ended in a cafe. In the end it was really night 0130, I think and I took a taxi to my hotel.

July 5: Otello in Munich 2005

2005-07-05 Otello (Verdi), Opern-Festspiele, Munich

Otello = José Cura
Desdemona = Barbara Frittoli
Jago = Sergei Leiferkus
Emilia = Hannah Esther Minutillo
Cassio = Raymond Very
Rodrigo = Kevin Conners
Lodovico = Maurizio Muraro
Montano = Steven Humes
Ein Herald = Matthias Wippich

Zubin Mehta, conductor

Otello

Giuseppe Verdi
Arrigo Boito



Conductor Zubin Mehta
Regie Francesca Zambello
Scenography and costumes Alison Chitty
Choreography Alphonse Poulin
Light Mimi Jordan Sherin
Chorus Andrés Máspero


This time I did not have just a standing room ticket, but I sat on the first row. And I could see everything. Naturally having seen this Otello before on July 2nd meant that there were no surprises. But this time I could see the whole stage and see what was happening deep down on the stage. It was a wonderful Otello on July the 2nd, and it was actually even better this time. Jose Cura's interpretation of Otello's agony is very physical even at the edge of portraying Otello as a psychological unstable person, very much in the way Cura did Don Carlo in Zurich. But nevertheless, it works. The Regie works, Francesca Zambello did another masterwork of Verdi's great Masterpiece Otello based on Shakespeare's Masterpiece. This would not have been surprising had one not seen so many of the masterpieces of Opera destroyed by the scandal- or ego-driven directors. This time Otello was Otello.

The conductor Zubin Mehta held everything in his hands, and Orchestra & Chorus and the whole Ensemble responded magnificently. Barbara Frittoli had her eye-twitching movements but sang and acted as the great Desdemona she is. Hannah Esther Minutillo was equally a total Emilia, blending and acting well in duets, ensembles etc. Raymond Very as Cassio did a very well indeed. I have read some criticism of Sergei Leiferkus' Jago but I do not think that is fair. He was a very good Jago, someone who you could believe that others would think him honest and true, his malice subdued.

Sadly I had to go before all the applause was ended because I had a train to catch, since this was my last opera in my Summer Opera Holiday 2005.

July 4, 2008: Edgar in Turin (Torino, Italia)

2008-07-04 Edgar (Puccini), Teatro Regio di Torino

Edgar = José Cura
Fidelia = Amarilli Nizza
Tigrana = Julia Gertseva
Frank = Marco Vratogna
Gualtiero = Carlo Cigna

Yoram David, conductor

Edgar

Teatro Regio, 25 Giugno 2008 - 6 Luglio 2008

Dramma lirico in quattro atti
Libretto di Ferdinando Fontana
dal poema drammatico La Coupe et les lèvres di Alfred de Musset

Musica di Giacomo Puccini

Prima esecuzione della versione originale in quattro atti
nella ricostituzione effettuata sull’autografo a cura di Linda B. Fairtile
con la collaborazione di Gabriele Dotto e Claudio Toscani - Edizioni Casa Ricordi


Direttore d’orchestra / Yoram David
Regia / Lorenzo Mariani
Scene e costumi / Maurizio Balò
Luci / Christian Pinaud
Assistente alla regia / Elisabetta Marini
Assistente ai costum / Alessandra Gramaglia

Maestri del coro e del coro di voci bianche /
Claudio Marino Moretti
Claudio Fenoglio

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Regio
Coro di voci bianche del Teatro Regio e del Conservatorio "G.Verdi"

Nuovo allestimento
in co-produzione con il Teatro Comunale di Bologna

The opera EDGAR by Giacomo Puccini was a much longer opera then I had thought. It was the 4 act version and according to the opera house it was with 2 intervals both 25 minutes and the opera was to end at 2330. It lasted to ca. 2345.

