Jonas Kaufmann as Don Carlo in Salzburg - first photos

The Salzburg Festival have released a few teaser shots of their 'new' Don Carlo which opens next week. Peter Stein's production looks guaranteed to thrill the why-can't-everything-be-the-same-as-it-was-in-1953 crowd.

On the plus side, there's a pretty exciting cast which includes Jonas Kaufmann, Anja Harteros, Thomas Hampson, Matti Salminen, Ekaterina Semenchuk, and Eric Halfvarson. And of course Pappano conducts. 

photos © Monika Rittershaus

Comments

[Hariclea]

oh, he must be thrilled to sing in all those layered costumes, capes and such in 40C in Salzburg :-)

[Christie F]

Unser Jonas in black velvet and jack boots. Sign me up! The set looks a little bland, but the costumes are gorgeous and with these singers, who needs an elaborate set anyway?

[Siggy]

Absolutely agree. Gorgeous and appropriate costumes - if a trifle warm. Hard to tell what the set looks like but looking forward to the webcast of this on Medici.

[Hariclea]

yes gorgeous 50's stylie flash backs ;-) wonder why they couldn't revive the old Karajan production since the costumes look otherwise as authentic as the old Met productions :-p

[Oroveso]

Of course it would be SO much better, exciting, deeply provocative, dramatically true and credible for the 2013 crowd if it were set in Las Vegas, or in an abattoir on the 3rd moon of Neptune with everyone naked or wearing pink gorilla suits, choruses dressed as 6-foot-tall rats and oodles of simulated blowjobs, toilets, hookers, blood, coke-snorting, etc. Well I guess there WOULD be a lot of people across the generations who wouldn't mind seeing a naked Kaufmann Don Carlo.

[Christie F]

I would mind seeing a naked Kaufmann Don Carlo. Somethings are better left to the imagination.

[Regie, or Not Regie]

This cast could be performing in t-shirts, jeans, flip-flops, and hoodies, and I'd still want to see/hear them.

[Sheila]

I like JK's hair in these photos. I know it's shallow of me, but he's easy on the eyes.

Does anybody know if anyone in 16th century Spain ever just wore the equivalent of a t-shirt? Forget the weather today--what about the weather in pre-air conditioning eras? Did everybody just constantly faint?

[SJT]

Not in my case.

[michael]

while jonas sings like a god, has the head, face and hair of a god, regrettably he does not have the body of a god..........unless he's buffed up considerably since the met parsifals. this production looks good to me though - was not a fan of the recent munich production which as this one seems to favor an inordinate amount of blue lighting.

[SJT]

Why do you think they spent all that time hanging around in monasteries and cathedrals?

Quite seriously, some years ago I attended a then-new festival in a little out-of-the-way place called Merida down in Estremadura, full of the most astonishing Roman architectural remains, and not one but two thumping great stone amphitheatres, where the daily heat reached 50C and the opera was put back steadily from 8 to 9 to 10 to 11 to 12 to allow the stones, on which you could easily fry an egg, to cool off under the steady blasts of water from the local fire brigade.

My hotel was a modern, flashy thing, but at least it had air-con, so like everyone else we just went to bed at 8am and got up around 6pm when it was a little more forgiving. But the artistes were all off in a Parador, a converted C13th nunnery, and I am here to tell you that the coolness and shade inside a Moorish-designed house of retreat, with palms and fountains and cool stone, beat the hotel's system into a cocked hat. I even thought of taking holy orders....

[yvette]

It is on Medici at 17h30 on the 16th and on Arte same evening at 20h15, but this schedule needs to be confirmed, but it is on Arte definitely on the 16th too.
I am very pleased, previously we only had the opera house live streaming, and it was not very good at times. Jonas-Anja are the best possible cast for this opera.Looking forward....!

[David Dollinger]

Will there be a DVD? One can hope. I wouldn't mind a DVD from last year's Ariadne. A decent Bacchus is something we have been given in any of the DVDs of Ariadne.

[Andres]

After the opulence of the Gawain and Meistersinger this production looks positively like a staging on some secondary Lithuanian city.

