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Thomas Adès, pragmatic contemporary
In the 20th century, there was an opera mystique, the mystique of the impossible and often single work: Schönberg never managed to find a satisfying conclusion to Moses und Aaron, and Messiaen, at age 75 and after eight years of work, delivered an outrageous and fascinating Saint Francis. And then there are others, composers who have long, continuous and productive careers, like Britten or Henze. Thomas Adès, a 45-year-old English composer, is one of the latter. The work...
Published onthe 26 of July
West Side Story: Broadway comes to Salzburg
Philip William McKinley is known as a director of large-scale shows. The musical spectacular ‘‘ShowStoppers’’ at Steve Wynn’s Encore resort in Las Vegas is his latest, and he took over ‘‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,’’ replacing Julie Taymor, in 2011 until the show closed in January 2014. But, as Cecilia Bartoli, the artistic director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, points out, he is also a classically trained pianist and opera...
Published onthe 19 of May
Bryn Terfel : Becoming Boris Godunov
At London’s Royal Opera House, the Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel has just completed the run of his debut role as the title character of ‘‘Boris Godunov,’’ the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky’s only completed opera. ‘‘It’s one of the most iconic pieces written and has been described as a masterpiece,’’ says Terfel. The production, by the English director Richard Jones, is a new one, and the score...
Published onthe 18 of April
Metropolitan Opera : The 2016/17 season
Although the Metropolitan Opera clearly remains a prestigious opera house with one of the great lyric stages, it is well known that the New York institution has in recent years had to make do with a very limited budget – marked by a 22 million dollar deficit in 2014 and just barely in the black by a million dollars for 2015 thanks to the sale of some of its assets, and particularly through drastic cost-cutting measures that are ongoing. For the first time since its 2009-2010 season,...
Published onthe 19 of February
Paris Opera, Lissner Season 2: the 2016/2017 Season
At the Opéra de Paris, Stéphane Lissner, like any new director making his ambitions known, was met by sceptics and naysayers lying in wait for him, along with all those who wished him less than well: the success of his first performances quickly swept away all the reservations and banana peels strewn in his path. His success was obvious, hailed by national and international critics and corroborated by the enthusiasm of the audiences filling the halls.This success is of course...
Published onthe 10 of February
Why Cecilia Bartoli Chose West Side Story for Salzburg
Cecilia Bartoli became the artistic director for the Salzburg Pentecost Festival in 2012, and every year since then the Italian mezzo soprano has put together a programme that puts the spotlight on women, whether strong or sacrificial, harrowing or modest, each year presenting “a new facet of femininity” – whether in the role of Cleopatra in Handel’s Julius Caesar, Norma in Bellini, Angelina Rossini’s La Cenerentola or more recently Iphigenia in Gluck’s...
Published onthe 26 of December
La Damnation de Faust : genesis of a production with Stéphane Lissner
Early this December, the Opéra de Paris will present La Damnation de Faust, by Hector Berlioz, featuring Sophie Koch (in the role of Marguerite), Jonas Kaufmann (playing Faust) and Bryn Terfel (as Mephistopheles), in a new production designed by Alvis Hermanis. A much-anticipated production because of its prestigious casting, of course, but also because it is intended to be emblematic of the work of the newly appointed Stéphane Lissner, officially at the head of the Paris...
Published onthe 07 of December
Portrait: Claus Guth
Beginning 4 August, the Salzburg Festival will give a new production of Fidelio, the unique opera of Beethoven, with Adrianne Pieczonka and Jonas Kaufmann in the lead roles. A new production directed by Claus Guth, whom is praised for the accuracy and the theatrical dimension of its adaptations. While waiting to discover his interpretation of Fidelio in a few days, we analyze the work of this effective storytellers in opera. *** Claus Guth is proof that, despite the naysayers,...
Published onthe 02 of August
Fidelio, confronting life’s great questions
Says Helga Rabl-Stadler, president of the Salzburg Festival: ‘‘My favorite part of ‘Fidelio’ is when Leonore comes down to the prison and does not recognize Florestan because he is so starved. Yet she says, ‘Whoever you are, I will rescue you.’ Not because this is her husband, but rather because everyone who has been unjustly imprisoned must be saved. I find this humanistic declaration fantastic.’’ Beethoven’s only opera, with its...
Published onthe 01 of August
Jonas Kaufmann: three operas, three roles, three styles
Jonas Kaufmann is probably one of the most solicited performer of the lyrical stages nowadays and after having interpreted recently Don Jose in Carmen in the Orange Choregies, the German tenor will personify Fidelio’s Florestan in a few days in a new production signed by Claus Guth in Salzburg festival, followed by Ramades’ role in Aida, next September in Munich. Three very distinct roles, interpreted in three languages, in three stylistically different iconic operas: a...
Published onthe 27 of July
Conversation about Carmen with Jonas Kaufmann and Inva Mula
They say that Carmen is the world’s most popular opera, especially because of its title role, a symbol of freedom and passion.And yet the role takes on meaning only as a counterpoint to those of Don José (the officer passionately smitten with the cigar girl) and Micaela (who tries to bring Don José back to his senses) both of whom are generally considered the representatives of a military order on one hand and a social or familial order on the other.More...
Published onthe 22 of July
Iphigénie en Tauride: Birth of the Musical Tragedy
Cecilia Bartoli is reviving Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride for the Salzburg Whitsun Festival. As we eagerly await this new interpretation (which we know will be very erudite and documented) in a new production, we take a look back at the work itself, mid-way between opera and theatre, and its historical context, marked by the advent of Romanticism at the expense of opera seria. *** Iphigénie en Tauride, Gluck’s last Parisian triumph, is...
Published onthe 20 of May