March 8, 2010
December 25, 2009
Opera in the past decade
“Opera improved on its glitz factor thanks to HD broadcasts and tabloid publicity, but lost sight of its artistry. Administrators and critics fostered the wholly erroneous notions that singers of the past couldn’t act and singers today could; while the jet-set demands of the international lifestyle fostered hothouse careers: the next great hope comes along, wins acclaim, oversings and fades from sight. The tenor Rolando Villazón became a poster boy for opera in the 2000s: not, alas, for his huge talent, but for singing his voice to shreds.”–Anne Midgette writing for the Washington Post about opera of the past decade
October 11, 2009
Wozzeck
I attended a semi-staged performance of Berg’s Wozzeck at the Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 8 October with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and with Simon Keenlyside in the title role. It is probably the only peformance of Wozzeck that I will ever attend, but it was a very good one. I was in row H and had a good view of the singers.
It was quite a juxtaposition to see La Cage aux Folles and Wozzeck in the same day. There were no beach balls as props in Wozzeck, only potatoes, but of course none were thrown into the audience. Simon Keenlyside accidentally left one of the potatoes on the stage, and picked it up when leaving the stage after one of the “curtain calls.”
I agree with the contents of the review at Whatsonstage.com and so I don’t feel the need to try to write my own.
October 10, 2009
Rigoletto at English National Opera
London Coliseum Rigoletto Opera in three acts Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave English version by James Fenton First performance of this production: 22 September 1982 by English National Opera at the London Coliseum — Cast on 7 October 2009: Conductor–Stephen Lord Director–Jonathan Miller — I attended the performance of Rigoletto by the English National Opera on October 7, 2009. Charles Johnston replaced Anthony Michaels-Moore in the title role, because Michaels-Moore was indisposed with a flu. The production, set in New York of the 1950’s among Mafiosi types, is a very successful updating. The English translation is also a very good one. It helps the updating that the opera was performed in a translation, since here and there words could be changed to go along with the updating. Charles Johnston was very effective in the title role. His voice is not a beautiful one, but he sang well and displayed dramatic intelligence. At times a few of his words were different from the words in the projected surtitles, e.g. “bastard” instead of “coward” or vice versa (I don’t necessarily remember exactly what the particular words were). I don’t know whether he had learned an earlier version of the translation, or whether he had simply memorized the words less than perfectly. In any event, he did very well for somebody who had been informed only that day that he would be going on. Michael Fabiano was vocally the star of the show. He was the one singer with an especially pleasant voice, one that I could imagine wanting to hear again. Katherine Whyte was an adequate Gilda. Her voice was loud enough to be heard, but not quite loud enough to make the full impression that one could make with the role. Madeleine Shaw was quite good as Maddalena, and on the whole everybody in the cast was good enough to create a good ensemble performance.
English National Opera
7 October 2009
by Giuseppe Verdi
after Victor Hugo’s Le roi s’amuse
The “Duke”–Michael Fabiano
Borsa–Peter Van Hulle
Ceprano’s wife–Fiona Canfield
Rigoletto–Charles Johnston
Marullo–David Hoadley
Ceprano–James Gower
Monterone–Iain Paterson
Sparafucile, a professional hit-man–Brindley Sherratt
Gilda, Rigoletto’s daughter–Katherine Whyte
Giovanna–Judith Douglas
A Secretary–Karen Foster
A Henchman–Andrew Tinkler
Maddalena–Madeleine Shaw
September 20, 2009
La Cenerentola on DVD
A DVD of Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez is scheduled for release in the United States on October 27, 2009.
