Txtng the La Scala season premiere
Nuns, Doppelgängers, ball gags, “third arms“?
Your own Squirrel is on the scene at Symphony Space offering his eyewitness account of the prima of Carmen (as seen on HD, liveish from Milan). Up-to-the-minute coverage follows the jump.
4:05 PM: I guess u know who is being loudly booed right now.
4:00 PM: Kaufmann showered with flowers. Carmen booed? Unclear. Carmen whacked in face w bouquet ouch!
3:38 PM: Vendors outside bullfight are selling human limbs? Wtf
3:32 PM: Pause b4 4th and final act. Steeling myself 4 brutality and horror.
3:30 PM: People, micaela becomes his mother and dies right there!
3:15 PM: Um why does micaela in act 3 have streaks of gray hair? Oh wait…she IS HIS MOTHER?!
2:45 PM: Great. Now audience is arguing over merits of bullfighting. Good grief!
2:38: Promenading.
2:37 PM: Carmen n jose sporting lots of leave in conditioner and she looks downright swarthy!
2:30 PM: Cam needs to pan away from kaufmann when he sings bcuz he is a big drooler!
2:22 PM: Squirrel is freezing in here! Fine atto secondo. Peduzzi sets like met carmen. Costume very conservative. Dance boheme flamenco w lots of upskirts. The Upskirt Carmen?
1:50 PM: PETA has hijacked toreador song? Huge screens w pics of slatghtrd bulls!
1:30 PM: Many italian dignitaries in regalia and also txting! Animated and ornery crowd here on 95th st! No seats left. I get a slightly dishrntld vibe.
1:16 PM: Act 1 duet stagd like lucia mad scene w michaela in wedding dress!
1:05 PM: Brnbnboim pudgy had trbl sittng down on podium stool crazy lauhgter.
Carmn not a nun… Yet? No body dbls yet exept ltl boys in tidy wities with act 1 soldiers
1:02 PM: Prductn not nrly weird enuf. Mostly straigt scenes. Lotta violnce!
1:00 PM: Intermission.
12:56 PM: Kaufmn snds good but is totlly boring actor very conceited lookng
12:55 PM: This is hilarious! Hair pullng n upskirts galore!
11:55 AM: Italn opera crowd looks bored! We r o n 5 min delay. oops lights down.
11:48 AM: Vibrnt expctant crowd here folks
11:41 AM: Gosh hope kaufman pulls thru no good being raped by an undrstudy!
11:30 AM: The Corriere della Sera calls punk regista and opera newbie Emma Dante‘s production ”La Carmen eretica.” Check back all afternoon for live dispatches of the carnage!
The fiasco – er, show – begins today at 12 noon EST and will also be streaming on RAI3. A wrap-up report will follow, after the blood is all mopped up.
Don José: Jonas Kaufmann
Escamillo: Erwin Schrott
Carmen: Anita Rachvelishvili
Micaëla: Adriana DamatoConductor: Daniel Barenboim
Staging & Costumes: Emma Dante
Sets: Richard Peduzzi
Lights: Dominique Bruguière
Cieca…I recorded Erika’s entrance aria. I have never sent a sound file as an e-mail attachment, but I will try.
I sent it, but I then got a message that “connectivity” with your server was never established, whatever that means. I am not very computer literate, but I thought I could do this.
Do I send it to lacieca@parterre.com? Or do I need the things around your address?
Do I need the two symbol things around your address?
No symbols needed. just sent to lacieca@parterre.com
Oh dear, I smell a bloodbath.
I finally figured this out.
The quanto doigne didn’t sound all that bad.
Now, what the hell is this? The Michaels didn’t even get the recit. And the aria is not that impressive either; and that high B, Lord!
painful
silence after the Micaela aria
I noticed that, but given the fact that Dec 7th usually atracts an audience that is more interested in being seen, I would not expect a high level of knowledge about opera in the audience. That wolf’s mouth have very little teeth tonight.
Afterall, isn’t Dec 7th the traditional day that Milanese women take the diamonds out for a spin?
Erwin is not sounding that sexy; based on voice alone, I would not pay too much attention if I was carmen. I think Kyle Ketelsen sounds a lot sexier as Escamillo.
Dec. 7 is of course the big day in Milan even apart from La Scala, since it’s the city’s festa — as the feast day of St. Ambrose, patron of Milan.
You know? Usually Spanish and Italian singers tend to have problems with pronouncing French. This Michaela actually didn’t do all that bad. The singing was on another level altogether.
I like Kauffman’s French.
Is it me or is this Micaela more interested in making a big sound? She doesn’t sound very focused…
Kauffman continues to impress me with how wonderful he sings French. It is too bad we will not get a Romeo from that guy. He looks like one and he would probably sing a hell of a one too.
But did you hear his “il est temps encore”? I’m afraid he mixed up the nasal sounds there…
Honey, we all do that. Nasal sounds in French get confusing. I have myself added nasal sounds when i didn’t. French is the harder language in my rep. I have to work at it like a beat for me to be credible at it.
Micaela is absolutely inaudible in any note lower than the second octave.
Arte has just announced a live broadcast of his Werther from Opera Bastille, January 26th.
“His” being Barenboim’s or Kaufmann’s? Sorry, I don’t mean to be so dense, but I just don’t know. Thanks.
Kaufman
Thanks. I just checked and my cable company doesn’t carry Arte (of course). Jerks.
From the little bits I’ve heard (our TV has conveniently decided not to receive arte, and their broadcast was to be time-delayed, thanks so much) so far, Kaufmann sounds way less dark than he usually does. Weird. And Schrott could work a bit on his French to measure up. Liking the orchestra.
Okay, someone has to do it: “Hnnhhhrchg I am your mother, José!”