Don Carlo - Royal Opera House, 4 May 2013
Jonas Kaufmann wasn't ill; Anja Harteros turned up. Given that she'd marked half her lines at the general rehearsal earlier in the week (every singer's prerogative of course, but rare here) I had wondered. If success is defined as exceeding expectations, then the opening night of this third revival was a winner even before a note was sung.
Continue reading "Don Carlo, Royal Opera House dreamteam style" »
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Simon Boccanegra - Royal Opera House, 29 June 2010
With Berlin, Milan and New York under his belt, Placido Domingo’s now done enough Boccanegras for everyone to realise that him turning into a true baritone was always about as likely as England getting anywhere in the World Cup. True, he has all the notes, but the tenorial burnish is as it ever was. Interestingly, he only strained (a teeny bit) at the very top of his range - a studied attempt at baritonal authenticity, I wonder?
But this is academic territory. What matters is that regardless of theoretical vocal fit, he gave a truly monumental performance by any standard in the opening night of the Royal Opera House's latest run.
******** more on next page ********
Continue reading "Simon Boccanegra with Placido Domingo at the Royal Opera House" »
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Anyone lucky enough to get a ticket for the Royal Opera House's 26 June dress rehearsal of Simon Boccanegra may be wondering why the start time was pulled forward to 10.30am.
The reason is that its famously multitasking star Plácido Domingo has signed up for another gig that night - and it's 1000 miles away.
The "Musikalische Rückschau der Direktion Holender 1991-2010" at the Vienna State Opera is a gala concert celebrating outgoing Intendant Ioan Holender's 20-ish years at the helm. Other stars appearing include two more from Simon Boccanegra - Tony Pappano and Ferruccio Furlanetto - and Anna Netrebko, who is scheduled (though who knows) to appear in Covent Garden's Manon the night before.
The dress rehearsal ends at 1.30pm and the Holender-fest starts at 6.30pm (which is 5.30pm in the UK). So if Pláci can't spare a moment to warp the space/time continuum it looks as if an economically-shared private jet is in order.
(On a related note, Intermezzo is eagerly awaiting the famously dirt-dishing Herr Holender's autobiography, expected any day soon.)
(ありがとうございました for the tip and see you soon!)
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A reminder that Radio 3 broadcast a live recording of the Royal Opera House's recent, unutterably brilliant Il barbiere di Siviglia on Saturday - available on the iPlayer until the end of the week.
Skip the first 25 minutes if you're not interested in explanations and interviews.
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Don Carlo - Royal Opera House, 27 September 2009 and 18 September 2009
Every singer (except Plácido) gets sick now and again, and I got Jonas Kaufmann for two out of the three Don Carlo performances I went too, plus the rehearsal, so I can't complain too much. It was clear at the time of Kaufmann's restrained, mostly marked rehearsal performance that Don Carlo lies at the limits of his capacities. He was wise not to put his voice in jeopardy by attempting the part in anything less than 100% health.
But I can't deny it was a major disappointment to arrive at the Sunday matinee and find he'd been replaced by Alfred Kim, who'd played the part recently in Oslo. Kim is competent and likeable. He hits all the notes cleanly, projects well, acts industriously, and truth be told has a much more Italianate and objectively appropriate voice for the part than either Kaufmann or his predecessor Rolando Villazón.
But he just didn't possess that elusive factor that catches your eye when someone walks on stage and draws your ear to their every word. It's something to do with singing from inside the role rather than merely playing it, and it excuses all sorts of other issues. It's why every single major opera house rushes round chasing after the same 20 or so singers, why nothing (except the recent Barbiere - a miracle) is ever ideally cast.
Alfred Kim (top) and Jonas Kaufmann (below) with Ferruccio Furlanetto:
******* more photos on next page ********
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Don Carlo - Royal Opera House, 15 September 2009
It’s little more than a year since the Royal Opera House premiered this production, but already the temperature has dropped a few degrees.
The main reason is Semyon Bychkov. Pappano was all heart; Bychkov is all head. Where Pappano offered untrammelled passion, Bychkov’s Don Carlo is thoughtfully structured, scrupulously detailed and immaculately performed (the last time the ROH played this well was in Lohengrin for – Semyon Bychkov). His weighty attentions serve the music well, the drama less so. The issue isn't the idiosyncratic tempos – sometimes super attenuated, sometimes dangerously pacy. At least these make you listen in a new way.The real problem is a lack of flexibility and dramatic response. The music feels superimposed on the drama, when it should be the other way round. The great Carlos/Posa freedom duet was more dutiful than ardent; Philip’s ruminative Act 4 monologue had the air of a prepared speech. There is much to admire – and to think about - but I rarely felt drawn in.
