We left at the interval...

ONP Garnier, Monday December 19 2016 Conductor: Bertrand de Billy. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and Costumes: Malgorzata Szczesniak. Lighting: Felice Ross. Video: Denis Guéguin. Choreography: Claude Bardouil. Iphigénie: Véronique Gens. Oreste: Étienne Dupuis. Pylade: Stanislas de Barbeyrac. Thoas: Thomas Johannes Mayer. Diane, Première Prêtresse: Adriana Gonzalez. Deuxième Prêtresse, une Femme Grecque: Emanuela Pascu. Un Scythe, un Ministre: Tomasz Kumiega. Iphigénie (silent role): Renate Jett. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Iphigénie en Tauride was Krzysztof Warlikowski’s first production for the Opéra de Paris, 10 years ago, and was violently booed at the time, but I had never seen it yet. Since then, thanks to the likes of his Makropoulos Case, King Roger or even Parsifal , which he made palatable in the same way some people claim they have ways to make brussels sprouts edible, I’ve become a fan of his, so I was glad to have this chance to d...

ONP Garnier, Wednesday September 26 2013 Conductor: Marc Minkowski. Production: Olivier Py. Sets & costumes: Pierre-André Weitz. Lighting: Bertrand Killy. Admète: Yann Beuron. Alceste: Sophie Koch. Le Grand Prêtre d’Apollon: Jean-François Lapointe. Evandre / soli ténor: Stanislas de Barbeyrac. Un Hérault d’armes, Apollon: Florian Sempey. Hercule: Franck Ferrari. Coryphée / soli soprano: Marie-Adeline Henry. L’Oracle, Un Dieu infernal: François Lis. Soli alto: Bertrand Dazin. Chorus and Orchestra of the Musiciens du Louvre Grenoble. " Alceste: what a waste of 200 euros ". Gluck That was, I'm sorry to say, the text message I sent to a friend just after this week's performance of Alceste . I was exaggerating a bit: not about the waste, but about the price. I'd rounded it up from 195 euros. When you go to see Alceste you expect (at least until Hercule comes blustering in) to be roused by the majestic nobility of it - not bored: Olivier Py's co...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday December 6 2009. Conductor: Christophe Rousset. Production: Pierre Audi. Dramaturge: Klaus Bertisch. Sets: Michael Simon. Costumes: Anna Eiermann. Lighting: Jean Kalman. En Aulide : Agamemnon: Andrew Schroeder. Clytemnestre: Charlotte Hellekant. Iphigénie: Véronique Gens. Achille: Avi Klemberg. Patrocle: Henk Neven. Calchas: Gilles Cachemaille. Arcas: Werner Van Mechelen. Diane: Violet Serena Noorduyn. En Tauride : Iphigénie: Nadja Michael. Oreste: Stéphane Degout. Pylade: Topi Lehtipuu. Thoas: Werner Van Mechelen. Diane: Violet Serena Noorduyn. Orchestra and chorus of La Monnaie. Bad Gluck can be very tedious. Two in a row would be a serious trial, so I had misgivings at finding both Iphigénie s scheduled together this season. But when the singing and acting are first rate we are reminded what a great composer of musical tragedy Gluck is. Topi Lehtipuu and Stéphane Degout must be today’s ideal pairing as Pylade and Oreste. Lehtipuu is, as anyon...

La Monnaie, Brussels - Sunday February 1 2004 Conductor: Ivor Bolton. Production: Robert Wilson. Admète: Kurt Streit. Alceste: Katarina Karneus. Grand-Prêtre: David Wilson-Johnson. Évandre: James Gilchrist. Apollon/Un Hérault d'armes: Nabil Suliman. Hercule: Nathaniel Webster. Un Coryphée: Céline Scheen. L'Oracle/Un Dieu Infernal: Henry Waddington. Orchestra and Chorus of La Monnaie. Quite a Bob Wilson week for me, with his brand new production of La Fontaine’s Fables at the Comédie Française – a charming, funny production revealing a humorous side I didn’t realise Wilson had – followed by Alceste in Brussels. Alceste is one of several Gluck productions Wilson mounted in Paris five or six years ago. His style of that time is pretty well-suited to Gluck’s calm, measured music: simple blue sets; careful lighting; plain, dark, flowing costumes; slow, deliberate movements and gestures; characters picked out and followed around the stage by narrow spotlights…It’s a style that has...