January 31, 2015: Andrea Chenier in London

2015-01-31 Andrea Chenier (Giordano), Royal Opera House (London)

Andrea Chénier - Jonas Kaufmann

Carlo Gérard - Željko Lučić

Maddalena di Coigny - Eva-Maria Westbroek

Bersi, her maid - Denyce Graves

The Countess of Coigny - Rosalind Plowright

Madelon - Elena Zilio

Roucher - Roland Wood

Mathieu, a sans-culotte - Adrian Clarke

The Incredible - Carlo Bosi

The Abbot - Peter Hoare

The novelist Pietro Fléville - Peter Coleman-Wright

Fouquier Tinville, the Public Prosecutor  - 

Eddie Wade

Schmidt - Jeremy White

Dumas - Yuriy Yurchuk

Major Domo - Dominic Barrand

  

Antonio Pappano, conductor

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera Chorus  

Concert Master - Peter Manning

Director - David McVicar

Set design - Robert Jones

Costume designs - Jenny Tiramani

Lighting design - Adam Silverman

Movement - Andrew George 

This was a very much traditional Andrea Chenier but not done in a lazy way. I found it elegant and profound. It had a reality feel. What a great treat it was to have Rosalind Plowright, herself once a famous Maddalena, as Comtesse Coigny, Maddalena's mother, and the great mezzo Denyce Graves as Bersi, Denyce Graves who is famous for her Carmen and Dalila!!! Sadly I did not see them at the final bow after the opera.

Rosalind Plowright sang Maddalena opposite Jose Carreras' Chenier in 1984 when this opera came back after more than 50 years absence. What I loved here is that one can see in this new ROH production that the Comtesse Coigny is really Mother of Maddalena. Not just a foolish aristocrate but a mother. Denyce Graves as Bersi is here much more a friend of Maddalena, a close friend, not a simple servant. And I love that. I love that there is real dedication between Maddalena and Bersi. It makes me understand Bersi's dedication to Maddalena much better. This Bersi is smart and resilient. Denyce Graves was such a joy to see and hear. I love Bersi!! Brava, Denyce Graves!!! Brava, Rosalind Plowright!

Jonas Kaufmann, I guess you want me to gush over the tenor as they all do. I won't do that but he sang so well this night so I almost ready to call him a tenor, but not Tenor with big T, yet, not for me. Eva-Maria Westbroek, she really filled the role of Maddalena di Coigny. A superb pair, Westbroek and Kaufmann!!

Željko Lučić as Carlo Gerard was more subtle than I would have expected after seeing him as Jago in Otello in Berlin. Still it worked, I could find sympathy for this Gerard.

Another thing I want to mention is that Idia Legray had a small girl who was there during the sentencing with an relative. Mother and child tries to hug but soldiers tears them apart. When Maddalena and Gerard come to prision, Gerard carries the young child. And we see mother and child meet again and go out with Gerard protecting them.

OD Travel & Photos
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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

September 17, 2013: Otello in Vienna

2013-09-17 Otello (Verdi), Wiener Staatsoper

Otello = José Cura
Desdemona = Anja Harteros
Jago = Dmitri Hvorostovsky
Emilia = Monika Bohinec
Cassio = Marian Talaba
Rodrigo = Jinxu Xiahou
Lodovico = Alexandru Moisiu
Montano = Mihail Dogotari
Ein Herald =

Dan Ettinger, conductor

Director - Christine Mielitz
Stage-design - Christian Floeren

Costume-design - Christian Floeren

Siberian tiger and Anja Harteros (September 17, 2013)

2013-09-17 Otello (Verdi), Wiener Staatsoper
Otello = José Cura
Desdemona = Anja Harteros
Jago = Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Dan Ettinger, conductor



The Siberian tiger, that was too easy. Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone from Sibiria.

With the words Otello and Argentinian that was José Cura, tenor from Argentina. But why did I say mountain lion. Well, I really wanted to say lion but they do not live in Argentina, mountain lions do.  Anyway Otello is called the lion of Venice and onstage José Cura was often on four legs like a powerful predator.