The other big change is in the title role. Rolando Villazon’s Carlos was an impetuous boy; Jonas Kaufmann’s is brooding, serious and totally grown-up. Kaufmann’s Carlos has no hesitation in placing his duty to Flanders above his personal desires. But this is the five act version, whose first act narrates the brief meeting of Carlos and Elisabetta. The first act does so much more than contextualise Carlos’s later moping. It changes the story. His joy (Elisabetta's too) is seen as real, but his later obsession as delusory, while her acceptance of her duty is the only pragmatic solution. Playing out the love story diminishes it. We see it ourselves for what it is, a moment of happiness, and not as Carlos presents it, the pivot of his destiny. And then we see the discrepancy between our view and his, and Carlos too is diminished in our eyes. He is merely evading his responsibilities, even if he doesn't realise it.
Jonas Kaufmann has chosen to emphasise the political and idealistic side of Carlos, and while that's right for the four act version, I don't think it works here (for one thing, it makes the first act into a tacked-on appendage). But having said that, and first act simpering aside, he follows through brilliantly. He is every inch the rebel prince, and his singing was out of this world. His ravishingly beautiful mezza voce was used to great effect, but he could turn up the power too. And who else could look that hawt in puffball shorts and pixie boots?
Inevitably this Carlos has more chemistry with Posa than with Marina Poplavskaya’s Elisabetta. She is much improved from last year's outing. Perhaps she really was indisposed all those times she claimed. Her steel-coated power was complemented this time round by smooth grained tone and accurate (if hard earned) top notes, lending Elisabetta's dutiful sacrifice a noble cast.
Simon Keenlyside sounded better than I have heard him for some time. Evidently a summer's rest has done him good. He is not and never will be a Verdi baritone - the heft and depth simply aren't there. Pairing him with the baritonal tenor of Jonas Kaufmann unfortunately emphasises this. But he compensates intelligently and with unquestionable commitment.
Marianne Cornetti is definitely a Verdi singer, but I doubt if Eboli is her best role. She wobbled gamely through the Veil Song, but her voice is simply too weighty to navigate it with the required agility. O don fatale was quite lovely though, and she has the warmth to generate sympathy. Couldn't the make up department have glammed her up a bit more though? - the revelation that Carlos has mistaken her for Elisabetta raised an understandable laugh from the audience.
The most satisfying performance came of course from Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip. Near-perfect. Every note, every gesture conveys absolute authority. He perhaps more than anyone suffered from Bychkov's counter-intuitive pacing though. Unable to linger or rush where the emotions demanded, he was sometimes less convincing than I know he can be. And his showdown with John Tomlinson's unscary Grand Inquisitor didn't pack the wallop it should have done.
Amongst the smaller parts, Robert Anthony Gardiner as the Conte di Lerma really stood out. His singing, most of it terrifyingly exposed, was bright, accurate and rock-solid, and his presence aristocratically relaxed.
I'm going to see a couple more performances, and I'll write more about the production itself then. But suffice to say for now I was surprised at the stagey gesticulation of some of the principals, and at how much fussy micro-managed movement had been imposed on crowd scenes (the auto-da-fé scene was the most egregious example of extraneous chat, clatter and fidgeting). A case of the director working with what was available perhaps, but not quite what you'd expect from Nicholas Hytner.
***** more photos over page *****
Continue reading "Royal Opera House's Don Carlo faces the Inquisition" »
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Rumours that the first revival of the Royal Opera House's Don Carlo was in even better shape than the original were given some weight by yesterday's dress rehearsal. Half the original cast return - Ferruccio Furlanetto as Philip, Marina Poplavskaya as Elisabetta and Simon Keenlyside as Posa. The new additions are Jonas Kaufmann (Carlos), Marianne Cornetti (Eboli) and John Tomlinson (the Inquisitor).
But it's the new conductor, Semyon Bychkov, who has the most impact. Some of his tempos are unique to say the least - the great third act ensemble is taken at such a clip the singers struggle to keep up. But it's a probing, intelligent perspective, at times revelatory - I suspect it will be controversial. Jonas Kaufmann's performance may be too. I had some reservations, but they can wait given this was only a rehearsal, things may change, etc.
Poplavskaya and Keenlyside bring a greater depth to their characterisations this time round. (Ferruccio Furlanetto is of course unimprovable). Poplavskaya in particular has matured astonishingly in just a year. Her range has extended upwards so she can now actually sing all the notes, and with what power. When she sings, she changes the temperature of the room.
Marianne Cornetti is a lovely sympathetic Eboli, and although John Tomlinson isn't quite as scary-looking as Eric Halvarson was, he sings with the authority of absolute power.
The sets seemed uglier than I remembered them, the lighting brasher and less forgiving - just a concession to the official photographers snapping away? I hope so.
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Summer is nearly over, and at last the concert calendar is filling up.
Proms and alternatives
The Proms seem to have gone on forever, but it'll all be over for another year on 12 September.
Remaining highlights include Mariss Jansons with the Concertgebouw, Riccardo Chailly with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta and Franz Welser-Möst (replacing the scheduled Harnoncourt).
On 4 September there's an unmissable double header - first Matthias Goerne and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester in Mahler, Ligeti, Schoenberg and Strauss, then a late-night George Crumb special.
Incidentally, operatic highlights for the 2010 Proms - you heard it here first - are expected to include Die Meistersinger with Bryn Terfel, Glyndebourne's Don Giovanni, and a substantial chunk of Tristan und Isolde from the Orchestra of the 18th Century with Ben Heppner.
If you want to skip the ghastliness of the last night - something I cannot recommend too highly - alternatives include the Wigmore Hall season opener which is Die schöne Müllerin from Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis.
Or there's a FREE screening of the 1929 silent movie Piccadilly on an outside wall (don't blame me if it rains) of the Royal Festival Hall accompanied by a new score from composers Suki Mok and Ruth Chan. Following the screening, the score "will become the lynchpin of a cross-artform work incorporating dance, drama and video against a backdrop of the original silent movie".
Opera
The Royal Opera House season opens on 7 September with two concert performances of Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix conducted by Mark Elder and featuring Alessandro Corbelli alongside the hotly-tipped Eglise Gutiérrez and Stephen Costello.
Don Carlo has started rehearsals and promises to turn out even better than first time round. Semyon Bychkov conducts, Jonas Kaufmann is in the title role, and the rest of the cast is much the same as it was first time round, with Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside and Ferruccio Furlanetto reprising his definitive Philip.
Don't expect much on stage except the singers in born-again minimalist Christof Loy's new production of Tristan und Isolde. Tristan is Ben Heppner and Isolde Nina Stemme, with Matti Salminen, Michael Volle and Sophie Koch completing the cast. Pappano conducts.
English National Opera's season opens with the much-travelled, highly-praised production of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre by La Fura dels Baus.
The Arcola Theatre's variable but occasionally brilliant (and cheap) Grimeborn opera festival continues until 5 September. Handel, Poulenc and Mozart are included amongst the mostly contemporary works.
There's an opportunity to hear Rossini's rarely-performed Il Signor Bruschino and La Scala di Seta as well as The Rake's Progress from British Youth Opera between 4 and 12 September.
And Valery Gergiev conducts the LSO in a concert performance of La Damnation de Faust on 22 September, with a cast including Joyce DiDonato, Michael Schade, Thomas Quasthoff and Florian Boesch.
Concerts
The LSO's season opener is on 20 September, with Gergiev conducting Debussy, Dutilleux and Ravel.
At the Royal Festival Hall, Bernard Haitink conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on 23 and 24 September. And on 25 and 26 September Vladimir Jurowski and the LPO tackle Mahler's 2nd Symphony. Anne Sofie von Otter visits on 30 September with songs from her Theresienstadt CD.
At Wigmore Hall, Matthias Goerne continues his Schubert marathon on 18 and 20 September (a different programme on each night).
And on 28 September it's Imogen Cooper's bus-pass birthday concert. She'll be joined by Wolfgang Holzmair, Mark Padmore, Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Paul Lewis.
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The great Ferruccio Furlanetto is profiled by Martin Kettle in the Guardian, where his golf handicap is revealed.
Five! (Which means he plays golf nearly as well as he sings).
Here he is with La calumnia from Il barbiere di Siviglia in 2007 at La Fenice:
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Il barbiere di Siviglia - Royal Opera House, 4 July 2009 (first night)
What a night!
I won't dwell on Joyce DiDonato's painful accident (see here for the gruesome details). But I will again marvel at her incredible willpower and determination to forge on and deliver an amazing performance, worthy of Rosina herself. She sang just as brilliantly as she did at the final rehearsal, with guts and panache. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier's rigorously choreographed direction placed her every single note in dramatic context - each one of those trills and turns is linked to the action. And she didn't let them down, even in the tempesta scene where she had to swipe all the furniture to the floor in anger - not easy with a crutch in hand.
But it wasn't just Joyce who made the evening so special. It was an incredible performance all round, one of the greatest I can remember at Covent Garden. Perfectly cast, brilliantly sung from top to bottom, played with freshness and precision - and a production which for all its crayon-bright buffoonery digs intelligently right to the heart of the work. And thigh boots too! What more can a girl ask?
Juan Diego Flórez was perfection itself, his Ecco ridente just meltingly delicious, his comic timing superb. And he - deservedly - got the longest ovation I've ever heard for that snake-pit of fiendish coloratura, Cessa di più resistere. Five minutes? I didn't count. So long that Alessandro Corbelli, staying in character as Bartolo, got a few more laughs by checking his watch.
In any other cast, Corbelli and the great Ferruccio Furlanetto would have stolen the show. Corbelli's unbelievably precise patter in Un dottor della mia sorte and his brilliantly-detailed faux-bad singing lesson aria were a masterclass in buffo technique. And his bumbling avuncular characterisation had the great advantage of making the ending far more credible.
It makes me happier to see the name of Ferruccio Furlanetto on a cast list than any number of overpaid divas. His Don Basilio was an awe-inspiring and utterly original creation, bizarre and faintly sinister, sure to give any children lucky enough to attend the show a few bad dreams. His La calunnia - a brilliantly choreographed assault on Bartolo's person and sanity that ended with the lanky Furlanetto's twisted round Corbelli's humpty-dumpty form - was simply one of the greatest performances I've ever seen on stage.
