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unting production this rusalka is one of martin kusej s best stagings and probably one that many will find it hard to forget whether one agrees or not with the concept inspired by the horrors of the likes josef pritzl and wolfgang priklopil martin kusej completely ignores any trace of the romantic era painting a grim and shocking picture of contemporary sexual violence while fritzl rusalka s father water goblin and his wife rusalka s mother jezibaba live upstairs rusalka together with her sisters are kept prisoners in the cellar of an from the outside idyllic house the mother fritzl s accomplice but also she who helps rusalka escape it is simply heartbreaking to see how rusalka is damaged beyond repair and does not stand a chance adapting to life outside when she escapes aided by her mother jezibaba obviously an insensitive prince perfectly played by klaus florian vogt who carries on a premarital affair with the foreign princess does not help her either however it is clear that the psychological damages inflicted upon rusalka during her childhood as a prisoner are too severe and incompatible with a normal life on the outside finally rusalka flees back to the comfort of her prison the only place she knows and among the most outstanding features of kusej detailed direction is the ambiguity of the psychological portraits rusalka s ambiguity towards her father and also her mothers jezibaba s ambiguity as both an accomplice and support in rusalka s escape in the end however fritzl is finally caught by undercover police but damaged and shattered the children end up in a mental institution and by now rusalka is clearly insane the closest i have ever seen an opera come to a psychological thriller it may not have been dvorak s intention but it works originally planned for nina stemme as rusalka kristine opolais gave up her metropolitan opera debut musetta in boheme when stemme pulled out retrospectively the right choice as she later was hailed as one of the most noteworthy debuts of the 2012 13 met season as magda la rondine kristine opolais is the ideal interpreter of this haunted rusalka looking and acting the part worthy of a hollywood star and with a silvery agile voice she certainly is up to the demands of the part that her voice does not quite appeal to me should not be held against her gunther groissbock is terrifyingly convincing as fritzl water goblin in what could easily be one of the most thoroughly unsympathetic character s ever seen on an opera stage contrary to dvorak s intention probably not what he expected signing up for this production not less outstanding are klaus florian vogt s cool egocentric prince janina baechle s jezibaba herself a damaged creature and nadia krasteva s looker of a foreign princess there is only one let down here and for me that is tomas hanus in the pit whose style is rather rigid reluctant and transparent and does not truly capture dvorak s flow almost unwatchable at the same time one of the strongest stagings i have ever seen production trailer the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average kristine opolais 5 klaus florian vogt 5 günter groissbäck 5 janina baechle 5 nadia krasteva 5 martin kusej s production 5 tomas hanus 4 overall impression 5 posted by mostly opera at 20 16 1 comment labels bavarian state opera dvd review günther groissböck klaus florian vogt kristine opolais martin kusej wednesday 1 may 2013 don giovanni in dull zambello staging don giovanni dvd royal opera house covent garden 2008 production francesca zambello conductor charles mackerras cast simon keenlyside don giovanni kyle ketelsen leporello joyce didonato donna elvira ramon vargas don ottavio marina poplavskaya donna anna miah persson zerlina robert gleadow masetto eric halfvarson commendatore i have never really understood why francesca zambello has been invited and re invited to stage operas in virtually all the major opera houses i have never once seen a staging by her which i found exciting or even interesting okay once she was involved with something exciting the carmen with jonas kaufmann andanna caterina antonacci however this was exciting despite zambello s best efforts to drown carmen in dullness suffice to say that i agree with all those who found this don giovanni ugly and boring and i disagree with those finding the dvd much better a circular wall of glass dark colours throughout a death scene with live flames and then a bare chested simon keenlyside in baggy pants not to mention the foolish wigs both he and leporello wear is this a comedy or tragedy really the characterization seemed monodimensional as well with don giovanni the rogue leporello the more anonymous donna anna the elegant and donna elvira the desperate as to the musical side things look rather better best of all is joyce didonato a strong voiced clear donna elvira also kyle ketelsen in strong voice shows quite a comic talent as leporello robert gleadow 23 years old at the time of the recording and miah