The Jonas-Anja operas are starting to remind me of the Federer-Nadal grand slam finals of some five years ago. Beforehand everybody talked about the Swiss and most of the punters came to watch him. However, once on court Nadal the underdog would trounce him mercilessly.

She may not be as merciless, but the last duels at Covent Garden and Munich gave a clear, but I'm afraid not unexpected any more, winner. My money is on her again and, who knows, in a couple of years' time the headline will be "Anja Harteros as Elisabetta in Salzburg". Here's hoping Jonas doesn't get as anxious as Federer would in future duels because regardless of who comes first/gets the biggest ovation, when they two meet it's just electrifying.

[Don Alfonso]

Intermezzo - just curious, have you seen this production or is the reaction based on the photos alone?
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Intermezzo replies - I haven't seen the production, or had a reaction. I can't speak for commenters, whose views are their own.

[Hariclea]

well, that again is all a matter of personal opinion :-) Not a fan of repeat pairing on stage myself as it gets boring quickly, change and variation is good for art i think :-) And i take others above her in Verdi, any Verdi, including Elisabetta and Desdemona, anytime.

[Siggy]

Personally, I rather think that singing is a more collaborative effort rather than one person trying to beat another or be the 'winner'.

They are both supberb artists although ultimatly their strengths lie in different areas, Kaufmann has more dramatic impetus in getting the essence of his characters across, while Harteros has sheer beauty of tone but her acting can come across as less involved sometimes - in my opinon only.

They do of course make up a great team and play to each others strengths - that's what makes a great partnership.

[Feldmarschallin]

I would be curious as to who you would put ahead of Harteros today in those roles. There is no one that I can think of who can even come close to her let alone surpass her as Desdemona or Elisabetta or the Verdi Requiem. I will see this production tomorrow but seeing what I am seeing am not really looking forward to the production. But then again when I saw the name Peter Stein I knew what I could expect and that is not much.

[David Foulger]

I must be in the 1953 crowd. Peter Stein is one of the finest stage directors still around. What about his Otello, and Pelleas et Melisande for WNO, and I remember his thrilling direction of Henze's The Bassarids in Amsterdam. It was a wonderful way to spend a Christmas day matinee Why on earth was that not video recorded for posterity. I know Henze is not box office, but this is one of the most exciting operas of the second half of the twentieth century. So don't pre-judge this Don Carlo on a few photographs.

[Peter Zelt]

Intermezzo you are wrong. 1953 was not the year for lush
productions. Where I grew up - Stuttgart - Wieland Wagner
reigned supremely and everything was oratorio style without proper sets. From Aida over Fidelio over the gamut of Wagner operas, all the same static crap. However, when I came to London and watched all those
Visconti, Zeffirelli etc. productions in the 60ies I felt - this is real lush opera. Maybe it was before you
were born, but they introduced an intermission after 20
minutes of this Zeffirelli Rigoletto because of the huge sets. I am totally sick and tired of operas raped by directors who want to settle Rigoletto in Las Vegas,
in a junkyard or some public toilet. I know that Peter
Stein is looked down upon because of his old-fashioned
productions, especially with classic plays. But the
audiences are flocking to it and there is hardly a BOO.
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Intermezzo replies - Audiences are not flocking to this Don Carlo - it doesn't open until next week. And if you can find any Rigoletto set in a junkyard or a public toilet, I'd be surprised.

[Martin Atherton]

I can't help feeling Intermezzo is being just a tad pedantic (uncharacteristically so) in his reply to Peter Zelt. I would be happy to flock to this Don Carlo if I had been able to get a ticket, but the fact that it has been so comprehensively sold out since booking opened suggests that the flocks will turn up on cue. As for productions in junkyards and public toilets, this seems to me fair enough as a figure of speech, especially for anyone who saw Bayreuth's current Tannhauser or latest cast-off (sic) Ring.
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Intermezzo replies - I am not a he. And I'm not being pedantic in pointing out that audiences can hardly approve (or indeed disapprove) of a production they haven't seen.

Neither the Bayreuth Tannhäuser nor the Ring are set in 'junkyards and public toilets' either, so the expression is not acceptable as a figure of speech. If you haven't seen enough of the productions you so violently condemn to establish exactly what it is you object to, then how can you expect anyone to take your protestations seriously?