The late sub Pietro Spagnoli was an able and amiable Figaro. The voice is not particularly refined, but it's big and warm, and he held his own amongst his starry colleagues.
His finest moment came early on in the evening. Entering from the back of the auditorium, he made his way down the aisle singing Largo al factotum, pausing here and there to menace the expensively-seated customers with his tools, eliciting a mixture of genuine amusement and nervous smiles. Then - golazo! Was it coincidence, a wager, or is he really chasing that one-star review? - he waved his scissors in the face of Britain's grumpiest opera critic - who is clearly no fan of audience participation. Talk about an f-off glare - I thought I'd die laughing.
Even the smaller parts were brilliantly taken. The prosthetically-enhanced Jennifer Rhys-Davies was hilarious as Berta, though the ending of her aria shouldn't be nearly as funny as the directors make it. She is after all singing about how love has passed her by, one of the few moments where emotional truth pierces through the rigid stylisation the opera owes to its French origins in the drama of Beaumarchais. And Changhan Lim really made a mark as Fiorello - he can sing (a strong, warm baritone), he can act, and, importantly, he didn't look outclassed sharing a stage with Juan Diego Flórez.
Finally, Tony Pappano, managing both the orchestra and the harpsichord continuo (how did he find the time to rehearse with everything he's been doing recently?) practically reinvented the score. Light, witty, fresh, perfectly balanced, and as minutely detailed as the production itself. It's one of the finest things he's ever done at Covent Garden. At last we could hear what Beethoven raved about.
***** MANY more photos on the next page ******
Continue reading "Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Royal Opera House - opening night report" »
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There were tears all round when Simon Keenlyside pulled out of the Royal Opera House's forthcoming Il barbiere di Siviglia. But on the showing of today's dress rehearsal, I don't think many will be disappointed by his replacement, Pietro Spagnoli.
His Figaro is a broad-brush portrayal, in keeping with Leiser and Caurier's cartoony production. Spagnoli is a generous performer with a big voice and great comic timing. He's a less than central presence most of the time, but who wouldn't be when sharing the stage with Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Alessandro Corbelli and the great Ferruccio Furlanetto (an alarmingly creepy Don Basilio)? All on top form I should add.
JDF especially. His singing has a range of colour and expression I haven't heard from him before - if he can manage another Cessa di più resistere like today's, he won't be allowed home without an encore. And he has blossomed into a fine comic actor, at last playing to his colleagues instead of the audience. He didn't put a foot wrong. His drunken soldier and upright singing teacher were beautifully detailed.
Detail was a hallmark of the production this time round. Leiser and Caurier have clearly thought and rehearsed every move through. Comedy needs serious preparation. I seem to recall a few longueurs and some over-the-top caricaturing when this production first appeared. All gone. It is simply funnier than it has any right to be.
Pappano, playing the harpsichord continuo as well as conducting, is completely on their wavelength - light, nuanced, alert.
Even better than La traviata. Yes, really.
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Here first! - a full list of all the Royal Opera House's main stage productions for the 2009/10 season.
The 2009/10 Covent Garden season opens with neither bang nor whimper but with a credit-crunching concert performance on 7 September (repeated on 14 September). Makes a change from last year's Sun readers' special I suppose.
The opera in question is Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, and the conductor is bel canto genius Mark Elder. The cast includes potential Next Big Things Stephen Costello, Eglise Gutierrez and Luciano Botelho, plus the incomparable Alessandro Corbelli, the first of several welcome appearances this season.
The first staged opera of the season is Nicholas Hytner's lego-loving Don Carlo, with - OMG!- Jonas Kaufmann !!! in the title role. John Tomlinson joins him as the Grand Inquisitor, and the rest of the cast is lifted straight from the first run - Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside, fans' favourite Ferruccio Furlanetto, Sonia Ganassi and Pumeza Matshikiza.The conductor is Semyon Bychkov.
This season's contribution to the 2013 Wagnerversary is a new Christof Loy production of Tristan und Isolde. Antonio Pappano conducts Ben Heppner, Nina Stemme, Matti Salminen, Michael Volle and Sophie Koch.
Neigh! Francesco Zambello's ghastly Carmen returns in October, with the latest Covent Garden favourite Elina Garanca back for the title role, fighting off Roberto Alagna, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo, and a farmyard full of furry friends. Bertrand de Billy conducts. It's resuscitated again in June 2010 with a distinctly 'B' cast.
October also sees one of Richard Jones's more subtle and effective efforts back on stage - and attractively cast. The shouldn't-work-but-it-does double bill of Ravel's L'Heure Espagnole (Christine Rice, Yann Beuron, Christopher Maltman, Andrew Shore and Bonaventura Bottone) and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (Thomas Allen, Maria Bengtsson and Stephen Costello) is conducted by Pappano.