Anja Harteros is Anja Harteros, the German soprano.

News!! I now saw that sometimes the chorus was in black and red. The red on the black as red as blood. Other news sometimes the video showed clouds and not the raging sea, some times one could see something else and sometimes it was just black as nothing.

It really did not make much sense and it was boring. Boring color changes. The singing was glorious. Everybody deserved a much better production.  BIG NEWS! José Cura was well and in good humour. The nicest tenor ever!!

OD Travel & Photos
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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

September 15, 2013: Tosca in Vienna

2013-09-15 Tosca (Puccini),  Wiener Staatsoper

Floria Tosca = Angela Gheorghiu
Mario Cavaradossi = Marcelo Álvarez
Baron Scarpia = Zeljko Lucic
Cesare Angelotti = Janusz Monarcha
Der Mesner = Alfred Šramek
Spoletta = Benedikt Kobel
Sciarrone = Marcus Pelz
Ein Schließer = Alexandru Moisiuc

Marco Armiliato, conductor

Inszeniering - Margarethe Wallmann

Bühnenbild und Kostüme - Nicola Benois

2013-09-15 TOSCA (Puccini), Wiener Staatsoper
Tosca = Angela Gheorghiu
Cavaradossi = Marcelo Alvarez
Scarpia = Zeljko Lucic

Conductor Marco Armiliato.


And a happy opera night it was. The production was TOSCA and no nonsense here. Marcelo Alvarez was a great Cavaradossi. He had a wonderful E lucevan le stelle. Angela Gheorghiu´s best moment was Vissi d arte and the last act. Zeljko Lucic was too mellow, strange since he is such a powerful Jago.

OD Travel & Photos
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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 22, 2013: Un Ballo in Maschera in Milano

2013-07-22 Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi), Teatro alla Scala, Milano

Riccardo = Marcelo Alvarez
Amelia = Sondra Radvanovsky
Renato = Zeljko Lucic
Ulrica = Marianne Cornetti
Oscar = Serena Gamberoni
Sam = Fernando Rado
Tom = Simon Lim
Silvano = Alessio Arduini
Minister of Justice = Andrzej Glowienka
Un servo d’Amelia = Giuseppe Bellanca

Daniele Rustioni, conductor

Staging - Damiano Michieletto
Sets- Paolo Fantin
Costumes - Carla Teti

Lights - Alessandro Carletti

UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, Teatro alla Scala 2013-07-22.


The Boston version. But now updated to 2013. Vote for Riccardo 2013, incorrotta gloria!! Marianne Cornetti sang Ulrica, and just look at her, blonde and dressed in white. No African-American praying to Satan here. Ulrica is here a miracle worker and we see it, blind see, people rise up from walking again. Marcelo Alvarez was stupendous as Riccardo. Luckily he was not made into a blonde like poor Amelia.  One could hardly recognise Sondra Radvanovsky with her blonde hair. Making her into a desperate middle-aged women with brown skirts and brown trousers. She was great!! Oscar was in this production a secretary and without any doubt a woman, a young woman. No boy here. In  2013 no man can just kill his wife for adultery and think it is going to be right. And really it was in this scene the regie got most things wrong. The child is inside with the father and Amelia is singing her heart out outside. Who can hear it? The change of heart plausible. The child there as Tom and Sam arrive... No, I don't think they got it right. Un ballo in maschera, but nobody is carrying masks or dressed as anyone other than themselves. A play with placards of Riccardo in human size. Then Riccardo dies but first he becomes a ghost and Amelia is mouthing what he is singing as she is reading a paper. Now, that end worked. BUT!!!!!!