[jurgen Werther]

Battle lines drawn then. Apart from the Konwitschny in Vienna, can't recall a regie driven production whilst most of the ones I have actually seen were more or less conventional, relying on the quality of the singing rather the provocation of the regisseur. What cannot be doubted is that Stein is a true man of the theatre, witness his WNO productions , and a masterpiece like Don Carlo(s) is probably likely to prove more rewarding in a conventional production with this cast and conductor than a radical re-interpretation by whoever is the current enfant terrible.

Had I a choice between this and any of the current Bayreuth output I would be hot footing to Salzburg (unless someone has a ticket for Lohengin going begging?).
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Intermezzo replies - "Peter Stein’s staging of Macbeth at the Salzburg Festival was devoid of imagination or insight" http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/8707274/Macbeth-Salzburg-Festival-review.html
"a lack of detail and intelligent blocking that made this Peter Stein production a failure even on his terms" http://www.seenandheard-international.com/2011/08/08/notes_from_the_salzburg_festival_2011_verdi_macbeth_jens_f_laurson/
"It feels mostly shallow, and tugs too flagrantly on the emotions. The rawness and horror of Shakespeare’s tale are lost in the richness of the production, replaced by sentimentality and show." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-04/sleepwalking-lady-macbeth-stumbles-along-salzburg-cliff-catherine-hickley.html

Those are just the first three entries Google turns up if you search for Peter Stein's last Salzburg production under 'Salzburg Macbeth Stein'. None of the critics quoted are bastions of the avant-garde.

How you can intuit that Stein's Don Carlo is likely to be 'rewarding' is beyond me. It will, indeed, rely on the quality of the singing to justify the ticket price.

[jurgen Werther]

Intermezzo. I still believe that this will stand or fall by its musical values rather than how provocative the production is. The 'Reward' for me would be in hearing this cast irrespective of the regisseur. After all we are told we can close our eyes if we don't like what we see, and I suppose that this applies equally to the boring as the audacious.

Anyway any chance of a ticket for Lohengrin? Stand and sing in nice frocks is really not my bag.

[May]

I agree with you Siggy about Kaufmann and Harteros generally. Though I do find Kaufmann to be the more musical one as well as the more communicative one.
Also, am I the only one who finds Harteros' voice thraotier than his? Sometimes there's a big wobble in the vibrato. I heard all these reports that she sang circles around the cast in the London Don Carlo but when I heard the radio broadcast from Poland, I much prefered Kaufmann's tone.
All carping aside, they are indeed marvelous artists and a gift to opera nowadays, feels almost petty to complain about them.

[May]

It was so painful (for me) to watch Kaufmann and Harteros in the dizzyingly crowded stage of Il Trovatore, that it would be so nice to see them in some clean sets and concentrate on the singing. From the look of these pictures alone I prefer these sets and lighting to the London Don Carlo. But I guess it would be best to reserve judgement until seeing it.

[Liane]

How can you have such long discussions about something you have not seen yet? It is a bit like the Emperors New Clothes. These few pictures don't really give very much away. The costumes seem to me very beautiful and appropriate for the period this historic opera is in. However, I cannot help but feel sorry for the singers being in such elaborate clothes in such heat. I really respect and love them more and more for the hard "work" they are doing and the beautiful performances we are so lucky to be in a position to enjoy.
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Intermezzo replies - How can you tell what Jonas Kaufmann will sound like in this opera until you hear it? Anyone familiar with the latterday oeuvre of Herr Stein, friend or foe, will know exactly what the production will be like - even without the photos. That's not true of all directors, but Stein's very predictability is no doubt part of the reason Pereira hired him.

[Sheila]

I see no vestiges of 1953 in the photos above. Sometimes evoking that era can be charming (a Cenerentola I saw with Brownlee in Philadelphia) or appropriate (the recent Met Rigoletto, although it had blocking issues). When the sets require a physicality that some singers don't have--can everyone climb onto a sink as Netrebko did and still sing?--then the director is not thinking clearly. Singers are not acrobats, nor should their be expected to be. Just walking atop that Decker couch in heels is a risky triumph.

[SJT]

Actually, the current MacVicar Rigoletto at the ROH has always looked to me EXACTLY as if it was set in a junkyard.....

[Alexandra]

How pleasing it is to see these artists costumed so beautifully, and no doubt as these characters were intended to look when they were created by Verdi. Not a cheesy T-shirt in sight. Oh joy!

[Francis]

Change and variation? What for? Most comments on this blog indicate that people would be happy with the pairing Kaufmann and Harteros and, where appropriate, Kaufmann and Garanca in as many operas, and as frequently as possible. Any alternatives are considered a nuisance.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

It occurs to me that Pereira may well have decided to engage Stein because neither Harteros nor Kaufmann, and especially Harteros, are "friends" with the more outlandish purveyors of Regietheater. I think they both had problems with the aesthetic of the Richard Jones Lohengrin which was hardly outré by modern Regietheater standards. Also, neither of them much like long rehearsal periods, which may explain the starrier casting for a basic, traditional Don Carlo directed by Stein - if such it proves to be - than for Herheim's very complex and intricate Meistersinger which presumably required a much longer rehearsal period. The Austrian press has been quite vicious about the Meistersinger cast except for Volle's Sachs and Werba's Beckmesser. So Pereira can't really win - he delivers the big stars and people moan about the staging (even before the curtain has risen on it), and he delivers Herheim and people moan about the cast.

[Siggy]

Not sure that Nina Stemme (his upcoming partner in Fanciulla) would welcome being described as a a nuisance! Or Stoyanova, Koch or Opolais.

Variety is the spice of life after all!

[Francis]

So, if I understand well what you are getting at, I should have said: variety is the spice of life, as long as the tenor stays the same. Any alternative tenor is considered a nuisance.

[fragendefrau82]

Is it not possible that, because both Meistersinger and Don Carlo are in the Großes Festspielhaus, that they asked Stein (or signed him because they knew he would) to do a very simple production, given the complexities of the Herheim production? It seems that it would be much easier to coordinate changing between a complex and a simple production, than two complex productions.

And Harteros and Kaufmann have just come from Py's hardly traditional Trovatore in Munich. Kaufmann in interviews at least seemed enthusiastic about Py's production--much more than he did about the Met Faust, for instance.
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Intermezzo replies - Very unlikely that stage management issues would come into it for a variety of reasons. More likely that Salzburg consider it a coup to have scored Stein yet again, given his reputation.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Well, IM, Stein's reputation in the German-speaking world was as an outstanding director of Sprechtheater 30 years ago. His opera productions have met with something bordering on contempt in recent years and he even conceded in an interview that he is the most conservative German opera director. It is hardly credible that Pereira is not aware of his current standing with German and Austrian critics. His Salzburg Macbeth was greeted with hoots of critical derision. I would be very surprised if Pereira would regard Stein as a coup of any kind. A big name, yes, but not one likely to spring any surprises on unsuspecting audiences.
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Intermezzo replies - I have no doubt Pereira booked him precisely because he is a big name and unlikely to spring surprises. That's what the older and wealthier end of the Salzburg audience want - and they're the people Pereira needs to please, not the critics.

I've quoted some of the Macbeth reviews above, but you also have to bear in mind that a lot of regular people I spoke to in Salzburg the following year thought it was the best thing they'd seen for ages.

I don't think his other recent productions have been as poorly received by the critics as Macbeth either. Peter Gelb thought well enough of him to invite him to do Boris Godunov at the Met a couple of years ago.

[SJT]

Stein's Das Rheingold in Paris in 1976 was one of the braver attempts to try and realise Wagner's written intentions: and if in some measure it failed, I shall never forget the sight of well over four tons of actual iron bridge being lowered on to the Garnier's floor for the dénouement.

His straight theatre stagings of Gorky's Summerfolk and O'Neill's The Hairy Ape - both mounted at his Schaubuhne am Halleschen Ufer in (West) Berlin, and both seen in London, in pre-surtitles German, when we used to have international theatre here galore - remain probably the two greatest stagings I've ever seen of anything, tout court. And if he's no longer fashionable amongst the twittering classes, who between them have the collective memory span of a gnat with Alzheimer's, so much the worse for them...

[fragendefrau82]

Thanks for the info SJT. It sounds like the German contingent of singers might be thrilled to work with Stein. I'm hoping this means excellent personenregie. Which does make a difference: I saw the Met & ROH Don Carlos this year--both same production but miles apart in acting and emotional impact. (of course there was a level of difference in the casting & conducting too)

As for short rehearsal periods--we know JK was rehearsing in Salzburg 1st week of July because he came from Don Carlo rehearsals when he jumped in for Vogt in Lohengrin in Munich and they made a point of saying so. So six weeks of rehearsals anyway for an opera the principals know very well indeed.

[waltraud becker]

The rehearsal-period seems long, but look, what Harteros, Kaufmann and Hampson did inbetween: Desdemona, Baden-Baden, Simon Boccanegra Munich and London, Parsifal, Don Carlos in Munich, Mörbisch, Interviews in London and elsewere....... May be Peter Stein worked for that long time, but not all main singers were there day by day.
Nevertheless: I expect an outstanding Don Carlos from Salzburg!

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Of course Pereira needs to please the conservative elements of his public rather than the critics, which is why I think his programming is a sort of balancing act, which inevitably won't please everyone. Gelb is attempting to do something similar at the Met - some moderately radical stagings among generally conservative fare - and the same is true of Covent Garden. Whatever we like to think - and your commenters reflect this - a lot of people have no time at all for Regietheater and there are probably as many who find Stein's work unwatchably boring. But no-one if forced to go to either. I've seen the Konwitschny Don Carlos, which is probably the only truly radical staging of this opera I have encountered live. Quite a bit of it is traditional, and the big departures from tradition strike me as a mixed success. The live filmed Auto-da-Fe is very effective and spectacular, but the Eboli's Dream ballet strikes me as silly, if moderately entertaining and is just Konwitschny taking an opportunity to poke fun at the ballet music and annoy traditionalists. I don't think it enhances Don Carlos as drama in any way at all. That said, it was a good deal more compelling as theatre than Hytner's production at Covent Garden. Stein might be expected to bring a Schillerian perspective to the opera, but that's by no means guaranteed. Hytner directed Schiller's play when he was at the Royal Exchange in Manchester and that doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on his RO staing of the Verdi.

[Nikolaus Vogel]

Sorry Fragende Frau - I was making assumptions on the basis of interviews I have read and "gossip" about Harteros's, so I am happy to be corrected. Actually, I should have known because Stein demands long rehearsal periods, one of the reasons why he has directed four productions with Welsh National Opera and none at Covent Garden. The DVD should be worth waiting for, for the principals alone.

[Hariclea]

Since i put some gas on the fire and the discussion has spiraled out a lot i feel i need to explain better what i mean. I think today we've moved on in our demands on historical operas and they way we expect traditional productions to work :-) I think a lot of us today expect a higher degree of historical accuracy and images or general feel of the production that is more "authentic". I thought we moved on from pretty looking versions of history just because we go "oh how beautiful" when the curtain goes up. (Which is why to me the ROH version is closer than many i have seen to the real feel of the places, claustrophobic, dark, with little light on the inside, little adornment and otherwise very much dominated by black, lashes of red and yellow golden lights in colours, that is the feel of Spain if anyone has had the chance to visit the areas relevant for the story). And it feels and i always felt it was acted appropriately oppressive. But i do understand that striving for more historical accuracy is very costly and my alternative preference is a stylized version of history that still feels remote, or faded in a way by time.
The best example i have seen of this and definitely my preferred production of Don Carlos is the French version by Luc Bondy from Chatelet with Pappano. That makes me feel like i am almost looking at a impression of Velasquez paintings, the colours are there but somehow muted. The costumes feel historical but are stylized, simplified. Funny enough they have a lot in common with the ROH one in feel, except for the auto dafe which is the best i have seen in the Bondy version, or my favourite one.

So i guess what i like is either more historical accuracy in look and feel or a much simplified look that translates a similar atmosphere.