The only piece I knew from the opera was the tenor's aria from act 2 "orgia, chimera". It was a beautiful aria. The opera itself did not have many memorable musical moment except this aria. But here and there was Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Boheme melodies in it more raw form that was to be perfected in his later operas. The story of EDGAR was also flawed. No person became real person. Fidelia (the soprano) was simply just a good person, very true to Edgar. Tigrana (the mezzo soprano) had similarly just one level, she was simply only a seducer of men, provocative to others, egocentric. Frank, Fidelia's brother, was a good man inexplicable in love with Tigrana in the beginning and still a good man in the end. Gualtiero, their father, also good from beginning to end. And EDGAR himself, in love with two women, Fidelia for the purity and Tigrana for he seductive powers.

Act 1: Fidelia declare her love to Edgar. Tigrana mocks Edgar for being interested in pure love. She wants him back. Frank wants to know where Tigrana was, he waited for her. She doesn't want anything to do with him. Tigrana is acting provocative to the people of the village. In the end they want to drive her out of the village. Then Edgar comes in for the rescue. He is so angry with the village that he burns his own house and go away with Tigrana.

Act 2: Tigrana and Edgar has a castle with orgies going on all the time and gambling. Edgar is bored and wants out (Aria: Orgia, chimera). Tigrana will never let go of Edgar unless she herself is bored with him. Frank is a soldier now and his company visits Edgar's castle and now Edgar has found a way out as a patriotic soldier.

Act 3: Edgar's funeral except that Edgar is not dead, he pretends to be a monk. Frank tries to have a solemn funeral for the patriotic soldier Edgar. But the monk is making the crowd angry with his stories of Edgar's former life. The burning of the paternal home and running away with Tigrana, the courtesan. And his gambling and the orgies. The crowd is angry but Fidelia is telling the crowd that Edgar was not all that bad. And the crowd is no longer angry. But then Tigrana arrives pretending to be mourning Edgar. Edgar and Frank decides to out her as a liar. They used flattery and jewels and money. And then she agrees to tell the crowd that Edgar was thinking about deserting his country. Now the crowd is unstoppable and they open the casket but it is empty. Edgar reveals himself. And Tigrana is now proved a liar. And the village people is shocked by their own behavior as Edgar really was a war hero.

Act 4: Fidelia still thinks Edgar is dead. In a dream he has told her that she can be his wife in heaven. But the Edgar comes in and declares that first she will be his wife in the world. Beautiful love duet. Then Tigrana comes in and stabs Fidelia. Fidelia is dying while the village people prepare the wedding. Then Edgar comes back, he sees the blood. Fidelia can show her killer before she dies. And the END.

The production was beautiful and scenography was very natural, almost old-fashioned. The opera house was not full with people so the acoustics was not always the best. Amarilli Nizza was not the best voice, Julia Gertseva was better. Marco Vratogna and Carlo Cigni was really good as Frank and Gualtiero. And it was another triumph for José Cura as Edgar.


For more reviews from my travels, see www.operaduetstravel.com
If you want to see more photos from my OperaDuets Travels, go to www.operaduetsphotos.com

July 3: Verdi Concert in Berlin 2005

2005-07-03 Evviva Verdi (concert), Deutsche Oper Berlin
Daniela Dessi, soprano
Fabio Armiliato, tenor

Roberto Rizzi Brignoli, conductor

"EVVIVA VERDI"
Sonderkonzert mit Arien, Duetten, Chören und Ouverturen von Giuseppe Verdi

Musikalische Leitung | Roberto Rizzi Brignoli
Sopran | Daniela Dessi
Tenor | Fabio Armiliato

Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Arien, Duette, Chöre und Ouverturen aus
DIE MACHT DES SCHICKSALS - [La forza del destino]
DER KORSAR [Il corsaro] - MACBETH - AIDA - LUISA MILLER
DON CARLO - OTELLO - NABUCCO


Programme
1. La Forza del Destino - overture
2. Aida - Celeste Aida (Fabio Armiliato)
3. Macbeth - Tre volte miagola (chorus)
4. Macbeth - Ondine e Silfidi (chorus)
5. Don Carlo - Io vengo a domandar grazia alla mia regina (Armiliato - Dessi)
6. Luisa Miller - overture
7. La Traviata - brindisi (Armiliato - Dessi)

