We left at the interval...

Opéra Comique, Paris, 17 December 2024 Conductor: William Christie. Production: Robert Carsen. Sets and Costumes: Gideon Davey. Lighting: Robert Carsen, Peter Van Praet. Choreography: Nicolas Paul. Video: Renaud Rubiano. Hébé/Naïade: Emmanuelle de Negri. Sapho/Iphise/Eglé: Lea Desandre. L'Amour/Le ruisseau/Une bergère: Ana Vieira Leite. Momus/Mercure: Marc Mauillon. Hymas/Tirtée: Renato Dolcini. Le ruisseau/Lycurgue: Cyril Auvity. Eurilas/Alcée: Lisandro Abadie. Thélème: Antonin Rondepierre. Le Fleuve: Matthieu Walendzik. Les Arts Florissants. Photos: Vincent Pontet William Christie turned 80 on December 19 this year. He chose, as his present to himself, to perform Rameau’s Les Fêtes d’Hébé in a new staging by Robert Carsen, at the Opéra Comique - Christie's thirteenth production there since the famous Atys of 1987. In doing so, he offered a magnificent Christmas present to us all. As this is one of Rameau’s best, but not best-known, works, I’ll begin with a little bit about ...

 

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...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday October 27, 2024 An edited version of t his post will be published on Parterre.com Conductor: Kwamé Ryan. Production: Ted Huffman. Sets: Johannes Schütz. Costumes: Astrid Klein. Lighting: Bernd Purkrabek. Video: Pierre Martin. Choreography: Alan Barnes. Delia Daley: Claron McFadden. William Daley: Mark S. Doss. David Strom: Simon Bailey. Jonah: Levy Sekgapane. Joey: Peter Brathwaite. Ruth: Abigail Abraham. Lisette Soer: Lilly Jørstad. Robert Rider: Hervé Loka Sombo. La Monnaie Chamber Orchestra. Jazz Ensemble: Robin Verheyen, Lander Gyselinck, Nicolas Thys, Hendrik Lasure. Equinox Children's Choir under Zeno Popescu. Photos: Ⓒ Bernd Uhlig As I missed La Monnaie’s Siegfried because I was still sunbathing in Greece, and Paris’s Butterfly because I couldn’t be bothered, my new season starts with three new works - new to me at any rate. Later this week, at the Opéra Comique, I’ll discover George Benjamin’s Picture a day like this . Later this year, Mikael...

Back from my summer holidays, I found two issues of Opéra Magazine  waiting in the post. Their 'pick-of-the-month' recording for September is Huw Montague Rendall's recital, Contemplation , to which they award one of their 'Diamond' accolades. They say it's a ' coup de maître ' of a kind rarely encountered on disc. 'How long is it since we heard such an extraordinarily successful first recital?' It includes works by Thomas, Gounod, Korngold, Mahler, Britten, Duparc and more, and also involves soprano Elisabeth Boudreault and three boy trebles when required. The whole album is available on YT . They also give one of their 'Diamonds' to bass Luigi De Donato's Polifemo recital, with Polyphemus-related works by Händel, Aliberti, Porpora and others. Again, The whole album is available on  YT . In October, their favourite, again with a 'Diamond', is György Vashegyi's new recording of the eighty-year-old Rameau's last master...

Vitrifrigo Arena, Pesaro, Saturday August 17, 2024 Conductor: Michele Mariotti. Production: Johannes Erath. Sets: Heike Scheele. Costumes: Jorge Jara. Video: Bibi Abel. Lighting: Fabio Antoci. Ermione: Anastasia Bartoli. Andromaca: Victoria Yarovaya. Pirro Enea Scala. Oreste: Juan Diego Flórez. Pilade Antonio Mandrillo. Fenicio : Michael Mofidian. Cleone: Martiniana Antonie. Cefisa: Paola Leguisamón. Attalo: Tianxuefei Sun. Chorus of the Teatro Ventidio Basso. Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI. Photos: Amati Bacciardi Now we have a dog, holidays in Greece involve an August drive across Italy from Mont Blanc, passing close to Pesaro during the festival, to Ancona for a night ferry to Patras. As, to my mind,  Ermione is one of Rossini's greatest works, yet not an easy one to catch, and the cast looked promising, this year I bought tickets, brushed up my Racine, and found myself in the Vitrifrigo arena on a Saturday night. This venue really is a sports stadium. It was probably ...