OD Travel & Photos

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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

May 30, 2010: Otello in Berlin

2010-05-30 Otello (Verdi), Deutsche Oper Berlin

Otello = José Cura
Desdemona = Anja Harteros
Jago = Zeljko Lucic
Emilia = Liane Keegan
Cassio = Yosep Kang
Rodrigo = Gregory Warren
Lodovico = Hyung-Wook Lee
Montano = Jörn Schümann
Ein Herald = Lucas Harbour

Patrick Summers, conductor

Premiere
Sonntag, 30.05.2010, 18:00 Uhr
Dauer: ca. 3 Stunden | Eine Pause

D-Preise: 36,- | 62,- | 87,- | 120,- Ticket online kaufen
[zuzüglich EUR 2,- Service-Gebühr]

Giuseppe Verdi
Otello
Dramma lirico in vier Akten
Libretto von Arrigo Boito nach Shakespeares Tragödie OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE
Uraufführung am 5.Februar 1887 in Mailand
Premiere an der Deutschen Oper Berlin am 30. Mai 2010

In italienischer Sprache mit deutschen Übertiteln


Conductor
Patrick Summers

Director
Andreas Kriegenburg

Stage-design
Harald Thor

Costume-design
Andrea Schraad

Dramaturge
Katharina John

Choir Conductor
William Spaulding

Children's Choir
Dagmar Fiebach

Artistic-production-manager
Christian Baier





Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin


Kinderchor der Deutschen Oper Berlin


Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

It is all happening in a refugee camp. For those who loved this Otello, this is genius. For other people it is just a big question mark, why? Because it doesn't make sense. It does not do anything for the story. The refugees are interned in a camp. There is little to do except to watch and hope for some money and something to eat. To care about the African refugees that are in those refugee camps in Europe is a worthy cause, to use them are a mere backdrop for an opera is not.

There are nothing here to give you empathy for the refugees. They are simply the chorus, a mass of people. A heavily pregnant woman, children who are starting drinking alcohol and with drugs. Children who see too much. The children have to eat from the garbage brought in from the outside. The children are there so that Jago has his audience for his Credo. These children are not scared of hell, they are there. They are not scared of emptiness because that is all they have. The children can be played to be hide Otello when needed. They only cost a few coins and then you are a wall to hide behind because in this refugee camp nobody notices the children unless they need them.

But why care? It even starts with de-sensitive us. Before the music starts, the curtain goes up and the chorus just stands there, and then some of them put on black masks on their faces. Oh yes, this means that we should understand, what really? That we are all Otello? Or should it mean that there are Africans in this refugee camp. Or is that when those who loved this Otello understood that it happens in a refugee camp. Because for me it just told me that it is all a fake. Especially the Regie. It does not think or feel but most importantly it does not make the audience feel. Intellectually understanding the idea behind the Regie is one thing (and I found that hard) but Opera is Feelings not an University Degree.

And the there was the dancing in the background. But Otello is an Opera not a Ballet. It was not the worst idea but it was more distracting than giving anything to the audience. The people behind this Otello did not trust the audience to feel the pain of Otello and Desdemona. They even thought we needed children surrounding Desdemona in the scene Nel livido fango to understand how innocent this Desdemona is. No, Verdi and Boito have already made us aware. We are not stupid.

In the end there was a lot of Buh's and some Bravo's for the people behind this production. For the singers it was BRAVO's all the time. So much so that those who wanted to Buh the production team all the time did not do so much when the singers was there.

In the critic I have the read there seem to be a trend if they loved the Regie they did not like the conductor and vice versa. The singers were all wonderful, loved the sound of the chorus, and orchestra. I think Patrick Summers did well. The Children chorus was good.

Yosep Kang was wonderful as Cassio. Anja Harteros was the best Desdemona I have seen. José Cura was superb as Otello. Zeljko Lucic was Jago, good singer and actor. Liane Keegan has a great voice that soars. She not only has a big voice but a big body too but luckily here she was simply Emilia, Jago's wife and Desdemona's friend and not a caricature of a big woman.

BRAVA, Anja Harteros
BRAVA, Liane Keegan

BRAVO, José Cura

Blog post: Premiere of OTELLO in Berlin May 30, 2010


OD Travel + Photos


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