Pause
1. Macbeth - Patria opressa (chorus)
2. Otello - Dio mi potevi scagliar (Fabio Armiliato)
3. Nabucco - overture
4. Il Trovatore - Tacea la notte (Daniela Dessi)
5. Nabucco - Va, pensiero
6. Otello - Gia nella notte densa (Armiliato - Dessi)

Extra: La Traviata - brindisi (Armiliato - Dessi)

July 3rd. Inspired by last night I decided not to take the night train back to Munich but rather stay at Hotel an der Oper after the Evviva Verdi-concert in Deutsche Oper Berlin with Daniela Dessi & Fabio Armiliato. Unfortunately Dessi did not feel well enough to sing all the program that was decided, but lucky for us she sang most of it and very wonderful indeed. After the concert there were also signing in Berlin but here the queue was very orderly, and it looked nice. I got a chance to say to Dessi & Armiliato thank you for a wonderful Aida in Parma, too.

July 3: Josep Carreras in Innsbruck 1992

1992-07-03 Recital Jose Carreras, Kongresshaus Innsbruck

Josep Carreras, tenor
Lorenzo Bavaj, piano

ALESSANDRO SCARLATT Già il sole dal Gange
(1660 Palermo - 1725 Neapel) (Schon die Sonne am Ganges)

TOMMASO GIORDANI Caro mio ben
(um 1730 Neapel - 1806 Dublin) (Mein geliebtes Gut)

ALESSANDRO STRADELLA Pietà, Signore
(1642 Modena - 1682 Genua) (Erbarmen, Herr)

GIOACCHINO ROSSINI Valse lugubre (Piano solo)
(1792 Pesaro -
1868 Passy bei Paris)

SIR FRANCESCO PAOLO TOSTI Apri (Offne ...
(1846 Ortona - 1916 Rom) Vorrei morire (Ich mdchte sterben) L'ultima canzone (Das letzte Lied)
ASTOR PIAZZOLLA Milonga del angel (Piano solo)
(* 1921 Prov. Buenos Aires)

FERNANDO J. OBRADORS Del cabello mas sutil
(1897 - 1945) (Von feinstem Haar)

TATA NACHO Tengo nostalgia de ti
(1894 - 1963) (Ich habe Sehnsucht nach dir)
lntima (Innigste ... )

SALVATORE CARDILLO Core ngrato (Undankbares Herz) (1874 - 1947)

GRANADA

During a holiday in St. Johann in Tirol (Austria), after Vipiteno and shopping, we came to Innsbruck to our way back to St. Johann. I noticed some posters with Jose Carreras face on. With my camera I took a snapshot, and thought that would be it. Later on I saw more big posters, with the name of the venue, and decided to get a program or something, so I went to Komgresshaus Innsbruck, I asked also if there were any tickets left. AND IT WAS. 1000 Austrian Schilling, that I didn't have, rushed back to my parents, and then I got a ticket, and I had to take the train to St. Johann. Wonderful seat, wonderful concert. SOMETIMES one gets LUCKY!!!

July 3/1992
Kongresshaus Innsbruck
Jose Carreras, tenor
Lorenzo Bavaj, piano

July 2: Otello in Munich 2005

2005-07-02 Otello (Verdi), Opern-Festspiele, Munich

Otello = José Cura
Desdemona = Barbara Frittoli
Jago = Sergei Leiferkus
Emilia = Hannah Esther Minutillo
Cassio = Raymond Very
Rodrigo = Kevin Conners
Lodovico = Maurizio Muraro
Montano = Steven Humes
Ein Herold = Matthias Wippich

Zubin Mehta, conductor

Regie Francesca Zambello
Scenography and costumes Alison Chitty
Choreography Alphonse Poulin
Light Mimi Jordan Sherin
Chorus Andrés Máspero



From Verona, Parma, and Torino when I had seen Aida, Werther and Nabucco I was on my way to Berlin. Had planned to take the night train to Berlin from Munich. But knowing that Jose Cura would sing Otello in Munich I decided to try my luck for a ticket in Munich, knowing that it was all sold out, hoping that somebody would be having an extra ticket. And I was at the Theatre 10 minutes before Otello was starting. 5 minutes before 19 I had my ticket for standing room only. It was a hot day and I was already quite tired, but luckily it was a bar to hang on there and I was so happy it had one pause of 30 minutes to sit and drink a little. It was heavy air to stand there and hot. It was a wonderful Otello and I could see the whole stage of course something's was not so visible if I bent down a bit I could see the subtitles.

