On 19 May, the Bavarian State Opera website will be streaming I Capuleti e i Montecchi live - and free.
Vincent Boussard's stylish production, which I saw last year, features Vesselina Kasarova and Anna Netrebko as Romeo and Juliet. The sumptuous Christian Lacroix costumes are worth tuning in for all by themselves.
Streaming begins at 7pm CET (6pm UK).
Anyone concerned about the outcome of the foot operation that kept Anna Netrebko out of La traviata at Covent Garden last week will be delighted to know that Anna is already back in heels and strutting her stuff as if nothing happened.
Together with Erwin Schrott, she was interviewed earlier today by the German TV host Thomas Gottschalk (here; starts at 13:30). Warning - it's not exactly Paxmanesque - they politely rebuff Heidi/Seal comparisons and patiently explain why Erwin doesn't get jealous when Anna sings with Jonas Kaufmann. But their responses are in English, which may help.
Anna Netrebko is pulling out of both her sold-out La traviata dates at the Royal Opera House (17 and 20 January) due to 'an urgent operation on her foot'. Bunions? Verruca? The imagination wanders. Anna said a few months ago that she was moving on with her repertoire and withdrawing Violetta, so it could be that we've heard the last of her tubercular coughs.
Ermonela Jaho is likely to replace her, though Covent Garden haven't announced anything yet.
This follows high-profile cancellations over the holiday season at Dresden ('lack of preparation time') and La Scala (a 'bad cold'). Three German concerts in January with Erwin Schrott have also been cancelled and rescheduled for later in the year.
Anna expects to return to the stage later in January once she has fully recovered from the operation.
Erwin Schrott's Covent Garden Don Giovanni is unlikely to be affected, since he doesn't take over the role from Gerald Finley until 16 February.
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*UPDATE* 5.1.12 - After six days combing the globe for a replacement, Covent Garden have finally announced that they have 'managed to secure' Ermonela Jaho for the two dates.
The only time Anna Netrebko felt sick during her pregnancy, she told Russian Vogue, was when she looked in her closet and saw some black and grey clothes.
"I'm from Krasnodar - I like colour!"
Like the pro she is, Anna bravely stifled her gag reflex to model a sombre selection of Cold War spy-chic for the magazine's November issue.
Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott have withdrawn from their long-booked 2011 New Year's Eve and 30 December concerts at Dresden Semperoper, citing insufficient preparation time.
Having successfully stepped into last year's Dresden concerts with less than a week's notice, the excuse is an unexpected one.
They apparently hope the programme of of Franz Lehar operetta highlights can be rescheduled at a later date. That's a grain of comfort to ticket holders for the long sold out shows.
But the solution won't help the ZDF channel. They're due to broadcast the New Year's Eve concert in fierce competition with rivals ARD, who've snaffled the Berlin Phil. It's not clear at this stage whether ZDF had finalised contractual arrangements with Netrebko and Schrott.
Their replacements are Angela Denoke and Ana Maria Labin.
Yesterday was the dress rehearsal of the Met's season-opener, a new Anna Bolena with Anna Netrebko in the title role.
With David McVicar in the driving seat, no-one will be surprised to learn the production has a traditional look. For inspiration, costume designer Jenny Tiramani referenced court portraits, tapestries, actual relics and even wills detailing the deceased's garments, as Vogue.com reveal in more detail.
By happy and flattering coincidence, the historically-accurate swathes of satin and velvet frame Anna's impressive acres of bosom heavage whilst shrouding the remainder of her voluptuous assets in mystery.
Champagne may be opera's tipple of choice, but at Dresden Semperoper they prefer lager.
A longstanding sponsorship deal with local brewer Radeberger Pilsner lends a distinctly less elitist touch to those ads in the back of the programme.
Now Radeberger and the Semperoper have snapped up Anna Netrebko for a special concert on 24 February 2012, where she's sharing the bill with cellist Jan Vogler.
It's so exclusive you can't even buy a ticket. Instead, Radeberger are giving them away - together with a night's hotel accommodation. Enter the draw here.
Don't all rush at once! But if you've got a couple of hundred quid to spare, you might fancy spending it on a blockbuster date with Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott and Jonas Kaufmann. They're coming to the Royal Albert Hall on 6 June 2012 for "a superb gala of their favourite arias and music by Puccini, Verdi, Mozart and many more".
Promoters Raymond Gubbay have set prices from £25 in the corner of the side circle, where you will see virtually nothing, to £185 for a grand tier box seat, and tickets are on sale now.
Makes Jonas's £75 Royal Festival Hall date in October sound a positive bargain.
(via Carlos)
Half the publicity the Salzburg Festival receives is based around the talented and indecently photogenic Anna Netrebko and Erwin Schrott. Not to mention the glowing critical reviews and through-the-roof ticket sales for anything they're in.
So it's surprising to read an interview with the pair in today's Austrian News magazine that confirms next year's La bohème is the last Salzburg Festival booking in Anna Netrebko's calendar. Worse, Erwin Schrott says there's no place for him whatsoever in new Intendant Alexander Pereira's plans (which are noticeably stuffed with job opps for his old Zurich cronies).