Francesco Zambello steps into Tchaikovsky's The Slippers in November. The new production will be conducted by Alexander Polianichko and features some serious talent fresh from the Mariinsky - Olga Guryakova, Vsevolod Grivnov, Larissa Diadkova, Vladimir Matorin and Maxim Mikhailov.
John Schlesinger's elderly Der Rosenkavalier is dusted off in December. Kirill Petrenko conducts and the cast includes Soile Isokoski, Sophie Koch, Thomas Allen and Lucy Crowe.
Littering the December and January schedules is the inevitable La Bohème. This time Andris Nelsons conducts most of the double-cast performances, which begin with Piotr Beczala and Hibla Gerzmava and end with not a few tbc's.
Robert Lepage's intermittently effective Rake's Progress returns in January 2010. Ingo Metzmacher, Toby Spence (a Tom Rakewell tdf), Kate Royal, Kyle Ketelsen and Stephanie Blythe promise much on the musical side.
Female conductor alert! Top Lisboan Julia Jones wields the baton over Jonathan Miller's Cosi fan Tutte in January. The cast includes Charles Castronovo and Sally Matthews.
A new Richard Jones production of Prokofiev's The Gambler in February is conducted by Pappano, with a cast including Roberto Sacca, Angela Denoke, John Tomlinson and Jurgita Adamonyte.
Plácido Domingo's first appearance of the season is as a tenor. Graham Vick's acclaimed production of Handel's Tamerlano (recorded in Madrid and available on DVD con Plácido)
Bill Bryden's family-friendly The Cunning Little Vixen returns in March with Emma Matthews, Christopher Maltman and Emma Bell, though the presence of Charles Mackerras on the podium has to be the main draw.
Caurier and Leiser's lovely Il Turco in Italia is back in April, with Maurizio Benini conducting, and Aleksandra Kursak, Colin Lee, Alessandro Corbelli, Thomas Allen and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo in the cast.
Aida is subjected to the David McVicar magic in April. His new production is conducted by Nicola Luisotti and features Micaela Carosi, Marcelo Alvarez and Luciana D'Intino. Bare naked elephants?
The last of the Big Three, Richard Eyre's subtly intelligent La Traviata, makes its annual appearance in May and July. This time her name's in the programme - Our first Lady of the Camellias is the fabulous former Netrebko sub Ermonela Jaho. Joining her in her long-awaited return to Covent Garden in May are Saimir Pirgu and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. July's 'B' Violetta is Angela Gheorghiu, who makes do with James Valenti and Zeljko Lucic. Yves Abel conducts.
Laurent Pelly's now-legendary La Fille du Régiment returns in May with the unbeatable original cast of Juan Diego Flórez, Natalie Dessay, Alessandro Corbelli and Felicity Palmer back in place. Bruno Campanella conducts.
What would tempt Sir Colin Davis back into the pit? How about David McVicar's Le Nozze di Figaro? Erwin Schrott, Camilla Tilling, Maruisz Kwiecen. Annette Dasch, Soile Isokoski and Christine Schäfer head the strong cast.
Antonio Pappano conducts Laurent Pelly's new Manon, coming to Covent Garden in June with the announced cast including Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón. Anyone fancy a bet?
In one of those rare operatic fairy stories, June sees a baritone with less than a year's experience thrust into a leading role at Covent Garden. Yes, it's Plácido Domingo again, and this time he's Simon Boccanegra. Antonio Pappano conducts a strong cast including Marina Poplavskaya, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Joseph Calleja. It's the 1991 Elijah Moshinsky production by the way, not the Ian Judge one seen last year.
The season ends in July 2010 with the first revival of David McVicar's controversial Salome. Angela Denoke takes the central role, with Johan Reuter as Jokanaan. Hartmut Haenchen conducts.
No link yet, but more details expected on the Royal Opera House website sometime next week.
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*******UPDATE 22/4*******
The Royal Opera House's press releases are now available on their website. Go here for the summary, here for the opera details and here for the ballet.
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Not long now till the Royal Opera House summer season opens for booking - 25 March for Friends and 28 April for the rest.
The highlight for me is Berg's Lulu, in a new production by Christof Loy, a director for whom drama is never confined to the stage. He famously (allegedly) sacked Tubby Voigt from his Ariadne in 2004, then walked out of his own production - La finta giardiniera - a couple of years later, citing Spinal Tap style "musical differences" with the conductor.
For his Lulu, newbie Agneta Eichenholz takes the title role, but more importantly, Klaus Florian Vogt makes his Covent Garden debut as Alwa. (Which means he'll be hanging around Covent Garden while Lohengrin's on, should either of the scheduled leads catch Netrebkoitis - we can but hope). A welcome return for Michael Volle (Dr Schön / Jack the Ripper) too. Pappano conducts.
Richard Eyre's beautifully coherent and underrated La traviata returns, this time with the cougarific pairing of Renee Fleming and Joseph Calleja in the leads. Will la Renee's unconcealable chemistry with Thomas Hampson (Germont) lend an 'interesting' dimension? Tony Pappano conducts this one too.
