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...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday June 30 2024 Conductor: Ouri Bronchti. Production and Costumes: Christophe Coppens. Sets: Christophe Coppens and I.S.M.Architecten. Lighting: Peter Van Praet. La Principessa Turandot: Ewa Vesin. L’Imperatore Altoum: Ning Liang. Timur: Michele Pertusi. Il Principe Ignoto (Calaf): Stefano La Colla. Liù: Venera Gimadieva. Ping/Un Mandarino: Leon Košavić. Pang/Il Principe di Persia: Alexander Marev. Pong: Valentin Thill. La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and Choral Academy, La Monnaie Children's and Youth Choirs. All photos except the general view of the set below: Matthias Baus/La Monnaie ' Giacomo Puccini died in Brussels in 1924, leaving the score of his last opera unfinished. A century on, director Christophe Coppens and conductor Ouri Bronchti reveal just how much more there is to the work than its trademark aria "Nessun dorma". Coppens sets his version of Turandot in modern-day Hong Kong, where a wealthy family is corrupted by power...

ONP Bastille, Monday December 13 2021   Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel. Production: Robert Wilson, Nicola Panzer. Sets: Robert Wilson, Stephanie Engeln. Costumes: Jacques Reynaud. Lighting: Robert Wilson, John Torres. Turandot: Elena Pankratova. Liù: Guanqun Yu. Calaf: Gwyn Hughes Jones. Timur: Vitalij Kowaljow. Altoum: Carlo Bosi. Ping: Alessio Arduini. Pang: Jinxu Xiahou. Pong: Matthew Newlin. Mandarin: Bogdan Talos. Paris Opera Orchestra and Choruses. Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine/Paris Opera Children Chorus. After all these years of opera-going, I still don't trust my ears and eyes, and find myself wondering 'Is it just me?' Last night's Turandot  at the Bastille had me puzzled and, to some extent, worried. First of all, who chose the cast? Whose idea was it to ask these singers to sing these roles in this theatre and in a Wilson production? Not once did their singing come across as striking or seductive, let alone thrilling. Don't get me wrong: nobody was downright b...

ONP Bastille, Tuesday May 22 2018 L'Heure espagnole Conductor: Maxime Pascal. Production: Laurent Pelly. Sets: Florence Evrard, Caroline Ginet. Lighting: Joël Adam. Concepcion: Clémentine Margaine. Gonzalve: Stanislas de Barbeyrac. Torquemada: Philippe Talbot. Ramiro: Jean-Luc Ballestra. Don Inigo Gomez: Nicolas Courjal. Gianni Schicchi Conductor: Maxime Pascal. Production: Laurent Pelly. Sets: Florence Evrard, Caroline Ginet. Lighting: Joël Adam. Gianni Schicchi: Artur Ruciński. Lauretta: Elsa Dreisig. Zita: Rebecca De Pont Davies. Rinuccio: Frédéric Antoun. Gherardo: Philippe Talbot. Nella: Emmanuelle de Negri. Betto: Nicolas Courjal. Simone: Maurizio Muraro. Marco: Jean-Luc Ballestra. La Ciesca: Isabelle Druet. Maestro Spinelloccio: Pietro Di Bianco. Amantio di Nicolao: Tomasz Kumiega. Pinellino: Mateusz Hoedt. Guccio: Piotr Kumon. Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris.   I was told, by someone who's usually right, that Stéphane Lissner explained he replaced K. ...

ONP Bastille, Friday December 29 2017 Conductor: Manuel López-Gómez. Production: Claus Guth. Sets: Étienne Pluss. Costumes: Eva Dessecker. Lighting: Fabrice Kebour. Video: Arian Andiel. Choreography: Teresa Rotemberg. Mimì: Nicole Car. Musetta: Elena Tsallagova. Rodolfo: Benjamin Bernheim. Marcello: Artur Ruciński. Schaunard: Andrei Jilihovschi. Colline: Roberto Tagliavini. Alcindoro: Marc Labonnette. Parpignol: Antonel Boldan. Sergente dei doganari: Florent Mbia. Un doganiere: Jian-Hong Zhao. Un venditore ambulante: Fernando Velasquez. Orchestra and Choruss of the Opéra National de Paris. Maîtrise des Hauts-de-Seine, Choeur d’enfants de l’Opéra national de Paris. Solaris Prompted by an exchange with internet chronicler Rowna Sutin, I took a look back over my 2017 schedule this weekend and decided it had been a good year. Highlights were discovering Snegurochka (and Aida Garifullina) in Tcherniakov's production; Bieito's very sound Carmen with Anita Rachvelishvili in...

