We left at the interval...

The June edition of France's Opéra Magazine arrived yesterday. Their pick of the month (' coup de coeur' ) in the recordings section, with one of their so-called ' Diamant ' awards, is Cimarosa's L'Olimpiade (1784), under Christophe Rousset. 'Resurrection of a dazzling score,' they say, and a 'brilliant' way for Château de Versailles Spectacles to salute the Olympic Games (Versailles will host equestrian events and the pentathlon.)  The whole album appears to be available on YT , in Europe at any rate, if you click through to open the following clip on YT itself: Another, earlier 18th-century work (1714, revised in 1730), wins a ' Diamant ': Destouches' Télémaque et Calypso . This is also a Versailles production, this time under Margaux Blanchard and Sylvain Sartre. Apparently also available in full on YT : Interestingly, their third and last ' Diamant ' is awarded to the second DVD issue of Laurent Pelly's now cla...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Tuesday May 21, 2024 (In concert) Conductor: Francesco Corti. Berenice: Sandrine Piau. Selene: Ann Hallenberg. Alessandro: Arianna Vendittelli. Demetrio: Paul-Antoine Bénos-Djian. Arsace: Rémy Brès-Feuillet. Fabio: Matthew Newlin. Aristobolo: John Chest. Il Pomo d’Oro. Photo: Stéphane Asseline, Région Ile-de-France This concert performance of  Berenice, with Il Pomo d'Oro under Francesco Corti, at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées last Tuesday was outstanding - in a way, unexpectedly so, as it seems to be assumed that because the work is now rare, it must be because it's weak. Is it dogged by its poor initial reception? It turns out (I'd never heard it before) there's absolutely nothing wrong with the score: a string of beautifully-crafted arias, as skilful, imaginative and varied as you'd expect from mature Händel, from the outset. For example, Berenice's first aria has an intriguing, 'shifting' accompaniment, and next t...

This is how my 2024 - 2025 season is shaping up so far. I may add one or two more, depending on where I travel during the year. Vitrifrigo Arena Pesaro - Rossini - Ermione La Monnaie - Wagner - Siegfried Athénée Louis Jouvet - Claude Terrasse - Ubu Roi ONP Bastille - Puccini - Madama Butterfly La Monnaie - Kris Defoort - The Time of our Singing Opéra Comique - Benjamin - Picture a day like this Photo: Camilla Greenwell   La Monnaie - Mikael Karlsson - Fanny and Alexander ONP Garnier - Stravinsky - The Rake's Progress Opéra Comique - Rameau - Les Fêtes d'Hébé  ONP Bastille - Janacek - Příhody lišky Bystroušky ONP Garnier - Rameau - Castor et Pollux Opéra Comique - Cherubini - Médée ONP Bastille - Wagner - Das Rheingold La Monnaie - Wagner - Götterdämmerung Athénée Louis Jouvet - Recital, Felicity Lott Photo: DAVID HARTLEY/Shutterst/SIPA   La Monnaie at Bozar -  Mahler - Symphony n° 8 Opéra Comique - Rameau - Samson ONP Garnier - Dusapin - Il viaggio, Dante ONP Basti...

ONP Bastille, Sunday May 12 and Wednesday May 22, 2024 Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth. Production: Lydia Steier. Sets and video: Momme Hinrichs. Costumes: Andy Besuch. Lighting: Olaf Freese. Salome: Lise Davidsen. Herodes: Gerhard Siegel. Herodias: Ekaterina Gubanova. Jochanaan: Johan Reuter. Narraboth: Pavol Breslik. Page der Herodias: Katharina Magiera. Erster Jude: Matthäus Schmidlechner. Zweiter Jude: Éric Huchet. Dritter Jude: Maciej Kwaśnikowski. Vierter Jude: Tobias Westman. Fünfter Jude: Florent Mbia. Erster Nazarener: Luke Stoker. Zweiter Nazarener: Yiorgo Ioannou. Erster Soldat: Dominic Barberi. Zweiter Soldat: Bastian Thomas Kohl. Cappadocier: Alejandro Baliñas Vieites. Ein Sklave: Ilanah Lobel-Torres. Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: Charles Duprat/ONP I'd already seen Lydia Steier's über -icky production of Salome in 2022 ('beyond nausea,' as one French critic wrote, see my account here ), and wouldn't normally have wanted to cringe thro...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday May 5 2024 Conductor: Antonio Méndez. Production: Andrea Breth. Sets: Raimund Orfeo Voigt. Costumes: Carla Teti. Lighting: Alexander Koppelmann. The Prologue: Ed Lyon. Governess: Sally Matthews. Miles: Samuel Brasseur Kulk, Noah Vanmeerhaeghe. Flora: Katharina Bierweiler. Mrs Grose: Carole Wilson. Peter Quint: Julian Hubbard. Miss Jessel: Allison Cook. La Monnaie Chamber Orchestra. Photos: Bernd Uhlig I was saying just this morning that we don't get enough Britten in Paris and have to go elsewhere to find him. Brussels has done a better job over the years, and once again, for this Turn of the Screw,  has fielded a strong production with a strong cast. Andrea Breth's staging seems strongly influenced by Belgian surrealism. It's dark, sometimes very dark, lit only by eight candles, and oppressive. Grey, panelled walls close in on the characters, objects such as chairs or even wall lights slither silently into place, characters crawl in and out of ...

In the recordings section of the May 2024 issue of France’s Opéra Now , the pick of the month (i.e. their ‘ coup de coeur ’), with a ‘Diamond’ award, is a DVD: Il barbiere di Siviglia from Vienna in 2021. It stars Florez, Vasilisa Berzhanskaya and Etienne Dupuis, among others, in a Herbert Fritsch production, conducted by Michele Mariotti. ‘While the agitation on stage may, at times, seem a bit too much,’ they write, ‘this unusually designed production offers a resolutely buffo , joyful vision of Il barbiere di Siviglia . It will delight both viewers primarily interested in the theatrical, visual side of opera, and those for whom the voice comes first.’ The whole performance is available on YouTube , in Europe at least: