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from previous achim freyer productions including extensive eugen onegin photos and review will provide a reasonable idea what one does not get from the photographs is the highly stylized movements of the singers almost like string puppets one of freyer s trademarks which i d be very surprised if he didn t continue for this ring below photos and video excerpts from achim freyer s upcoming los angeles opera ring rheingold walküre siegfried götterdämmerung posted by mostly opera at 10 00 6 comments labels plácido domingo richard wagner ring des nibelungen wednesday 18 february 2009 birgit nilsson prize one million dollars to plácido domingo the biggest prize in monetary terms of the classical music world the birgit nilsson prize awarding one million dollars to the winner was awarded for the first time the winner being plácido domingo the identity of the first winner was already decided by birgit nilsson before her death and has until now been kept in a sealed envelope the prize will be awarded every second or third year the winner from now on to be chosen by an international committee to be considered for the award a male or female opera or concert singer or conductor within the same area or a specific production for an opera company rutbert reisch of the birgit nilsson foundation explains that it was at birgit nilsson s specific request that the prize should only be awarded three years after her death to avoid unwanted focus on birgit nilsson s person as opposed to the purpose of the award to promote opera and culture he furthermore explains that there is enough money to award the prize in many years to come further information in swedish here posted by mostly opera at 16 39 9 comments christianne stotijn tchaikovsky romances christianne stotijn with julius drake tchaikovsky romances released january 2009 further information here dutch mezzo soprano christianne stotijn born 1977 seems set on making an international singing career centered around concert and liedsinging and just released her fourth solo album tchaikovsky romances on onyx what genuinely places christianne stotijn apart from the vast majority of her colleagues is not fundamentally the voice though christianne stotijn s voice is beautiful as well as first rate it doesn t have the even creamy beauty of colleagues such as angelika kirchschlager or magdalena kozena what she does have though is a genuinely unique expressivity based around a seemingly deep understanding of the text and musical structures the myriads of moods and colours she applies to these tchaikovsky songs are quite extraordinary always emphasizing the words and clearly chosing expressivity over beauty of tone when faced with the choice highly recommended the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average 5 posted by mostly opera at 01 21 no comments labels cd review christianne stotijn monday 16 february 2009 faust in berlin superb singing in confusing production faust berlin state opera february 15th 2009 premiere production karsten wiegand cast charles castronovo faust rené pape méphistophéles marina poplavskaya marguerite silvia de la muela siebel roman trekel valentin conductor alain altinoglu further information here initially we see méphistopheles and faust as franciscan monks in front of a black wall méphistophéles covering his face from the audience upon being summoned by faust he initiates the action by activating a slot machine after which a three storey set inhabited with punk look alikes in a casino is revealed marguerite lying in her bed upstage quite unusually the music as well as the stage movements occasionally ceases only to begin when activated by méphistophéles in this rather boring white trash environment including a procession of dophin masks point unkonwn marguerite is easily seduced by a few pieces of fake jewelry supplied by méphistopheles now dressed like a catholic priest after the intermission things get more interesting when the choristers form a crucifix around méphistophéles now in seemingly russian orthodox church regalia in a rather effective church scene faust remains a passive character throughout far too passive to kill valentin which méphistophéles does for him as marguerite covered in blood displays the body of her dead child she is substituted for a parade of hookers in the walpurgis night and ultimately kills herself is she saved i think not upon marguerite falling lifeless to the floor on the empty stage the stage walls are removed to display a dinner party behind which méphistophéles disappears with faust theater within the theater presumably karsten wiegand s overall point being i am not sure though my first guess would be a statement against organized religion where this staging fails however is with the characterization of the protagonists and though wiegand has some interesting points there is simply not enough dramatic tension to keep this the boat floating throughout not to mention a more stringent dramaturgy in order to understand what is