The hugely jolly if puddle-deep Leiser and Caurier Il barbiere di Siviglia gets an all-star cast this time round - Simon Keenlyside, Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, with the fabulous Alessandro Corbelli and the great Ferruccio Furlanetto the cream on top. More Pappano.
Bryn Terfel is the main attraction in Jonathan Kent's tourist-friendly Tosca. Marcello Giordani attempts to fill the shoes last worn by Jonas Kaufmann and Deborah Voigt displays her slimmed-down talents. Jacques Lacombe conducts.
I can't get too excited about Un ballo in maschera with Ramón Vargas and Angela Marambio, though I look forward to Anna Christy's ROH debut as Oscar.
The Mariinsky's summer Ring Cycle is also booking - no casting yet announced. I don't know whether that's good or bad news. But given that the company harbours everything from wet-behind-the-ears teens to world-class soloists, we can only hope for the best. Check out the ticket prices carefully before you book - there are very few cheap seats, even in the amphitheatre.
Gambling types may grab a ticket for Rolando Villazón's recital with Tony Pappano on 24 June. 'Mixed form' doesn't begin to describe Rolando's recent performances, but at least with the opportunity to pick and fine-tune his programme, we may see him at his best.
Finally, the Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Concert on 19 July is an opportunity to hear more from the company's walk-on specialists.
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7 December marks the opening performance of La Scala's 2008/09 season, which for the first time ever will be simulcast live around the world.
This year's Italian job is a new production of Verdi's Don Carlo, directed by Stéphane Braunschweig and conducted by Daniele Gatti. Fabulous Ferruccio Furlanetto plays Philip II, as he did to all-round satisfaction in the recent Covent Garden production. Giuseppe Filianoti, Dalibor Jenis, Matti Salminen, Fiorenza Cedolins and Dolora Zajick bask in the glow of his star powah.
Participating cinemas in London are the Curzon Chelsea and Curzon Richmond. Tickets cost an eyewatering £25 - no wonder they haven't sold out yet - and can be purchased online here.
Anyone thinking of going needs to be aware that one of the Italian stage unions may scupper the show by going on strike. Check out Opera Chic for the latest news.
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Don Carlo - Royal Opera House, 3 July 2008 (final performance)
This final performance in the current run of Covent Garden's Don Carlo was also broadcast live and free via big screen to audiences in London and Liverpool. Given the dismally wet weather all day, I was glad to be sitting in the comparative comfort of the Royal Opera House, even if my cheapie slips seat gave a less than perfect view of the proceedings.
I found myself even less impressed by the production's visuals than I had been first time round. Partly the near-vertical viewing angle no doubt, and I also suspect some of the lighting effects had been eliminated to accomodate broadcasting requirements, but most of it looked as depressingly cheap as a railway station waiting room.
Hytner's production is an intelligent one though. The first act of this five act version is not just a bunch of extra tunes. The last act ends with the final parting of Carlos and Elisabetta; this first act explains at length how they meet. As well as dramatic symmetry, it provides the premise of the whole story. A production which emphasises the wider political element of the opera might be acceptable for the four act version, but here Hytner correctly concentrates on the relationships.
Ferruccio Furlanetto's Philip was if anything even better than his stupendous performance on the first night. Can we have him back again soon pls? In fact everyone sang better at a technical level, Poplavskaya in particular enjoying largely perfect intonation and a clean upper register. And by casting relatively light voices throughout, a rare balance was achieved.
And the furry-browed question mark himself, Rolando Villazón, fell off his 'horse' with a couple of major wobbles - both may I note at moments of extreme emotion rather than technical challenge - but otherwise delivered a thrilling, passionate and heartfelt performance. Villazón's most wonderful and precious gift is to make you believe every word he sings. It's something few singers can do, and surely worth the price of the odd slip. My only regret is that I didn't get to see more performances in the run.
Anyone still wondering whether Villazon can really hack Don Carlos might want to check out this recording of Dio, che nell'alma infondere, recorded in Vienna on 28 June, with Domingo as Posa. Incidentally it shows how very different the lazily-labelled 'new Domingo' and the not-so-new Domingo sound:
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The Greek god famous for his miraculous musical powers - Parsifal - has hunted down and captured for your listening pleasure all critical moments from Covent Garden's Don Carlo here.
Includes Rolando Villazon, Simon Keenlyside, Sonia Ganassi, Marina Poplavskaya and Ferruccio Furlanetto!
Complete with audience coffs'n'crakles !
Dynamic range is flattened, but otherwise it seems to me a reasonably faithful recording - at least it gives a clear perspective on the singing anyway.
(When you get there, double click on 'track details' to listen).
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Don Carlo - Royal Opera House, 6 June 2008
*****UPDATE*****(Go here for sound clips news)*****
I realised this was a Big Night when I spotted Anna Netrebko knocking back a jar in the Amphitheatre Bar ( - the People's bar! - Anna is one of us! ) on my way in. In a dove grey sleeveless babydoll with high silver sandals and white Chanel bag (murky-but-full-marks-for-getting-the-shot photos here) she looked perky and happy, giggling with a pair of party-frocked companions.
