We left at the interval...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 April 2023 Conductor and Musical Arrangements: Francesco Lanzillotta. Concept, Script and Production: Olivier Fredj. Sets and Costumes: Urs Schönebaum. Costumes: Petra Reinhardt. Video: Sarah Derendinger. Choreography: Avshalom Pollak. Elisabetta: Myrtò Papatanasiu. Anna Bolena: Salome Jicia. Leicester: Enea Scala. Enrico: Luca Tittoto. Giovanna Seymour, Sara: Raffaella Lupinacci. Amy Robsart: Valentina Mastrangelo. Maria Stuarda: Lenneke Ruiten. Roberto Devereux: Sergey Romanovsky. Nottingham: Bruno Taddia. Smeton: David Hansen. Cecil: Gavan Ring. Elisabetta as a child: Hadley Dean Randerson. Orchestra and Chorus of La Monnaie. Photos: Bernd Uhlig, La Monnaie  From La Monnaie's website: Part 1 : The first part of Bastarda focuses on the life of young Elizabeth: from her childhood, marked by the tragic death of her mother Anne Boleyn, through her unexpected coronation to the ultimate confrontation with her cousin and rival Mary Stuart

Athénée-Théâtre Louis Jouvet, Paris, Wednesday April 12 2023 Conductor: Samuel Jean. Production: Émeline Bayart. Sets and costumes: Anne-Sophie Grac. Lighting: Joël Fabing. Prosper: Marc Labonnette. Antoinette: Clémence Tilquin. Marie-Anne: Sheva Tehoval. Félicie: Émeline Bayart. Claude: Victor Sicard. Jean-Paul, M. Victor: Jean-François Novelli. Hilarion Lallumette: Carl Ghazarossian. Orchestre des Frivolités Parisiennes. Photos: Marie Pétry Bru Zane strikes again. On Wednesday night, I went to see a time-capsule operetta (1933), Sacha Guitry and Reynaldo Hahn's Ô mon bel inconnu , at the Athénée Louis Jouvet, a belle époque time-capsule theatre (1896) around the corner from the Palais Garnier. Hahn's score is erudite and chamber-music-like, often nostalgic in feel, yet remains light and frothy. Guitry's text is far from woke, but clever and funny and full of rapid-fire puns, not just corny and/or cloying like many operetta libretti . For those who read the language, the

ONP Bastille, Tuesday April 4 2023 Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel. Production: Valentina Carrasco. Sets: Carles Berga, Peter Van Praet. Lighting: Peter Van Praet. Costumes: Silvia Aymonino. Richard Nixon: Thomas Hampson. Pat Nixon: Renée Fleming. Zhou Enlai: Xiaomeng Zhang. Mao Zedong: John Matthew Myers. Henry Kissinger: Joshua Bloom. Chiang Ch'ing: Kathleen Kim. Nancy Tang: Yajie Zhang. Second Secretary: Ning Liang. Third Secretary: Emanuela Pascu. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: Elisa Haberer, ONP Any Adams is a rarity in Paris, but I did see a memorable Nixon eleven years ago at the Châtelet , all the more memorable for now being freely available, in full, on YouTube, and in particular for Sumi Jo's vigorous portrayal of the Chairman's wife. So I might have liked a chance to see another of his operas, but I suppose for his entry into the Paris Opera's repertory, Nixon in China it had to be. And the company certainly pulled off a remarkable

The month's  coup de coeur in the April issue of France's Opéra Magazine , to which they award one of their 'diamond-rated' stickers, is what they call 'one of this spring's best discographical surprises': a DVD of Händel's Semele made in New Zealand, with Emma Pearson, Amitai Pati, Paul Whelan, Sarah Castle and others in a contemporary staging in the local cathedral, under Peter Walls.

ONP Bastille, Monday March 27 2023 Conductor: Pierre Dumoussaud. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and Costumes: Małgorzata Szczęśniak. Lighting: Felice Ross. Video: Denis Guéguin. Hamlet: Ludovic Tézier. Claudius: Jean Teitgen. Laërte: Julien Behr. Spectre: Clive Bayley. Horatio: Frédéric Caton. Marcellus: Julien Henric. Gertrude: Eve-Maud Hubeaux. Ophélie: Lisette Oropesa. Polonius: Philippe Rouillon. Premier Fossoyeur: Alejandro Baliñas Vieites. Deuxième Fossoyeur: Maciej Kwaśnikowski. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National De Paris. Photos: Bernd Uhlig, ONP (Tip for people in a hurry: this is a long post, but after the asterisks near the end, I sum the production up in a few words.) This wasn't the first time I'd seen Thomas's Hamlet . I saw it in my pre-blogging days, with Natalie Dessay and Thomas Hampson, and again, ten years ago, with Franco Pomponi and Rachele Gilmore in Olivier Py's production in Brussels . But this was the first time I can ever reme