It was a Francesca Zambello production and it was a the most wonderful Otello production seen until then. All in splendid form. Jose Cura, Barbara Frittoli was wonderful as Otello and Desdemona. Leiferkus was great as Jago. Cassio was also wonderful. Emilia was a dream. It was a dream Otello.

And after the opera Jose Cura was signing. Long was the wait, and unruly the queue. But he came and so many JCx friends were there. And after all this, a late dinner for JCx in a nearby Stube. At 1 the Stube had to close and so I had to find a hotel for the rest of the night, and I found it close to Hauptbahnhof.

July 1: Nabucco in Verona 2005

2005-07-01 Nabucco (Verdi), Arena di Verona

Nabucco = Leo Nucci
Ismaele = Nazzareno Antinori
Zaccaria = Giacomo Prestia
Abigaille = Susan Neves
Fenena = Tiziana Carraro
High Priest of Belo =
Francesco Palmieri
Abdallo = Luca Casalin
Anna = Cristina Pastorello

Vjekoslav Sutej, conductor

Arena
1 July 2005 - 21.15



Nabucco


Dramma lirico in 4 acts by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Temistocle Solera


PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR Vjekoslav Sutej


DIRECTOR Graziano Gregori
SCENOGRAPHER Graziano Gregori
COSTUME DESIGNER Carla Teti





Lucky for me it did not rain in the evening of Nabucco. It had been raining on June 29 and even thunders and lightning, the next day not so much. on July 1rst it was raining from the morning and then stopped. But in the evening the clouds again looked heavy, and when I came to Verona with the Opera Bus the clouds were hanging heavily and dark over the Arena. Then the time neared for Nabucco to start, suddenly the sky was clear.

The conductor Sutej was a wonderful opera conductor but although the overture was wonderful I remembered Jose Cura and his conducting of this overture as superior. This was a wonderful production but still even with Leo Nucci being a fantastic Nabucco an everything being quite OK I found the Nabucco in the Arena was no match to the Nabucco I have seen in Vienna State Opera. Susan Neves was an energic Abigaille who acted and sung with aplomb. Fenena and Ismaele was good enough, a true mezzo as Fenena was usual (I found) but wonderful. Giacomo Prestia was a good Zaccaria. But I missed the Vienna production that brought me to the heart of the matter in this opera, here I was on the outside looking in. The Va pensiero chorus was dacapo'ed. The audience loved it, and was especially fond of Leo Nucci, Giacomo Prestia and Susan Neves.

But whereas Miroslaw Dvorsky as Ismaele and Eliane Coelho as Abigaille in Vienna 2002 was something to remember, they were great, Nabucco in the Arena was more a big fuss than an opera.

Nabucco might seem perfect for an arena with its big chorus's but that makes the drama harder to unfold where as the intimacy of an opera house makes it more an emotional tour.

June 30: La Boheme in Verona 2007

2007-06-30 La Boheme (Puccini), Arena di Verona

Rodolfo = Marcello Giordani
Mimì = Tamar Iveri
Marcello = Gabriele Viviani
Musetta = Donata D'Annunzio Lombardi
Colline = Marco Spotti
Alcindoro = Angelo Nardinocchi
Schaunard = Fabio Previati
Benoit = Graziano Polidori
Parpignol = Carlo Bosi
A customs official = Federico Longhi

Lü Jia, conductor

La Bohème


Opera in 4 acts by
Giacomo Puccini
Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa e Luigi Illica

opera and synopsis


Arena
30 June 2007 at 21.15
Season Tickets


Principal Conductor Lü Jia
Director Arnaud Bernard
Scenographer William Orlandi
Costume Designer William Orlandi
Choir Master Marco Faelli
Lighting Designer Paolo Mazzon
Director of stage design Giuseppe De Filippi Venezia