going on without having to rely on programme notes etc the singers however were first rate marina poplavskaya was announced as indisposed with a cold but nevertheless sang beautifully with her dusky soprano and strangely intense stage appearance rené pape was not initially announced as indisposed at his own request apparently though he clearly should have been strangely unfocused in appearance dashing aimlessly around the stage forgetting the text and entrances as well as occasionally intonating flat something i have never previously heard from him furthermore his entrances and exits from stage seemed very uncoordinated particularly in act 2 though perhaps he left as he was unwell immediately after the intermission came the announcement that he was indisposed and needed treatment for circulatory problems but would continue after an additional 10 minutes indisposed or not he remains a smashing méphistophéles though knowing his usual standards this was not his evening charles castronovo was a wonderful faust with beautiful tone fine phrasings understandable french effortless high notes as well as a sympathetic though not overly engaged stage presence silvia de la muela was a sympathetic siebel and roman trekel a dramatically convincing though dry valentin much applause for alain altinoglu in the pit the only intrinsic french element to this performance he obviously has plenty of ideas with this score though his shift in tempi were rather abrupt and lacked consistency but the orchestra played well for him though at times he was almost intolerably slow exactly what version of faust was played i am not sure but it is one i have never heard before both marguerite s spinning wheel scene and the walpurgis night was included both abridged however and by more than just the ballet and several small spoken recitatives were included as well as plainly spoken sentences within some of the arias most notably siebels i was surrounded by as well as deafened by very loud booers and it is my clear impression that they won out for what it is worth the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average marina poplavskaya 4 5 charles castronovo 4 5 rené pape na silvia de la muela 3 roman trekel 3 4 karsten wiegand 2 3 alain altinoglu 3 4 overall impression 4 photographs from the company website posted by mostly opera at 19 32 12 comments labels berlin state opera marina poplavskaya rené pape sunday 15 february 2009 berlin major success for new production of die ägyptische helena die ägyptische helena berlin deutsche oper february 14th 2009 production marco arturo marelli cast ricarda merberth helena robert chafin menelaos laura aikin aithra morten frank larsen altair coductor andrew litton further information here apparently richard strauss and hofmannsthal were surprised by the lack of success of die ägyptische helena when it opened in 1928 at the dresden semperoper from a musical point of view its easy to see why as it contains some of richard strauss most glorious music closely related to die frau ohne schatten the action however is too hopeless to be relayed here in detail go here however in brief helen of troy and her cuckolded husband menelaos have marital troubles but are ultimately reconciled helped by the sorceress aithra all while the omniscient mussel yells out prophecies and warnings from the sideline marco arturo marelli obviously has the major advantage that nobody really knows what this piece is about thus the action as described in booklets is compared to marelli s vision as opposed to the other way around marelli of the stylish vienna cappriccio is equally stylish here making efficient use of a revolving set placing the action within three frames the war of the past aithras world of the present complete with faded oriental charm and lastly the fantasy world of zweite brauchtnacht with furniture turned upside down very elegantly done complete with repositioning and cutting of a few scenes to make the action believable for the public in marelli s word as helen of troy one has to be able to sing strauss soaring tones as well as look like the most beautiful woman in the world ricarda merbeth with her expressive though slightly dry voice gets reasonably away with it matched by a vivacious laura aikin as aithra robert chavin was indisposed as menelaos but fought his way through the evening finally andrew litton succeeded in bringing out myriads of details from the orchestra in an elegantly subdued performance clearly one of the best performances i have seen at the deutsche oper berlin in recent years if not the best the critics wrote tagesspiegel picturesque staging from marelli praise for the singers berliner morgenpost a triumph die welt deutsche oper masters richard strauss difficult work with bravour the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average ricarda merberth 3 4 robert chavin 3 4 laura aikin 4 morten frank larsen 3 marelli s production 5 andrew litton 4 overall impression 4 photographs from the company website posted by mostly opera at 17 30 3 comments