I don't know if she came to cheer on Rolando or just to hang out round the cake counter, but I do hope she managed to catch the show. Because the gossip was right on the ball - following hot on the heels of Salome and The Minotaur, Nicholas Hytner's take on Verdi's Don Carlo pulls off a hat trick of stunning new productions this year at Covent Garden. The musical performance, almost beyond perfect, flatters the production considerably. I'm not sure, mulling it over post-show with a glass of Bonsai Shiraz, whether it'd be quite so gasp-worthy with a different conductor and cast. But that's for co-commissioners Oslo and the Met to figure out.
Underpinning it all was Antonio Pappano's glorious conducting, lucid and measured, revealing all the beauty and tragic grandeur of the score. The ROH orchestra have rarely sounded this good, even the most exposed passages exquisitely delineated.
And it was perfectly cast vocally - and visually too, a near-impossible feat. But when you've just spent a fortune on a DVD company as the ROH have, I guess these matters get pushed to the forefront.
The pick of the cast was undoubtedly Rolando Villazón, in the title role. His very first word - "Fontainebleau" - full of the passion and yearning that suffused his entire performance - sent a shiver down my spine.
This production is less even-handed than some - it is very much Carlo's story, a tragedy on a Shakesperean scale, and Rolando, in magnificent form, provided a charismatic centre. His Carlo was a Spanish Hamlet, immature, impulsive and ruled by his passions, an interpretation lent emphasis by the comparative restraint of the other principal performances. No such restraint for Rolando, whose ardour ran unchecked whether in his unfulfilled desire for Elisabetta, his deep bond with Posa or his devotion to the cause of freedom and justice.
Marina '50p' Poplavskaya was hugely impressive as Elisabetta, more astute and wordly wise than Carlo, and here I think a bit older too. As the first act of this five-act version makes clear, she wasn't forced into marriage with Carlo's father Philip - she chose it. That same sense of duty which drove her choice explains her coolness towards Carlo.
Poplavskaya's huge steely voice wanted for nothing, save a little more tenderness in her final duet with Carlo and maybe a couple of high notes. And she has the sort of charisma that can't be manufactured or acted. To think Covent Garden originally went after Angela Gheorghiu for this role - we've had a lucky escape.
Hytner's ruthless directorial concept may have left Rolando with not much in the way of hot secksy chemistry with la Pops, but he had a firm and manly bond with Posa, an unusually restrained characterisation from Simon Keenlyside. We get so used to seeing Simon bouncing around the stage in the more physical roles that it's almost a shock to see he can turn that energy inward and produce such a contained, opaque performance. His duets with Rolando were central, dramatically, and both delivered with a heartbreaking poignancy.
The only reason Ferruccio Furlanetto didn't steal the show is that he wasn't on stage for that long. We are so lucky to have had the honour of his presence twice this season (last time as a luxurious late sub in Simon Boccanegra). Both the terrifying gravity of Philip's public facade and his pitiless self-analysis behind closed doors were displayed in riveting fashion. The difficulty with this part is to sound aged but not completely clapped-out, and FF's sonorous, chocolatey, ever-so-slightly-frayed bass is perfection itself.
Sonia Ganassi wasn't a particularly villainous Eboli. Perhaps it was Hytner's idea to avoid two-dimensional characterisations, but it robbed some of the incidental drama. Ganassi sang wonderfully though, as did the two basses Eric Halfvarson, a truly terrifying Grand Inquisitor, and Robert Lloyd, displaying his habitual gravitas and sonority as the old monk/Carlos.
All the smaller parts were without exception brilliantly sung, and it was fascinating to get a glimpse (amphitheatre seats have an advantage here) of the exquisitely crystalline Voice from Heaven, Anita Watson, as she sang from literally right on top of the auditorium, through the vent in the centre of the roof.
I had some reservations about the production design when I first saw it last month. Not the period costumes, which seemed beautiful and appropriate, and turned out to be even more so in practice. There's always a place in my heart for a thigh boot.
But the sets I then found crude and basic, though designer Bob Crowley pointed out that lighting would make a major difference. As it turned out, we were both right. Where the lighting works, so do the sets. But there are too many places where it doesn't. The best parts are undoubtedly where a bold, clean light streams through the portcullis-like grilles which surround the stage at several points, illuminating the prison in which each and every character finds themselves, a la Christopher Nolan's Batman. But as soon as the light softens, the grilles take on a distinctly flat-pack appearance.
And the forest of Fontainebleau concocted for the first act looks more like Ikea-sur-Neasden. That photo, left, is way too flattering. In the harsh light of the staging, the plastic trees and the bedsheet floor look distinctly low-budget, unworthy of the craftsmanship of the ROH techie departments.
In dramatic terms, it represents the days of Carlo's freedom, and as such it's a vital visual contrast to the prison-like theme chosen for the later acts. A good idea, but poorly executed.