"Doesn't that hurt?" asks the interviewer. "Yes it does" they both confirm.
When you bear in mind that they're not clapped-out old singers trading on past glories, but young (in classical music years) artists whose talents grow year on year, the exclusion seems even odder. Bad for music, bad for business.
But it's not goodbye to Austria. They remain based in Vienna, and performances there will feature in their future, even though there are no immediate plans. Netrebko says she's waiting for the right time and the right production. They both dodged questions about specific commitments, with Netrebko refusing to confirm that she'll make her Wagner debut as Elsa with Thielemann in Dresden - though she does say she can't wait to sing the role. And she wants to clarify that although she's retiring some roles, Violetta is not one of them, as has been reported elsewhere.
They also talk about their widely-reported plans to open a restaurant (location: Vienna, cuisine: undecided).
Read an extract from the interview online, or see the whole thing below (click to enlarge):
Continue reading "Netrebko and Schrott 'hurt' to be ditched from Salzburg Festival" »
Friends booking opens tomorrow (public booking 5 July) for the first chunk of the Royal Opera House's 2011-12 season. As soon as the details were announced, people were complaining how boring it looked. That was my initial reaction too, but when it came down to working out what I wanted to see, everything seems to have some compelling attraction or other.
Anna Netrebko joined Erwin Schrott at a Munich press conference yesterday to pimp their hugely €€€€€ open air gig with Jonas Kaufmann on Königsplatz this summer.
German tabloid Bild, under the headline Anna Nacktrebko (Naked-rebko) viewed the event from their usual in-depth angle (i.e. NSFW).
The Bavarian State Opera in Munich announced their 2011-12 season at a press conference this morning. A novelty worth imitating - a live chat feature on their website allowed Intendant Klaus Bachler and Music Director Kent Nagano to answer audience questions as well.
The heart of the season is a new Ring cycle directed by Andreas Kriegenburg and conducted by Nagano. This begins in February 2012 and culminates in two full cycles during the annual Festival in July. Excellent casting includes Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegmund, Anja Kampe as Sieglinde, Johan Reuter and Juha Uusitalo as Wotan, Lance Ryan as Siegfried, Wolfgang Koch as Alberich and Nina Stemme as Brünnhilde.
There are just two additional premieres. The first is Les Contes d'Hoffmann conducted by Constantinos Carydis and directed by Richard Jones. Rolando Villazón takes the title role and Diana Damrau all the female leads. According to the Munich website, this is an ENO co-production. though who knows if and when. And La Fura dels Baus produce a new Turandot with Jennifer Wilson as Turandot and Marco Berti as Calaf.
The rest of the season is not new, but it's strongly cast - though it has to be admitted some of the productions are showing their age. Jürgen Rose's plain but serviceable Don Carlo is revived under the baton of Asher Fisch, with a starry cast including Jonas Kaufmann, René Pape, Mariusz Kwiecien and Anja Harteros.
Vesselina Kasarova joins Anna Netrebko in I Capuleti e i Montecchi. Konwitschny's dodgy 'spin-class' Der fliegende Holländer reappears with Anja Kampe as Senta and Klaus Florian Vogt as Erik. The annual Gruberova-fest showcases the ageless diva in Christof Loy's Roberto Devereux, with Joseph Calleja in the title role. And to round things off there's La Cenerentola with Joyce DiDonato.
Anna Netrebko makes her role debut in and as Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera on 2 April. Evelino Pidò conducts and the cast also includes Elina Garanca, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo and Elisabeth Kulman. Eric Génovèse directs, with costumes by Sofas'R'Us.
In Anna-mad Vienna, tickets for the sold-out premiere have apparently been going for 800 euros.
Assuming she survives the ordeal, the 5 April performance will be broadcast live to cinemas around the world, including the Covent Garden Odeon and others in the Odeon chain, and it'll also be shown on ARTE TV.
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This was the sight greeting visitors to the Vienna Opera Ball earlier tonight. "Our opera house is not a bunga-bungalow" says the one at the front - a reference to grizzled millionaire Richard Lugner's escort (in every possible sense), Ruby.
Here are the pair, raising Austria's cultural profile with Lugner's other guest - yes it's JR himself, Larry Hagman:
Raising the tone considerably were Anna Netrebko, Erwin Schrott, and Erwin's daughter Iara, guests of the Staatsoper's new director, Dominique Meyer:
The face that says "my shoes hurt":
On stage for a couple of numbers was the scrubbed-up Elina Garanca:
And guess who turned up on a whim, just because he happened to be in the area?
Who are those three chic ladies d'un certain age posing like common tourists outside the Met?
The results are out. Fresh from winning the World Cup for Russia, Anna Netrebko provided the final boost of star-power that Christian Thielemann and the Dresden Staatskapelle needed to win their New Year's Eve TV ratings war against the Berlin Philharmonic.
After a tidy set-up from Anna and hubby Erwin, team mate Renee Fleming finished off the opposition.
Gustavo Dudamel, Elina Garanca and the Berlin Philharmonic didn't stand a chance.
The final score - 1.67 million viewers (7.7% of total) for Dresden and 1.19 million (5.9%) for Berlin - enough in total to fill roughly a thousand opera houses.
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