We left at the interval...

 

ONP Palais Garnier, Tuesday December 10 2024 An edited version of t his post will be published on Parterre.com Conductor: Susanna Mälkki. Production and lighting: Olivier Py. Sets and Costumes: Pierre-André Weitz. Tom Rakewell: Ben Bliss. Nick Shadow: Iain Paterson. Trulove: Clive Bayley. Ann Trulove: Golda Schultz. Mother Goose: Justina Gringytė. Baba the Turk: Jamie Barton. Sellem: Rupert Charlesworth. Keeper of the madhouse: Vartan Gabrielian. Voices from the crowd: Ayumi Ikehata, Frédéric Guieu. Solo voice: Laurent Laberdesque. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris.  Photos: Guergana Damianova/OnP After playing thoroughly modern Millie, seeing (and struggling to write up) three new works in succession, I was back on more familiar ground this week with The Rake’s Progress at the Palais Garnier. The production isn’t new: it was Olivier Py’s first opera for Paris, in 2008, and it returned in 2012. But for some reason, it had escaped my attention till this seaso...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday December 8 2024 An edited version of t his post will be published on Parterre.com Conductor: Ariane Matiakh. Production: Ivo Van Hove. Sets and Lighting: Jan Versweyveld. Costume Designer: An D’Huys. Video: Christopher Ash. Helena Ekdahl: Susan Bullock. Oscar Ekdahl: Peter Tantsits. Emilie Ekdahl: Sasha Cooke. Fanny: Lucie Penninck. Alexander: Jay Weiner. Bishop Edvard Vergerus: Thomas Hampson. Justina: Anne Sofie von Otter. Isak Jacobi: Loa Falkman. Ismaël: Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen. Aron: Alexander Sprague. Carl Ekdahl: Justin Hopkins. Lydia: Polly Leech. Gustav Adolf Ekdahl: Gavan Ring. Alma Ekdahl: Margaux de Valensart. Paulina: Marion Bauwens. Esmeralda: Blandine Coulon. La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra. Photos: © Matthias Baus Back to Brussels last Sunday for my third new opera of the season (after The Time of our Singing , also at La Monnaie, and Picture a day like this , at the Opéra Comique): Mikael Karlsson’s Fanny and Alexander, with a libretto by Ro...

The December edition of France's Opéra Magazine arrived this week. Their top recording choice, or coup de coeur , with one of their 'Diamond' ratings, is Marina Rebeka's new Norma ,with Luciano Ganci as Pollione, Marlo Mimica, Karine Deshayes, Anita Jankovska, Gustavo De Gennaro and the forces of the Teatro Real de Madrid, under John Fiore. ' The 21st century now possesses two reference versions of Norma recorded in the studio, at once radically different and complementary. Both use new critical editions based on the autograph manuscript and other available sources - which is why, at some points, we don't hear the same music. (...) they deserve to be a part of every record collection .'

The November issue of France's Opéra Magazine finally turned up in the post the other day. This month's favourite recording is Carlo Vistoli's Vivaldi album, Sacro furore , featuring the Stabat Mater and other sacred works, interspersed with instrumental numbers, on Harmonia Mundi. Georg Kallweit conducts the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. The reviewer writes that this album 'confirms the eminent place he occupies, today, in the rich constellation of countertenors.' They give it the first of this month's 'Diamond' awards. I think if you root around you can probably find all of the album on YT . They give a second ' Diamant ' to Bruno de Sá's Mille Affetti: Opera and Sacred Arias , which this time 'confirms he is one of the most exceptional performers of the baroque repertoire of the beginning of this century.' Jaroslaw Thiel conducts the Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, on Erato, and again, I think you can find it all online. One 'da...

Opéra Comique, Paris, Wednesday October 30 2024 An edited version of t his post will be published on Parterre.com Conductor: George Benjamin. Production, sets and lighting: Marie-Christine Soma, Daniel Jeanneteau. Costumes: Marie La Rocca. Videos: Hicham Berrada. Woman: Marianne Crebassa. Zabelle: Anna Prohaska. Lover 1/Composer: Beate Mordal. Lover 2/Composer's assistant: Cameron Shahbazi. Artisan/collector: John Brancy. Actors: Matthieu Baquey, Lisa Grandmottet, Eulalie Rambaud. Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Photos: © Jean-Louis Fernandez My first opera of the new season in Paris, after kicking off in Brussels with Kris Defoort’s thought-provoking The Day of our Singing , was another nearly-new work, totally new to me: Sir George Benjamin’s Picture a day like this . Like Benjamin’s much-admired Written on Skin , Picture a day like this has (like all his operas, in fact) a libretto by Martin Crimp, was first performed at the Aix Festival (in this case in 2023), and ha...