are they all like that?
La Cieca has heard that New York City Opera General Manager (Designate) Gerard Mortier is planning a new production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte for the 2012 season, directed by Austrian film director Michael Haneke.
This will be the director’s second attempt at operatic production, following his 2005 Don Giovanni for the Paris Opera (revived and filmed in 2007) — also under the aegis of Mr. Mortier. Haneke is currently in New York for the March 14 premiere of his new film Funny Games, a shot-by-shot remake of his controversial and violent 1997 film of the same name:
But..but…La Cieca, if some of the comments on this board after his appointment was announced are to believed, Mortier is going to impose a regime of only the most difficult, singer-hostile, serialist 20th century stuff at NYCO, that all that beloved (by some) can belto and ba-rock stuff will never darken the doors of the State Theatre again!
They couldn’t *possibly* have been over-reacting, could they?
/sarcasm
The big question here is, will the dire Sylvain Camreling be conducting?
Oh who cares. As long as they hire people who can actually SING THE ROLES, I could care less about any of it.
Not to care about who conducts a Mozart opera is pretty remarkable for a professional singer.
The Rake’s Progress — the breakfast scene with Tom, Nick and Baba the Turk. Did I get it right this time?
nice that they have plans for 2012, but what about, er, SEPTEMBER?????
(just for the record, the announcement of the upcoming un-season is by most accounts a month overdue.)
Hey Holland, you almost sound as dumb as your names at the Times.
No one was over-reacting. Mortier has announced that his first season will consist solely of 20th century works. So people were reacting to facts.
I could sing Anne Trulove *tomorrow*- it’s a question of color and tessitura.
I would let Mr. Haneke do a Handel. Da capo numbers seem to be his thing.
No one was over-reacting. Mortier has announced that his first season will consist solely of 20th century works. So people were reacting to facts.
Well, none of the works Mortier announced for his first season were serial or even atonal.
So, unless all 20th-century works outside the Barber-Menotti axis must always be considered “difficult” and “singer-hostile”, there was an awful lot of over-reaction to those facts.
I created Barber and Menotti’s Old Baroness at the Met but not at Salzburg, where they knew me as Eboli and in all the RING roles I would sing before flying home to face Marcellina.
Yes, Famous Quickly (Welcome Back!), you did not want to appear in Salzburg in a secondary mezzo role, so your dear colleague Ira Malaniuk sang in your stead. Remember she was your Fricka in the Clemens Krauss “Ring” in 1953? When they said they had a mezzo as Sieglinde and a soprano as Fricka?
Nice to hear from you dear!
That’s a disturbing film clip, but the guy doing the talking has him some scrumptious lips…
Gran dio! I can see it now, the boys wear masks and torture the two girls, and then they and Despina kill themselves in a suicide pact. Normally, I’m pro-reggieseur, but this announcement disturbs me.
Hey Holland, you almost sound as dumb as your names at the Times
Speaking of dumb, Mark, did you see this:
/sarcasm
in my post? You might want to look up hyperbole in a dictionary.
Well, none of the works Mortier announced for his first season were serial or even atonal. So, unless all 20th-century works outside the Barber-Menotti axis must always be considered “difficult†and “singer-hostileâ€, there was an awful lot of over-reaction to those facts.
Thank you, at least *you* got what I mocking. There was some rending of garments on this site about the fact that that first season didn’t contain any bel canto or baroque stuff, and people were moaning “Oh god, all that 20th century stuff, where are we going to hear Handel and Donizetti” etc. The fact that it was just the first season and that wasn’t going to be the policy going forward seems to have escaped a lot of people.
I have almost zero interest in most operas not by Wagner or Berlioz written before ca. 1890 and it’s always a struggle to hear performances of the stuff I like. But one freaking season that didn’t contain La Donna del Lago or Alcina and their ilk had people grasping for their pearls. Well, welcome to *my* world every season, for almost every company in the world.
The Chicago Opera Theatre announced their 2009 season yesterday (Clemenza di Tito, Carmen and Owen Wingrave) and a gentleman posted on Brian Dickie’s blog about how awful it was that there wasn’t any baroque stuff on the agenda. I wrote this, and it applies to all the people who moaned about Mortier’s first season too:
Mr. Friedman, I have zero sympathy for your Dido-esque lament about the lack of baroque opera. You’re complaining about a gap of two years *GASP* without “an authentic performance” from one company, well, I love serialist/12-tone operas, so your complaint is risible. Lyric doing “Lulu” this year is almost shocking, but apart from that and the upcoming Lincoln Center production of BA Zimmerman’s awesome “Die Soldaten”, it looks like to hear any of some of my favorite operas, I’ll again have to travel to Europe.
When opera companies in this country stage things like “Moses und Aron”, “The Mask of Orpheus”, “Bomarzo”, “Three Sisters”, “Lear”, “Der Rose von Steinfeld” and on and on with the frequency that they do the utterly ghastly (TO ME) baroque stuff, I’ll be more sympathetic.
Just speaking for myself, some of the hand-wringing and fussing about NYCO’s all 20th century season came out of a concern on the more practical side of things. The City Opera is not exactly flush and depends very much on its subscribers: is taking a year dark and then coming back with an all-20th century season a sound thing to do? I’m personally ambivalent, but I of course hope for the best for the institution. And the NYCO did do a service with the bel canto and Baroque that it brought around, because they brought works around that didn’t get a hearing elsewhere in the area. I may be alone in this, but I think the idea of balancing out the season with standard rep, Baroque/bel canto, and newer operas (often American) is not a bad idea. Execution could be better, but, well… So I’m interested to see what Mortier plans for seasons to come, closer ones than 2012.
As for the lament about the lack of wider-ranging 20th century fare, I’m sympathetic to all listeners who don’t get to see rarities that they’ve wanted to. I count myself lucky that I’ve gotten to see three Gluck operas in the past two years! The hard fact of life in running a company is that to some degree, you have to bow to the market (although that’s often taken too far/used as an excuse). To be fair, the commentator quibbled with in Mr. Dickie’s blog said:
I cannot conceal my slight disappointment that following the success of the Monteverdi cycle and other triumphs, COT has chosen not to continue to explore the 1600-1660 transitional period between the Renaissance and the Baroque. I was silently hoping for something by Cavalli or Cesti, or perhaps something a bit later, such as Lully or Charpentier.
As little as rare 20th century repertory is played, this stuff is pretty rare too–so ironically, you’re in much the same boat.
The opera announced by COT is NOT Carmen; it’s an adaptation of Carmen.
They always do interesting stuff and who wants to see one more boring baroque opera unless they can get Nicholas Phan to do it tight white shorts?
Famous Quickly, I’ve Missed You!!!!!
Hi Folks- finally caught up with the HD broadcast of Manon Lescaut on Wednesday and have to say much of the comment on here was spot on. I liked Karita Matilla – just wish I was seeing her in another opera- she was miscast. Loved the traditional set but the sound seemed to be muted somewhat- particularly in acts one and two- did anyone else think that?
I haven’t seen much on here so far that is encouraging me to go to Peter Grimes and Tristan & Isolde- but will keep looking.
I do like the cameo’s and special features in between the acts- there is much to like in the HD broadcasts.
I turned Chulius down for BOMARZO. I said, “Let them get that Turner Woman” and they did. I was too busy facing Marcellina.
I could sing Reimann’s Regan *tomorrow*– it’s a question of shrieking and screaming like a banshee.
Ach!… I could sing TRISTAN tomorrow… It’s a question of wobble, no top and small size… ehmm voice. Oh and being in the right corridor at the wrong time!