What i don't like anymore, and what i see so far from the extended photo gallery is a prettied up glamourised version, to make it look nice and colours moods and lights that are easier to relate to for the audience i guess and that have a easy wow factor visually. Doesn't look historic, just looks fake to me. A Disneylike version of Carlo if you will and that i do have an issue with.
If it comes with greater character work remains to be seen. We'll see if the ones who have done it before will do anything different or will just repeat what they have done/sung before.

I think production-vise the Munich one for example was a more effective vehicle for the mood of the piece than this (but i strongly dislike the aufodafe there, as fake as it gets).

As for the music and the characters for me neither Elisabetta nor Carlo are really the central ones, they are just victims as the result of the actions of others and the piece for me revolves musically and dramatically around Posa and Filippo and secondly Eboli and the Inquisitore. And sorry to say neither Hampson based on recent Boccanegra nor Salminen after recent Daland for example are at the top of their game anymore and haven't been for a while, not at a level required by these parts anyways. Hampson was a fine Posa in 1996.. but now? I will have to be convinced. By no means my preferred casting for any of these roles.

As for Harteros as i have already hinted to, the beauty of her tone leaves me strangely and sadly untouched and i'm afraid for the piece to work for me i need a little bit more chemistry between Carlo and Elisabetta to add an element of danger, of unknown, of potential unraveling. With her i never believe even for a second that something might happen, that she may slip even for a second or that she loves Carlo. True or not all i ever see is a Carlo weak and pity worthy at her feet but her iciness around it always make me feel almost embarrassed for the guy. It doesn't make me want to root for them and i always feel something is missing in the drama if i don't And whenever they have sang it together it;'s always been the same. If all those weeks of rehearsals have managed to reshape that interaction i'd be grateful. But i'm afraid for me it has become a comfortable and rather repetitive stage-pairing. It all ends in drawn out piani-competitions but little heart pulling. She is louder and can dwell on a phrase longer, his piani are softer, rounder and more silent, what else is new?

Does anyone know what the last Carlo before this one was at the Salzburg festival? Was it the Karajan one? Well, a lot to live up to then ;-))))

My only curiosity is around the musical side. Will Pappano manage to shape the Wiener Phil into this music and will they play for him to created a united flow or will it be chaotic? ( i've heard them destroy Werther beyond oblivion so i kinda know just how bad they can be...) Will Eboli be seductive in the veil song and will she knock my socks off in O don fatale? Will the chorus be impeccable in the autodafe? Will the whole thing throb with tightly restrained passions and conflicts, or will it all be just an evening of elegantly negotiated and polite music making and nothing more (which is frankly not enough for €400 ticket prices). A lot to prove in my opinion :-)

[Hariclea]

Well, Poplavskaya strangely enough was the only one who ever made me cry for Desdemona in her only outing in the role at ROH and her willow song that night was immensely touching :-) And before anyone hits me, i am not alone in my opinion of that particular night :-)

I also find Stoyanova a much more touching artist even if her voice is not as powerful as Anja's. I've heard from her a beautiful and again very sensitive Libera me just recently in a Verdi Requiem conducted in London by Gatti. And Monastyrska and Netrebko have made my heart beat faster in Verdi in a way that Anja has yet to do to date. I like Sondra Radvanosvky more as Leonora in Trovatore especially, i find her much more flexible and able to deal with Verdi's demands on rhythm, especially in cabalettas. A question of taste at the end of the day and what i personally prefer to hear in Verdi :-)
Having said that, i adore Anja's Elsa and she is probably exquisite in Strauss too.

[Feldmarschallin]

