We left at the interval...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday May 21 2023 Conductor: Alain Altinoglu. Production: Olivier Py. Sets and Costumes: Pierre-André Weitz. Lighting: Bertrand Killy. Henry VIII: Lionel Lhote. Don Gomez de Féria: Ed Lyon. Le Cardinal Campeggio: Vincent Le Texier. Le Comte de Surrey: Enguerrand de Hys. Le Duc de Norfolk: Werner Van Mechelen. Cranmer: Jérôme Varnier. Catherine d’Aragon: Marie-Adeline Henry. Anne de Boleyn: Nora Gubisch. Lady Clarence: Claire Antoine. Garter/Un officier: Alexander Marev. Un huissier de la cour: Leander Carlier. Quatre dames d’honneur: Alessia Thais Berardi, Annelies Kerstes, Lieve Jacobs, Manon Poskin. Quatre seigneurs: Alain-Pierre Wingelinckx, Luis Aguilar, Byoungjin Lee, René Laryea. La Monnaie Orchestra and Chorus. Photos: Baus/La Monnaie La Monnaie has a track record in doing relative rarities proud, and it looks as if the success of Olivier Py's production of Les Huguenots was behind the decision to offer him Henry VIII . It turned out to be, so I thoug...

Opéra Comique, Paris, Sunday June 11 2017 Conductor: François-Xavier Roth. Production: Guillaume Vincent. Sets: James Brandily. Video: Baptiste Klein. Costumes: Fanny Brouste. Lighting: Kelig Le Bars. Choreography: Herman Diephuis. Magic: Benoît Dattez. Circé/ Fiammetta, danseuse: Raphaëlle Delaunay. Conrad: Edgaras Montvidas. Hélène: Hélène Guilmette. Spiridion: Tassis Christoyannis. Bénédict:Yu Shao. Rosa: Jodie Devos. Accentus choir. Les Siècles orchestra. Photo: Pierre Grosbois/Opéra Comique The Opéra Comique has opened again and seems set to pursue its policy of scheduling welcome rarities. To me, Saint-Saëns is a very sound composer, so I've long wished we could get to know more of his operas. I was pleased get a shot at  Le Timbre d'argent . As it's a very rare piece, here's the plot, as summarised (drastically) on Wikipedia: Conrad, an artist, has an unhealthy obsession for gold, and is further engrossed by his own painting of Circe, embodied in the livin...

ONP Bastille, Monday October 24 2016 Conductor: Philippe Jordan. Production: Damiano Michieletto. Sets: Paolo Fantin. Costumes: Carla Teti. Lighting: Alessandro Carletti. Dalila: Anita Rachvelishvili. Samson: Aleksandrs Antonenko. Le Grand Prêtre de Dagon: Egils Silins. Abimélech: Nicolas Testé. Un vieillard hébreu: Nicolas Cavallier. Un Messager philistin: John Bernard. Premier Philistin: Luca Sannai. Deuxième Philistin: Jian-Hong Zhao. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Just as I was happy to hear Verdi’s Requiem again last week, I was happy to hear Samson et Dalila again this Monday. Saint-Saëns is unfashionable and underrated, but I like him a lot, and wonder not just why I’ve never seen Samson staged before, but why we don’t get at least some of his other operas. Saint-Saëns Musically, it was a rare treat. After what I briefly thought was a rather ponderous, Brahmsian start, bringing to mind the Requiem (Brahms’s, not Verdi’s) and raising initial fear...

La Monnaie at Bozar, Brussels, Sunday March 25 2007 Conductor: Kazushi Ono. Chorus Master: Piers Maxim. Dalila: Olga Borodina. Samson: Carl Tanner. Le Grand Prêtre de Dagon: Jean-Philippe Lafont. Abimélech, satrape de Gaza: Federico Sacchi. Un vieil Hébreu: Chester Patton. Un messager: Tie Min Wang. Premier Philistin: André Grégoire. Deuxième philistin: Bernard Giovani. Orchestre symphonique et choeurs de la Monnaie. This concert performance of Samson et Dalila took place in the handsomely-restored art deco concert hall - complete with organ - of Horta's otherwise grim Palais des Beaux-Arts, or "Bozar" as it's now called, in Brussels. Though it seems fairly obvious to me that if composers intended their operas for the stage, staged they should be, Samson works quite well as oratorio: strong orchestral support, plenty of good stuff for the chorus, etc., apart from the odd detail explicit only on stage, e.g. the child who guides Samson to the pillars at the end. And w...