Orchestra, Chorus and technicians
from the Arena di Verona

Another fine day in Verona, Italy. Problem with Arena di Verona and La Boheme, is that the stage is huge, and that this opera is more of a intimate romance. Of course act 2 is a great, big scene with lots of people. But this problem was a Zeffirelli-like production, huge and the little people got lost. Not being able to find out right a way Rodolfo and Mimi was a disappointment. Zeffirelli would not have made that fault, I believe. he would have a way to highlight the important people in the opera. Act 1 + 4, all action in a tiny bit of the stage, in the middle. But the Arena is so big why did the director not make the attic of the artists, Marcello and Rodolfo, huge using most of the arena stage area.

Other problems was for me all the circus of act2, people blowing fires from their mouth. Just a show that made it difficult to get the real operatic action... And act 3, very bad, hated the bicycles thing. Here we are supposed to see peasant woman at the customs controlling their bread, milk cans etc. The bicycling was just a circus thing... And act 4, when the guys are pretending to be at a ball. Here they were not dancing, they were drying up laundry and playing with that, Gavotta, Pavanella, Fandango... no dance.

The singers, orchestra was all great and the production was not all bad, just not quite right and Arena was not the right place

June 30: Carmen in Vienna 2003

2003-06-30 Carmen (G. Bizet), Wiener Staatsoper

Carmen = Agnes Baltsa
Don José = Julian Gavin
Escamillo = Ildar Abdrazakov
Micaëla = Roxana Briban
Frasquita = Simina Ivan
Mercédès = Cornelia Salje
Zuniga = Goran Simic
Moralès = Yu Chen
Remendado = Walter Pauritsch
Dancaïro = Hans Peter Kammerer
Lillas Pastia = Csaba Markovits

Vjekoslav Sutej, conductor

Wlener Staatsoper
Montag, 30. juni 2003
114. Aufführung in dieser Inszenierung

Carmen
Oper in vier Akten von Henri Meilhac und Ludovic Halévy nach einer Novelle von Prosper Mérimée
Musik von Georges Bizet

Dirigent Vjekoslav Sutej
Inszenierung und
Bühnenbild Franco Zeffirelli
KostümeLeo Bei
Choreographie Rafael de Cordova
Chorleitung Ernst Dunshirn


Tänze Patricia Sollak
Rudolf Wächter
Christoph Wenzel
und das Corps de ballet
.
Micaëla Roxana Briban Debüt an der Wiener Staatsoper

Carmen in Wiener Staatsoper 30.6.2003 again with Julian Gavin and Agnes Baltsa. New Micaela = Roxana Briban (first time in Vienna State Opera). A really another Carmen, of course it is still the same Zeffirelli production, but a lot of small and not so small changes in the interpretation. A much better performance, but a cooler audience I think, but totally extatic in the end. This Micaela is really a young girl from the country 16/17 year old as the libretto states, or at least in the full dialogue
version, but this is still a minimal dialogue version most of the opera. She is very young and innocent, wonderful voice and acting of Roxana Briban. I have found out what is wrong with Julian Gavin and his singing, I think it is the dynamics, his voice often looses his strength, his French pronunciation is a bit better today. Agnes
Baltsa is the most fiery Carmen. This time she do get an applause after the 3 act aria, even though she is awfully quick in saying "eh bien" after the aria, usually we have no time to applaud the opera just go on quickly. I wish I really could describe this Carmen, especially all the the changes in not only interpretation, where
Carmen is on stage, but also some changes in the dialogue. And it is the last opera performance in Wiener Staatsoper for the season 2002/2003. I got the new program in my hands. And is a wonderful end of the season, and also the last opera in this travel.

I waited too long at the stage door thinking Agnes Baltsa would appear. And then I walked quickly the Kärtnerstrasse up to U-Bahn Stephanplatz and took U-Bahn to Westbahnhof, my luggage out of the locker, and was just in time to see the train leave the station building.