I personally loved the lego-like red brick wall selected as the centrepiece of the second act garden scene, though no-one else I spoke to thought it worked. It reminded me of the steps of El Escorial, and quite irrelevantly, of the Tirolean M-Preis supermarkets, the cross in the wall symbolising the constant presence of religion. But the painted cypress backdrop was, again, horribly crude, looking like it was knocked up that afternoon by schoolkids.
The most misconceived scene though is the auto-da-fé of the third act. The busyness of the scenery is in spectacular contrast to the epic simplicity seen earlier. And the face painted scrim, when it's lit at the end to show the burned bodies of the executed heretics behind, is a real coup de théâtre.
But this, together with the unnecessarily large and noisy crowd, turns what should be the backdrop - the auto-da-fé itself - into the centre of the action. What we should be concentrating on - Carlo's pivotal showdown with his father and Posa's intervention - becomes almost a sideshow. The SFX grab all the attention and this crucial scene is diminished dramatically. I have no doubt that this is the effect Hytner is seeking - he's far too smart and experienced to make mistakes on this scale - but it beats me why.
The scenes which really work - when they're lit in F.W.Murnau style anyway - are the two set at the monastery, as represented by the tomb of the dead King Carlos, a forbidding monolithic memorial in an otherwise empty space. Here Carlo's ineluctable destiny is clearly and simply expressed.
As for the rest, it's more than saved by the wonderful cast and the amazing music, so much so that the doubtful elements of the staging pass by almost unnoticed. It takes more than giant lego and plastic trees to upstage Rolando Villazón.
***UPDATE***what everyone else thought***
(to be updated further as reviews are published)
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With less than 10 hours to go till the curtain rises on the first night of the Royal Opera House's latest Tosca revival, it appears everything is under customarily firm control.
According to the website (screen shot below) the small parts of Shepherd Boy and Gaoler have yet to be cast. Nothing a few panic calls round the choir schools and some major sucking up to Ferruccio Furlanetto can't fix......
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Simon Boccanegra - Royal Opera House, 4 May 2008
After the last disappointment (which wasn't the first), I swore off Sunday matinees at Covent Garden. But this ended up as the only Simon Boccanegra performance which fitted in with my schedule. And at least it featured the unexpected bonus of a starry late substitute in Ferruccio Furlanetto.
This time, the problem wasn't so much the performance as the production itself. Inexplicably revived after ten very understandable years on the shelf, it's like a Primark version of Zeffirelli's Metstravaganzas. The gorgeous Caravaggio-coloured costumes and simple multipurpose set aren't objectionable, just rather unimaginative. But it's desperately short on dramatic purpose, virtually inert, reliant totally on whatever sparks of enlightenment the singers can dredge up if it's to have any life at all.
It reminded me of those semi-staged concert performances which sink or swim in line with the performers' enthusiasm to step out from behind the music stands. Had the singers been abandoned to their own devices here too? There was no lack of enthusiasm, and once they'd moved beyond the cliched cape-flouncing monotony of the first half, the second was far more vital and engaging - but most of the credit here must go to Verdi and Boito for packing the last hour with an disproportionate share of death and denouement.
The late replacements Anja Harteros and Ferruccio Furlanetto had the least rehearsal time and the most impact. There was nothing girlish about Harteros. Her Amelia had a powerful dramatic presence and a big-boned sound, veering towards the coarse-grained a little too often. She wiped the floor with every man present, including Lucio Gallo, a hugely likeable but rather lightweight Boccanegra, and Marcus Haddock, an energetic but desperately un-Italian Adorno.
Ferruccio Furlanetto is of course a complete legend. It seemed almost as if he'd been dropped on to the stage to show the lesser mortals how it's done. He imposed his presence in the subtlest way, without any attention-grabbing antics, grave and noble. Impeccable legato and the the most elegant colouring made his Fiesco a delight to the ear. A pity for anyone not there that he's only scheduled for this one performance, but I'm now looking forward even more to his Philip in next month's Don Carlo.
And there was always the music. John Eliot Gardiner isn't the obvious Verdi choice, but he drew a lucid and polished performance from the orchestra, with the sort of candlelit warmth that few of his fellow period practice dudes can muster.
And all the passion and excitement was there for the big moments, the effect magnified in fact by his comparative restraint elsewhere. The orchestra played immaculately for him, scarcely a wobble, and he was remarkably attentive to the singers, every entrance neatly cued, and a perfect balance between stage and pit.
And check out that opium smokin jacket! A Shanghai Tang velvet pyjama I think, but how practical and elegant.
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The Royal Opera House's cancellation-plagued Simon Boccanegra adds yet another name to the lengthy list of no-shows. This time it's Orlin Anastassov, who's pulled out of the opening performance on 4 May due to ill-health.
The silver lining to this cloud is the replacement Fiesco - the mighty Ferruccio Furlanetto, conveniently in town rehearsing for next month's Don Carlo. If his performance is anything like the one I saw him give last year in Vienna, watch out - he may just blow everyone else off the stage.
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