Palais de la Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday February 12 2017. Conductor: Bassem Akiki. Production: Kirsten Dehlholm (Hotel Pro Forma). Co-Director: Jon R. Skulberg. Sets: Maja Ziska. Costumes: Henrik Vibskov. Lighting: Jesper Kongshaug. Cio-Cio-San: Amanda Echalaz. Suzuki: Qiulin Zhang. Kate Pinkerton: Marta Beretta. F. B. Pinkerton: Leonardo Caimi. Sharpless: Aris Argiris. Goro: Riccardo Botta. Il Principe Yamadori: Aldo Heo. Lo zio Bonzo: Mikhail Kolelishvili. Il commisario / L’ufficiale: Wiard Witholt. Yakuside: René Laryea. Madre di Cio-Cio-San: Birgitte Bønding. Zia di Cio-Cio-San: Rosa Brandao. Cugina di Cio-Cio-San: Adrienne Visser. Puppeteers: Tim Hammer, Joris De Jong, Ruben Mardulier, Suze Van Miltenburg. La Monnaie Orchestra and Chorus. Puccini It has struck me, thinking about yesterday’s Butterfly in Brussels, that there’s a big difference between “thought-provoking” productions and “puzzling” ones. Warlikowski’s productions are usually the former. Even if you don’t r...

Lyric Opera, Chicago, Monday February 2 2015, -11° C Conductor: Dmitri Jurowski. Production: John Caird. Designer: Bunny Christie. Lighting: Duane Schuler. Tosca: Tatiana Serjan. Cavaradossi: Brian Jagde. Scarpia: Evgeny Nikitin. Angelotti: Richard Ollarsaba. Sacristan: Dale Travis. Spoletta: Rodell Rosel. Sciarrone: Bradley Smoak. Shepherd: Annie Wagner. Jailer: Anthony Clark Events. Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus.   In (freezing, of course) Chicago for work, I decided to take the opportunity to hear, in Tosca , two singers new to me: Tatiana Serjan, who has sung a lot of Verdi, often with Muti; and Brian Jagde, a young American tenor who will be new to most people, standing in for Misha Didyk. Jagde has a big, bold voice of the “Domingo-tenor” kind, with darkish-gold undertones but a bright top, able really to nail the highest notes in the score without hesitation. He was better at loud than soft, and neither looked nor sounded Latin (his acting had more frat-boy charm tha...

Hungarian State Opera - Erkel Theatre, Budapest, Saturday January 17 2015  Conductor: Gergely Kesselyák. Turandot: Szilvia Rálik. Altoum: István Róka. Timur: Kolos Kováts. Calaf: Atilla Kiss B. Liu: Gabriella Létay Kiss. Ping: Zoltán Kelemen. Pang: István Horváth. Pong: NC. Mandarin: Sándor Egri. Per capita GDP in the US is about $53,000; in France, it's around $44,000; in Hungary, it's $13,000. Yet the Hungarian State Opera somehow manages to maintain two houses – its magnificent, gilded, neo-renaissance main one and the more modern (and larger) Erkel Theatre – offering a season of fully-staged operas with orchestra, chorus and, in many cases, soloists of international standard. The most expensive seats at the Erkel cost the equivalent of 12 euros (at the main house, that is doubled). The productions may be more or less sophisticated, but clearly this is a company that works hard to give its patrons the best it can with the funds available. A real critic, paid to be impar...

ONP Bastille, Thursday October 16 2014 Conductor: Daniel Oren. Production: Pierre Audi. Sets: Christof Hetzer. Costumes: Robby Duiveman. Lighting: Jean Kalman. Floria Tosca: Martina Serafin. Mario Cavaradossi: Marcelo Alvarez. Scarpia: Ludovic Tézier. Cesare Angelotti: Wojtek Smilek. Spoletta: Carlo Bosi. Sciarrone: André Heyboer. Il Sagrestano: Francis Dudziak. Un carceriere: Andrea Nelli. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Hauts-de-Seine and ONP children’s choruses. Puccini The last time I saw Tosca was in New York, in the Met’s tired old Zeffirelli production. I hadn’t seen it in Paris for a long time, the reason being the awfulness of the previous staging: once was enough. But for the 2014-2015 season, the ONP at last announced a new one, by Pierre Audi, so we decided which of the three casts looked most promising, and booked. In the event, it was a let-down. There was little passion in this production (“on s’ennuie” said a friend at the first interval)...