We left at the interval...

ONP Bastille, Tuesday May 13 2025  Conductor: Carlo Rizzi. Production: Christof Loy. Sets: Étienne Pluss. Costumes: Barbara Drosihn. Lighting: Fabrice Kebour. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: Guergana Damianova/ONP Gianni Schicchi Gianni Schicchi: Misha Kiria. Lauretta: Asmik Grigorian. Zita: Enkelejda Shkoza. Rinuccio: Alexey Neklyudov. Gherardo: Dean Power. Nella: Lavinia Bini. Betto: Manel Esteve Madrid. Simone: Scott Wilde. Marco: Iurii Samoilov. La Ciesca: Theresa Kronthaler. Maestro Spinelloccio: Matteo Peirone. Pinellino: Vartan Gabrielian. Guccio: Luis-Felipe Sousa. Amantio di Nicolao: Alejandro Baliñas Vieites. Il Tabarro Michele : Roman Burdenko. Giorgetta: Asmik Grigorian. Luigi: Joshua Guerrero. Il Tinca: Andrea Giovannini. Il Talpa: Scott Wilde. La Frugola: Enkelejda Shkoza. Un venditore di canzonette: Dean Power. Un amante: Ilanah Lobel-Torres. Suor Angelica Suor Angelica: Asmik Grigorian. La Zia Principessa: Karita Mattila. La Badessa: Han...

  Only when getting ready to write about May did I realise that I'd forgotten to post about Opéra Magazine 's favourite recording in April. So here are April and May together. The magazine’s April pick of the month, what it calls its ‘ coup de coeur ,’ was Lully’s Alceste , starring Véronique Gens - ‘ simplement magistrale ’ as I can well imagine, with Nathan Berg, Cyril Auvity, many others and  Les Epopées under Stéphane Fuget. ‘This new performance of Lully’s Alceste consecrates the profound affinity Stéphane Fuget and his Les Epopées ensemble have with the tragédie lyrique genre.’   In May, their choice is Lucile Richardot's Northern Light ,  with Caroline Weynants, Caroline Bardot, Antonin Rondepierre, Sebastian Myrus and the Ensemble Correspondances under Sébastien Daucé. This is a compilation of north-European works mainly from the late 17th century, focusing on death. 'A miracle of eloquence.'