We left at the interval...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Monday October 21 2019 Conductor: Laurence Equilbey. Production: Clément Debailleul, Raphaël Navarro and Valentine Losseau (from Cie 14:20). Artistic coordination, sets and videos: Clément Debailleul. Choreography: Aragorn Boulanger. Costumes: Siegrid Petit-Imbert. Lighting: Elsa Revol. Max: Stanislas de Barbeyrac. Agathe: Johanni Van Oostrum. Ännchen: Chiara Skerath. Kaspar: Vladimir Baykov. Hermit: Christian Immler. Kuno: Thorsten Grümbel. Ottokar: Daniel Schmutzhard. Kilian: Anas Séguin. Samiel: Clément Dazin. Insula Orchestra. Accentus Chorus. It isn't often you get a chance, in Paris, to see Der Freischütz , so it's a real shame, when it comes round again at last, if it fails to live up to your hopes. In this case, the cast was excellent and the creative team's ideas had definite potential, but these weren't enough. I left the theatre thinking that with proper directing, a better orchestra and a different conductor it m...

ONP Bastille, Monday September 30 2019 Conductor: Leonardo García Alarcón. Production: Clément Cogitore. Choreography: Bintou Dembélé. Sets: Alban Ho Van, Ariane Bromberger. Costumes: Wojciech Dziedzi. Lighting: Sylvain Verdet. PROLOGUE Hébé: Sabine Devieilhe. Bellone: Florian Sempey. L'amour: Jodie Devos. ENTREE I – Le turc généreux (The Generous Turk) Osman: Edwin Crossley-Mercer. Émilie: Julie Fuchs. Valère: Mathias Vidal. ENTREE II – Les incas du Pérou (The Incas of Peru) Huascar: Alexandre Duhamel. Phani: Sabine Devieilhe. Don Carlos: Stanislas de Barbeyrac. ENTREE III – Les fleurs (The Flowers) Tacmas: Mathias Vidal. Ali: Edwin Crossley-Mercer. Zaïre: Jodie Devos. Fatime: Julie Fuchs. ENTREE IV – Les sauvages (The Indians) Adario: Florian Sempey. Damon: Stanislas de Barbeyrac. Don Alvar: Alexandre Duhamel. Zima: Sabine Devieilhe. Cappella Mediterranea. Namur Chamber Choir. Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine/Paris Opera Children’s Choir. Compagnie Rualité dancers....

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday September 29 2019 Conductor: Alain Altinoglu. Production: Thomas Jolly. Production assistant: Alexandre Dain. Sets: Bruno de Lavenère. Lighting: Antoine Travert. Costumes: Sylvette Dequest. Lady Macbeth: Magdalena Kožená. Macbeth: Georg Nigl. Three Weird Sisters: Ekaterina Lekhina, Lilly Jørstad, Christel Loetzsch. Ghost: Kristinn Sigmundsson. Porter: Graham Clark. Archlute: Christian Rivet. Child: Elyne Maillard, Naomi Tapiola. Orchestra and Women’s Chorus of La Monnaie. In 2015, I recorded that  Penthesilea , Pascal Dusapin's previous opera , was hailed as a 'triumphant masterpiece'. His latest, Macbeth Underworld , is just as satisfying and includes some memorable innovations. It's obviously hard to describe in writing what a composer's work sounds like, but for a start, what I wrote four years ago remains true: 'Dusapin’s score is of course, in the circumstances' (I meant with regard to the intensity of the subject-mat...