We left at the interval...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Tuesday May 28 2019 Direction: Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro, assisted by continuo leader Thomas Dunford. Semi-staging: Mathilde Etienne. Costumes: Karine Godier, Sébastien Blondin. Orfeo: Emiliano Gonzalez-Toro. Euridice, Musica: Giulia Semenzato. Pastore: Mathias Vidal. Pastore: David Szigetvari. Apollo: Fulvio Bettini. Pastore, La Speranza: Eva Zaïcik. Proserpina: Mathilde Etienne. Plutone, Pastore: Frédéric Caton. La Messagiera: Lea Desandre. Pastore, Caronte: Jérôme Varnier. Ninfa: Maud Gnidzaz. I Gemelli. My love affair with Monteverdi's Orfeo goes back a long way. I was acquainted with it from the radio before I went up to university. As an undergraduate, I was excited to be invited to play in a performance at the university's Senate House, and disappointed when I turned up with my instrument for the first rehearsal to be told by the surprised conductor - Stephen Barlow IIRC - that he hadn't expected and didn't need a double b...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Monday March 6 2017 Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm. Production: Mariame Clément. Sets and costumes: Julia Hansen. Lighting: Bernd Purkrabek. Ulisse: Rolando Villazón. Penelope: Magdalena Kožená. Giunone: Katherine Watson. Eumete: Kresimir Spicer. Amore/Minerva: Anne-Catherine Gillet. Fortuna/Melanto: Isabelle Druet. L'umana Fragilità/Pisandro: Maarten Engeltjes. Tempo/Antinoo: Callum Thorpe. Giove/ Anfinomo: Lothar Odinius. Nettuno: Jean Teitgen. Telemaco: Mathias Vidal. Eurimaco: Emiliano Gonzalez Toro. Iro: Jörg Schneider. Ericlea: Elodie. Le concert d'Astrée. The most remarkable thing about this Ulisse was the cast – a glance at the list is telling. It’s unusual in a “HIP” performance of a work of this period not to have at least a few, if not indeed a majority of voiceless wonders who seem to have strayed out on stage from the back row of the church choir. It’s rare in opera of any kind to have a cast as consistently strong overall as t...

Opéra de Lille, Sunday March 18 2012 Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm. Production: Jean-François Sivadier. Sets: Alexandre de Dardel. Lighting: Philippe Berthomé. Costumes: Virginie Gervaise. Poppea: Sonya Yoncheva. Nerone: Max Emmanuel Cencic. Ottavia: Ann Hallenberg. Ottone: Tim Mead. Seneca: Paul Whelan. Drusilla: Amel Brahim-Djelloul. Nutrice/Famigliare di Seneca: Rachid Ben Abdeslam. Arnalta: Emiliano Gonzalez Toro. Fortuna/Venere/Pallade: Anna Wall. Valetto/Virtù: Khatouna Gadelia. Mercurio/Console: Aimery Lefèvre. Damigella/Amore: Camille Poul. Littore/Famigliare di Seneca /Console: Patrick Schramm. Lucano/soldato/tribuno/Famigliare di Seneca: Mathias Vidal. Liberto Capitano/soldato/tribuno: Nicholas Mulroy. Actor: Rachid Zanouda. Le Concert d’Astrée. I was too late booking for Poppea in Lille, so we found ourselves on folding wooden seats (creaking ones, too, when occupied by fidgets) on the second row of the topmost tier, just below the rim of the dome and well to one side. A...

"Opéra de Chambre" Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday May 4 2007 Pietro Antonio Giramo: La Pazza Claudio Monteverdi: Lamento d’Arianna Barbara Strozzi: Lagrime mie Claudio Monteverdi: Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda Production: Juliette Deschamps. Costumes: Christian Lacroix. Anna Caterina Antonacci. Soloists of the Cercle de l’Harmonie under Julien Chauvin. A single sentence found on the web sums up this rather intense evening: “ Era la notte presents four highly emotional, seventeenth-century Italian works, sung with commanding theatricality by Anna Caterina Antonacci.” Presented as a “chamber opera”, the performance is really a staged recital of works composed between 1620 and 1650, united by period but also by the the theme of destructive, mostly amorous, passion. The production is simple. The stage is nearly bare, with just a strip of water at the apron changing colour, from blue to blood red, depending on variations in the “old master” style lighting tha...