persson are sweet however while marina poplavskaya as always inhabits her character more than 100 vocally she seems quite thin and overchallenged especially in or sai chi onore simon keenlyside himself is clearly among the top choices of any don giovanni production today though i d like to see him in a better directed production frankly as always i almost forgot the don ottavio here ramon vargas though i do not really know what to say about him he sings his arias well but mozart did not give him much to work with in terms of characerization to begin with there are many many don giovanni dvds out there and off hand i can without difficulty name at least 5 better than this one in fact all the don giovanni dvds i havereviewed are better than this one though i admittedly have seen worse as well much worse the late sir charles mackerras deceased in 2010 was engaged and clearly masters the score despite the fact that i largely disagree with the ornamentations he asked the singers to perform though they were in no way offensive the masked trio the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average simon keenlyside 4 5 kyle ketelsen 4 5 marina poplavskaya 3 joyce didonato 5 miah persson 4 5 robert gleadow 4 5 francesca zambello s production 2 charles mackerras 4 overall impression 3 posted by mostly opera at 20 21 3 comments labels dvd review joyce didonato marina poplavskaya miah persson simon keenlyside saturday 27 april 2013 calixto bieito calixto bieito born 1962 is mirande de ebro spain refers to himself as catalán education history of art and philology at the university in barcelona afte he worked as an apprentice with ao pete brooks old vic theatre school bristol biographical details here extensive biography i n spanish here directorial approach very contemporary often describing characters living on the edge of society in stagings often including nudity sex and violence at his best his productions are both aesthetic and with a distinct and quite unique contemporary feel major achievements in opera breakthrough beginning of the 00 s with highly controversial stagings of ballo di maschera and don giovanni in barcelona and london other notable stagings include carmen the best production on dvd in my opinion wozzeck also top choice on dvd as well as entführung from seraillet set in a brothel komische oper berlin 2009 calixto bieito selected productions ballo di maschera barcelona 2000 the infamous opening scene in which 14 men squat on open loos pants down entführung originally at komische oper berlin 2004 parsifal stuttgart 2010 boris godunov munich 2013 calixto bieito on dvd don giovanni barcelona liceu 2003 wozzeck barcelona liceu 2006 carmen barcelona liceu 2011 calixto bieito live performances reviewed by mostly opera ballo in maschero copenhagen around 2003 seen but not reviewed calixto bieito links current productions 2013 14 season by calixto bieito calixto bieito inteviewed in 2004 on his don g by a very rude british journalist profile interview on calixto bieito calixto bieito homepage posted by mostly opera at 22 44 no comments labels calixto bieito opera directors tbu thursday 25 april 2013 katharina wagners meistersinger a winner on dvd meistersinger dvd bayreuth festival 2008 production katharina wagner conductor sebastian weigle dast franz hawlata hans sachs michael volle sixtus beckmesser michaela kaune eva klaus florian vogt walther von stolzing norbert ernst david carola guber magdalene artur korn veit pogner markus eiche fritz kothner friedemann röhlig ein nachtwächter i remember very well this production the first i saw in the bayreuthfestival house in 2007 arriving at the last minute i squeezed into my hard seat on the 25 th row followed this spectacle which had opened a few weeks earlier to almost universal criticism for some reason meistersinger normally receives a very traditional treatment even by directors otherwise renowned for inventive staging perhaps it was the depart from this traditionalisation that made many criticise katharina wagner s staging or perhaps the fact that the succession to wolfgang wagner as festival director at that time was very much debated and that she as his grand daughter was judged as much politically as artistically i for one remember having seen dozens of negative comments related to this staging from people who had not even seen it at the time anyway i found at the time and i still find now that this staging is more than interesting and the dvd with the frequent use of close up provide myriad of details which were impossible to notice from the 25 th row in the house especially the last 45 minutes are quite extraordinary presenting a daring and entirely novel interpretation to truly enjoy this staging you will probably need to accept agree that this opera is an allegory of changes in society about how society reacts to change and how much change it can accept in act 1 we are in a 19 th century brotherhood of sorts traditionally clad meistersingers sit around the table reading small yellow books of