March 11, 2007: Le Villi in Genova

2007-03-11 Le Villi (Puccini), Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova

Roberto = José Cura
Anna = Fiorenza Cedolins
Guglielmo Wulf = Gabriele Viviani

Riccardo Frizza, conductor



Le Villi
Opera-ballo in due atti di Ferdinando Fontana,
musica di Giacomo Puccini.
In forma semiscenica

Teatro Carlo Felice

Spettacoli correlati:

L'opera è preceduta dalla Sinfonia n. 1 in re minore op. 75 di Martucci


Direttore Riccardo Frizza

Prima: mercoledì 7 marzo 2007, 20.30 (A)
Repliche: venerdì 9 marzo, 20.30 (B)
domenica 11 marzo, 15.30 (C)

This was a strange day, check-out from hotel, and having to get a train after the opera. But this was the best performance, I doubt the 2007-03-07 performance was better (I was not there, but Rai Radio was there and it was transmitted on radio).

What was the difference: No glasses for Jose Cura this time. He was FREE and could really ACT out as Roberto which also meant that Fiorenza Cedolins would be able to react as the fine actress she is. Gabriele Viviani was still a bit wooden but as the old Babbo Guglielmo it was easily forgiven, his voice was all that matters, but there is only so much to do when it is a concert and your part is really small.

Teatro Carlo Felice is really a fine theater but all the same I was sitting too close to people who do not understand that chatting is not permitted during an opera or concert. It did not completely destroy my opera evenings, but it did not make me happy. And these was not young people who did not no better... Inexcusable.

Anyway, Fiorenza Cedolins was not lucky when she sang a wonderful "Se come voi" because the orchestra glitched, and that was the only fault in this performance, think, during her big aria. But she had the luck of Jose Cura completely in his role as Roberto. How he touched her face when he said he wanted a smile, touching. The duet was really wonderful. And the prayer in the end of act 1 was also wonderfully executed. The aria of Guglielmo Wolf in act 2 is not easy to get, I guess you really need a stage for that one. Jose Cura was incredible in Roberto's long aria in act 2. And the final duet Cedolins/Cura was great.

Not strange that the applause lasted a bit over 10 minutes.


March 2007: Le Villi in Genova (2007-03-11)

OD Travel + Photos

March 9, 2007: Le Villi in Genova

2007-03-09 Le Villi (Puccini), Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova

Roberto = José Cura
Anna = Fiorenza Cedolins
Guglielmo Wulf = Gabriele Viviani

Riccardo Frizza, conductor



Le Villi
Opera-ballo in due atti di Ferdinando Fontana,
musica di Giacomo Puccini.
In forma semiscenica

Teatro Carlo Felice

Spettacoli correlati:

L'opera è preceduta dalla
Sinfonia n. 1 in re minore op. 75 di Martucci


Direttore Riccardo Frizza

Prima: mercoledì 7 marzo 2007, 20.30 (A)
Repliche: venerdì 9 marzo, 20.30 (B)
domenica 11 marzo, 15.30 (C)

Before the opera, there was a concert piece: Sinfonia n. 1 in re minore op. 75 di Martucci. It was not a bad piece. I found it quite operatic. After the interval: LE VILLI. The disappoint was that the opera was just really a concert of a whole opera. So I don't really see this as In forma semiscenica, really. it was just a backdrop showing a film, dark and with showing up some white lines in all its blackness was that Semiscenica.... No, it was simply a concert nothing more. The conductor was energetic with his arms almost in the faces of the artists, specially in the face of soprano Fiorenza Cedolins. Fiorenza Cedolins who was almost the perfect Tosca in Verona 2006 with Salvatore Licitra as her Cavaradossi was not up to the role of Anna, I felt. She was inhibited in her approach.Much better was she on Sunday's Le Villi. Her big voice in Verona seemed to big a little voice in Genova on this Friday. But in the 2nd act she was more like a true Anna.

Jose Cura had his glasses when he sang, on this Friday. His acting was limited, this was more of pure singing than acting out the complete Roberto feeling. But on this Friday it was quite obvious that Cura's main interest lay in the Symphonic structures of the opera. As a conductor LA STREGENDA from Le Villi is sort of his specialty, so he was very much there living the music. Also Fiorenza Cedolins was very there in reading the singers partiture all the time.

Gabriele Viviani as father Guglielmo was too young to be Fiorenza Cedolins father. But in his voice he was Babbo Guglielmo, an imposing man. But his beautiful voice could not really have the bite in it that is needed in act 2.

Even if this had been my only Le Villi in Genova I would not have regretted coming to Italy. But I am really happy that I chose to stay and get the better LE VILLI performance, or should I say the near perfect one.

March 2007: Le Villi in Genova (2007-03-09)

OD Travel + Photos

June 30, 2007: La Boheme in Verona

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.

OD Travel + Photos

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