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Friday May 12, 2006 Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm. Production: Giorgio Barberio Corsetti. La Musica/Euridice: Kerstin Avemo. Orfeo: Michael Slattery. Ninfa: Kimy McLaren. Pastori: Pascal Bertin, Ed Lyon, Finnur Bjarnason, Jonathan Brown. Messaggiera: Renata Pokupic. La Speranza: Marina De Liso. Caronte: Andrea Silvestrelli. Proserpina: Aurélia Legay. Plutone: Paul Gay. Apollo: Finnu Bjarnason. Eco: Simon Wall. Spiriti: Amine Hadef, Simon Wall, Kevin Kyle, John Mackenzie, Jonathan Brown. Le Concert d’Astrée orchestra and vocal ensemble. Les Sacqueboutiers . It’s odd that Emmanuelle Haïm should be so deficient in Händel yet so good in Monteverdi. I wonder if it depends on her employing what in France are called “intermittents” – the showbiz equivalent of casual labour – or if it is simply that her forces and the way they play are suitable for Monteverdi but wrong for Händel. Whatever controversy some of her decisions spark off among baroque fundamentalists (over ...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday March 12 2006 Conductor: René Jacobs. Production: David McVicar. Poppea/Fortuna: Carmen Giannattasio. Nerone: Malena Ernman. Ottavia/Virtù: Marie-Claude Chappuis. Ottone: Lawrence Zazzo. Seneca: Antonio Abete. Drusilla: Carla di Censo. Nutrice/Famigliaro: Marie-Nicole Lemieux. Arnalta/Mercurio/Console: Thomas Michael Allen. Valletto/Amore: Amel Brahim-Djelloul. Damigella/Pallade: Mariana Ortíz. Lucano/Soldato/Console/ Famigliaro: Daniele Zanfardino. Liberto/Soldato /Tribuno: Fulvio Bettini. Littore/Famigliaro/Tribuno: Kai Uwe Fahnert. Concerto Vocale. This production had a very mixed reception when it appeared in Paris. There were those who complained of déjà vu and more of the same and those who found it a logical “sequel” to McVicar’s previous staging of Händel’s Agrippina , as Le nozze might be staged as a sequel to Il barbiere . But more of the same didn’t daunt me, as to me Agrippina was great. The underlying approach was the same: updating to...

Opéra National de Paris – Palais Garnier, February 17 2005 Conductor: Ivor Bolton. Production: David Alden. Poppea: Anna Caterina Antonacci. Nerone: Jacek Laszczkowski. Ottone: Christophe Dumaux. La Fortuna/Drusilla: Miah Persson. Ottavia: Monica Bacelli. Seneca: Robert Lloyd. Arnalta/Nutrice: Dominique Visse. La Virtù/Venere: Lucia Cirillo. Amore: Valérie Gabail. Pallade/Damigella: Jaël Azzaretti. Valletto: Barry Banks. Lucano/Primo soldato Pretoriano: Guy de Mey. Liberto/Secundo soldato Pretoriano: Topi Lehtipuu. Mercurio/ Littore: Antonio Abete. Soloists of the Freiburger Barockorchester - Monteverdi-Continuo-Ensemble. Mixed singing, but entertaining farce How things have changed in the past 30 years: the last time Poppea appeared at the Palais Garnier, in 1978, the cast included Jon Vickers, Gwyneth Jones, Christa Ludwig, and Nicolai Ghiaurov, in togas and surrounded by columns. 15 years ago, the opera was usually set in Mussolini’s Italy, with art deco palaces and leather coats,...