Poplavaskaja's pitch issues and her screamed top are better for you? Well to each his own. Radvanosvky also is pitchwise all over the place with a voice that in my opinion is more serviceable than anything else. The present day Lucine Amara on a bad night. Stoyanova has a beautiful instrument and no pitch issues at all but with her the problem is the piano which she cannot (anymore maybe?) float. I heard her recently in the Verdi Requiem and Desdemona and one could compare the two very easily. Stoyanova also has a very matronly apprearance and lacks the glamour. Monastyrska I have not yet heard live but am eager to and have gotten the Macbeth on DVD but have not yet have a chance to listen to it. I liked what I have heard so far on youtube. But there roles are really not similar with LM singing the very heavy roles as a specialty. Netrebko also has a very different repertory and they have very few roles in common. I personally have found that Netrebko has sung many roles over the years which really didn't suit her such as Elvira, Lucia or the ghastly Norina which she turned into a whore and was sung without the slightest hint of any charm. Listen to Bori or Sembrich. I heard AN while still very young in San Francisco and she was spectacular but have had very experiences with her over the years, some good and some not so. Harteros on the other hand has never sung a role which I found was unsuitable for her and she chooses very wisely. And there isn't a soprano in the world today who can float piannisimi like she can. I do think that Netrebko will be a great Tatjana and her most recent CD sounds very good. I also personally find Harteros' stage demeanor more to my own liking than Netrebko who tends to overact and can come across as vulgar like in Traviata or Norina. But there is certainly room for both and Netrebko said she will not sing two main Harteros roles of Desdemona and Elisabetta since her personality is at odds with those roles. Lady Macbeth on the other hand will be a good fit dramatically and wouldn't work for Harteros. There was a reason that AN also decided not to sing the Figaro Countess which is also a Harteros specialty. Personalitywise they are the exact opposites.
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Intermezzo replies - Despite her technical issues, Poplavskaya is, in the house, the best Desdemona AND Elisabetta I've heard. She inhabits the roles in a way that I think will always be beyond the grasp of Harteros. Guess you had to be there though........

[Feldmarschallin]

Yes but Opolais please not in Verdi. The Amelia was not very good. She is however excellent as Rusalka and will probably be a very good Tatjana. I have my doubts about the Vittelia though. When you compare Garanca to Koch I am afraid that Garanca will always come first since she has the superior instrument. Alone if you compare them in Rosenkavalier Garanca wins by a longshot. Stemme is without rival today as Isolde and Brünnhilde.

[Feldmarschallin]

From what I heard at the GP both Kaufmann and especially Harteros were both not happy at all with the production. I don't wish to say more but they both had nothing to do with picking Stein. Also both will be singing in the Forza this winter by Martin Kusej so one cannot say that they are not friends of Regie. I also am no great fan of the Lohengrin by Jones and am very open towards modern productions by Herheim, Bieto, Konwitschny etc. But not every production which is modern is good and one only needs to look at the recent Rigoletto and the Arabella at the BSO to see two bad examples of modern productions. That being said I very much liked the Dörrie Rigoletto.
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Intermezzo replies - Hasn't Kaufmann said in the past he likes to be challenged? Or words to that effect.

Glad to hear someone else enjoyed the Planet of the Apes Rigoletto - an absurd solution to an absurd opera.

[Siggy]

I'm not yet sure about Opolais having only heard & seen her as Tosca about which I was not entirely convinced. I await her Manon Lescaut with interest.

Koch I have only encountered on DVD but I was entirely convinced by her as Charlotte - she does not have the glamourous voice and demenour of Garanca - but then very few have.

Not sure how Stemme is going to be as Minnie but again, it is something I await with interest.

[Rogaska]

SJT, you had the pleasure of seeing Stein's Rheingold in Paris? Great. I've read fine reviews about that staging. Did you also see Grüber's Walküre, and did you like it? Unfortunately, this Paris Ring remained a torso due to Solti's refusing to conduct Siegfried and Götterdämmerung with Stein and Grüber. It could probably have been a great Ring, even matching Chereau's legendary Bayreuth production (which Stein was originally supposed to direct - after Stein had left, Chereau was brought in by Boulez).

[SJT]

Yes I did see Gruber's Walkure, just about the first example of what subsequently became known as Eurotrash I'd encountered. I shan't forget the sight of Act I set in a box framed by black tail coats on hangers covering the entire back wall, or, when it shot skywards to let in "Spring", the enormous cylindrical pile of sandbags thereby revealed, dotted with stuffed antelopes up its sides. People always think I'm making this stuff up, you know....

I can't say that personally I blamed Solti in the least for withdrawing, even if it did cost us such a great cast in the other two operas.

[Alexander]

Is it being streamed live to the UK?