labels deutsche oper berlin opera review carmen on dvd shattering antonacci and kaufmann in 2006 london performance carmen royal opera covent garden 2006 production francesca zambello cast anna caterina antonacci carmen jonas kaufmann don josé ildebrando d arcangelo escamillo norah amsellem micaëla conductor antonio pappano further information here director francesca zambello opted to create a realistically desolate production of carmen for the royal opera in order to reflect on the every day background on which the drama unfolds and she succeeds admirably presenting dreary rusty simple sets and singers in period costumes admittedly it could have been much worse and indeed with the cast presented i am inclined to not care about zambello s staging at all ironically most carmen performances end up with plenty of praise for micaëla and escamillo as more often than not don josé and carmen doesn t really kick it off oppositely here ildebrando d arcangelo looks great as escamilla but i don t really take to his grainy voice same goes for norah amsellem as micaëla whose vibrato though less obtrusive here than in the berlin carmen really does her no favor however i am inclined not to care about these issues either as both anna caterina antonacci and jonas kaufmann are shattering as the leads with stage chemistry and acting making this by far the best carmen on dvd anna caterina antonacci is not a mezzo soprano and though her center voice lies higher than the traditional carmen she pulls both the cards scene and final scene off vocally as well her stunning and completely involving acting is on a level of its own places her carmen in a league with very few members jonas kaufmann superbly portraits don josé s change from obediant rational soldier to a virtually insane man though don josé really is a whimp jonas kaufmann avoids making him appear as such vocally it does sound like he pushes hard for the top notes however plácido domingo has always sounded like this in his seemingly endless career combined with a straight forward engaged reading from antonio pappano this is one of the most successful productions of the last decade for the royal opera anna caterina antonacci and jonas kaufmann final scene the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average anna caterina antonacci 5 jonas kaufmann 5 norah amsellem 3 4 ildebrando d arcangelo 4 francesca zambello 4 antonio pappano 4 5 overall impression 5 posted by mostly opera at 05 49 5 comments labels anna caterina antonacci antonio pappano dvd review jonas kaufmann london roh tuesday 10 february 2009 metropolitan opera 2009 10 hd season announced officially the metropolitan has announced the 2009 10 hd season tosca october 10 levine mattila m álvarez uusitalo plishka aida october 24 gatti urmana zajick botha guelfi scandiuzzi kocán turandot november 7 nelsons guleghina poplavskaya giordani ramey les contes d hoffmann december 19 levine kim netrebko gubanova garanča villazón pape der rosenkavalier january 9 levine fleming graham schäfer cutler allen sigmundsson carmen january 16 nézet séguin frittoli gheorghiu alagna kwiecien simon boccanegra february 6 levine pieczonka giordani domingo morris hamlet march 27 langrée dessay larmore spence keenlyside morris armida may 1 frizza fleming brownlee ford zapata banks van rensburg posted by mostly opera at 20 50 1 comment labels metropolitan opera dvd reviews dvd reviews listed alphabetically by the composer bártok béla duke bluebeards castle film by kováts 1981 solti c beethoven ludwig van fidelio metropolitan opera 2002 flimm d levine c fidelio zurich 2004 flimm d harnoncourt c fidelio valencia 2006 pier alli d mehta c missa solemnis 2005 dresdner frauenkirche fabio luisi c bellini vincenzo i puritani metropolitan opera 2007 sequi d sumners c berg alban lulu glyndebourne 1996 vick d davis c lulu zurich 2002 bechtolf d welser möst c lulu london royal opera 2009 loy d pappano c lulu barcelona liceu 2010 py d boder c wozzeck berlin state opera 1994 chéreau d barenboim c wozzeck barcelona 2006 bieito d weigle c wozzeck bolshoi moscow 2010 tcherniakov c currentzis c bizet georges carmen london royal opera 2006 zambello d pappano c carmen met opera 2010 eyre d nezet seguin c carmen liceu barcelona 2011 bieito d piollet c berlioz hector damnation de faust salzburg 2000 fura del baus d cambreling c les troyens paris châtelet 2003 kokkos d gardiner c les troyens valencia 2009 fura del baus d gergiev c benvenuto cellini salzburg 2007 stölzl c gergiev c boesmans philippe julie aix en provence 2005 bondy d ono c boito arrigo mefistofele san francisco 1989 carsen d arena c mefistofele palermo 2008 del monaco d ranzani c britten benjamin peter grimes zurich 2005 pountney d welser möst c peter grimes metropolitan opera 2008 doyle d runnicles c busoni ferruccio doktor faust zurich opera 2006 grüber d jordan c cilea francesco adriana lecouvreur london royal opera 2010 mcvicar d elder c debussy claude pélleas et mélisande welsh national opera 199...
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