« May 2012 | Main | July 2012 »
The final instalment of Andreas Kriegenburg's Ring cycle opens tonight at the Bavarian State Opera with what looks suspiciously like a topical spin. Götterdämmerung features Stephen Gould as Siegfried and Nina Stemme as Brünnhilde. Kent Nagano conducts.
I'll be seeing it next week, and you can listen to it live on BR Klassik at 16:00 (3pm UK).
More photos and video trailer below.
| | |
|
It seems Raymond Gubbay is no better than ENO at flogging Coliseum tickets.
Stalls seats for Cape Town Opera's Porgy and Bess - oops, Cape Town Opera's The Gershwins' ® Porgy and Bess℠ - are reduced to £50 (previously £92-£97.50) with the online code PORGYOA. Alternatively call the Box Office on 020 7845 9300 quoting the "Open Air Offer" from the Open Air Theatre Regent's Park website Mailing List dated 28 June 2012.
The show received positive reviews when it toured in 2009 and runs from 11 to 21 July.
(Thanks to reader Richard for spotting.)
| | |
|
Best available seats for Bryn Terfel's two concerts next week at the Royal Festival Hall (4 and 5 July) are reduced to £20 (previously up to £68) with this TimeOut offer.
| | |
|
A survey by the German newspaper Handelsblatt finds that the black market in Bayreuth Festival tickets is flourishing.
The open sale of tickets increased this year from 40% to 65%. When the newspaper analysed ticket sales on Ebay it found that black market sales have risen too.
So far, 524 tickets have been sold on Ebay. This is already more than the entire total for the previous year, and the Festival is still a month away.
The average premium on the original price has increased slightly from 136% to 139%. The highest surcharge (217%) is for the new production of Der Fliegende Holländer. In comparison Tristan und Isolde tickets are fetching around 80% more than the original price.
For the cheapest tickets, costing less than 35 €, the average premium was 550 %. For the most expensive category, originally € 280, the corresponding uplift was 50%.
| | |
|
The 5 July performance of the ROH's Les Troyens is to be streamed online via The Space (UK only) and broadcast via TV channel Mezzo (certain European countries only).
The performance will also be available on demand on The Space until the end of October.
| | |
|
Tickets for ENO's new Billy Budd are just £15 (upper circle) or £25 (dress circle) with a new MoneySavingExpert.com offer - a reduction of up to 70%.
Enter the code BILLYBUDD at the online checkout to activate the discount. Note that it's only valid for upper circle seats coloured green, yellow and red and dress circle seats coloured green and yellow (not the top-priced seats).
(Thanks to reader Richard for spotting.)
| | |
|
There was a surprise in store at the end of tonight's Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra concert at the Royal Festival Hall.
As Gustavo Dudamel returned to the stage to take yet another round of applause, he was accompanied by a statuesque figure in a horned helmet and eyepatch with a dead sheep slung around his neck.
Their mambo days now apparently behind them, the no-longer-youth orchestra encored with Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge from Das Rheingold - the sheepskin-draped figure revealed as Bryn Terfel.
I can report that he's loud enough to drown out what looked like 140 musicians. And he knows all the words. All good news of course for those of us lucky enough to have tickets for autumn's Ring cycles at Covent Garden.
| | |
|
Les Troyens - Royal Opera House, 25 June 2012 (first night)
Covent Garden’s new production of this difficult opera falls short of an unblemished triumph, with a tendency to emphasise the work’s inherent weaknesses. But some high-quality singing and a couple of stunning coups de théâtre did much to compensate for a shortage of musical and visual coherence rooted in the score itself.
Continue reading "Les Troyens, Royal Opera House - with photos" »
| | |
|
David McVicar's new production of Les Troyens premiered at the Royal Opera House tonight. More on it later.