german classics at that time sachs barefoot is a slightly controversial outsider but not nearly as controversial as the modern dress walther who sprays paint on everything and everybody not a singer but a painter the point is driven through by him assembling a puzzle of nürnberg all in disorder compared to beckmessers perfectly assembled nürnberg puzzle in act 2 the sullen eva hangs around what looks like an east german canteen in the 1950 s where sachs sits with his typewriter in the corner in the only hint at shoemaking sneakers seem to be dropping from the sky and all ends in an orgy of paint throwing the real stuff begins in act 3 now beckmesser is suddenly the outcast with his t shirt beck in town and finds himself in sach s fancy apartment where the heads of the old german masters brahms etc dancing in the background sachs with his elegant suit is now constructing a neat idealised family concept literally within the frames of a doll house for walther and eva to be filmed in how come this sudden change then in the choral scene preceding the wach auf sachs is captured and tied to a chair by these heads while they often clad in underwear perform a weird dance and eva blindfolded walks amidst them what is going on here seriously next however katharina wagners master stroke begin in earnest with an eerie scene in which sachs s helpers capture a stage director and conductor putting them in a coffin starting the fire to burn them exactly at the wach auf in a scene reminiscent of the nazi epoque very strong theater indeed et voila what comes out of the coffin a golden calf it seems when a model of the auditorium emerges from under stage we the audience are double spectators to walther bringing home a check of 10 000 from the nürnberg bank while beckmesser now is an outcast the staging requires a familiarity with german culture both ancient and present that i perhaps do not have and there are myriads of details to discover here as the pace is furious especially in the third act to summarize sachs and walther essentially submit to conformism while beckmesser moves in the other direction no katharina wagner does not have all the answers and admittedly the staging of the first act seems a bit heavy handed but then again the first act is really long and not for the first time do i wish wagner would have lived to revise read shorten it though i have no idea if he ever thought about that and anyway if he had lived any longer his next project after parsifal would probably have been a revision of tannhäuser needed as well more singers stand out on the dvd than i remember from the live performance especially franz hawlata underpowered in the theater but not here taking fully advantage of the close ups for us to see his detailed and impressive acting walther really is a super role for klaus florian vogt probably his best role together with lohengrin and michael volle also leaves nothing to be desired as for the rest nobody was exceptional one way or the other though admittedly michaela kaune was vastly better than the amanda mace i saw the year before katharina wagner presents with the only production on dvd truly departing from medieval nürnberg and trying to wrestle with this issues for this alone this is a must see trailer for the dvd the bottom line scale of 1 5 3 average franz hawlata 4 michaela kaune 3 4 klaus florian vogt 5 michael volle 5 norbert ernst 4 carola guber 4 katharina wagner s production 4 5 sebastian weigle 4 overall impression 5 posted by mostly opera at 20 27 no comments labels bayreuth festival dvd review franz hawlata katharina wagner klaus florian vogt meistersinger michael volle richard wagner tuesday 23 april 2013 disappointing meistersinger from zürich die meistersinger von nürnberg zurich opera 2003 production nikolaus lehnhoff conductor franz welser möst cast josé van dam sachs peter seiffer walther petra maria schnitzer eva matti salminen pogner michael volle beckmesser brigitte pinter magdalene christoph strehl david gunther groissböck nightwatchman it is not the first time that otherwise quite inventive stage directors seem to freeze and revert to previous times static theatre when faced with meistersinger while it is perhaps not surprising that no one seems to have truly decoded this piece why not at least give it a try katharina wagner did with mixed but nevertheless interesting results nikolaus lehnhoff as seen here well suffice to say we are light years from his production of tristan and isolde to be seen at glyndebourne around the same time nikolaus lehnhoff s style is easily recognizable though simplistic geometric sets in stylish colours and characters in period costumes just take a look at the abstract blue second act with a massive stair case which could easily have been re used for his lohengrin the best are the equally abstract 3rd act sets including and excellent amphitheatre excellent ballet however when the answer to the question what did you learn from this staging regard...
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