Meanwhile, many thanks to Kyoko for her curtain call video.
| | |
|
La bohème - Royal Opera House, 23 June 2012
The second of the two shows celebrating the 20th anniversary of Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu's first encounter was more musically accomplished than the first. And the curtains worked. But we were never allowed to forget why we were there. Like the first, the evening had the air of a football testimonial - two sides, singers and orchestra, battling it out for the greater glory of the stars.
| | |
|
Zanetto / Gianni Schicchi - Opera Holland Park, 22 June 2012 (opening night)
Kudos to Opera Holland Park for continuing, year after year, to revive long-forgotten Italian operas. But in the case of Mascagni's one act Zanetto, I wonder if it was worth the effort. The ruminative non-plot and politely anonymous music make its 40 minutes pass like four hours.
| | |
|
The Munich Opera Festival 2012 kicked off today at 3am when around 1,700 Germans whipped their kit off for photographer Spencer Tunick in the 13°C chill.
Tunick's latest installation 'The Ring' is inspired by Andreas Kriegenburg's new Ring cycle production for the Bavarian State Opera. The naked volunteers were body-painted in either red or gold. Shortly after dawn Tunick took his first photos on Ludwigstrasse, when hundreds of bodies formed a flame symbolic of Wagner's Nibelheim.
More photos below - don't look too closely or you'll never be able to eat Weisswurst again..
Continue reading "Knickers off! - Spencer Tunick pictures Munich naked" »
| | |
|
When ENO start discounting shows before they even open, it generally means ticket sales have been poor, and you can expect further discounts down the line.
Your Dr Dee opener is this offer for Upper Circle/Rear Dress seats at half price (£29.50 instead of £59) from Time Out, a repeat/extension of their earlier offer.
If you're tempted to take it up, Upper Circle seats (unless they're right at the back) will have a better view and sound than Rear Dress.
| | |
|
La bohème - Royal Opera House, 19 June 2012
Last night marked 20 years since Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna first clapped eyes on each other in some obscure crevice of the Royal Opera House.
To celebrate this momentous occasion, a fount of scurrilous gossip and hilarious candids ever since, Covent Garden have mounted two special performances of La bohème, the John Copley production that is even older than the famed couple's relationship. This was the first.
Continue reading "Now we are 20 - Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna 2gether 4eva" »
| | |
|
Così fan tutte - Opera Holland Park, 16 June 2012
The weather had improved marginally by Saturday - theoretically midsummer - but no-one was dressing for the calendar. Even the tutelary goddess of W11, Dame Lady Antonia Fraser, was wisely wrapped in full winter wear as a devious wind flicked scarves into eyes and hair into lipgloss.
Pity the singers, with their expanses of 18th century bosomage exposed to every chilly draft.
| | |
|
In case you didn't realise - and I didn't - Birmingham Opera have quietly opened booking for their August world premiere of Stockhausen's Mittwoch aus Licht, aka 'The Helicopter Opera'.
The six-part work is unquestionably THE event of the otherwise quotidian London 2012 Festival. Given the cost and complexity, further stagings are unlikely, so this may be a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Only 275 places [UPDATE 21/6 - now 350] are available for each of the four shows (22, 23, 24 and 25 August). Opening night is nearly sold out but there are more tickets left for the others at the time of writing.
Tickets are £35 and payment is by Paypal only. There is no reserved seating.
Here's the plan:
| | |
|
More than a few bob, if the Basler Zeitung is to be believed.
They worked out he's booked for 34 dates between mid-July (his planned comeback date) and the end of the year. His fee, they say, is 15,000 to 20,000 euros a night.
Which means he's on to make around 500,000 to 700,000 euros for less than 6 months work. If he's fit to perform, that is.
On top of the more obvious benefits, taking a few months off to optimise his vocal health looks like a smart business decision.
| | |
|
500 tickets are available for the Gianni Schicchi/Zanetto double bill. They cost nothing, but a donation is encouraged.
Call the box office on 0300 9991000 and quote “opera challenge” to reserve - up to two tickets per person are available.
| | |
|
One of a series of photos taken during rehearsals for this week's La bohème at the Royal Opera House - more on Angela's Facebook page.
| | |
|
Recent Comments